Did anyone else feel overwhelmed when first starting out with coding? - General Questions and Answers

Hey there! My name is Mike and I've been making apps for a few years now. I am making this post because I want to get your opinion on something, so I can check whether your experience with programming is similar with mine. Here's some context:
I am now working as a full time developer. A few days ago, I randomly thought back to the days where I first started coding.
Interestingly enough, one of the emotions I remember most vividly from back then was feeling very, very confused. All the resources I needed to be able to become a great developer were there for free - the internet had my back on that. But there was a problem - there was so much information out there that it was hard to know where to start. Everytime I tried to learn something new, it felt like a gamble - will I learn something new that will completely change the way I write code, or will I hit a wall and be stuck for 2 months, spinning in circles, getting nothing done?
And then I realized - in the 2 years I've been working as a full time dev, I learned more than in 6 years fooling around by myself. Why was that? The answer was pretty simple - I was surrounded by people who have already been there before. But, the fascinating thing is the following: these people never once took my keyboard and started typing away when I asked them for help with a bug. They didn't go to the closest whiteboard and hold a 45 minute seminar whenever I was confused by some obscure design pattern. They simply told me - "oh.. why don't you look X up on Google", or "check out this class, it does something similar to what you need". And that was it; they just told me where to look, and that made all the difference.
So, this is what I want to get your opinion on. Do you relate to this as a senior developer looking back on your early days? Are you just starting out and feeling overwhelmed? Did you just save the new collague 4 hours of work by telling him where to look in the code?
I've made a survey to see what your experience looks like. It takes around 2 minutes, here it is:
https://forms.gle/3Wed1psohJEmfnVJ9
Thank you for your time!

Related

im done with PDA's

Had enough,
sure i shall miss the stuff you can do but tbh for me most avg phones are closing in fast,on ability and im sick to death of crashes,bugs,reinstall's
it jusy aint worth the headache,im off to find a decent Phone
well the more normal "smart" phones catch up
the more advanced their software will be and
the more issues they will get
:s
we're doomed if we do and doomed if we dont
yer your right just phone and msn n email will do me these days
If I would put the energy that I put into my PDA (to get it work properly to keep in touch with my mates), into the relationsships with my friends, they would like me more than now... Most of them don't care if I call then via VoIP or Skype if at least I DO call...
I had a few of things that bugged me about having a PDA ,but i compromised them in the belief that ,they it will be far more worthwhile to have one and live with the issues
but the faults list grows and the good point just arent enough
TBH I don't know what the fuss is about. I have an XDA mini which is fabulous. Never crashed in 6 months and I'm running Tom Tom aswell. The only problem is that it's not working properly now, but that's since it got soaked in my pocket riding from Newcastle to Edinburgh on the bike in the rain. It's still going and it handles everything I do and more without question. I'm sticking with my PDA phone to save me carrying two things around with me (I need all the stuff when I'm running a business).
I have had my last 3 HTC devices from a friend who has bought them, had problems, and bought the next one that comes along thinking things will get better.
I never have these unreliability issues he always has, and they are the exact same devices he has had.
I put it down to the type of person, and knowledge of the device.
Sure, you shouldn't need to be a technical person just to use a PDA, but it obviously makes a difference.
Maybe you just need to stick to a Palm or Blackberry
Jace - I'm interested to know which device you used.
I used the xda2s and the xda exec and got really fed up with both.
I'm not remotely technical and just wanted a good phone that does email and few other bits when needed.
Got the xda mini in July this year and have never looked back. It is a pure phone that does the few extra things I need without issue.
If possible I suggest you try it as you may be surprisingly pleased with it.
HPJ
In a way, I could understand where the original poster is coming from. But don't get me wrong I love windows mobile devices, but if your like most people, we just want things to work. So when things don't work, your either the type that'll find ways to make it work, or the type that'll just find another device. We have to be honest, those of us that come in and out of these forums on a daily basis with hacks and solutions and those of us looking for hacks and solutions for our windows powered devices are among the few that'll actually take the time out to do so. If you think about it, It can literally take up to 3 months are more to actually get the device operating exactly the way you wanted it. Mabey that's just a little too long for the average person.
