Tools for developers. Reality check.

Romy_ said:
Guess I have to address this.

Right, truth is I made those comments based on the following facts.

Fact one: friends of mine in University is fighting to find work. Marks are good and all that but there is a lot of known factors that goes with job hunting.

Fact two: The space is overcrowded because of YouTube mainly that promise an easy income and a fast career path and tons of money.

Fact three: Programing is hard to learn, there is a lot of languages that each have their own little differences and some companies expect a programmer to know them all. Or so was my own personal experience.

reality check is not every software developer makes millions. The big 5 companies are factually using AI to consume a lot of lower end jobs. Examples are IBM and Google.

Based on all this I cannot recommend this to someone. I would recommend go for engineering. Instrumentation like Siemens the like still need programing but it is on specialized systems. Most power stations need people that can do this work. Most production lines have instrumentation. It is hard work but it is a good income. Why would I want to lie about this?

A couple of months ago I realized my life is over. I wouldn't wish that on anyone so I made the posts I made. I had a break down and left the forum for a while. I am better and back at working 20 hours a day.

So if you want to keep me accountable, I stand by what I said, Programming is over crowed, hard to get into and because we are a dime a dozen the income can be bad. OR if you are good you can earn more this is fact. But it is not the norm.

So that's it. South Africa's job market is a mess right now, rather do stuff that the industry needs that is hard work and needs high skill. Programmers quality is all over the place and it is a problem for the good well educated programmer. It is not wrong to say this.

So this is where I stand. Hate me, that is fine troll me that is fine. I honestly can't care. I am literally to heavily medicated to care.
Click to expand...
I have a friend who is in Software Engineer sharing similar sentiments. He mentioned also that South African companies can't pay the salaries most can get abroad, so guys keep on leaving. Netherlands for example has been recruiting SA programmers like crazy.

Most industries in South Africa is dying unfortunately.

With AI growing rapidly, a lot of the lower and entry level positions will be scraped as well.

Anyways, that's what I have been told.

But I feel the same for other industries in SA as well.
 
RedViking said:
I have a friend who is in Software Engineer sharing similar sentiments. He mentioned also that South African companies can't pay the salaries most can get abroad, so guys keep on leaving. Netherlands for example has been recruiting SA programmers like crazy.

Most industries in South Africa is dying unfortunately.

With AI growing rapidly, a lot of the lower and entry level positions will be scraped as well.

Anyways, that's what I have been told.

But I feel the same for other industries in SA as well.
Click to expand...
People think I am meanspirited when I comment. It is honestly not the case.
 
RedViking said:
I have a friend who is in Software Engineer sharing similar sentiments. He mentioned also that South African companies can't pay the salaries most can get abroad, so guys keep on leaving. Netherlands for example has been recruiting SA programmers like crazy.

Most industries in South Africa is dying unfortunately.

With AI growing rapidly, a lot of the lower and entry level positions will be scraped as well.

Anyways, that's what I have been told.

But I feel the same for other industries in SA as well.
Click to expand...
It’s not a good sign for SA in general, but from the above, that’s a pretty sweet deal for the developers.
 
RedViking said:
I have a friend who is in Software Engineer sharing similar sentiments. He mentioned also that South African companies can't pay the salaries most can get abroad, so guys keep on leaving. Netherlands for example has been recruiting SA programmers
Click to expand...
Two of our devs (one last year and one 4 years ago) went there and on Thursday we found out that another one is going.
So now there is two of us.........
 
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RedViking said:
That's the other problem I heard. Devs keep on leaving. So those who stay behind have to keep on dealing with new guys
Click to expand...
Issue that we have is that it is large c++ project so it is difficult to find suitable person and even if you do they leave relatively quickly after all the training.
 
aleksandar said:
Issue that we have is that it is large c++ project so it is difficult to find suitable person and even if you do they leave relatively quickly after all the training.
Click to expand...
Are there just so few C++ developers around? Or is the issue the ramp up time on a large C++ project in general?
 
cguy said:
Are there just so few C++ developers around? Or is the issue the ramp up time on a large C++ project in general?
Click to expand...
Not many around.
It is rather large project with custom frameworks so it takes time to get people up to speed and when you take juniors you train them, they get experience and off they go.
 
FiestaST said:
Your IC links shows a M1 Mac Mini for R14,5k, get the M2 Mac Mini for R13,6k at the iStore. It may be a notch cheaper elsewhere also.

iStore South Africa | South Africa's Widest Apple Range Online iStore South Africa | Buy Apple Products Online | Free Delivery

Buy your next Apple iPhone, Mac, Watch, iPad and accessories at iStore. Trade-in your old product for our latest range, and enjoy great savings of your new iPhone!
www.istore.co.za www.istore.co.za
Click to expand...
What is Apple smoking R4500 for an extra 256GB on the SSD :eek:
 
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Romy_ said:
Guess I have to address this.

Right, truth is I made those comments based on the following facts.

Fact one: friends of mine in University is fighting to find work. Marks are good and all that but there is a lot of known factors that goes with job hunting.

Fact two: The space is overcrowded because of YouTube mainly that promise an easy income and a fast career path and tons of money.

Fact three: Programing is hard to learn, there is a lot of languages that each have their own little differences and some companies expect a programmer to know them all. Or so was my own personal experience.

reality check is not every software developer makes millions. The big 5 companies are factually using AI to consume a lot of lower end jobs. Examples are IBM and Google.

