Unfortunate500
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For the love of God, someone out there has to be stuck on a programming project. Save me from going insane and let me debug your code for you.
Or teach/tutor/mentor/answer-questions-you-are-embarrassed-to-ask.
Seriously...I feel like if I could find one person to help with a code problem each day, I would be the happiest guy around instead of the overwhelming sense of uselessness that comes with leaving the work world.
RunsNakedThroughSwamps
If you're still looking to help people code, look up 100devs and get on their discord. It's a big community learning group with lots of newbies looking for code help
Unfortunate500
Will check it out. Thank you!
DeadeicPrints
Make or improve game mods? I dunno shit about coding but I love game mods lol.
Unfortunate500
Do you have an idea for a mod?
NotTinyPancakes
I agree with modding, there are so many mods on the nexus that could benefit from someone with your experience :D
elbowdeepinawhateverthatis
I don’t have code now. But I will. So I’m saving this post, @OP, and will contact you eventually. lol
bubbarex901337
Call bethesda
MoreOfABrewerReally
Look into FIRST robotics. Students need mentors, and FIRST is a great program (and time! ).
sleete
Do you have any swiftui exp? I'm trying to learn why some code inf loops some var declarations under a few specific instances.
Unfortunate500
I don't have a mackintosh VM that I use to write swift apps for my iPad. I'm happy to take a look at your stuff. Dm me.
Unfortunate500
Arg... how does "do" get autocorrected to "don't"???
I do have a mackintosh. I do have swift. :P
WellWellWellLookWhoItIs
Same way Macintosh gets autocorrected to mackintosh, I guess.
Unfortunate500
As much as I would like to blame that on the tech, I actually fatfingered that one...twice.
AntaNce
Maybe there's a...... bug.... somewhere????
sleete
Lol Android doesn't want you to work on iOS code. Thanks, dmed. I'll try to finish updating to 15.1 at lunch
Wor3q
There are so many open source projects that could use your contribution.
Unfortunate500
This is only true in the abstract. By which I mean that open source projects rarely need debugging. They usually need maintainers willing to manage the repository. Contributors are rarely the limiting resource in most projects.
If you have a specific project that needs help, however, absolutely let me know.
dblaikie
I work on LLVM and Clang - big commercially used/contributed to compiler technology, if that's of any interest. There is an in-development Fortran frontend (flang) if that tickles your fancy (or clang, the c++ frontend).
daychilde
I'm not them and I'm not on the coding team - o just most of the websites fur Simutrans. If you're interested in transportation simulators, we are open source. Mostly older and slower dev. The head guy is German - we are very international. I'm Isaac.Eiland-Hall there (and irl) if you'd like to poke around: https://forum.simutrans.com/
daychilde
Phone. Ugh. I *host most of the websites for...
aThingWithAKeyboard
VLC has some serious bugs, well documented on their git. It's a complex project with a lot to debug, might be right down your alley. It's also one of the few proven idealistic OSS projects that's turned down buyout offers in the past.
The debugging they is way beyond most contributors and solidly in the "need a a senior" category. Some have bounties attached too.
Unfortunate500
There are only a few open source projects I would consider as I am more looking to connect with other devs one on one, however, VLC is in that category. So useful for so long! Thank you for the suggestion!
michaeloberg
I found my time working on the hurd microkernel some of the most rewarding in my career (and I did a LOT of really cool things in my career)
Wor3q
I meant huge open source projects, like Django for example. There's no issue with maintenance, but you can find 15 year old bugs that aren't fixed to this day in the tracker.
RevengeIsIceCream
Yeah, old bugs just being left is seriously annoying when you run into them. It would improve the life of so many people.
Wiesel2000
drw16
homie, you sound like you could use leetcode.
Unfortunate500
I will check it out. I thought it was just for training, but I see now that it has more. Thank you for the idea!
NorthGuyWiseGuy
You could always volunteer to Blender.org
IckesTheSane
Are there any open source projects you would want to contribute to?
Unfortunate500
Almost certainly, but i was looking for some one on one projects. I'm mostly interested in debugging and teaching.
loudboy
Fix the tax code?
brokenfuture
get into QA. write automated tests. then you have a less stressful job and can still mentor and educate the dev team. plus you are no longer responsible for answering the phone at 3am for a production issue
javadad60
Go find that one guy who went to the store. While he's there, he bought milk. He was never seen again.
fnoigy
Go get a job and just give me your paycheck what's the issue?
