Ask Slashdot: How Does an IT Generalist Get Back Into Programming?

CanadianSchism writes "I've been in the public sector for the past 6 years. I started off doing my work study in web design and a bit of support, eventually going through the interview process to fill in a data processing technician post, and getting the job. The first four years of my work life were spent in various schools, fixing computers, implementing new hardware, rolling out updates/ghosting labs, troubleshooting basic network and printer problems, etc. I was eventually asked to work on the administrative information systems with an analyst, which I've been doing for the past 2 years. That's consisted of program support, installing updates to the pay/financial/purchasing/tax/energy systems, taking backups on SQL servers, etc. I've never had the opportunity to take time for myself, and jump back into my first love: programming. I've picked up Powershell books (have two here at the office), but haven't gotten anything down yet, as there are always other projects that come up and whittle my attention to learning a language down to zilch. This new year will see a change in that, however. I'll be setting aside an hour every day to devote to learning a new language, in the eventual hope that I can leave this company (take a sabbatical) and hop into the private sector for a few years. My question to you all is, what language should I start with, to learn and get back into the principles of programming, that will help me build a personal portfolio, but will also lend to learning other languages? At this point, I'm not sure if I'd like to make/maintain custom applications, or if back-end web programming would be more interesting, or any of the other niches out there."

Comments

Python

[HaZardman27]

It's easy, it's fun, and it's versatile. It would be useful to all of the field you mentioned and would also be useful for scripting if you do end up going back to IT.

For me, I do a hell of a lot of FOSS code

[ios and web coder]

I do it for free; usually for NPOs that can't afford programmers. Helps me to learn.

I don't particularly care whether or not it ever becomes "famous" (it won't because it addresses a very small, select audience). I just care whether or not it is the best quality I can do.

The nice thing, is that there is minimal pressure, which is good, as my "day job" gets first dibs on my time.

I don't watch TV. I don't hunt. I don't tweak cars, and I don't like to spend much time tending a server.

I just like to code. I also make sure that I don't write stuff that competes with my "day job." I like my company, and they could easily make my life miserable if I did. I also don't spend much of my "day job's" time on my personal stuff. I don't mind spending a bit of it, though, as they DEFINITELY benefit from my extracurricular work.

That works for me.

Re:For me, I do a hell of a lot of FOSS code

[ios and web coder]

Eh?

Didn't you read what I wrote?

The nature of my job doesn't allow me to do anything more than a quick check to see if the site is visible through a firewall. Since everything at work is monitored and controlled up the yin-yang, it's actually impossible to do more than that.

Let me break it into smal, easy-to-comprehend words:

• I own the computer I do the work on (since I use Macs -that ain't cheap). I don't use the company kit for that.
• I own the time I do the work. lots and lots of it.
• I don't list the work I do on my taxes, because it would trigger an instant audit. It would probably come out to a very significant figure, if I slapped an hourly figure on it. It would also probably cause problems for the organizations for which I do work.
• I take vacation time (not company time) to seek technical training on my own (many) dimes.
• My company benefits VERY MUCH from my personal endeavours. I am a senior software engineering manager with intimate, up-to-date knowledge of engineering practices and workflows. That is incredibly valuable. Just ask any of my employees. I'm not some clueless BOFH "bungie boss."
• My post was stupid. I phrased it badly. I should have known that curmudgeons would jump on it.

I've linked to just one or two of the many projects I do in other posts. If you actually give a damn, you can go check them out.

Don't be such a sourpuss. Life's way too short for that crap.

Python

[cinghiale]

http://xkcd.com/353/ Results may vary but yes it is that simple and powerful.

Make a Project

[bill_mcgonigle]

Pick something you love, or an itch you're dying to scratch. If it's a passion you'll stick with it.

Then pick a language that fits the niche that you're working in. If you're gluing unix bits together that's one thing, if you're going to be pushing out a big web app, that's another, and if you're making meatspace things go "Bing" then that's a third.

As you said, an hour a day is a great way to get yourself to be serious about it.

Python...

[MarcoPon]

Take a look at this Google Python Class video: it will get you immediately up & running: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKTZoB2Vjuk

Re:Python...

[ios and web coder]

I guess you never used Pascal, eh?

Over the years, I've programmed Pascal, FORTRAN, BASIC, PL/I, C, C++, Ruby, Python, Machine Code, ASM, PHP, JavaScript, HTML, XSLT, etc.

My longest-term language was C++ (over 20 years), but I now mostly do PHP (Server-side) and JavaScript and Objective-C (client-side).

ObjC was weird to learn (not as weird as XSLT, though), after C++, but I've got the hang of it.

Language (to me) is almost irrelevant. I can learn a new language to a useful level in a couple of weeks.

However, what takes the time, is the framework/SDK/API. That can take years to master.

Scripting languages (like PHP and Python) rely on enormous libraries. These can take a long time to learn, and learn well. They also tend to be moving targets.

Stay in the IT Discipline....go DevOps

[Midnight_Falcon]

My opinion here is you've developed skills in IT, but now you're looking to do a bit of a "paradigm shift" and go into Development. However, there's big money these days for Sysadmins who can code well, e.g. python, powershell, ruby, and use it it some type of framework like Puppet or CFEngine etc.

You can become a rockstar DevOps Sysadmin if you get this down

I'd suggest Ruby first, then Python...but of course, you'll want to make sure your Linux/unix sysadmin knowledge is top notch too. I'm self taught so I'm not very good at telling people how to learn it besides "eh figure it out", but I'm sure you are industrious enough :)

In conclusion: Stick with IT. Also add Programming. Collect $$ for being a DevOps specialist.

Re:Stay in the IT Discipline....go DevOps

[Midnight_Falcon]

Become an IT consultant. You can get jobs at IT consulting companies at a junior to mid level, because that's how they make money -- paying junior guys little and then billing out at $125-$200 hour for them.
Then, you will learn to get your skill level and job title up to that of "Systems Engineer", and then maybe "Senior Systems Engineer." During this time, you'll learn a lot more about tech, get out of just hardware/application support, and get exposed to lots of projects.

You will be sent work that is way above your head and have to figure it out, and in the process maybe even learn some PowerShell, etc. Then in your free time you can further develop those skills

The caveat is that IT consulting work is often difficult, with numerous simultaneous demands from lots of clients.

It requires good communication and strong interpersonal skills, it's very much about relationships and "soft" skills rather than specific tech skills.

But it's also like training that you get paid for, but only for really smart/diligent people (it's the real world, B+ is not good enough, projects have to all get an A).

Just apply to IT consulting shops every time you see a job opening. Even send in resumes if they aren't looking for people -- consulting shops are ALWAYS looking for people and if you send your resume to the right person, you might get hired real fast.

For some background, I've been an IT consultant for 7 years, worked in-house at a company for 2, and still do consulting on the side. My job title is "Systems Architect" or "Chief Engineer"

HTML/CSS/PHP

[Danzigism]

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. After working various IT positions for the past 15 years, it wasn't till about 4 years ago I decided to get involved with web development. I picked up a book from O'Reilly called "Head First in to PHP and MYSQL" which taught me an incredible amount of web fundamentals and seemed to have been geared towards people that already have a background in technology. Without meaning to give them a free plug, I really appreciate the "Head First" series of books that O'Reilly publishes. They are definitely fun and exciting. Not just for PHP and MySQL, but tons of other languages like Python, C#, Java, and more. I thought I was a lost cause when it comes to programming thanks to only having minor experience in HTML and QBASIC hehe. Needless to say, it definitely got me interested in programming again. Worked for me. Might work for you too.

Just do it...

[erp_consultant]

Sounds simple but that's really all there is to it. Pick a language with a good support community and dive in. Python is a good choice because of it's versatility and support. Perl is still around and is a great scripting language. The important thing is pick something and stick to it. I've seen so many people with bookshelves full of programming books and they never got to the end of any of them. Professional dabblers. It's better to pick one or two languages and really know them well than to dabble in lots of them without any real expertise. Once you do that then picking up new languages will be easier because the core concepts will be familiar to you.

