Simple question for the pros.

[Laze]

Did you take any programming courses or were you self-taught? This goes to anyone who feels like they're good at what they do and are getting good results. I don't want to waste my time and money taking programming courses if I can just teach myself with the aid of google and friends. Responses much appreciated.

[Audio]

Im 100% self taught. Personally I just hate reading from books/teachers =/. It sinks in more if youre working on something you choose to do

[sm1th]

Self taught holmes, I'm 15 and don't consider myself pro but I know enough to get myself around and then some

[_idz]

Self taught holmes, I'm 15 and don't consider myself pro but I know enough to get myself around and then some

for the new people... younger generation... you have a lot more access to information then we had growing up.. i'm only 9 years older but we were here from the birth of the internets and before all this info was available.

so long story short. its best to learn yourself.. just like when you get a new toy you just sit and play... take your comptuer sit and read.. try things, break things, just dont get arrested. or hell, get arrested and hopefully learn your lesson... or odnt

[sm1th]

I've been on the internetz since 1995 well, I say that but i've been fiddling with computers since then.
winblows 95 ftw. 15mb of ram to the rescue!

[prod]

so wait you were playing on a windows machine when you were 1yr old?

pretty sure you were still shitting yourself multiple times a day around that time.

[Audio]

so wait you were playing on a windows machine when you were 1yr old?

pretty sure you were still shitting yourself multiple times a day around that time.

=P most windows users do that all their life

[sm1th]

2 yrs old I knew how to navigate a computer to an extent.

[kr4vk0dr]

=P most windows users do that all their life

^lol

if your not already at least start using linux to get a feel for how a comp works

[kr4vk0dr]

I dont understand why everybody feels so inclined to be like oh yeah I hacked lexus nexus while i was learning how to crawl, and backdoored the pentagon when i first started walking. It takes time and unless your a prodigy stfu

[_idz]

winblowz 95? your fucken young then 3.1 ftmfw young blood... and mi first computer was a Commodore 64...

[RPC]

Self taught and formal courses.
Formal Courses:
Introduction to Programing (java)
Object Orientation (java/c++)
Data structures(java)
Network Programming(c/unix)
Operating Systems(c/unix) Mainly multi-threading (pThread model)
Introduction to Finite Automata (State machines)
Computer Languages (Intro to LISP-Scheme, Writing Syntax trees, a bit of Compiler theory)
Software Engineering Patterns (C#)
Software Engineering Design Methodologies and Practices.
Database Theory and Design, SQL (DB2)
Advanced Database Theory and Design (OQL - Object Query Language on O2)
that pretty much compromises my undergrad.

Self Taught:
PHP, VB6, mIRC, VB.Net, C#

[Royalty]

You ain't gotta know how to program to make money, it's just really helpful.

[Laze]

You ain't gotta know how to program to make money, it's just really helpful.

Thing is, I don't just wanna make money, I want to have the knowledge as well. I feel like the more I know, the more I can make/do. I'm not the type of person to be satisfied with just fat pockets, I want to do something with it besides blowing it.

So I guess my next question is, if I were to take any formal courses-- let's say...three of them--over the course of the next year or so, which should I take? I don't know much about programming, but, I pick up on things easily and I've done a little bit of coding for various things.

[857]

100% self taught

[KillaWho]

Yeah. In the summer before grade 11, I started learning C++ for about 3 weeks. In IT that year (grd 11), my knowledge went beyond the full semester course in which I finished in a month.

Self-taught is ftw... you won't ever learn exploitation techniques and actual concepts at school either... just security bullshit xD

[klanda20]

Take an intro to programming class, a data structures class and a class that goes over Object Oriented programming.

Just my 2 cents.

[pureSmack]

i did take programming courses in high school, but that was after i had already learned a good bit about programming.

the courses were all fairly basic and i only took them as an easy A, so they didn't really do much for me.

learning to code started off as a necessity for me, but quickly grew in to a passion and a hobby. now when i want to learn something new or brush up on something i pick up a book, search the google, or check out MSDN.

there is nothing necessarily wrong with taking classes to learn how to program. my beef with most school taught developers though is that they have a hard time thinking "outside the box" so to speak, and are often slow to develop things and use verbose or extraneous code. this may have more to do with the type of person they are (ie not really passionate about their coding), but i have a general disdain for the majority of "trained" developers i have met.

it can seem a daunting task to begin on your own from scratch, but in the long run i think it will benefit you quite a bit because it fosters a mindset of curiosity and exploration through necessity.

[Laze]

Thank you for all of your responses. I'd love to have more posts in here, and I'd be honored to have a blue name grace my thread with their presence.

[sub]

self taught, never read a single book or guide.

first time i looked at some code i could just understand it, cant really explain it better than that. best way to learn is to just get examples and dive in with trial and error.

[d0pes1ck]

Learning from reference of other applications was the easiest route for me. Then it kinda evolved into coding things from scratch for myself, and now I'm trying to get more "standardized" information from books and whatnot.

It's entirely possible (in in some cases better) to teach yourself, but don't expect it to come as easy as it might from a class.

[mcbain]

self

[Laze]

Thing is, I don't just wanna make money, I want to have the knowledge as well. I feel like the more I know, the more I can make/do. I'm not the type of person to be satisfied with just fat pockets, I want to do something with it besides blowing it.

So I guess my next question is, if I were to take any formal courses-- let's say...three of them--over the course of the next year or so, which should I take? I don't know much about programming, but, I pick up on things easily and I've done a little bit of coding for various things.

Bump, I'd love to have more pro opinions on this part. Thank you all for the help.

[ryph]

You ain't gotta know how to program to make money, it's just really helpful.

REALLYY helpful

[ryph]

Bump, I'd love to have more pro opinions on this part. Thank you all for the help.

i was a comp sci major for almost 3 years before i dropped out. i personally didnt learn shit i didnt already know from coding rand mcnally back in highschool

to answer.. self obv

[nox]

self taught, never read a single book or guide.

first time i looked at some code i could just understand it, cant really explain it better than that. best way to learn is to just get examples and dive in with trial and error.

not one guide or book? lol.. i am self taught myself and i find that hard to believe

edit sorry no idea how i got here didnt mean to gravedig

[magnaccia]

not one guide or book? lol.. i am self taught myself and i find that hard to believe

edit sorry no idea how i got here didnt mean to gravedig

Why's that so hard to believe? I completely self taught myself how to use photoshop, illustrator and indesign and only after did I get formal education when I went to get a degree in design, I'm sure a lot of people work the same way. Perhaps they've read books or have taken classes, but they built the structure themselves and just used the official knowledge to fill in the holes

[XploitD]

first time i touched a pc i was 5, bitch didnt even have win 3.1, still had to c:\dosshell.

then itd open and youd navigate to your shit. It was also that day that i discovered a game called leisure suit larry.

It was also that day that i learned what condoms were for, because if you didnt wear one when you had sex with the hooker upstairs in the bar, you died shortly after crawling out the window.


edit: the one i had was older, had a blue background and 2 columns left one for the tree and right one for contents of folder.

[sinz]

self taught, never read a single book or guide.

first time i looked at some code i could just understand it, cant really explain it better than that. best way to learn is to just get examples and dive in with trial and error.

qft

thx aol<3