ATLandNerdy
Plenty of projects on GitHub with open issues.
ahorseelbowdeepinme
Offer your services to non-profits?
billstranger
I don't need any help, i just want you to see my solution to a problem from a couple years back that I screenshotted for the archives. Maybe this will help ease you into retirement.
Unfortunate500
That's not funny.
But I can't stop laughing.
+1
evenelectronicbrainpancakecrystalelderly
my suggestions would be to pick some problem that's interesting to you, and write open-source, or look into a coding mentor program and see if you could share your experience. I'm at 30+ years now, and currently working on a hardware project I'll probably open-source when it works, and my kid has a friend who might want a mentor for electronics and embedded software. you could share your experience and make the world a better place.
Unfortunate500
That's the goal. As Denzel says, life has three phases: learn, earn, return. I'm at "return" now. I'm struggling to find people who need help. I want to work with individuals, not just random open source projects though. Optimally, people who are trying to learn.
But you nailed it: the goals are to not go insane from idleness and make the world a better place.
RevengeIsIceCream
Have you checked out helping out with coding camps for kids? Or maybe you want a more mature audience?
wseslar
Talk to your local community college. You could volunteer (or maybe even find a part time job) volunteering as a tutor or a class assistant.
Working in industrial technology and maintenance, I've met many people at my CC who spent 30-40 years doing PLC or electrical work (machining welding ect.) to come back to the same school they learned from to give back. These are passionate people that want to watch others grow. I appreciate them all so much
monkeyman512
I second this. In community college I got to take math classes from a guy who worked on the Appollo projects. It was insanely cool.
jetah
You'd be surprised what a youtube channel could do.
kojitaru
Consider who your target audience would be. As others have said, local school and library programs may be worth checking out if you want to help folks early on in their journey. If that’s not quite the speed you have in mind, you might also look at some of the digital communities that are trying to help people find their way professionally. Various content creators have their groups and something like the boot.dev discord could potentially use the help
cardinal29
Does the local high school have a FIRST team?.
evenelectronicbrainpancakecrystalelderly
I did a quick search for "programming mentor programs" and got a bunch of options, plus some listicles further down. I'd say check them out and see if any sound like a good fit, and try "X vs Y" searches to get people comparing them, might help you avoid one that sounds good but that mentors report they have problems with after getting started.
evenelectronicbrainpancakecrystalelderly
I'd also say try some new languages or related areas; for years I was the software stakeholder sitting in on hardware projects, as an employee and a contractor. in the last 5 years or so both my skill level and the tool maturity have improved to the point where I can design my own stuff without having to pay for or interest a hardware designer. I make mistakes, yeah, but a lot of what I build works, and I learn from all the failures.
manyslayer
I am sorry for your boredom but I would not wish my code on anyone.
proxykalevra
Isn't that what stack overflow is for if you don't want to do contract work?
Unfortunate500
I do spend time (too much time) there, but it is not quite what I'm looking for. I am searching for something a little more personal. Stackoverflow can grind on you after a while because of the vast about of bad info and overly strong opinions about the "right" way to code.
Alurkerforcedtologin
What language?
pickledonions
.
Unfortunate500
I have used 20+ languages professionally over the years. I am comfortable with any language, even if I've never seen it before.
Chronomechanist
Why don't you work on a little project of your own? Just because you're retired, doesn't mean you can't write code.
If anything, I long for the day I retire so I can finally write the code I wish I had the time for.
I imagine in your long career you have come across plenty of use cases where you could come up with a unique and valuable solution.
IFoldlyGo
The game "OpenApoc" has a few bugs in it that a coding club is working on, plus they are trying to figure out the learning AI from the original X-Com: Apocalypse game. The original 'Learning AI' breaks whenever you save the game, and can't handle Stun weapons in its logic. But if you can avoid saving then it is ruthless.
cafecafe
If you haven't done that already, get yourself immersed with some Arduino projects. Debugging embedded systems will bring you the challenges of unexpected WTF moments that will make yourself want to bang your head on the wall. Not counting limited resources and need to optimize everything. But the possibilities are limitless
Plaidpolkadots15
My husband runs a Coding Contracting business and he's always looking for anyone who wants to code. It pays pretty well per project you finish. Would you be interested? You can take on as much or as little you'd like.