I used to work in the public sector so I'll share something with you. There is a stigma attached to being a public sector employee. I've been told this by more than one recruiter. It's a great training ground but at some point you have to make up your mind whether you want to stay there your whole career or venture into the private sector. The longer you stay the harder it will be to get out. Some recruiters will look at someone with 10-15 years of public sector experience and be reluctant to hire you for a private sector job. I met some smart people in public sector but I also met more than my share of lazy pricks. You sound like one of the former so just make the right choice for you. Good luck :-)

programming

[Spazmania]

The current learning language for Computer Science is Java. It used to be Pascal. Switched to Java because of the importance of object oriented programming.

The language of choice for Linux/Unix system administration is Perl. Windows admins don't generally code though one of the dot-net's would likely be the choice if they did.

Pick one. Then buy a book and work through writing and running the example code. Then come up with an idea for a simple program you want to write. Then write it, referencing your books and Google search.

Programmers code every day

[NewWorldDan]

It's been my experiance that good programmers always have a project in the works. It's almost a disease. I can't go 2 weeks without writing something. So if you've gone 6 years without writing anything, I've got to wonder if it's really your thing.

That said, the next question is where to start. Pick something with high demand where it's relatively easy to get your foot in the door. The biggest problem you'll encounter is that everyone wants 5 years of experiance. If you can work programming into your current job, great. That's how I switch from systems administration to programming. I'd recommend learning C# and MVC. The tools are excellent and there's huge demand for it right now. The HTML and Javascript side of it will translate over to anything else you want to do.

Re:Programmers code every day

[LodCrappo]

It seems like you are missing the OP's point. Good programmers code all the time *regardless* of whether the nature of their job lends time to it. They *do* jump into it in their off-time.

The fact that you haven't is a strong indicator that programming is not for you.

Re:Programmers code every day

[PRMan]

What he's saying is that most great programmers would be programmers whether there was a paying job or not. If they were factory workers, they would be writing code on nights and weekends for fun.

Re:simple

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Yep. Ain't no other way. Write stuff.

Even better, write stuff that's hard. Read stuff. Read really complicated stuff, and try to make it do other stuff. Nothing will teach you good programming practices like knowing why you follow them, and nothing will tell you why like seeing the hell that comes of not following them, which any large project is almost guaranteed to contain plenty of examples of. From misnamed or misused variable/functions, to multiple (and therefore slowly diverging) implementations of the same logic, to spending weeks reinventing something already solved in your programming language's standard library because they didn't like the order of arguments on a function, to bringing in a massive overcomplicated framework to solve a simple problem due to a too-strong avoidance of NIH (not that you shouldn't beware of NIH, you just shouldn't let it lead you into trying to pound a space shuttle into a square hole), you'll see it all.

Fix some bugs for a large FOSS project. Pick things that are just slightly over your head, and then pretend someone's breathing down your neck to get it done yesterday. Pick a project where you don't just get to commit changes, find something where your code is reviewed before it's accepted. You'll find a lot of honesty in people that aren't getting paid and don't give a shit about alienating you, and if you can handle a bruised ego you'll learn a lot.

One thing I wouldn't suggest doing is writing code for other people on your own, not right away. It's not that you shouldn't do that eventually, just don't do it when you care more about accomplishing your goal than you do about learning until you've got some good habits firmly established. Otherwise, your bad habits will just become reinforced, since they're usually easier especially when you're only looking at your own code, and to to be honest, you probably don't know the difference between a good habit and a bad habit until you've worked on a large project with a lot of people.

The best thing about working on FOSS projects is, you'll actually be able to demonstrate work to future employers. That goes a long way in an interview or on a resume.

Repost aint it?

[pepsikid]

I've been lurking in /. for years, and I'm absolutely certain that this topic is nearly, if not exactly, word-for-word identical to another /. post from either last year or the year before.

