Programmers- Is this a reasonable idea? (teaching myself Ruby.. online)
- Thread starter Ronnie55
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If you really want to go abroad to do this... I get by on >200 usd where I live. Granted, I don't have to pay for insurance and probably some other fees, as well as pay for a full blown apartment/room as I live in the dorms. So it would probably be more like 400 usd for you. That's still way more than enough to get by for 9 months.
Not nearly as exotic of a place as SEA though lol
Not nearly as exotic of a place as SEA though lol
You're making quite an assumption about my savings (and whether 'pissing off' 12k would have any impact whatsoever on my lifestyle in the future)
You can build entire websites with ruby. Front and back end. I've also heard it helps in understanding other languages as well because of this (HTML, etc.). Most other languages are front end or back end. HTML and CSS only impact the front end. PHP is a backend language. etc.
It's also very in-demand right now. Talented rubyists can barely keep the recruiters off of them.
I didn't say Thailand. I said SE Asia or Europe. That's pretty broad. Sorry if I upset you though lol
Damn that's cheap. Are you in Iraq or something?
I don't see how I would blow through 6K per month in one of the cheapest regions of the world.
Have I somewhere indicated a drug and hooker addiction and a propensity to rent jetskis every day and then forgotten I wrote it?
True, I have no idea who you are. I'm just going off what I've seen. I've seen people blow more than $12k in one week of partying in Asia.
Then please correct me if I'm wrong, but from your OP, sounds as though you're young, ambitious, full of energy, adventurous, not well travelled, and in all probability, horny. Yeah... $12k isn't going to last as long as you think.
But hey, your life, give it a go and see what happens. I would highly advise you wait until you have some solid revenue coming in though. That way, if shit hits the fan and you end up broke, worse case scenario you're waiting a month for additional revenue to come in so you can buy a plane ticket home. And just doing that is still risky as hell, but you definitely don't want to end up broke in Asia with no revenue. Being broke in a foreign country is TOTALLY different than being broke in your home country.
Then again, I've done even stupider shit, and have been in even worst situations, so who the hell am I to give advice to anyone?
BTW... just for a frame of reference, I'm in a cheaper city, and $12k would last me about 6 months. If I got rid of the dogs and quit buying imported food, about 9 months probably. And the only reason for that is because I'm a boring old man who doesn't party, plus I know my way around, the language, culture, etc. You're going in as a young, naive tourist looking for a life experience. Two totally different worlds. Your world is far more expensive than mine.
No, YOU'RE in the wrong place, Mr. Fuckstick. I've had enough.
Take your retarded, scumbag, wrong-note, shitbag ramblings the fuck out of here, before I chicken-fuck your sick, tiny brains out through your snot-hole.
You diseased, syphilitic offspring of a twisted, mongolian goat fuck.
Someone hammer this chancre.
Merry Christmas.
I don't know about Asia but Eastern Europe will be challenging. $12,500 for a whole year gives you about $1000 a month. That's very small money but, you can live here with that easily... if you turn into monk mode (a lot of famillies here that existing on $500 a month!). More than half of this money will go for the rent (small studio and I'm telling you honestly equipment will be poor). Another $100 a month (at least!) for internet connection and energy bills. Another $200 for food if you know how to feed yourself properly on that budget. You can do this but, it's gonna be all the time on the red line (meaning you eat just basic food to cover all your nutritional and energetic needs, no fancy stuff... Food here is more expensive than in UK for example, unless of course you can find food that is cheaper... That's possible outside of bigger towns - but you will spend a lot of time and some money on delivering by yourself).
You go to the club once and don't eat anything for the next 3 to [...] months depending on your party habits.
That leaves you with around $200-300 a month in your pocket for whatever you need.
If I was about to do something like this on your budget I would hit Check Republic (maybe Hungary, not sure about costs in there...).
As others above have said, you can learn all by yourself but it will take a strong personality to get it done (and time...). Don't know why you are talking about Ruby but if you don't know basics HTML/CSS you have to take care about it first, it's like primer.
