HuffPost/BuzzFeed and the Learn to Code
Because nothing is impossible.
Haha no. If you missed the memo, HuffPost and Buzzfeed axed around 20% of their staff (all journalist) and it borns a meme: “Learn to code”. It suggests that they should learn to program. I won’t talk about politic but:
Programming is not for everybody. I love to program, and I have colleagues that love it. However, there are a masses of programmers that hate their jobs. They picked the wrong career for the wrong reason: money. Money is a needing but it is not everything, and they will never never be better than a programmer that loves his/her job. So it discourages the phrase: “if you are unemployed then you must learn to code”, it is crap! And we have enough dealing with bad programmers.
I usually don’t put motivational images (they are cheap but I’m ok with meme), and I’m not a fan of Steve Jobs. However, it fits perfectly to my point.
In reality, nothing is impossible, but if you want to achieve something that it’s not in your scope then you put more rank on it, you must put passion, motivation and hard working. Everybody has a dream but how many people are willing to pay the price for it? Only a few ones.
For this case, journalists (not all but the average) tend to be lazy (1) and Buzzfeed and HuffPost don’t have the best of the crop (in comparison with other news outlets) (proof: 2).To copy and paste is not a work well done, also to miss to check the validity of the source (error and fact-checking) is not a professional work.
Btw, if you are a journalist and you aren’t lazy then it is not about you.
(1) http://decodedarts.com/lazy-journalism-and-the-internet/529
(2) www huffingtonpost dot com/entry/jo-imperio-masculinity-photos_us_57f40b81e4b04c71d6f0886b Warning: the article is crap!.
Perks
A (good) programmer needs to have at least one of the next perk:
- Be Smart, it is not the same to be intelligent. For example, most mathematicians are intelligent but they are lousy programmers.
- Be disciplined. It is possible to be a good programmer if you are disciplined.
- All the above.
Let’s say that you are not smart & indisciplined. It is possible to learn how to program if you get more discipline or you train hard and try to be a bit smart. It is not impossible (unless you are irremediably dumb or a mess) but it could take some time (years in some cases) and you work hard for it.
So, to learn to program is not about money, race, age or what-ever excuse, it depends on the student. In fact, it is cheap to study programming (Udemy, free books, free tutorials, and even free on-site courses).
I hired developers (as a consultant for a company) and I have seen lots of excuses (including cries), one candidate says to me:
- I don’t know how to program because my family is poor.
So I said, my family was poor too (my father was fired when I entered the University, so worked and paid for my studies), so it is not an excuse!.
However, another candidate says:
- I don’t know this technology but I can learn it.
He was a good hiring because he showed motivation.
So, can I be a programmer?.
For example, let’s say the next exercise:
The next code shows 4 ponies starting from 1 and ending with the 4th pony:
showponies(1,1,4,”Twilight Sparkle”)
- 1 Twilight Sparkle.
- 2 Rainbow Dash.
- 3 Pinkie Pie.
- 4 Rarity.
And your task is to show 20 ponies, starting from the 10th pony. Why? Because the Free World depends on your success!.
Of course, you don’t know the answer straight by watching the exercise but we could test it. For example the number 4, it rings to the end pony. So let’s test it with 5.
showponies(1,1,5,”Twilight Sparkle”)
- 1 Twilight Sparkle.
- 2 Rainbow Dash.
- 3 Pinkie Pie.
- 4 Rarity.
- 5 Applejack.
Gotcha!.
If you are disciplined, then you could do some extra tests.
Now, we want to start from the pony 10. Question, what is the pony 10?. We don’t know, but we could test it.
showponies(1,1,10,”Twilight Sparkle”)
- 1 Twilight Sparkle.
- 2 Rainbow Dash. …
- 5 Applejack.
- 10 Derpy Hooves
Ok, so we are doing it fine. We have the 10th pony. Now, let’s start with the pony 10. The code shows “Twilight Sparkle” so let’s change to “Derpy Hooves”
showponies(1,1,10,”Derpy Hooves”)
- 1 Twilight Sparkle.
- 2 Rainbow Dash. …
- 5 Applejack.
- 10 Derpy Hooves
Nope, it did nothing :-| So, what I know:
showponies(1,1,X,”Y”)
- X indicates the end pony.
- Y does nothing (apparently)
So, let’s test with the first 1
showponies(2,1,10,”Derpy Hooves”)
- 1 Twilight Sparkle.
- 3 Pinkie Pie. …
- 5 Applejack.
- 9 Sweetie Belle.
So, what the first 1 did?. It appaently indicates the jump between ponies, we could test with showponies(3,1,10,”Derpy Hooves”) and check if it is right and yes, it works (it shows 1,4,7), so I know what the first one means. So, let’s test the second one.
showponies(1,2,10,”Derpy Hooves”)
- 2 Rainbow Dash. …
- 5 Applejack.
- 10 Derpy Hooves
Bingo! (like the Otter)
So, the result is
showponies(1,10,20,”???”)
Is ??? breaking something, we don’t know, but it works (apparently).
This exercise shows a brute way to evaluate a problem, but it works. You could whine that this exercise is unfair because it lacks documentation or we don’t see the code and what it does, and yes, it is unfair but happens. For example, to connect to a webservice that it’s not documented but the header of the function.
Is it possible to change of career?.
Yep, it is possible, but it discourages to see new programmers that lack the motivation. In my experience, I have trained students (programming courses), including adults that are never programmed a thing, so it is possible but only if the students are willing to learn. But, this career is not for everybody.
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