My two cents

[Synerg1y]

First of all, I feel like I'm wasting my time writing this because I have no idea what kind of learner you are.

Your type largely determines your approach to learning... anything, especially something more complicated like programming. I'm a kinesthetic & how I've picked up new computer concepts and programming languages either by jumping right into them (work related and situational mostly), or by reading a book and doing the examples. I'm dead serious, it's that simple (+/- motivation), read the chapter, put what you learned into a compiler, debug it (if you need to), play with it, try new methods, whatever... I picked up jquery & ajax mostly this way, the latter mostly through implementing on business systems, the former I read a "missing manual" series book on.

If you're feeling cocky, you can fake it till you make it, land a beginner programming job and get paid to learn it! I know it would work for me, but that's largely cause I'm a hands on learner (kinesthetic) and I learn by doing. If you're an auditory learner, you'd probably get chased out with fire with this kind of approach and would benefit more from online, or class lectures.

Re:My two cents

[Half-pint HAL]

Learning styles have been shown to be irrelevant: see Pashler, H.; McDaniel, M.; Rohrer, D.; Bjork, R. (2008). "Learning styles: Concepts and evidence". Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9: 105–119.

Note that they don't say that learning styles "don't exist", just that whether they exist or not, nobody has been able to demonstrably improve teaching or learning by conscious application of learning styles.

Good teaching is better for everybody, regardless of learning "style".

Before choosing this programming language or that

[johnwbyrd]

Instead of following the pattern on here of recommending this programming language or that, I'll suggest a different course.

First, choose a very specific field of work. Video games, insurance, pinnipeds, ASIC design... something.

Second, look at the development technologies and tools that exist in that field and are used frequently and common. Games use C++ and assembly, ASICs use Verilog, pinniped databases are written in .NET.

Third, focus on learning the technologies that are used in your particular field of interest.

This will permit you to have a marketable skill in precisely the area of programming you want to accomplish.

I am aware that many programmers consider themselves "generalists" -- and heck, I do too. But the field of programming is now sufficiently wide that ALL programmers must, to an extent, specialize. Of course you can always apply your generalist knowledge to solving one-off problems. Instead, I suggest you focus on a particular area of expertise related to your dream job.

Best of luck.

Don't

[1s44c]

Seriously - It's better as a generalist. Or do you really want to swap having a new problem every day to having the same one for years?

Decide "what" THEN "how"

[davidwr]

My question to you all is, what language should I start with, to learn and get back into the principles of programming, that will help me build a personal portfolio, but will also lend to learning other languages? At this point, I'm not sure if I'd like to make/maintain custom applications, or if back-end web programming would be more interesting, or any of the other niches out there."

Several languages are good and refreshing the basic principles of programming and as stepping-stones to learning other languages. If you need a list, just ask several high school or college CS department what languages they teach as 1st and 2nd languages.

You narrowed things down by saying you want to build a portfolio. What kinds of projects do you want in that portfolio? You don't seem to have decided yet.

Once you decide, that will be a major factor in choosing your language. You'll want to pick a language that many or most people doing this kind of work use for this task. To put it another way: You want to have the tools to join an existing team or project with a minimum risk of lack of knowing a specific language handicapping you.

By the way, for many "types" of programming (e.g. "back-end web programming," it's not just the language but the whole development ecosystem that you need to be familiar with before you go market your skills.

If you can show a potential client

Here's what I did using [very popular development environment for the task at hand] and oh by the way I am also familiar with [another popular development environment for the same task] and [a third] and, just to round things out, I've written some small bits of code to do [something in a completely different problem area] using [a popular development environment for that problem area, preferably not one of the ones you've already mentioned]

then you'll be ahead of the game.

Re:FPGAs

[loufoque]

Hardware guys are indeed the most likely ones to get chicks in the IT world.
Must be all that silicon.