Unfortunate500
sending you a DM
ChewyTheWookie
If English was good enough for Jesus it should be good enough for your compiler (/jk)
deathisthedestination
🤣🤣🤣
Alurkerforcedtologin
Have you heard of Holy C?
HandoB4Javert
++
Skizmo
After 40 years the language doesn't matter anymore.
KremlinOfAges
I am just going to guess that once you have the keywords and syntax down the rest falls in to place?
SuperfluousMeh
Well, that's what the professor said anyway 😂
Unfortunate500
Mostly. At the high end you can get into the specifics of what is actually different between two given languages. Some will be more efficient at certain tasks than others.
However, part of the definition of 3rd generation languages is that any program written in one language can also be written in every other language.
Alurkerforcedtologin
Learning the syntax isn't very hard, pretty much no matter what language it is. Learning how to break a problem down into it's constituent parts and expressing them algorithmically is the hard part.
Unfortunate500
This. The underlying language is algorithms. That's why chatGPT is good at coding. Once it understands the algorithm, writing the code is the same as translating English to French from the AI point of view.
Alurkerforcedtologin
I would argue that chat GPT isn't even understanding the algorithm, so much as it's been trained so that when you type in a question that looks like similar questions that have already been answered elsewhere on the internet, it will regurgitate answers that were responses to those questions.
charondaboatman
FORTRAN for the win!!
OliverClothesoff70
I was in the LAST Fortran course ever taught at Texas A&M in the mid 1990s.
Unfortunate500
It's still on my resume. How can you hate implicit typing?! (Answer: easily.i can hate it very, very easily)
Seriously, tho. ForTran is fine.
CookieDave
Was about to say COBOL, but that’ll do.
OneUniverse
Go do contract work on legacy code. Put that cobol to use.
p7zjnq9gei9000
Or look for teaching gigs (pun intended)
nullundefined
Far away from retirement. I had to code COBOL as apprentice. These people avoided every distinct name and goto wasn’t an escape hatch…more like a for-loop.
IFoldlyGo
My job has one program that has to select data based on a specific value. Cue a 30-deep nested IF setup.
ShoelessLouis
And, how are your Fortran skills?. Do you still do RPG?
Columbus43219
Harder than it sounds. That niche has gotten competitive.
Unfortunate500
I have debugged Cobol on punch cards, ironically.
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Get MVS TK5 and have your own mainframe to play with. Write some code! Invent something. Mayke YouTube videos about debugging it, etc.
OneUniverse
Like getting a card thats punched one column off.
pr3viso
Don't drop the drawer.
DeeplyBroken
I have, too. Actually, I was earning so much as a programmer in the late 1960s that I quit college to support my family. That worked well for me until around 2000, when employers started using robots to vet résumés, and I have not been able to get a job since that time, although I am still looking. I've really only put about 25 years into my career, would really like another 15, but if I can't get hired before I'm 80, I probably won't live long enough to finish.
landbaronness42
You can finish up an online degree with your existing credits to fulfill the degree requirement then get a job with a government contractor. Lots of older folks in those ranks.
archfile101
Tried learning PLC languages? Could be an interesting new challenge
CythrawlArawn
Tom, is that you?
smittyatyou
My friend got a job at the local college teaching cobalt. You could do that pays nice too
DOcelot1
Contact legacy banks and financial institutions. You might be surprised
SlightChungus
This seriously cobol is still used for so much irreplaceable infrastructure. Totally becoming a lost art.
5cX469Nit9JuI1MAZG5c3AdA
Oh, I see. You're one of those hipster devs.
MoreButterForMyHam
Punch cards make for a warmer code
kwyjiboner
Try doing it sincerely?
Malloon
NeverDownvoteMelBrooks
+1
OneUniverse
The multi billion dollar daily money transfers are still handled by a cobol system.
TheThirstyOne
* trillion
wythra
LordElups
Oh this made me chuckle
KPuff
kagnub
Develope a game or a program to make something easier...
Unfortunate500
That's the concept here. I lack ideas, so I am looking for an individual who has an idea but needs help bringing it into the world.
UNHchabo
If you're interested in retro games, the communities around them usually would love help figuring out the game on a technical level.