I too have felt like the OP, contemplating over and over again, after the countless amount of resets, whether or not I should just go get a fancy nokia n series or something, but I have grown found of my wizard, and its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational, kinda like the way M$ should of made it out the box. Just my two cents.
Here is a story about a friend of mine (no point posting my opinion as part of the reason I love my Jamin is the fact that I can tweak it and make little apps for it - so I don't care even if it does require reset on occasion).
Any way this friend has a company phone (a simple Nokia) and he gets a lot of calls on it (part of the job). Trouble is this phone doesn't have BT so my friend complained that at the end of the day his ear heart.
The thing is, this particular friend always told me that Phone edition Pocket PC devices are too unstable, too big and generally useless as phones.
One they he got a MIO a701. At first he told me he was just using it for the BT so he can speak through the hands-free.
Now he just won't give it up. Even when his headset broke he still refused to go back to the regular phone.
Once while on a lunch break 2 minutes walk outside the office, he wanted to log in to his account on our server but for some reason the device couldn't connect (faulty GPRS settings). He begged me to use my Jamin.
I wouldn't let him, arguing that his work station was just an elevator ride away.
Eventually he broke, and admitted that he just couldn't give up the convenience.
HPJ
I have owned a MDA Compact,which was ok but when i up dated the ROM from the TMobile site it fried the unit,
I then got an Exec,i have found that ok for my needs,(being phone,email,msn,web browsing)
but i agree with the above comments for some one not so minded tech wise,then maybe an incorrect choice of device for me
Basically an out the box unit ,is ok,just ok
but to make it decent takes some effort to get the best from the device
Ok they cant make the device suit everyone out the box,i undertsand that
however freezing up and soft resets a plenty,they are just too unstable for me
beofre my job required me to be away for long periods and the Exec fitted my needs ,now i think ill just be happy with less abilitys and more stability
The smartphones and nokias are gaining ground fast,for my needs maye they are better
The upside for me is the way you can alter and personalise the devices
but to be used day in day out as also my main phone there are far to unstable
In my case i had a compact which went tits up after a simple ROM update,
then an Exec which would freeeze and be a bit moody but then when the shutdown.battery problem started ouccruing(got new battery now)i just said to myself
you know what aint worth the hassle
dodgy pics a cheap nokia can match and beng a brick etc etc
maybe id be more suited to a smartphone or just a humble phone but me and HTC Pda just dont work out
I suppose at this point in timei dont have the time to mess around too much with the units
So my ideal maybe my Exec for away from home times and other certain situs but day to day maybe a an all singing all dancing mobile
ntornics said:
its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational,
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You hit the nail on the head. You find it fun, and actually know how to get into the OS and mess around with it. There are plenty out there like me who haven't the faintest clue. We want our xda's to work out the box, and thats all. We come on this forum to 'take' information: get interesting apps, ask silly questions etc. I've very rarely ever actually contributed as such.
And then, when something doesn't work, we either continue to bang our heads against a wall trying to get a fix (from you guys, not from ourselves), or we move on.
Getting my xda mini s was my last attempt, and I am glad to say that it has never crashed; is never slow on answering a call; does not look like it belongs in a laptop case; and email works perfectly. The only thing I would like would be a today screen like I see so many screen shots of on here, but I haven't a clue and it would probably slow the thing down anyway :wink:
These devices are so young anyway it's no surprise they have problems. Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
good point mate
ive just read the hermes prob thread & ive had the exec battery problem
nothing is flawless in life,but it dont help that they release these products with faults
your mayor phone makers dont release units with big issues
i think id seen the light when having the exec battery problem came along and while a new battery arrived,i used a nokia 3250 it was such a nice change to have a device that preformed its functions
i just think we accpet a lot in PDA's that maybe we wouldnt put up with in a PC,Car or phone
we think its a trade of for there many functions for some problems but were do you draw the line
how many soft resets do we do?freezes?
anyone reading this do you feel ive just picked the wrong devices?,if so what do you think may have been with hindsight a better option?
Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
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what today hang around for 5years time?
apart from social deseases ?

Hey guys!

Got my hands on a verizon 32 gig blue SGSIII. Just got it activated, had to have one shipped in since it wasn't in stock.
Goodness, it's light. I've already forgotten it was in my hands a few times.
I do miss my physical keyboard - a lot. I won't ever get over this, but in the short time I've had it that's all I don't like...and knew that going in.
It'll take me a while to get situated and oriented, and a few days to clear out my 64 sdcard for it.
Can't wait to get to a hotel tomorrow so I can get some power for my laptop and back the device up and start exploring it.
Tempting as it is to install apps (can't wait to re-play my games on this lovely and large display) I can wait until I can pull the device structure onto my computer.
Just wanted to give a shout out and say hi, looking forward to fun stuff with you all in the future!
Sent from a digital distance.
Blue6IX said:
Got my hands on a verizon 32 gig blue SGSIII. Just got it activated, had to have one shipped in since it wasn't in stock.
Goodness, it's light. I've already forgotten it was in my hands a few times.
I do miss my physical keyboard - a lot. I won't ever get over this, but in the short time I've had it that's all I don't like...and knew that going in.
It'll take me a while to get situated and oriented, and a few days to clear out my 64 sdcard for it.
Can't wait to get to a hotel tomorrow so I can get some power for my laptop and back the device up and start exploring it.
Tempting as it is to install apps (can't wait to re-play my games on this lovely and large display) I can wait until I can pull the device structure onto my computer.
Just wanted to give a shout out and say hi, looking forward to fun stuff with you all in the future!
Sent from a digital distance.
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Congrats! You may have missed the bootloader drama but you are just in time for the good stuff. Enjoy.
Thanks!
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
Any spyware I should axe while i'm at it? New to both verizon and samsung, but not to bending Android to my will. If anyone feels like posting here obnoxious intrusive crap to remove, i'm open to suggestions fom those more familiar with my new purchase then I am yet.
Thanks!
Blue6IX said:
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
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"dealbreaker"? Gosh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System#What_the_national_level_EAS_would_not_do
In a The New York Times article (correction printed January 3, 2002)[1] "No president has ever used the current [EAS] system or its technical predecessors in the last 50 years, despite the Soviet missile crisis, a presidential assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, major earthquakes and three recent high-alert terrorist warnings... Michael K. Powell, the then chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the Emergency Alert System, pointed to 'the ubiquitous media environment,' arguing that the system was, in effect, scooped by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and other channels... [FEMA] activates the alert system nationally at the behest of the White House on 34 50,000-watt stations that reach 98 percent of Americans... Beyond that, the current EAS signal is an audio message only—which pre-empts all programming—so that viewers who were watching color images of the trade center on Sept. 11 would have been able to see only a screen with a generic text message along with a presidential voice-over, if an emergency message had been activated."[1]
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There has only been a test in 2011 of the system, with mixed results. The likelihood of such a notification in the future is incredibly low, but it's only for major emergencies of national implication.
Still, if you really, really need to uncheck that box . . .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1829681
Blue6IX said:
Thanks!
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
Any spyware I should axe while i'm at it? New to both verizon and samsung, but not to bending Android to my will. If anyone feels like posting here obnoxious intrusive crap to remove, i'm open to suggestions fom those more familiar with my new purchase then I am yet.
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
Like the post above says thats kind of a stupid dealbreaker. Its not like youre going to get text messages like its the presidents twitter page. If you are that paranoid about it turn the phone back in because 'they' might be tracking you with it.
Sccrluk9 said:
Like the post above says thats kind of a stupid dealbreaker. Its not like youre going to get text messages like its the presidents twitter page. If you are that paranoid about it turn the phone back in because 'they' might be tracking you with it.
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Click to collapse
Appreciate if you'd take your hate and assumptions elsewhere, it is counter to the culture of XDA.
My issue is I hit a box I can't uncheck, an option that isn't optional. What it is, is irrelevant to the fact that it's something I couldn't change.
The dealbreaker reference is towards keeping the device unrooted stock.
Sent from a digital distance.