Seven Languages in Seven Weeks

[kwerle]

By and large, languages don't matter. It's the frameworks that do. Nobody* is looking for a ruby programmer - they're looking for a ruby on rails programmer. Nobody is looking for an Objective-C programmer - they're looking for iOS (and/or MacApps) programmers.

* yes, there probably are 3 ruby jobs, but you don't qualify and they are not near you/flexible enough/whatever.

I don't happen to like Java. I found python annoying when I last tried it (which was long ago). I think I'd like it more, now. php was meh. I really enjoy ruby and I liked Obj-C 15 years ago. Find out what you like to work with.

Check out the Seven Languages book. It's fun to take a few languages for a spin. If it's not fun for you, maybe you should stick with IT :-)

But you're really asking about finding a job.

By and large, jobs don't matter. Yes, you need/want to make enough to live comfortably, but it's amazing what you can be comfortable with. What really matters is what you work on, who you work with, and what you work with. Find a job in a field that interests you, working for/with folks that you get along with. Once you're there, fix the kinds of problems you enjoy fixing. Do some of the ones that need fixing, too. You do both software and IT - it should not be hard to find a great place to work and make it work for you.

Re:set goals

[CastrTroy]

Please see this article. Bad programmers actually create more work for the good programmers than they end up doing. If you want to be a programmer, fine. But it's not something I recommend you jump into with minimal training. There's almost no such thing as a "beginner" programmer job. Most good programmers have been programming for years (often a decade) at home or on their own before they start doing it for a living.

Re:Go to school

[PRMan]

Go through a recruiter and just go to the interview anyway. I have a BA in another field of study and not Comp Sci and nobody cares. I know high school dropouts that have no trouble getting work because they are awesome coders with great recommendations.

Re:Niche languages?

[ranton]

You might want to look up the definition of niche, cause I don't think it means what you think it means.

I am pretty sure he is correct in using 'niche' as a way of describing a small segment of the programming market.

Languages such as Java, C/C++, C#, PHP, and Visual Basic are FAR FAR FAR more commonly used than Ruby or Python. Those two are niche languages by almost anyone's definition.

If the marketability of your skillsets is your primary concern, learning languages like PHP, Java, Javascript, or C# is clearly the best way to go. I sure wouldn't want a language like Ruby or Python to be the only one I am proficient with.

College

[Dennis Sheil]

Do you have a Bachelor's degree? I began working as a systems administrator before completing my Bachelor's degree. I have always done some amateur programming, but wanted to improve my skills to where I really was a "programmer". So I killed two birds with one stone and started taking one course a semester at a local college. I would go either at night, or on the weekend. Some semesters I took more than one course.

As I said, I already had written programs. I did not have the deeper understanding to write better, bigger and more complex programs though. The computer science program laid a foundation of calculus, statistics, and discrete mathematics. Then it went deeper into graph theory, and the theory of computation. Then we began learning C++. Then we learned more advanced C++, how algorithms and recursion and so forth worked. Then we learned Java. Then we learned about data structures, and the relationship between data structures and algorithms.

If you just want to learn a little Perl to write some simple scripts, you don't need to do all of this. It sounds like you want to have a deeper understanding of programming though. So this is necessary. I think it is best done at a college, although theoretically someone can learn much of this on their own.

I think the idea of learning programming by "I want to learn one language well" is an amateur mistake. Our learning initially was almost purely mathematical. If you read volume I of "The Art of Computer Programming", he doesn't get into (M)MIX programming until pretty far into the book, the beginning is math. The cursory learning of a programming language was just a byway to then teach us about recursion, backtracking and the like. We immediately moved onto Java instead of going deeper into C++, to see that there were different ways of doing programming by different languages. We later learned radically different languages using different paradigms like logical programming (Prolog), functional programming (Lisp) on top of the object-oriented programming (C++, Java) languages we had already learned.

