DSimon comments on (Virtual) Employment Open Thread - Less Wrong

35 Post author: Will_Newsome 23 September 2010 04:25AM

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Comment author: HughRistik 23 September 2010 11:15:08PM *  13 points [-]

I can't code, and I'd rather not learn how to.

Why not? I'd recommend at least giving it a whirl and seeing if you like it. Especially web programming.

  • You can make money doing web programming. I make probably 50-100% more doing web programming than I would doing anything else. And I don't have a degree in CS.
  • It engages your brain and problem-solving abilities. This can be reinforcing and slightly addictive. You have been warned.
  • Web programming should not be hard for anyone with LW-level IQ. I am able to do web programming when sleep-deprived, depressed, intoxicated, or in mental states in which I cannot probably form sentences or do actual writing. Learning the basics of programming is actually more conceptually complex than doing actual web programming.
  • You can use it build your own websites and entrepreneurial projects. So even if web programming doesn't turn out to be what you want to do professionally, the skills will still be useful.
  • Some basic scripting skills will let you answer many sorts of quantitative questions.

Someone with your mental abilities could find (web) programming enjoyable, useful, and perhaps even profitable, so don't write it off too soon.

Comment author: DSimon 23 September 2010 11:35:08PM *  16 points [-]

From personal experience I agree with all those bullet points, and wish to add one more: having the ability to write simple computer programs can be extremely useful in other information-related endeavors. Next time you or one of your friends is burning a lot of time doing a repetetive task on a computer, wouldn't it be nice to be able to turn an hours-long task into the work of 15 minutes with a simple script?

Many organizations heavily rely on computers for their day-to-day business, yet do not understand how to take advantage of them to reduce required human effort.

Kill boring work: become an amateur computer programmer.

Comment author: sketerpot 24 September 2010 01:02:13AM *  8 points [-]

Becoming an amateur computer programmer takes quite a bit of work, but at least it's not boring work.

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