Aspiring Developers Need to STOP LYING to Themselves

Rant about how black-pilled aspiring developers who choose to be victims are poisonous to all other aspiring developers.

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Transcript

The Middle Ground Between Bootcamps and CS

Don Hansen 0:00

Coding bootcamps had too much surface level knowledge . Cs programs have too much theory . Right , there's a perfect middle ground that you could truly achieve with the freedom to achieve it as a self-taught developer . The problem is it's really hard to solidify that path for yourself . It's really , really difficult because there is no templated path . I don't envy being a self-taught dev . It's really difficult . I failed being a self-taught dev . It's really difficult . I failed as a self-taught dev . I almost quit a year and nine months into it until I went to a coding boot camp and then I got a job six weeks afterwards . Right , and that was a while ago , by the way , but I almost failed at it .

Don Hansen 0:39

The self-taught path is really , really difficult and most people will

The Trap of Surface-Level JavaScript

Don Hansen 0:45

fail it . It's not because you can't be hireable as a self-taught dev . It's because the same bullshit Mernstack tutorials keep getting pushed in front of the faces of aspiring developers over and over and over , and so most of the people that you're competing with suck as software engineers at a beginner level and they just memorize how to piece together libraries in the JavaScript world and they just are shitty software engineers and they don't focus on getting better . This is what the JavaScript ecosystem does does to you . It teaches you to just piece libraries together . It teaches you to depend on abstractions like how many tens of thousands of aspiring developers are going to continue just becoming really shitty software engineers , spending a ton of money doing this and not diving deeper like they should ? This is the really tricky thing with the JavaScript path . Like it can be very like it's a great path if you keep this in mind and you force yourself to dig deeper and figure out how things work . The problem is so many people can just build stuff with abstractions I mean at a surface level . So can AI at this point , at a surface level . So can no-code solutions .

Don Hansen 2:06

What good are you ? What's up , dewey ? Good to see you back . How are you ? Sounds true for

Follow-Through: The Essential Developer Trait

Don Hansen 2:16

other degrees . I think like having a four-year degree in general just shows commitment , because you got to realize there are a lot of us . It just is about how you come across and man , we can .

Don Hansen 2:26

I'm not going to . I'm not going to rant a ton today . I want to answer questions , but , um , a lot of people do have commitment issues . Like a lot of people don't have follow-through . A lot of people aren't meant for to be software engineers . A lot of people are not going to make it in this field . They're just not . Um . And one thing you do have is follow through . None . You know , you have good weeks , you have bad weeks , but you have follow through . That is like , if you don't have that , you're not going to make it , you just aren't .

Don Hansen 2:52

And you would be surprised that the number of people trying to get into software engineering because they just want more money that holy shit . They are tested severely on their attention , their habits , everything about them to be able to commit to this for years and they fail . And so what do you hear about these stories about people complaining on reddit and twitter usually reddit , because reddit is garbage . But you just hear people complaining and complaining and they're just blackpilled constantly . And I did this for years . I dug into these people's situation for years , especially when I was , when it was good , when , like , it was easier to get a job , and I dove into those situations of people complaining and I'm like you know what ? Let's have a conversation , let's hop on a Zoom call , let's look at your portfolio . Okay , so you're not getting a job because you're a woman . No , it's because your portfolio is complete shit and you don't know what you're doing whatsoever . Oh , you're not getting a job because you don't have a CS degree . Okay , let's take a look at your portfolio . What have you , like , taken upon yourself to build up these skills and showcase that like you can compete with these CS degrees ? Oh , wow , okay , you can't do a for loop . Okay , let's , let's move on . And okay , so you can't get a job because you can't get a job because of this , you can't get a job because of that .

Don Hansen 4:07

It's always fucking excuses and you hear this replicated throughout a ton of losers on the internet who

Confronting Excuses in Tech Job Search

Don Hansen 4:18

want to just be a victim instead of being hypercritical about what they're fucking up . Do you know how many people I pissed off on linkedin , on youtube , whatever , by saying , okay , so you say that it's impossible . You say that you can't do this . I want you to like . If you want me to have a real conversation , if you want me to hop on a call with you , even if you're paying , I don't even accept people that pay , that are victims . I just don't . If you want me to hop on a call with you , I want a list of 10 things you are royally fucking up in the job search , because I could list 10 things of mine that I royally fucked up . Why do you have such a big ego that is keeping you from becoming a software engineer ? Do you actually want this ?

Don Hansen 4:58

You need to drop your fucking ego and be critical about all the ways you are fucking up , because you are doing it royally . Almost everyone does , and if you can't acknowledge that , eventually you're probably just going to contribute to the same black-pilled bullshit you see on Reddit . You're going to become one of those people and just give up . The market's too hard . Good , get the fuck out of the way . Let people that actually want it go for it . Get the fuck out of the way .

Don Hansen 5:22

But a lot of people I think a lot of people really need to be hypercritical about what they're screwing up . And I'm not just going to rip on people that don't like that , are trying I don't do that that are like really trying , they're struggling and they know that they're fucking up Like I'm not . I have no interest in ripping on people like that . But the people that say , like this is impossible , you absolutely need to see us agree . Self-taught devs aren't getting hired . Couldn't boot camp ? They're not getting hired . All of that is bullshit . You just see , like you know , I've seen tens of thousands of results of , like , different paths and different journeys . It's like you just see so much of it . You just know a lot of this is bullshit .

Don Hansen 5:59

But you have to talk to people . You can't just like take people's word for it . You can't just go on Reddit and take their word for it . You have to dig into their situation . You have to dig into their day to day .

Don Hansen 6:10

You have to like like if someone's saying they are just trying , they're putting all this time and they just don't have enough time to learn Like , literally having people break down hour by hour what they're doing and track it down , write it down .

Don Hansen 6:23

People are not doing

Harsh Reality: Be Critical of Yourself

Don Hansen 6:24

half of what they say they're doing . This is like if you're stuck , if you are really stuck in trying to become a web developer , this is what you need to do to yourself , to be hypercritical of these things , and I think it gives you a little bit of freedom and a weight off your shoulder , because what isn't motivating is having this abstract , arbitrary idea that the market doesn't want you in it , idea that the market doesn't want you in it . That has a weight that will keep you from lifting yourself up and building yourself up these false expectations and this false analysis of yourself . These are the things that tend to get people to give up on the journey . Not the harsh reality or not the harsh Self analysis Of what they're screwing up . It's always the false expectations and false analysis that gets people to give up on becoming a developer .