Eric Raymond once said "Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot." Other experienced programmers have agreed with this sentiment. As you said you're still an amateur, it's probably beyond your capacity right now to understand why someone should "waste time" learning a language like Scheme Lisp which they might end up never using. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure though. The opinion of most expert programmers is that understanding the core ideas of computer science and programming is more important than domain expertise in a particular language. You say "I'll be setting aside an hour every day to devote to learning a new language, in the eventual hope that I can leave this company (take a sabbatical) and hop into the private sector for a few years." You should ask yourself if this is enough. Yes, knowing at least one commonly used programming language is important to get a job as a programmer. You will never really understand that language, and its limitations and advantages, until you learn some other languages, and some of the general concepts behind all programming and computer science. You said you were a novice programmer, and I think putting too much emphasis on learning one language well is an amateur mistake. There's a lot of steps you should be doing before deciding to become an expert in one language.

I'll give a personal example. I do a lot of Android (Java-like) programming. I also need a web API for some of the programs. A server-side Java solution is just too expensive for what I'm doing - sites like Bluehost and Dreamhost don't really support Tomcat and the like for $9 a month. So I use other languages for my web API than Java. Do a Google, or more importantly, a Craigslist job search for "full s

Avoid Perl

[jonadab]

If you want something that will help you learn other languages, don't make the mistake I made. Don't learn Perl.

If you learn Perl, you will rapidly lose all interest in other languages, because any time you try to pick one of them up, you'll be reading through the documentation and examples, and your brain will go, "All THAT just to accomplish THAT little thing? That's, like, eighty lines, and in Perl it would be, like, three lines. I'm gonna just go do it in Perl. Yep, see? Three lines, like I said. Four if you count the shebang."

Before Perl, I'd programmed in about twenty different languages. Since learning Perl, I've tried to learn half a dozen other languages, but I failed to really get into any of them.

If you want to learn other languages, don't learn Perl.

Re:set goals

[Chrono11901]

Jr level positions are for people with little to no experience... to do small tasks with oversite of a Sr. Developer.

Re:set goals

[somersault]

Most people don't start off their programming careers by writing games, eh nvm

What would you say most developers start out learning?

I have to admit that no matter what problem you're solving in programming, it can be as much of a rush as making a game, but I still think it's a good way to capture the imagination of a new programmer. It's good if your program is fun to test as well as to code. Even if it's just a basic text quiz type game, it's good to have such immediate feedback on what you're programming.

My first programming book was learning how to make games in Amos BASIC on my Amiga (I was 11 or 12). My next was a book on C at 15, again I was doing this on my Amiga. Then I started messing around with Quake 3 mods in C++, then bots (AI kind, not hacking kind) for Counter-Strike. That was the most fun/rewarding project I've done because of the community aspect. People appreciated my work in an obvious way, and of course I loved "testing" my code too :p

Once I started working on business applications I realised that I find the programming part even more interesting than the gaming part as long as it's challenging enough to be interesting, but I'm sure a lot of good developers have started off their programming careers by writing simple games. Since the earliest mainframes, we've had computer games.

Re:set goals

[Zmobie]

Dear lord, no they are not. Yes Jr level positions are usually shadowed/mentored by some Sr level developers, but they expect you to have at least some experience. Now, obviously they don't expect you to necessarily have professional experience, otherwise no one would ever get into the field, but every software shop I have seen expects at least a few years of programming experience before they will even talk to you.

Re:Niche languages?

[Tough Love]

You're wrong about Python, everybody's using it these days. It's probably more common than Perl now. I would say that most scripts that would have been written in Perl and many that would have been written in Bash are now being written in Python.

Re:set goals

[Zmobie]

I'm not saying the senior developers are actually blowing up the database, but it does take them time and thought to write a half decent query. You can take a naive approach to the task and get something that works, but when you get a table that joins 3 others in that are anywhere between 3 million and 30 million rows you need to think your query through before you lock the entire damn database.

Entry level developers need to know this at the very least, and if you get someone in there that barely understands the basics of SQL you get code that might work but is completely useless if you have to scale it up (or worse goes into production and THEN you find out they are locking the database with the report query). I am not saying it is impossible, but how many companies do you know that really want to hire a person with little programming experience into that position? Moving to it within the same company, maybe, because then they at least know they work with whatever the company passes off as corporate culture and that they have basic competency, but even at my company which is not very big, they don't hire people to do software development unless they have a few years of experience.

