How can I know if I'm smart enough to be a proficient and profitable programmer...

How can I know if I'm smart enough to be a proficient and profitable programmer? I'm thinking of jumping into Java but I'm afraid of hitting a wall.

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How old are you OP ? You don't have to be good at maths to be a programmer. You just need to understand how code work and how to do thing.

If you just want to code, it's okay. Only PhD need to be extremly good at mathematics to create new algorithm / computer structure.

We have to stop this BS with maths = computer sience, only a smal amount of people need it. The rest can live without.

Sincerly, a computer scientist doing a MBI.

Btw, to be a good programer, you just need to like what you're doing and pratice, again and again. I started by studying Computer Networking but I did learn HTML CSS and PHP by myself. It's not great-great, but I'm doing far better than most people that learn it in school because thay just learn it to learn it.

Love what you do, do it well.

>You don't have to be good at maths to be a programmer

sure, if you wanna be a monkey

> Implying you know what you're talkin' about

Take your lowq bait and put it deep into your ass.

36, I had a bit of a rough start at things and only recently started getting my shit together. I've always been proficient at and enjoyed math and science but not quite to college levels. I've kept my mind not completely dull, at any rate. I had fun with simple coding a long time ago, I think I won't have problems keeping interest.

I guess I mostly don't have a good handle on how a professional coder operates, yet. I'd start teaching myself but it's hard to find the time as things are.

I would say you dont have to be good at math as a prerequisite, but they're kinda in the same realm and talent in one generally means talent in both.

The only exception I can think of is an old manager of mine who was dyslexic and he never could pick up math because he could never look at long equations. Not sure why he didnt have this problem with long lines of code but he was quite good.

The good thing about programming is that it's one of thing that you can learn yourself and work with. For exemple, you can be doc by saying "I learn it on internet".

Luckily, we have internet and this is the best source to learn.

The most important is to enjoy maths & sience, even if you're don't good at it. College level is for studying, so, it's normal to have those subject because some people want to have a PhD to be engineer or teacher so they have to understand how to create algorithm.

Otherwise, don't worry too much. With all the people I did saw, most of them were huge retard, including myself. But we still managed to learn by ourselves because we like what we do.

In France, we have a website called "site du zero", it's a website that teach you from A to Z how to code.

So, you should search over internet to find what you like the most in order to work on it. Because, most of the time, you feel that you're bad about something but you just don't want to do it.

You can there tho :
codecademy.com/en

JFYTK, my last manager told me that his dad became a rich computer scientist at the age of 55 learning Oracle by himself.

Just do it pal :)

I agree with you. BTW, I managed to be the 8th of my class with 4.5/20 in maths c:

A related question, then. What's a good language to get into for work in the silicon valley? I was leaning Java, but I don't know what has more entry level openings.

you dont need to be smart

Being a good programmer isn't about intelligence (although of course it's needed). It's your natural way of thinking that contributes the most.

This.

Well you just have to check what are the most used languages. I hate Java but I have to admit that it's used a lot. Just look at what people need. If you know Java well, you won't have any prob to find a job.

Currently am teaching myself C++.

It's not that hard, just practice, practice, practice.

As for Java, it should be easier to grasp than C++, as it's not as user-dependent.

Unless you're making a neural network you are probably never going to need math beyond algebra I

That's true.

Programming is basically building things with logic. Math is a similar skill, but programming doesn't involve a lot of actual math. Being good at science in general is fine. It has more to do with liking to make things, and being good at digesting technical concepts. The burnout I have seen is usually programming jobs themselves, stuff like dealing with business logic, which you have to be able to describe perfectly. Zzzz.

it requires a ton of math you shitty memeboi

>How can I know if I'm smart enough to be a proficient and profitable programmer

Even a 12 year old can learn how to program. It's not harder than learning how to ride a bike. You just have to get used to it.

>I'm thinking of jumping into Java

What the fuck are you doing? Just learn C++11.

Depends on what you're doing, I suppose. 3d stuff like games, maybe, but I just make business and end user applications.

The key to becoming a top-tier programmer is to learn as many programming language as possible.

Is C++ enough by itself? If there's some kind of logical progression to learning languages I suppose I can branch out, I just wanted to make sure I ended up with competitive skills.

>If there's some kind of logical progression to learning languages

Depends on where you want to go.

C++ (general purpose) ⇒ Python/Lua (scripting) ⇒ Lisp/Scheme (functional) ⇒ whatever: Prolog (logic), Forth (stack), Haskell (functional) ⇒ Programming language theory, Compiler design
⇓
C/C++ (system programming) ⇒ AMD64/ARM/MIPS (assembly) ⇒ VHDL/Verilog (FPGAs/Hardware)
⇓
whatever APIs: OpenGL (graphics), OpenCL (GPGPU), MPI/OpenMP (parallel)

Jesus what. I don't think the local school has a third of those. And java isn't even on there.

Here in France, you can learn Java.

Most of the time, even in engineer rank, you don't have to know everything. You just have to be very good at one thing (or two).

Don't rely on school for your education.

Java/Python are the most taught languages in academia. There are many resources out there. I'm literally an idiot and if I can learn so can you.
Freecodecamp is excellent for back/front end dev along w/ algorithm practices and projects in JavaScript/html
hacksplaining/enigmagroup are great for an intro into network security

True, but I think I'd do a lot better at that in a structured environment. At least until I get the basics down.

School doesn't sucks. Well, I said that too, back when I was 14-18.. Then I got graduated, got skill, sure, by myself, but thanks to school, then got money and plenty of job offers.

Sure, if you just have a bachelor degree, good luck to be manager.

Master / PhD level are the best way to succeed, you can hate the machine, but this is the reality. Sure you can say to me that Einstein was bad at school. Well, show me what you did like him ? He was a genius.

For normal people, for us, the plebe, 98% of world population, school is the answer.

School sucks in many way but it sucks because of people that keep complaining of how bad their life are.

"Who want change ? - MEEEE"
"Who want TO change ? - ... "

if anything (programming = problem solving). so no, you have to be smart.