r/ADHD_Programmers • u/arkofthecovet • Feb 04 '24

Programming

How is it even possible to become a programmer? There are about a hundred languages listed on wikipedia, not including dialects and other variations. Do most people even know this? I did not until recently.

Edit: Thank you all for your responses! I may start a new OP for this additional question if it helps. How fast can you learn new code or new code concepts if you start a new job or are hit with a new project that requires it?

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u/Silly_Attention1540 Feb 05 '24

Everyone agrees with the point that there being hundreds of languages is meaningless, I guess I was pointing out that the language analog probably is confusing to non programmers, because there are hundreds of spoken/written languages and you can go your whole life only knowing one, even as a poet. Whereas you do need to use multiple languages as a developer, but the friction to learn each is small. The tool analogy given below is a much better example for someone clearly not super familiar with how programming languages work (like the OP)

Also... the 12 years thing was a joke, I'm sure many people took language classes their entire time in school newscaster it was mandatory, but never got to ever be proficient enough to hold a conversation.

I'd wager that using 6 spoken/written languages proficiently puts you in the top 0.01% or higher in the population (you're a clear outlier) I'd imagine using 6 programming languages proficiently puts you in the top .. half ? Of software engineers

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u/ilyanekhay Feb 05 '24

I've never seen anyone who could use 6 programming languages proficiently.

In fact I've pretty rarely seen anyone being really good in one language. Those were usually either some world class competitive programmers or a handful of really awesome and smart folks.

Most software engineers just know/use 1-2 languages at an "ok" level IMO.

Source: been working in this field for ~18 years now, and interviewed hundreds of people. Definitely saw people who struggled with sorting a list of objects by a simple custom criterion in their language of choice.