Teaching Newbies
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So you've finished your computer science degree and you've just realised you actually don't know everything in the world. What are the fun ways to teach newbies to the industries? For me it was development articles and.... recently I think stuff like industry related comics are good for teaching people new to the industry, fun and innovative at least. Example: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/[^] This is something developers can related to. and of course for keeping up to date... http://www.codeproject.com/script/News/List.aspx[^]
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
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So you've finished your computer science degree and you've just realised you actually don't know everything in the world. What are the fun ways to teach newbies to the industries? For me it was development articles and.... recently I think stuff like industry related comics are good for teaching people new to the industry, fun and innovative at least. Example: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/[^] This is something developers can related to. and of course for keeping up to date... http://www.codeproject.com/script/News/List.aspx[^]
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
Just let them look at some legacy code that someone pooped out - and ask them to fix it. Most effective if it's uncommented. After seeing the horror they will Shun the Dark Side . . . or Embrace It.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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So you've finished your computer science degree and you've just realised you actually don't know everything in the world. What are the fun ways to teach newbies to the industries? For me it was development articles and.... recently I think stuff like industry related comics are good for teaching people new to the industry, fun and innovative at least. Example: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/[^] This is something developers can related to. and of course for keeping up to date... http://www.codeproject.com/script/News/List.aspx[^]
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
Entirely wrong, newbies usually are taught in a wrong way. I learnt programming waking up all night, listening to taunts my brother, friends and other family members had for me, getting sick for working 24x7 in 40+ degree Celsius. I made it! Should I recommend the same way to others? Wrong, wrong, wrong... Wrong. Programming is fun, agreed. But only when entirely known. You can throw "Bobby Tables[^]" joke at a beginner and laugh alone in the room. Comics, some might dislike them. I don't love comics, I remember that PHP joke, entirely stupid comic. That doesn't happen at all. If someone prefers PHP for development, they don't hate it. If they do (like me) they ignoring chatter about PHP.
Here is what I say, try to share your experience with him. How you did it, but what was the main idea. Share your idea, motivation, aim with him. Tell him how you felt and how you managed. Not how many times you drank tea (after making it to this stage, I have taken an addiction of 7 mugs of tea a day! Dang). If you are an instructor, please try to learn the student before student learns programming. :) Learn where he lacks knowledge and polish him. Learn how soon he quits, and try to provide him with confidence and strength. Learn where he wants to be shared some in-depth knowledge and try to provide him with fun riddles, algorithms and other similar problems that would provide him with in-depth solutions. Keeping up-to-date is not required while learning programming. ;P
The shit I complain about It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem ~! Firewall !~
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Just let them look at some legacy code that someone pooped out - and ask them to fix it. Most effective if it's uncommented. After seeing the horror they will Shun the Dark Side . . . or Embrace It.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
I quite agree, it was 50% of the training I received in the company I'm working for. The other half was solving problems, with a low penalty in case of failure, that made me step into the common problems and patterns we encounter normally.
Geek code v 3.12 { GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X }
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So you've finished your computer science degree and you've just realised you actually don't know everything in the world. What are the fun ways to teach newbies to the industries? For me it was development articles and.... recently I think stuff like industry related comics are good for teaching people new to the industry, fun and innovative at least. Example: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/[^] This is something developers can related to. and of course for keeping up to date... http://www.codeproject.com/script/News/List.aspx[^]
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
We hired an intern about 2 months ago to migrate legacy code. The only programming he had done previously was Java. I started him out with a small 3K LOC module. After a couple of weeks, I felt bad, and provided him with the module mostly done and asked him to finish it. 5 weeks later, and I still haven't gotten anything back. It's a good thing we are paying him by the module! :laugh: I was quite shocked a couple of weeks ago when he finally asked for help. While on a remote, I set a breakpoint in VS and started stepping through his code. In amazement, he exclaimed, 'I didn't know you could do that!'. :doh:
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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We hired an intern about 2 months ago to migrate legacy code. The only programming he had done previously was Java. I started him out with a small 3K LOC module. After a couple of weeks, I felt bad, and provided him with the module mostly done and asked him to finish it. 5 weeks later, and I still haven't gotten anything back. It's a good thing we are paying him by the module! :laugh: I was quite shocked a couple of weeks ago when he finally asked for help. While on a remote, I set a breakpoint in VS and started stepping through his code. In amazement, he exclaimed, 'I didn't know you could do that!'. :doh:
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
That is not at all surprising. Personally, I'd have been observing a junior much more closely and passed on helpful information like this much earlier.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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So you've finished your computer science degree and you've just realised you actually don't know everything in the world. What are the fun ways to teach newbies to the industries? For me it was development articles and.... recently I think stuff like industry related comics are good for teaching people new to the industry, fun and innovative at least. Example: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/[^] This is something developers can related to. and of course for keeping up to date... http://www.codeproject.com/script/News/List.aspx[^]
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
Even Java to non-embedded C may be feasible, but that's just too big a jump, unless he's already motivated enough to teach himself, why bother. A better developer who wanted to make that leap would have bought an RPi/Ard and taught himself enough to be useful.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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We hired an intern about 2 months ago to migrate legacy code. The only programming he had done previously was Java. I started him out with a small 3K LOC module. After a couple of weeks, I felt bad, and provided him with the module mostly done and asked him to finish it. 5 weeks later, and I still haven't gotten anything back. It's a good thing we are paying him by the module! :laugh: I was quite shocked a couple of weeks ago when he finally asked for help. While on a remote, I set a breakpoint in VS and started stepping through his code. In amazement, he exclaimed, 'I didn't know you could do that!'. :doh:
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
Not surprising at all, my first debugging method was to intersperse "meaningful" fprintf to debug files. See, many professors don't know how to use a debugger or never teach it... Also, I discovered i could "set the next execution line" only several months ago, after 3 years of hardcore 8-hours-a-day (or much more) programming :D
Geek code v 3.12 { GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X }
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That is not at all surprising. Personally, I'd have been observing a junior much more closely and passed on helpful information like this much earlier.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
It's an unusual situation as he works from home and is apparently either very independent or embarrassed. I had roughly one hour of one on one with him when we hired him, and he seemed to 'get it'. At that time, I explained what was to be done and let him know that I was available anytime to help. Even in the first week, I took the small project I had given him and spent a few days migrating it myself so that he could see a working example. The only thing left to do was to replace the ADODB components with .NET counterparts. I even sent instructions/samples on how to do this. It's been three weeks since I last heard from him. I'm actually thinking that he's not too serious about it and just needs the internship to fill a credit. At any rate, he has assured me (in our limited conversations) that he has learned a lot, and that it is a lot harder than he thought it would be. He's young and living at home for the summer. (doesn't really need the money) :)
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Not surprising at all, my first debugging method was to intersperse "meaningful" fprintf to debug files. See, many professors don't know how to use a debugger or never teach it... Also, I discovered i could "set the next execution line" only several months ago, after 3 years of hardcore 8-hours-a-day (or much more) programming :D
Geek code v 3.12 { GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X }
I agree that debugging is simply not covered enough (at least not when I went through 15 years ago) in college programming courses. I remember that feeling of enlightenment when I discovered breakpoints and F8/F11. :-D Holy crap! :wtf: I can actually edit the code while debugging! Awesome! :)
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse