What's a good way to meet other C, C++, and C# developers? As a newer developers not working for an office, I'm having a very hard time. Whenever I search the net for developers and communities, I am bombarded with this web development "learn to code" crap that I don't want. I don't want to be a front-end web developer, I don't want to be a JavaScript developer. I want to be either a back-end developer, embedded system developer, or desktop developer. I have not put my sights specifically on game development, but seeing as it involves more math and science, it may eventually be my cup of tea as that is where my interest lies, rather than moving HTML elements around the page in a hackjob manner with no real software engineering principles whatsoever.
I currently know and use C# on a daily basis, but I have also studied and have recently used C++ and C. I'm looking for: Projects to work on, communities to become active in, and others to work with. Thank you.
Things I've tried: Searching for local meetup groups (no C++/C exists within 25 miles of here), Googling, checking around forums the best I could.
I currently know and use C# on a daily basis, but I have also studied and have recently used C++ and C. I'm looking for: Projects to work on, communities to become active in, and others to work with. Thank you.
Things I've tried: Searching for local meetup groups (no C++/C exists within 25 miles of here), Googling, checking around forums the best I could.
Edited by Todd
on
So I'll preface this with the fact that I haven't got much experience, we're on a forum with lots of seasoned programmers with lots of experience, I'm not one of them.
I don't have any advice as to finding a real-life community to be active in. However, if online is fine, you're in luck because you've just found one :).
As for collaboration, I think it's very important to work a fair bit by yourself before you start to work with others.
First of all: It teaches you to take responsibility for your actions. If something is wrong, you know that you did it.
You need to change something about the way you're programming to not make the same mistake again.
If you write a TODO, you're going to have to do it in later, it doesn't just magically get fixed.
Secondly: You're probably only going to be able to work with people at about the same level as you.
Most people programming in c/c++ has in my experience a fair bit of experience, and so, you'll need to have as well.
Lastly: You get to do all the software architecture-ing which is a very good experience to have. You could try out all of your crazy ideas without anybody else suffering for it.
If you think you've got enough experience to work with others (or don't agree that you need to have experience to do so) I'd recommend going in some direction where there's lots of new folk that might want to work with you.
Maybe you could find someone here at handmade network?
Unity has quite the large amount of users and beginner programmers, maybe you could find someone there?
Maybe contribute to some open source project?
Good Luck :)
I don't have any advice as to finding a real-life community to be active in. However, if online is fine, you're in luck because you've just found one :).
As for collaboration, I think it's very important to work a fair bit by yourself before you start to work with others.
First of all: It teaches you to take responsibility for your actions. If something is wrong, you know that you did it.
You need to change something about the way you're programming to not make the same mistake again.
If you write a TODO, you're going to have to do it in later, it doesn't just magically get fixed.
Secondly: You're probably only going to be able to work with people at about the same level as you.
Most people programming in c/c++ has in my experience a fair bit of experience, and so, you'll need to have as well.
Lastly: You get to do all the software architecture-ing which is a very good experience to have. You could try out all of your crazy ideas without anybody else suffering for it.
If you think you've got enough experience to work with others (or don't agree that you need to have experience to do so) I'd recommend going in some direction where there's lots of new folk that might want to work with you.
Maybe you could find someone here at handmade network?
Unity has quite the large amount of users and beginner programmers, maybe you could find someone there?
Maybe contribute to some open source project?
Good Luck :)
Awesome, great ideas, thanks so much!
To be honest, I'm sort of at that point where I feel ready to connect and work with others... I've spent 5 months straight coding 6-7 days per week (no, I'm not joking lol) all on my own and have worked through basics up into OOP design patterns (factory, repository, unit of work, dependency injection, etc...) "architectures" (I use that word loosely as noted by Casey Muratori in Handmade Hero: better term would be Urban Planner) like MVC, MVVM, and etc... I've also got some work done in sort and string manipulation algorithms, security with authentication and authorization implementations of OAuth and OpenID Connect servers, and have implemented unit testing and test-driven development. I've read Clean Code by Uncle Bob, Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell, and am working through The Art of Unit Testing by Roy Osherove. Obviously, a lot of OOP stuff that isn't used in Handmade Hero but programming is programming and I love it all. I've also learned a bit of assembly and I love debugging.
I'm not sure if any of those patterns are even used in game development (except I know TDD is sometimes), but the point being that I have progressed past the basics of learning programming (I've actually known the basic concepts since ages 11-12, I'm 27 now) and into software engineering which I can apply to many languages and usages. Of course I don't consider myself to be an expert and I am always learning, however, I am confident in demonstrating my skills to at least begin contribution to a project with likeminded developers. Currently, I'm working on a Conway's Game of Life implementation similar to the one here: https://jeremybytes.blogspot.com/...imple-ui-for-conways-game-of.html
To be honest, I'm sort of at that point where I feel ready to connect and work with others... I've spent 5 months straight coding 6-7 days per week (no, I'm not joking lol) all on my own and have worked through basics up into OOP design patterns (factory, repository, unit of work, dependency injection, etc...) "architectures" (I use that word loosely as noted by Casey Muratori in Handmade Hero: better term would be Urban Planner) like MVC, MVVM, and etc... I've also got some work done in sort and string manipulation algorithms, security with authentication and authorization implementations of OAuth and OpenID Connect servers, and have implemented unit testing and test-driven development. I've read Clean Code by Uncle Bob, Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell, and am working through The Art of Unit Testing by Roy Osherove. Obviously, a lot of OOP stuff that isn't used in Handmade Hero but programming is programming and I love it all. I've also learned a bit of assembly and I love debugging.
I'm not sure if any of those patterns are even used in game development (except I know TDD is sometimes), but the point being that I have progressed past the basics of learning programming (I've actually known the basic concepts since ages 11-12, I'm 27 now) and into software engineering which I can apply to many languages and usages. Of course I don't consider myself to be an expert and I am always learning, however, I am confident in demonstrating my skills to at least begin contribution to a project with likeminded developers. Currently, I'm working on a Conway's Game of Life implementation similar to the one here: https://jeremybytes.blogspot.com/...imple-ui-for-conways-game-of.html
Edited by Todd
on
It seems to me like you have two related problems. You want to gain experience working on things that involve math and low-level coding, and you also want to find opportunities to do programming that's of greater utility than what you're doing now. The problem may be in your ability to sniff out opportunities to be a useful programmer, which is a sort of perpendicular skill to actual programming.
The problem may also be motivation-related. I've sort of been in your place before felt the same sort of self-dissatisfaction. I also worked through several programming books, tried to find a supportive community, made lots of toy programs, etc. What I realized was that, even though I was working hard and had ambitions, I was still "procrastinating," in the sense that I was advancing my career sub-optimally because I was waiting for some sort of golden door to open up to me. Eventually I realized that it was unlikely that a book would give me the wisdom to do any start-to-finish project with complete confidence, that trying to find people to work with wasn't getting me anywhere, and that nobody (including myself) would really believe I was talented until I did something with those talents. I am not sure if my project will be a success but it has allowed me to gain skills at a faster rate than anything I've done previously, and I'm also very happy on an existential level.
I guess you just have to start something. Have you had ideas? If you've had ideas I think Derek Yu's Venn Diagram is a really good way to narrow down to the best one:
He uses it to talk about games but it really holds true for any kind of project. You want to do something you'll find interesting to do, something that matches up with your talents, and something that has some value to the world.
So yeah. If you're in the Seattle area I know people you can meet. If you want help finding something to sink your teeth into you can email me at [email protected] with relevant info. No promises, especially if you're looking to get paid :X
The problem may also be motivation-related. I've sort of been in your place before felt the same sort of self-dissatisfaction. I also worked through several programming books, tried to find a supportive community, made lots of toy programs, etc. What I realized was that, even though I was working hard and had ambitions, I was still "procrastinating," in the sense that I was advancing my career sub-optimally because I was waiting for some sort of golden door to open up to me. Eventually I realized that it was unlikely that a book would give me the wisdom to do any start-to-finish project with complete confidence, that trying to find people to work with wasn't getting me anywhere, and that nobody (including myself) would really believe I was talented until I did something with those talents. I am not sure if my project will be a success but it has allowed me to gain skills at a faster rate than anything I've done previously, and I'm also very happy on an existential level.
I guess you just have to start something. Have you had ideas? If you've had ideas I think Derek Yu's Venn Diagram is a really good way to narrow down to the best one:
He uses it to talk about games but it really holds true for any kind of project. You want to do something you'll find interesting to do, something that matches up with your talents, and something that has some value to the world.
So yeah. If you're in the Seattle area I know people you can meet. If you want help finding something to sink your teeth into you can email me at [email protected] with relevant info. No promises, especially if you're looking to get paid :X
Edited by Oswald Hurlem
on
Thanks for the ideas! It's always good to hear another programmer's perspective and learn from it. Luckily and ironically, today I met with a few other programmers and businessmen and am going to be working on a project for a startup which actually does involve gaming (specifically, eSports). We're going to get to work soon on a prototype which will be the minimum viable product and go from there... So I suppose that will keep me occupied for a bit (hopefully, most of these 'projects' fizzle in the past but this one seems much more promising), though I don't invest too much into these things up front until I realize they are a serious candidate. @Oswald, unfortunately I am not in Seattle, I'm in Southern California, but I appreciate it and I may shoot you an email sometime as well.