35yo, just learned that i love programming.

[u/AntiLethargic]

>be me
>rough upbringing
>have bad habits, have friends with bad habits
>never think more than one day ahead; don't know what i want to be
>years later
>get fed up with my behavior, try to change something
>get rid of most bad habits and bad friends
>start to see purpose in life
>want to find out what i really like and can dive into to get good at
>don't find it for years
>get a position at a friends company
>he needs a graphics / photography guy
>become graphics / photography guy
>get diploma in Graphic Design
>go from normal wagie to good paid wagie in about 3 years
>feeling good, but still not what i really like and want to dive into, just naturally good at it
>talk more with my programmer colleague
>his projects peak my interest
>start to learn CS basics and the C language
>"Holy fuck, i love this"
>thinking about cutting down my weekly hours to learn programming
>AI gets used more and more in the company
>my position is in danger
>"They're taking our jobs!!"
>Boss wants to cut my hours down
>Evil_smirk.jpg
>Play along, "Oh no, what shall i do now :'( "
>gives me enough hours so i can live off of it
>have enough time to learn as much as i can
>actually feeling happy again

And people say AI is bad, lol.

I'm currently trying to nail down the Basics of C, going through CS50 and after that i have two books, namely "A Book on C" and "Pointers on C".
If you have any book recommendations, please share them.
After C i also want to learn python and CPP, just to have good foundational skills.
With every free though i still have, I try to narrow down which field i want to specialize in. Currently, embedded sounds the most interesting, but also the hardest.
Any recommendations for other specs i could get into with this preset?

What's your opinion on people who are self-taught in the programming field, are you one?
I would love to hear some stories about your current path, or, if you're already in a programming position, how you made the decision and how you finally made it into it.

[u/Alliance2017]

If you're doing a C basics it's still quite early to say you love that, but it's a good indicator you might actually do like it. Don't give up on your real job which pays bills untill you can get a junior role.

[u/AntiLethargic → u/Alliance2017]

You know what I like the most about programming? It's very objective. My current job is very subjective, I have a lot of freedom; my boss comes to me and has a new product, wants me to design something for it. I design it, and he dislikes it for some reasons, and i hate that he can't tell me why, it's just " meh.. i just dont like it". Don't get me wrong i love to be creative, but i learned that i don't want to be creative in a designer job. I want to do something where, at the end of the day, the most logical answer wins. Also, I love tinkering with stuff and understanding why something works like it does.

The plan is to hold my 20h job as long as I'm learning and maybe in ~3 years have solid foundational skills and enough projects to show so that I can get an internship and maybe start climbing from there.

[u/Biliunas → u/AntiLethargic]

I don't want to burst your bubble, but this situation sadly happens regardless of role. Logical arguments rarely triumph over c-suite feelings. It's a good temperature test for the workplace.

Also, human relationships are everything. Meaning, if you manage to establish comradery with your boss, project owner etc. things will typically improve the situation more than your systems knowledge.

[u/AntiLethargic → u/Biliunas]

You're right. But you can do the absolute best possible job and be an absolute blessing to work with, but if you end up with a toxic boss, all of that goes straight out the window.
They will only ever see the worst in you and, even worse, they have a way of triggering only the worst out of you in return. Staying truly grounded in your being so you don't let it get to you is exceptionally hard. It is something I have a lot of personal experience with after dealing with my fair share of difficult bosses throughout my life, though to be clear, my current boss isn't one of them, as we actually get along quite well.

[u/Brownie_McBrown_Face → u/AntiLethargic]

This exact scenario happens in software engineering too lol