HACKER Q&A
📣 vector_spaces

Resources for CS and software eng for a sharp middle school dropout?


I have an adult friend who wants to learn about CS, mainly for fun but also to improve professional prospects. She dropped out in (American) middle school. She's incredibly sharp but suffers from math trauma and general anxiety about school and academia -- so denser texts, stuff that assumes significant math preparation, and traditional classroom settings or resources intended for those aren't ideal.

She responds very well to videos, shorter written resources, interactive and project based work. The problem we've been finding with videos is that lots of the codefluencer stuff that comes up in a naive YouTube search seems to be either straight up wrong garbage, highly superficial, or expects lots of math preparation.

Any suggestions are appreciated. So far she's doing well with CS50 video lectures and Khan Academy

Also interested in resources for people mentoring folks learning CS/software eng -- that's the position I'm in!

  👤 MilnerRoute Accepted Answer ✓
If she can handle CS50, that's a great way to learn a lot of stuff in a short chunk of time. (I once tried announcing a Meetup for people in my area taking the class. That's one possibility if you're looking for a way to structure your mentoring: organize weekly in-person gatherings for people working their way through CS50.)

The big advice is to eventually start uploading your code to GitHub, so you can get your first entry-level job and start getting real-world experience. (Which is also educational, and beefs up your resume.) You can even do that with your final project for CS50.

The other general advice I always got was to learn one language really well. (Which gives you a sense of how far a language can stretch.) So I was also going to recommend the "Head First" books, which have lots of pictures with funny captions while giving a nice succinct summary of how a language works (with exercises).

👤 calebjosue
I never get tired of recommending "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming with Python".

www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-7

For the Math side, I do recommend: https://schoolyourself.org

Hope that helps

👤 brucethemoose2
I don't have specific recommendations, but building off something she is interested in IRL would be beneficial.

For instance, a side interest in restoration and manipulation of images and TV shows got me into vapoursynth, which got me into Python and ML.

👤 birdymcbird
Not sure how far she makes in CS without some high school level math like pre algebra, algebra 1 and 2. remember that actual computer science curriculum have more advanced math like single and multi variate calculus, differential equation, linear algebra, discrete.

Good news: most software engineer not taking derivative or vector calculation like full calculus or linear algebra taught in CS program.

but you need ability to reason about basic maths if your program has any computation at all.

khan academy is good for the math. dont really need much more.

👤 akasakahakada
> naive YouTube search seems to be either straight up wrong garbage, highly superficial, or expects lots of math preparation.

Like what? Which youtuber? Which channel? The blacklist is so vague that I think helpers here need more examples to narrow down the scope.

Also which portion of software engineering? There are absolutely somewhere do not require any math, but that means ChatGPT is also invading in those labor intense areas because everyone can do it.

👤 ano88888
i don't mean to be harsh. But it seems like everyone thinks they can easily become a programmer no matter their background. We don't have these kinds of beliefs for doctors/lawyers or enginners but we falsely believe anyone can become a programmer in a couple of months. If you are homeless, learn programming. If you're just out of Jail, learn programming. If you drop out of middle school and is afraid of math, learn programming. Programmers belittle their own professions. Perhaps it is because programming is permissionless , so people believe it is easier. But just because everyone can start a youtube channel doesn't mean you can easily become an influencer. Same for programmers.
👤 idontwantthis
You don’t want to hear this, but your friend needs to finish school. A GED should be the first priority. They can learn programming too. Khan Academy is great.
👤 _ank_it
Try this website: https://teachyourselfcs.com
👤 nathants
- python repl, or similar iterative environment.

- chatgpt plus.

- curiosity.

there’s never been a better time to learn than now!