Now, I'm the kind of guy who like adventures and don't really give a shit about downsides of anything (probably I have more luck than brains...). So if I was in your shoes I would go for it. You will learn new cultures, make contacts that can be like a goldmine to you some day. And you don't need to spend on expensive parties to meet the right people, most of them are just regular guys (lot of clever students/coders etc.). Especially if you tell them your story, most likely they will be happy to help with anything. Especially people form Check Republic are like that (Slovakia and Poland as well). Girls are great also.
Sure, you could learn the new language. That's something mate, it opens a lot of new routs that other ways would be closed to you.
Still, your knowledge and willingness to learn (and how fast you can actually learn) will determine everything what will happen to you.
So your first months are gonna be challenging.
And remember, this kind of move is like a jump into very cold water (I know because I have done it...).
Especially taking into account that you don't have the skills you want to posses.
Surely it would be much easier for you to stay in your country and learn what you have to learn in order to do what you want to do.
On the other hand where is the fun in this? Where is the challenge?
If you are really like you have described yourself in this thread you will kick ass for sure. Life is just one mate so make the calls and fuck the rest. You will be fine.
BTW, not everyone is going to Asia or Europe for "paradise". You can as easily learn and work there as doing parties.
Even in Seattle you can rent a room for $500/mo or less. Join a RoR meetup and start networking with people, go to the meetings/presentations, etc.
Buy (and read) books in addition to all the online docs/examples/tutorials, they'll introduce you to shit you aren't finding in the tutorials and likely don't even know about.
Don't be sad if ruby isn't for you. Picking something by how much it pays or how much demand there is today isn't really relevant to what it'll be like for you.
Buy (and read) books in addition to all the online docs/examples/tutorials, they'll introduce you to shit you aren't finding in the tutorials and likely don't even know about.
Don't be sad if ruby isn't for you. Picking something by how much it pays or how much demand there is today isn't really relevant to what it'll be like for you.
Since this thread won't go away; I have a new idea for you. A lot will depend on how serious you are about your vacation option. Let's assume you decide to stay put. What about going and interviewing with a couple of companies looking for help? Explain you want to learn. Tell them you know how expensive it is for them to hire and train someone only to have them leave for more money 6 months down the road. Tell them you will do any job they need done and you will work for free. Calculate how long you can live on your 12k and that will be how long you're willing to work for free. After that 6 months or whatever is up you will reinterview (and negotiate) for a permanent job.
If you do this right, you will get the very best education money can buy. It's unconventional but I promise you will get your monies worth
If you do this right, you will get the very best education money can buy. It's unconventional but I promise you will get your monies worth
I won't bump this thread anymore. I just wanted to say TY to all the info I got.
I got carried away in my previous responses and ended up being defensive, arguing about the life choices I was discussing, when I really made the thread to discuss learning to program. I probably should have left out the location details. But I got some great advice so I guess I'm glad I mentioned it.
Anyway, I plan on taking 2 online computer science courses thru Stanford for free, and then learning some HTML/CSS, and then hopefully moving into Ruby. Should be a fun adventure. I do understand the importance of a strong fundamental knowledge of computer science, rather than just learning a specific language or stack.
I got carried away in my previous responses and ended up being defensive, arguing about the life choices I was discussing, when I really made the thread to discuss learning to program. I probably should have left out the location details. But I got some great advice so I guess I'm glad I mentioned it.
Anyway, I plan on taking 2 online computer science courses thru Stanford for free, and then learning some HTML/CSS, and then hopefully moving into Ruby. Should be a fun adventure. I do understand the importance of a strong fundamental knowledge of computer science, rather than just learning a specific language or stack.
what are you actually trying to learn? Rails? or Ruby? How are your html skills? If it's rails, you really need to have a grasp on html/css/javascript before bothering with rails. I cant over emphisise this next point.
This does not apply if you're looking to learn Ruby. Ruby is actually a programming(rails is not) language.
So I guess what I am getting at is this. You really need to figure out what your actual end goal is here. Neither path is right or wrong, but you might put a bunch of work in and not accomplish what you wanted to accomplish.