Based on all this I cannot recommend this to someone. I would recommend go for engineering. Instrumentation like Siemens they like still need programing but it is on specialized systems. Most power stations need people that can do this work. Most production lines have instrumentation. It is hard work but it is a good income. Why would I want to lie about this?

A couple of months ago I realized my life is over. I wouldn't wish that on anyone so I made the posts I made. I had a break down and left the forum for a while. I am better and back at working 20 hours a day.

So if you want to keep me accountable, I stand by what I said, Programming is over crowed, hard to get into and because we are a dime a dozen the income can be bad. OR if you are good you can earn more this is fact. But it is not the norm.

So that's it. South Africa's job market is a mess right now, rather do stuff that the industry needs that is hard work and needs high skill. Programmers quality is all over the place and it is a problem for the good well educated programmer. It is not wrong to say this.

So this is where I stand. Hate me, that is fine troll me that is fine. I honestly can't care. I am literally to heavily medicated to care.
Click to expand...

I have a degree in electronic engineering, and let me tell you, as a new grad it was easier finding job as a dev than an engineer. Competition for jobs is fierce if you don't have any experience whatever it is you do.

Somewhere you mentioned lawyers. Oh boy. If you work for a big firm and do average work (possibly even great work), you will still be earning less than a dev that does average work. Even if you do good work, making partner (and thus the big bucks) is harder if you're white due to BEE targets.
This is one of the fields where I think automation will make the biggest impact. It is seen as more prestigious and is easier to do than programming. This is an overcrowded field.

Fact Three - No. In interviews you'll sometimes get the egotistical ones who ask you in depth questions about a narrow field that they are knowledgeable about, or what their project needs lots of knowledge about. Overall, we know that most devs know a lot about very little, and then very little about a lot. And no, programming is not that difficult to learn. You can teach yourself by watching youtube videos in 6 months and be just as good (or better) at 90% of programming jobs than the guy who got a 3 year degree.

Automation is coming. Developer jobs will be automated.

However, AI won't take your job. People who use AI will take your job. It is just another tool to make developers, lawyers, accountants etc more productive, requiring fewer people to do the same job.

People wail about how Chat GPT can write software, how they will lose their jobs. The smart ones are the developers who package chatGPT as a nice, easily consumable tool for companies to use.
 
Barbarian Conan said:
I have a degree in electronic engineering, and let me tell you, as a new grad it was easier finding job as a dev than an engineer. Competition for jobs is fierce if you don't have any experience whatever it is you do.

Somewhere you mentioned lawyers. Oh boy. If you work for a big firm and do average work (possibly even great work), you will still be earning less than a dev that does average work. Even if you do good work, making partner (and thus the big bucks) is harder if you're white due to BEE targets.
This is one of the fields where I think automation will make the biggest impact. It is seen as more prestigious and is easier to do than programming. This is an overcrowded field.

Fact Three - No. In interviews you'll sometimes get the egotistical ones who ask you in depth questions about a narrow field that they are knowledgeable about, or what their project needs lots of knowledge about. Overall, we know that most devs know a lot about very little, and then very little about a lot. And no, programming is not that difficult to learn. You can teach yourself by watching youtube videos in 6 months and be just as good (or better) at 90% of programming jobs than the guy who got a 3 year degree.

Automation is coming. Developer jobs will be automated.

However, AI won't take your job. People who use AI will take your job. It is just another tool to make developers, lawyers, accountants etc more productive, requiring fewer people to do the same job.

People wail about how Chat GPT can write software, how they will lose their jobs. The smart ones are the developers who package chatGPT as a nice, easily consumable tool for companies to use.
Click to expand...
I don't really know what is going on with this country anymore. I personally know Boilermaker and one Electrician. They are father and son and they didn't get any work till a few days ago. They where out of work for the beginning of 2020 till middle 2023.

I suspect the job market fluxgate so much because people are leaving this country. Almost all my friends are in Australia and Canada.

They tried to pull me over but I couldn't get a working VISA based on personal stuff. Point is I am here to stay so that sincerely sucks.
 
After I had a bit of a problem with a virus and corrupted files and stuff like that. I realized that change is in order. I got my hands on a old Asus VivoBook S. It has a core i3 duel core. So it has about 12Gb of ram in it but the SSD is like 100Gb. I will upgrade that tomorrow.

Can it run all the tools I need it to run? Unity and Android Studio? I don't know but after losing all my files and after realizing no matter the battery size I will always just have 4 hours of working time on my desktop. I asked myself why do I need all this battery crap to begin with. A laptop should handle all of it right?

If not I am dead in the water. See desktop computers need a inverter, batteries and both cost like R44k in total. That is money I don't have, and can't spend.

Is this it? Has Eskom killed me? My tiny little hope to become somewhat productive and have a shot at a life? Seems like it.
 
Romy_ said:
If not I am dead in the water. See desktop computers need a inverter, batteries and both cost like R44k in total. That is money I don't have, and can't spend.
Click to expand...
You can get an inverter and batteries that will run a desktop for four hours for less than half of that?

Pardon my ignorance, but what is it that makes a "developer" PC special or more power hungry? Why not just buy a MacBook like all the other IT people?
 
Ϲhristopher said:
You can get an inverter and batteries that will run a desktop for four hours for less than half of that?

Pardon my ignorance, but what is it that makes a "developer" PC special or more power hungry? Why not just buy a MacBook like all the other IT people?
Click to expand...
The GPU is my main problem.

Unity is heavy but Unreal is essentially impossible to run without a R30k card and very high end components.
 
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