Is anyone really self-taught?

I’m not particularly proud of it, but I am a very old college sophomore. I don’t consider myself a college dropout; it’s just that life happened and my college education is on hold. And has been for 48 years! About the time I drifted away from college, I started dabbling in computer programming. Shortly thereafter, my job in a retail lumber yard took a hard left turn from managing lumber yards to programming. This was so long ago that point-of-sale devices, up-to-date inventory numbers, and automated accounts payable and receivable were but a gleam in computer pioneers’ eyes.

The lumber yard bought what it thought was a state-of-the-art accounts payable/receivable package and an IBM S/34. We quickly realized that while the package did speed things up some, it was hardly state-of-the-art. It was a batch system stitched together with several DFUs. Data entry errors weren’t shown real-time. Operators punched in a bunch of numbers and printed reports to see the errors. Lots of operator time was spent at the line printer awaiting the latest edit report.

RPG versus motorcycles

Within six months, I was cobbling together interactive, responsive applications to replace the DFUs. These applications reported errors instantly and removed the need for endless trips to the printer. From there, the solution evolved into a full-featured retail lumber package with inventory, point-of-sale, and asset management. My training was initially rooted in weekly visits with our systems engineer which led to several IBM Guided Learning Center classes which led to several trips to COMMON.

The only formal programming education I’ve ever had (not counting the IBM Guided Learning Centers) was a single Fortran night class. The college didn’t offer RPG and someone told me Fortran would probably help. It didn’t. The only thing I remember about that class was needing to always take a pack of cigarettes to class. Not because I smoked, but so I could bribe the computer operator to push my stack of punched cards to the front so I could get the results quickly.

Self-taught? Hardly.

For many years, I considered myself a self-taught programmer. As I ponder my 45-year programming journey, I’ve come to realize that I am anything but a self-taught programmer.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have many gifted tutors and mentors. Initially, these folks were mostly COMMON speakers who were very generous with both their time and talent. Beyond the programming mechanics these tutors taught me, they set me on a more targeted path to learn programming best practices, conventions, standards, and rigor.

I later left the lumber yard business and went full-time into computer programming. To be very clear, 45 years later I am still a meatball programmer. I’ve never been the smartest programmer in the room, but I sure did make friends with the smartest programmers in the room. I’ve been lucky enough to spend serious time with many incredibly smart, unselfish, and giving people. These folks all took me from a ragged, knucklehead programmer to the (polished, I’d like to think) meatball programmer I am today. I hope they all know how much I appreciate their time and interest in me.

Teaching to learn

For many years, I was the Education Director at ASNA and taught many programming classes. Just like my programming mentors, I was also blessed to have several superb teacher mentors. They taught me to stay out of the tarpit of hand-waving and pontification; they taught me that good teachers don’t just teach, but they also must motivate students to want to learn. And that’s what I tried to do with my ASNA students.

While teaching all those ASNA training classes, I was surprised how much I learned teaching. At the end of every five-day class, I am sure that I learned as much as any student in the room. The stories the students told, the experiences they had, and the tricks and tips they brought to class were invaluable. It probably never occurred to these students (paying for the class!) that they were busy schooling me! Thank you, students, you were all very helpful.

Thank your mentors!

I no longer consider myself a self-taught programmer, nor do I believe in the concept. I don’t think anyone learns programming (or anything else, for that matter) on their own. I know that I alone certainly don’t deserve all the credit for what I know today about programming. We all learn by climbing on the shoulders of those more knowledgeable than us. If not directly, then indirectly with their work, their materials, and their examples.

My hat is off to all of my mentors, trainers, teachers, and students. Thank you all very much for all that you’ve done for me. Had it not been for you, I might have finished college and be something boring like a meatball accountant or manager.