I got into programming around 40 years ago, via electronic hardware development. This was a time when using microprocessors to replace hardware was becoming common. I didn’t have any degrees in electronics or software, but I did have a background that included electronic repair. And I had a degree in English, which taught me a lot about expressing myself logically and clearly.
What were pain points to becoming a dev when you were 20? Most painful two.
The biggest pain point was lack of tools. The ones that were available (such as logic analyzers that could display code mnemonics, and emulators that could let you set breakpoints and examine registers) were scarce and expensive. I ended up creating some of my own tools. Based on a suggestion by a co-worker, I wrote a monitor program that basically let me pretend I had an emulator, though I was using the same processor to execute the code. (see https://idiacomputing.com/pub/An_8031_In-Circuit_Emulator.pdf)
What are disadvantages that present generation (kids in 20s ) faces compared to 20 years ago?
Much of the work today depends on understanding frameworks and APIs written by someone else. Many of these are designed rather haphazardly and often are documented poorly from the consumer’s point of view. The irregularities make it much harder for someone to get a good mental model.
- George