No hate, just assumptions which is my bad. Didn't mean to come off like that and for that I'm sorry. Just been looking at dev topics too long where some people are oblivious to everything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
No worries, appreciate the reply back!
So, rather then litter the forums with duplicate threads or encouraging duplicates, i'll just toss random questions and happenings in this one regarding my experiences with the device.
At least until i've had time to go through this sub-forum for the device more.
Feel free to answer any questions or not seen here, or comment on anything in this thread.
I just got home and my otterbox defender was here. Never had an otterbox before, so - wow.
Insane level of protection. Before it was so light and fragile feeling. Now, I like it so much better. A little bit of weight, a little bit of bulk, in just the right amount.
I feel like this device was made with the intention of sticking it in this case.
...And putting it in the holster, makes like the completion of armor for the device, what with the hard plastic shell shielding the screen from harm.
Seriously thinking about cutting the belt clip off and just leaving the smooth armor shell piece to pop on and slide the device into my pocket with. Seems like the perfect tweak to make it just right.
I feel likw even after only having it for a few hours that my future devices will take into account whether or not I can get one of these for it.
Okay - the drawback to having a screen big enough to actually use a soft keyboard on is the denial of one handed use.
No matter how I hold it, I just can't manage the device with one hand.
Now that I have the otterbox on it, i've been willing to try shifting my grip one handed during use, but really doesn't help much.
My other device is much smaller and I can use the whole screen comfortably with one thumb.
This one, not so much. If I have to reach across the screen, my palm will hit something before my thumb can get there.
I do think the benefits of the larger screen on my eyes and the actual enjoyment of the device far outweighs this inconvenience - but it does bug me.
Blue6IX said:
Okay - the drawback to having a screen big enough to actually use a soft keyboard on is the denial of one handed use.
No matter how I hold it, I just can't manage the device with one hand.
Now that I have the otterbox on it, i've been willing to try shifting my grip one handed during use, but really doesn't help much.
My other device is much smaller and I can use the whole screen comfortably with one thumb.
This one, not so much. If I have to reach across the screen, my palm will hit something before my thumb can get there.
I do think the benefits of the larger screen on my eyes and the actual enjoyment of the device far outweighs this inconvenience - but it does bug me.
Click to expand...
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You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
bgolden84 said:
You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
You know, I had seen that before but it wasn't something I could really use with my other devices.
I may have to give it another look, given that this SGSIII is about what that thing was designed for.
Thanks for reminding me of something I had written off long ago.
bgolden84 said:
You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
That is actually pretty damn cool.I just wonder if it would annoy me for my phone to not sit flat on its back.
Edit: Oh wow. $30 for a little piece of plastic. Eek. I don't think i could live with myself if I spent that much on this.
I wonder how much that flygrip thing hinders getting it in/out of a pocket??
When you do get around to trying ROMs let me suggest the Synergy ROM. It is actively developed, offers all the good of Samsung's skin along with most of the great tweaks that make rooting so worth while. Moving from the DX to this phone has been great largely in part to this ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792499
Sent on the fly.
azumandias said:
When you do get around to trying ROMs let me suggest the Synergy ROM. It is actively developed, offers all the good of Samsung's skin along with most of the great tweaks that make rooting so worth while. Moving from the DX to this phone has been great largely in part to this ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792499
Sent on the fly.
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Click to collapse
Appreciate the heads up. Today is the last day of return without penalty, think i'm gonna keep it.
Right now It's just rooted, awesome quick guide here somewhere and I was able to bang it out in a few minutes while I was packing my truck to hit the road again for work.
When I get the chance, i'll pop a custom recovery in to block ota's - but right now exploring touchwiz and deciding what I do and don't like.
One thing bugging me is the device never seeming to be able to resume playing music after a call without having to mess with it... no matter what player I use.
No slight against the devs who put so much of themselves into the great works they've made for this device, but most likely I won't sample the roms available and just craft my own. I'll never get what I want unless I build it myself.
Thinking this time i'll just build from source instead of hacking apart a manufacturers version of Android.
