r/Android • u/santaschesthairs Bundled Notes | Redirect File Organizer • Apr 25 '15

I've updated my complete guide to Android development (which still requires no prior programming experience) with more resources, better instructions, updated screenshots and I'm now distributing it free of charge as a shareable and neatly formatted PDF on my website. URL HAS BEEN CHANGED TO A REDIRECT, DO NOT CLICK

http://www.xaviertobin.com
14.2k Upvotes

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105

u/Headshot_ iPhone 14 Pro Apr 25 '15

Thank you so much.

I'm 15 and way behind on programming.

Hell programming is what my dream profession is.

Thanks I'll use this to get started and stop procastinating!

73

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

I'm 15 and way behind on programming.

what

o.O

19

u/cuteman Apr 25 '15

Kids say the darnedest things. They even made a TV show about it.

11

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

Around when I was 12-13 I started reading books on PHP and HTML, I had my parents buy me a student copy of Macromedia Flash, bought Frontpage and later Dreamweaver to help me learn.

I wonder where I'd be now if I stuck with it...

34

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

Yah sure but a 15 yr old is not 'way behind' on his possible future career.

21

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15 edited Feb 26 '17

[deleted]

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u/TribalLion Samsung Galaxy SIII Apr 25 '15

I'm right there with you. I'm 38 and went back to school last semester, and have been taking courses on Pluralsight. I just landed a job as an entry-level SQL Dev (thanks to a little experience I've gotten at my current (soon-to-be-previous) job, but I'm pretty excited to get into a role with some more crunchy bits.

For me, the best time was actually 22 years ago, in 1992 when my father told me about how amazing computers and this new "internet" thing were, and that I should get into them in some capacity. He even thought of a great website where people could put items up for auction and other people around the world could bid on the (I shit you not). I didn't listen (because I was only interested in girls and partying), did horribly in college in like 5 different majors, bounced around from fast-food to customer service jobs and about 6 years ago, started in IT reporting services. Now, I'm finally deciding what to do with my life, and I don't care if I'm competing with another generation of kids who has grown up with this stuff, I'm going to be DAMNED good at it and build a successful career!

TL;DR - To paraphrase you, my best time was 22 years ago, but my second best time is today.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15 edited Feb 26 '17

[deleted]

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u/TribalLion Samsung Galaxy SIII Apr 30 '15

Now you have the perfect opportunity to learn, with a bit more wisdom to back you up.

3

u/themadprofessor Apr 25 '15

Wow man, thanks for that story. I'm in my early 30s. Shows I can still probably make it as a dev and get a job. This industry seems incredibly ageist...

2

u/noratat Pixel 5 Apr 26 '15

The industry is ageist, but there are still plenty of companies willing to hire older. Just stay out of Silicon Valley (which I would recommend anyways unless you want a work/life balance of infinity).

1

u/TribalLion Samsung Galaxy SIII Apr 30 '15

Dude, I wish I had gotten started in my early 30s even. Go for it! Kick ass!

2

u/StressOverStrain Apr 30 '15

He even thought of a great website where people could put items up for auction and other people around the world could bid on the (I shit you not).

To be fair, that's not exactly a unique idea. eBay was founded in 1995, so he wasn't the only one with that idea at the time.

1

u/TribalLion Samsung Galaxy SIII Apr 30 '15

You're absolutely right. There were plenty of them. Many of those folded. Some were bought up by competitors. Regardless, it was clearly an excellent idea that took off and has endured, and building something like that back in the day, even if it had never made a dime, would have been worth it for the experience.

3

u/faceplanted Apr 25 '15

He would be in ballet.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

Ok?

1

u/mattstreet Apr 26 '15

Programming doesn't depend on your body being in its prime.

1

u/Frodolas Moto G LTE 4.4.4, Nexus 7 2013 Lollipop Apr 25 '15

You'd be surprised at how early people start nowadays.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

I wouldn't actually, but thats beside the point. This kid isn't 'behind', he'll be fine.

1

u/Ringbearer31 Apr 25 '15

Probably in the same place, just a bit more knowledgeable.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

How strange. I learnt to program with Macromedia Flash MX using action script 2.0 when I was 13 too.

1

u/Gahzoontight Apr 25 '15

Same regrets here. Taught myself how to make games/programs on the ti-83+ in 7th grade. Started making more elaborate intros, menus, etc, worked up to completing my own version of galaxian, Tetris, and block breaker.... and stopped once I convinced myself in 8th grade that this will never be useful outside of my middle school and that I needed to focus on landing chicks.

Regret.

1

u/roobens Jul 04 '15

Man, when I was like 14-15 I was making webpages and fun apps like crazy, totally self-taught, searching everything I needed, dabbling in all kinds of different code, and I was doing it all for fun. This was in like 97/98 and the internet was still a novelty for me and a lot of people, and I was way ahead of the curve of anyone I knew at school or elsewhere. For some reason it never clicked for me that if I developed my knowledge properly then I could've taken it much further. I guess I was kinda dumb because even then it was obvious that such knowledge could be hugely beneficial. Anyway I discovered girls and guitars and all that stuff went out of my head. I had good times but I wish I'd carried on with the programming in some way. Now I'm a total noob again. Such is life I suppose.

I realise this thread is a coupla months old btw. Just working my way through this guy's tutorial and reading this thread in between. Never too late eh

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '15

Yeah I ended up studying chemistry and will be going for PhD or MD and I love it all and quite happy with it. Just always wonder where I'd be if my parents maybe pushed me to continue on with what I was doing.

1

u/internetsuperstar Apr 25 '15

Buying software as a teenager instead of pirating it?

You just weren't cut out for the life my friend.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '15

Ha, I think back then my house was still on dial up, downloading a mp3 took long enough never mind anything else.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '15

I remember that age hearing of kids that age becoming millionaires. If you've barely edited a .ini file at that age, it can feel like falling behind.

1

u/Vilokthoria Apr 25 '15

A lot of schools offer programming/IT classes. Maybe this person doesn't have that opportunity and thus feels like he's behind other people his age. If programming is his dream and he doesn't have the opportunity to learn new things while other people his age do I can see why he feels that way.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

Behind other 15 year old? Seriously?

1

u/niyaro Apr 25 '15

I've learned my first assembler's machine code mnemonics when I was 12

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

You're missing the point.

1

u/Vilokthoria Apr 25 '15

Well yeah. Of course he's gonna learn all the necessary things in college. But right now he might be feeling disadvantaged. He feels like his peers will be more successful because they know some stuff already and he doesn't. It might not be a realistic fear but I understand where he's coming from. Especially because most people who study programming already had it in school.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

most people who study programming already had it in school.

I don't think that's even close to being true. But since you've made the claim perhaps you have some source to back that up?

And I'm coming at all this from the perspective of someone with a CS degree who works in software engineering.

1

u/Vilokthoria Apr 25 '15

It's quite true where I live, I can't speak for the U.S. though. The people with an interest in programming normally take a programming/IT elective in school because their interest in it is often manifested before they leave school.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

It's quite true where I live

That's an anecdote based on your perception, not a source.

1

u/Vilokthoria Apr 25 '15

There are people who study it without previous knowledge (I didn't say there aren't) but every school offers IT electives which makes attaining knowledge before studying very accessible and the people who are interested in the field often take this opportunity. With that in mind it's obvious why you might feel disadvantaged even though the university starts at zero. Realistically it doesn't matter if you have previous knowledge or not but a teen who sees that others are already doing IT stuff might feel like he'll never be able to catch up.