Re:set goals

[CastrTroy]

The problem is that if you want a "beginner" developer to do the job right, you probably have to spend just as much of your own time explaining what needs to be changed, and verifying that the resulting changed worked correctly (often sending the change back, re-explaining what needed to be changed, and checking it over again), as it would take you to just do the change yourself in the first place. You can view working with beginners as an investment. But you have to be very careful that you are not pouring time into somebody who just doesn't get it, and won't ever yield a return on your investment.

Re:hour-a-day doesn't work

[Emperor Shaddam IV]

Actually, the hourly rate and what a contractor makes depends on a lot of factors. I've contracted a lot ( almost 10 gigs in my career ) as an LCC, Sub Chapter-S corp and as a W-2 Employee ) and basically:

1. You can setup a sub-chapter S corp and work for a company as another corporation.
2. You can just do 1099 self-employeed as sole-propritor, LLC or partnership if you have others involved.
3. You can work through a contracting company as their "employee" where they pull out the FICA, Social Security, etc and provide benefits at a cost to you and you get billed at X dollars an hour and get paid X - Y dollars an hour ( Y being the contracting companies cut ).

There are probably other options I don't know about.

So when someone says 100 bucks an hour, it doesn't mean much until you look at HOW they are earning 100 bucks an hour: W-2 or Independent as S-Corp, self-employed, etc , how they are filing their taxes, what expenses and other deductions they are taking, etc. In fact, I would say that at least in my experience I actually earned more of the rate as a sub-chapter S then any other way. Its just some extra work to keep track of all the expenses, run your own payroll, pay estimated taxes, file taxes and make sure you take all the deductions for the right expenses, etc.

Also rates depend very much on skills and demand. 100 dollars an hour is not that unrealistic. SAP and other ERP software packages and specialists can easily go over 100 an hour even being paid as a W-2 employee no matter where you are.

On the other hand, if a programming language or skill is "saturated" with a lot of programmers and the supply of talent exceeds the demand, rates drop like bricks. This seemed to happen with Java a few years back. I had some people calling me offering 30-40 bucks an hour for Java. I either ignored or laughed at most of them. Thankfully Java rates seem to be going up again, although I'm not doing much Java these days so I can't comment on what the going rates are for Java right now.

But the previous post was right. You have to "live" it. Even when I take time off between jobs, I spend some time reading technical books, checking out new languages, and writing code to keep my skills current. An hour a day probably isn't enough to learn a new language.

Some advice from someone in a similar situation...

[xyourfacekillerx]

Just don't jump into projects involving involving the technologies (i.e. platforms and tools) of the now. The number of subjects you have to "learn" about are so fragmented it's an utter nightmare. You'll get lost, feel incompetent, and give up; I've seen it a hundred times. What you are going to do is reinforce and awaken your incommunicable knowledge of programming fundamentals; not in a formal, theoretical way, not with simple practice (though consistent routine is required to turn this into a habit again). Like the way most of us learned in high school or whatever when it was just about having fun.

And no this doesn't sugg starting with a beginner or inermediate book. You'll get bored because the concepts will vaguely remind you of things you already kind of know. It's like muscle memory I guess.

So you were mostly right, starting of with relatively less cumbersome languages, environments and tools related to technology you are familiar with. Powershell is really cool and that's what got me back into programming. I wrote myself a dozen cool utilities, many of which already existed, just to encourage my ingenuity and creativity.

One last tip. Comment and comment well instead of doing design docs detached from the code. Treat your commenting and coding as a sort of tutorial; you're showing yourself and others how to accomplish tasks and solve problems. If you get distracted by planning and design in documents outside your code, you may feel less enthusiastic about completing a project, since that is the most time consuming and least interesting part of programming. You can get formal and theoretical later on.