Most likely i'll wait until i've got what I want or very near to before playing with other devs works. In large part to keep myself from being influenced by the directions they've taken.
I still haven't recovered all the files I hosted before goo went down, so getting all my works back up and available from my other device is taking up the time I can allocate to dev at the moment.
My laptop is on it's last legs, so until I can replace it ( not long now! ) can't get any real dev done anyway. Just small stuff. Can't keep it cool enough to compile a kernel even sitting on a hotel A/C vent to make it through the whole compile process of a gingerbread kernel without overheating and crashing...ICS is beyond the capabilities of my available hardware at the moment unfortunately.
Work is keeping me mad busy travelling the country ( USA) but i'm starting to have little bits of free time here and there around the constant exhaustion.
Pretty soon I should not only have the physical ability to stay awake long enough to learn something, but also the necessary hardware to do the learning on.
Meantime, it's ten or fifteen minutes of research here and there trying to familiarize myself with the device and the ICS source on my laptop for as long as I can keep it from overheating and shutting off.
It's okay, though, there's a lot to catch up on without needing to dive in and do for me at this point anyway, so the lack of acceptable hardware is more of an annoyance then a hindrance.
I figure i'll just keep adding random notes and observations to this thread to look back on later.
Comments, criticisms and suggestions most welcome from all of you out there!
How did you "thank" your own posts?
Sent from a strange blue box hurtling through time and space.
Haro912 said:
How did you "thank" your own posts?
Sent from a strange blue box hurtling through time and space.
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I have no clue, it's showing I thanked both mine and yours, but I hadn't even seen yours yet and it already showed thanks for it?
Okay - palm swipe for screenshot is virtually impossible with the raised edges of the otterbox defender around the screen.
Might also be my not having cut out the otterbox screen protector yet, so has two on it and touches suck sometimes.
Well, just threw cwm on it, to block the ota.
...and found picture in picture video vieqing - so cool. I'm watching a movie right now while typing his on he S3. That's foward pogress and leveraging multi-tasking capabilities.

Advice Wanted: Two Roads Diverged... Or Was It Three?

I'll try to keep this brief, however summing up one's station in life is normally not such a task that lends itself to brevity. If you want to skip all the background and go to the reason for this thread, start at the paragraph that begins with an asterisk.
I'm almost thirty, doing the whole wife and kid’s routine, and I find myself truly perplexed on what course to take in my life. I've always loved tech, I can remember my first real fascination with something was when I was in my early teenage years and my Dad bought a computer. It was Hewlett Packard, with only dial-up, AOL at that, and I wanted to know how it worked. My very first book I ever purchased with my own money was "DOS For Dummies". I was enthralled; I went through all the commands learning what each one did. I can't count how many times I had to format that computer and start over, and the frustration it caused my Dad as each time I broke it he thought for sure, that was the end. Yet every time, no matter how bad it got, you could format it and start over. I always liked that, most people dread a system format, but for me it was so liberating, I was never afraid to break anything because I knew I could just wipe it all and start over. Things like installing drivers and resetting system configurations totally engaged me, and still do. Either way with this DOS book, I was hooked, I loved being able to manipulate the computer from the command line, show off the "cool" things I could do. I should have known right then that this is what I wanted to do with my life.
However as I got older, I didn't stay in computer land; I ventured out and found girls! Sex, drugs, and... well techno actually. I spent a lot of time partying, and only went to college as a last resort like a lot of kid’s do, to get their parents off their back. When I graduated, computers still being a hobby, I was obsessed with being a millionaire. I saw quickly money could get you things that made you happy, and I remember distinctly looking at the tech industry and thinking "there's no money in that". I floated around aimlessly, even managing to start my own company, which was short lived and closed after a year. I'd worked a lot of jobs, but nothing that made me really happy. I had found becoming a millionaire quickly was no easy task, and with the wife and the baby was not something I could afford to gamble on anymore. I needed to find work that fulfilled me, that I enjoyed.
So two years ago I decided to go back into something tech oriented. I had a small background with HTML and tried to masquerade as a web designer. I got a job through a friend of the family, only to find I was severely out of my depth. With no formal training and close to 10 years passed, web development had changed a lot! It wasn't just HTML; it was CSS, and PHP, a lot of other acronyms and two or three big software programs you needed to understand. Not feeling too thwarted because I knew my heart wasn't in web design, I answered an ad for a "Junior Developer", "no experience needed, will train". I thought this is it! Programming was like my DOS books I started with so long ago. I could actually learn to TALK to computers and make them do what I wanted.
While the company that hired me had the best of intentions, they had never taken on this task before, of hiring a programmer with no experience and teaching them. The owner was swamped with his own projects, and within a month had paired me with another Access Database Developer. She herself only had a few years’ experience, and was NOT the teaching type. She was cold and impatient. She also gave off this threatened vibe, like the owner had hired me to replace her. As you can imagine it didn't last long either, after three months of that I was brought into a conference room and told "we just don't see you progressing to the level we'd need you to be at for this to make sense." Imagine that, a guy with no programming experience, was paired up with an employee who'd never taught anyone, and herself had a full workload of clients to satisfy, who needed to teach me not only programming but database design concept and implementation with ACCESS! Looking back on it now, I see how unreasonable it was for them to think I could be a competent programmer in three months’ time. However at the time I really beat myself up about it. After all this is what I wanted to do, the owner was such a smart guy, and I studied every night. Maybe it was me that just wasn't cut out for programming. It actually still bothers me now.
Thankfully, they saw a passion in my heart for tech. It just so happened their hosting manager was a one man band, and was having a tough time getting his job done with all these lower level phone calls and emails he had to deal with. So they created a Help Desk position for me, which I've thrived in. I have almost a decade of customer service experience working for call centers, and I love solving problems, so the position was a natural fit for me. This was about eight months ago. Since then the hosting manager also introduced me to the networking side of things, how to work with servers and hardware etc. I found all that equally as fascinating, he was nothing like the girl who had "tried" to train me before. He was knowledgeable, smart, and patient; he had a great sense of humor, but was ex-military and had a way of dropping the hammer when he had to. Right as he was beginning to open this whole new world to me, last month I found he's leaving the company. He's a giant whale of a fish in a tiny pond and he's got to move on. Before he did, he got me on a path to work on my CompTIA A+ Certification. I feel very prepared and I'm sure I'll pass it.
* Here's where my problem comes in. Ever since starting the Help Desk job I've loved it. For the first time in my life I'm not watching the clock. I'm not waiting for lunch time to come, and quite often I'm even staying hours past my punch out time because I'm so into my work. However I've handicapped myself. While others have had fifteen years to be doing this work, I'm just now getting started at thirty. My two greatest traits are my knack for dealing with people and my tenacious problem solving skills. When I don't understand something, or can't figure it out, I'm not a pass the buck kinda guy, I'll spend hours on it until I can figure it out. I enjoy the satisfaction of giving the client a great product, and the "eureka" moment when I figure out the issue is like a drug for me! I LOVE the sensation that comes with understanding.
The thing is after my A+ I want to move on to my next cert and start tackling it. Not just to say I have the cert, but to gain the knowledge that comes with it. Problem is I don't know what my next move should be. The "tech industry" is so wide open. In my heart, I think I want to go back into programming. I like the idea of speaking with computers, making them do what I want. However I have the bad taste of the failed Access Programming job fresh in my mind, I wasn't "getting it". Was it that I needed to give it more time or was three months long enough to understand the foundations? What's worse, where I was comfortable with the command line, now I'm intimidated by it. I seem suited for networking, talking with people and tracking down problems. Or do I just feel that way because I had a better teacher in that field and had a more positive response?
I guess that's why I wrote this beast of a thread, to give you a little background. I'm hoping there are some more seasoned professionals out there who can say "you sound like you'd be a great _____ " or "your mindset sounds geared toward _____ ". Again there are so many specialties, maybe there's some other field I haven't even considered. I don't know many experienced tech professionals, so I don't have anyone to talk with about this. All I know is I LOVE technology, I love problem solving, I'm about to have my A+ and 1 years’ experience as a Help Desk Analyst... where do I go from here?