I speedrun Super Metroid, and despite being one of the largest speedrunning communities we only have about a dozen people who are proficient enough in assembly to help make Practice ROMs or other software tools that are used by others in the community.
Less popular games might have nobody, and could use someone with your skills to help them practice efficiently.
Unfortunate500
My first published software was assembly on ROM. (Commodore 64 cartridge)
This is an interesting idea, so thank you. I was thinking more of projects where I was working one on one with people. However, I feel the community you identified probably has some pretty specific needs which might work out just as well.
Cheers!
UNHchabo
As an example from our community: at some point somebody went through the code and put the logic for the boss Ridley into this flowchart, to show the conditions that causes his AI to move between the various states. This is complex enough that it's probably best to start learning by just getting a "feel" for how he moves, but this chart can help you learn what happened when he does something you didn't expect.
FollowTheBlueFrog
Just sent you a message
HurinThalionDies
Sent this link to my buddy working on his PhD in cybersecurity? Know anything about verification of rust?
Unfortunate500
I know a good bit about encryption and identity/access management. I assume you mean Rust the language, but I am not sure what you are specifically referring to as "verification" in this context. Can you elaborate?
tallyhoho
You want to make a recipe site with me and people can get paid for punishing their recipe like people do when they self publish on public sites? Or I also want to make an app where you can find other people around the world with similar library histories and then you can share books and start Vicky's bookclubs and stuff? Or you can help my husband debug his code
tallyhoho
Publishing not punishing...
ImmortalChild
Maybe if the recipes are really bad...
tallyhoho
Double win here
Unfortunate500
All of this sounds delightful. Dm me if you want to make an app. Have your hubby dm me if he wants a second set of eyes.
tallyhoho
Best retirement ever coming up
twistedcricket
I've tried a few python courses online but get frustrated easily. If there's one, or two, you'd recommend I'd like to try them. I'd also need a project to then apply the knowledge.
RevengeIsIceCream
I didn't come at it from the view of a beginner, but I thought plural sight had some good content, following this path: https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/python-3
Unfortunate500
One of the things I need to work on is teaching beginners. If you are willing to help me learn how to be a teacher, I would be happy to teach you to program.
Programmers tend to exist in the frustrated state for hours at a time, punctuated by moments of extacy when something finally starts to work right.
studog2010
For [ projects to apply new knowledge to ], I recommend Advent of Code ( https://adventofcode.com/ ). Problems get harder throughout the season, and, they never seem contrived to me.
Layloe
I would check out 100devs :)
Unfortunate500
Where are you in your coding journey? Is this your first language?
twistedcricket
First real language, yes. I've mainly done scripts with bash.
I'd be very interested in having someone help me figure this out.
TruthSlap
Anything you'd suggest for learning SQL? Seems like everyone's gonna be using it for ages, regardless of how "outdated" people keep calling it
myCleverUsernameIsEvenMoreClever
I use w3schools (Google them and include SQL in your search) as a reference with school kids. They have hundreds of very quick simple, small, ordered lessons or demonstrations really of what it is and how to write it. There’s also a “try it now” side window with each lesson to press play and watch it work, tweak it, learn from it, copy the code for your own projects. They have quizzes!
dbfiddle is another resource we use
Finally, Google “sqlmurdermystery” for a fun online learning experience
TruthSlap
W3s was what I was originally trying to use. I get the basic command structures just when it comes to visualizing how/which database to pull from my brain kind of craps out. I was heavily anemic for a while, turns out when they're starved for blood/oxygen long enough a good brain turns into a dum dum
Unfortunate500
That's a tricky question. You have to approach databases holistically to really learn them. I think it is easiest to learn how to design/layout databases at the same time as learning SQL. Understanding indexing and normalization helps avoid the pitfalls that result in bad SQL queries.
I could teach you if you wanted. I'm not sure where to point you for online learning tho.
TruthSlap
I appreciate it but my resources are... Limited. I was going to learn it for work (try to at least) but then got real sick and have been on disability ever since. My ability to retain information now is... Not great. I was kinda hoping for "how to SQL for toddlers!" thing I could chip away at while bedridden
Unfortunate500
There's always
Unfortunate500
Meant sincerely....not calling you a dummy. As silly as they may seem, these are great books when you are coming into a topic blind. Even the bad ones leave you with something you can build on.