Okay well it doesn't have to be all about me. If someone wants to share their tech career stories, how they started of in the business and where they are today. I could really use some kinda discourse on the subject.
me too
Thanks for Sharing your story, man. After reading, I am moved to share my position in life as it is increasingly similar to yours; I'm thirty, I love Tech and my career is at a crossroads as well...
It is a bit late right now so I will update this tomorrow and.. who knows maybe you'll have some advice for me.

[Q] Bored with my phone. What to do?

I've read two other threads about people getting bored with their devices and frankly, the suggestions that they provided would have been great, had I not tried every single one of them already! If you have ever played a video game for hours on end to finally complete every single objective in the entire game, you know that once you do that you have two options from that point: Play it all over again because it was a quality game and you loved it in its entirety, or quit because you feel that playing again would be boring and pointless. That's the way I feel about my HTC One S. I feel that I've "completed the game", or done every possible thing their is to do with this phone that doesn't require me to create my own works. I've flashed many roms, kernels and mods. I've put hundreds of hours of mileage on the music player. I've tried to think of creative ways to arrange my homescreen layout and I've even put atleast 4 different cases onto the phone. I've thought about chroming the aluminum backing of the phone, tinting the glass where the big T-Mobile logo sits underneath it, or spray-painting the housing black.
I wish there was more to this phone and even more to Android, considering I paid nearly $300 for the darned thing because I wanted it so badly before my contract was up. I completely regret buying the HTC One S and feel stupid that I didn't wait for the SGSIII when my contract ended. I'm stuck with this thing until August of 2014... does anyone have ANY suggestions, ANY, about what I should do with this thing? Should I take a break from it and stay away from it? Should I use my old Galaxy S instead for a change? Any feedback would be fantastic :fingers-crossed:
more out of your phone
there is always more apps and more things coming out for any android phone so there is always going to be more things to do and there is even loads more to do whn you root your andoid phone then you can change the performance of your phone and even flash new roms and kernel to your phone to make it look brand new.
Try customize phone,root,custom rom,apps,I have htc sensation one year,and every day i can doing with phone some new.
Just use it as the utilitarian device it ultimately is ? Find something new to be your "hobby" type project instead of your phone ? Learn to code and develop ?
Are you looking for something to keep you busy when you're away from home ? Just a hobby in general ?
Change of rom and kernel, you will see that it can be interesting to see the differences...

[REQNET] A Letter of Influence

Wasn't to certain on where to stick this so Mod please feel free to move if needed.
I think when we look at motivation these days we find ourselves to get. a little more unmotivated. There's just no true value anymore it seems. Well, today I wanted to take some time out to write to every Dev and anyone inspiring to be one and I hope it reaches out to some of you as an influence rather than motivation. I feel being influenced will drive you to do what you love, influence is the foundation of what motivation derives from. I shouldn't have to feel motivated because I am influenced self-motivation is already there and established. I can't tell you how many times I have stayed up for 2 days straight coding away, and refusing to accept 'No' as the only possible answer has paid off.*
When I first started I heard a quote, and a man came on through the audio of my computer while watching youtube and the man quoted in the video and it goes as follows.
"The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry our their dream." -Les Brown
Thinking about that made me realize that if I was to be truly happy in life, I'd first have to be influenced as self-sustained happiness should always come from within first or you will only do more bad than good with those around you. I guess bad and good are self-opinionated definitions and argument able through the eyes of each individual dependent on terms. The moral of it is, *if you can always give a happy version of you than those around you will always want to be around you and in turn hoping so, they may also be inspired.
Before I get too far down the topic I want to say I worked multiple jobs, Real Estate, Cellular, Insurance, Medical and at first they were all great. What I found out is I got burned out. The last thing we look at a mostly atlas to me Is what I love to do. What I love to do has been plagued by society as something not of true work, unless you build multi-million dollar companies from home, I am sorry to say a job like being a full-time Dev reliant on income from people via unlocking or rooting or device customization services isn't exactly eye-popping, After hearing that quote I looked at my wife and I told her "I'm going all in on something, I want you to trust me, and I will never work for another man again." I got tired of protocol from HR groups who didn't even step foot in the office that builds and structures the corporate foundation.*
I started with getting my hands on an HTC MyTouch and following that an HD2 running Gingerbread. I soon needed my service unlocked and I ended up than meeting with a guy named Jeff who a year later would be sentenced to prison for unfortunate reasons. While working with Jeff he should me how the Windows CMD and Os terminal operate and how just by reforming command arguments you can create exploits in the smallest of areas and depend on what you're doing bigger ones as well. I was inthralled with the logic from it and my immediate response was "This was way too technical." right there I determined my success or failure and for months went with no break through and hating the 9-5.*
I decided I'd pick it back up only after being unemployed a bit, I was bored, tiredness and needed something to do while the wife slept. I hopped on and I started watching and reading guides via youtube and XDA and really the one thing I think I least looked at or kind of refuse to because of being lazy was the tools provided to do a lot of the work for you. Ask yourself that before you even decided to code something, or before even knowing how. We viewed it in a term of having to manually write it line for line, we never seen the tools first. The moment I got my hands on those tools and the understanding of relative arguments and manipulating arguments to produce the opposite response I was hooked. I was so driven even now I still love to just pick apart a room and it's OS even if I feel it may be a dead end I can find myself lost for hours in building.
What stops people is other peoples opinion, not just friends but the real important ones. How many of you without looking at your family first have had a stranger or someone not too close to you tell you "you can't-do something" I think we all have, now how many times can you see in that light, that those closest to you told you that you can't-do something? For most of us, the ones we care more about have the most affect. They are no different then a strangers opinion, self-happiness is yours to have in the most selfish right and with that comes sacrifice, if your wife is going to leave you because she can't accept the time it takes to build a dream, let her go. It's selfishness, see because her personal happiness would have a based upon the value of you removing yours to increase hers. Not that in that point in time it would hold much weight but it does add up, and that negativity mounting faster than your Hard disk to your computer after a late night computer software sabotage from rage. I am happy to say my wife has stuck by mysids on sometimes days with no sleep and damn near losing my mind. We both continue to smile and be happy because our love is depended on the pretense and communication of one another and she knows I can go all the way and get the dream job or build the dream company one day when my reputation reaches that level.*
What I'm getting at is code has forever changed my life, XDA and it guides and it's such humble, kind and trust user base has kept me going. I know I haven't been active and this looks like a new account, but I never leaked, I only helped people physically learn. I used it as the dictionary to my new found passion. I decided to join here to repay that honor, to teach those wanting to learn and to provide roms and builds to some devices that go unnoticed. I know what it's like not having much and not a great phone and wanting a great phone. To create software to give even the slowest of phones that boost or that drive or that deadening it needs to adhere to the persons wants and needs in relevance to speed or performance is important.*
So lastly I thank you, and I want you all to know that I am still here working, I own my own work from home company, intact 3 of them just this one is developing so I stay busy but it pays off. Don't forget to make time for those who give you encouragement, you will need someone there to pick you up when no alternative option has been presented within yourself. My wife and my friends and not to be cheesy have seen me to the point where being behind on the bills and getting evicted has done to me, but I kept going. In my head I would wake up on day's where I felt suicide was a peace of mind, it wasn't I was just tired, I was emotionally drained. I stepped back a few days, worked to make some money on other services I naturally was good at and I paid the bills because I learned from that eviction. *I went back to coding a few days later with a clear mind. To all of you, do not trust your emotions when you are tired or angry, you will only do things that you naturally wouldn't do. As an example thing of what creates an argument with someone and what makes someone laugh. 9/10 that argument will be a topic that has been an issue and just like issues it gets worse the more you talk about it. Learn to leave things alone also it's not a bad thing, just take a break. With all that done, doing this job has never been so amazing. I look forward to meeting all of you and I hope this acts as a letter to those experienced to keep going, your work is appreciated very much. I get to read scripts and learn more things and more work arounds then I KNEW. Have the power to accept you haven't mastered anything and you still have everything to learn.*
God Bless
TheCodeDev

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