I'm not the best person to answer that question as I work on low level code mostly. Go through this thread and you will get a pretty good idea I think. There is a lot of posts on those topics. Java, Python and JavaScript would seem to be ok.

Coincidentally, I just read this thread at an actuarial forum about a young netflix SE http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actu...d.php?t=282828

How about...what % of people who make 200k+ at software companies used to have a job where they coded at least 20% of the time?

Unless it is your Master Boot Record which I doubt, you could install linux on your old computer and won't have to worry about a virus. It isn't hard to install Linux, Google is your friend. Also there are plenty of books and info on configuring a Linux server. I don't know what your old system has for a processor and hard drive. You can get a 256 GB solid state drive from anywhere from $100 to $140. Adding RAM is also something to consider. I recently converted one of my notebooks to Linux machine, it was very easy. I put in an SSD and more memory. Couldn't be happier with the way it went.

That's ridiculous.

Who me? Just a small exaggeration I think. I live in the Santa Monica Bay Area, another expensive part of California, and the ****tiest house you've ever seen costs $700000 and I pay 1/3 of my $150000 in taxes.

Of course it's plenty to get by, especially if you're willing to drive an hour to work in a used car, but it sure seems like a lot of people in town are doing a lot better than that.

lol California.

QFT. Basically, you have a nice place or you have a nice car. Only the top 5% can have both.

Everyone lives in a studio apartment and drives a Mercedes, afaict.

A salary that lets you have a nice place or a nice car in a highly desirable location is pretty damn good imo. Your mileage may vary.

Granted I now live somewhere where the mortgage on my nice big house costs less than the rent I use to pay for my studio apartment when working in NYC.

This will read keepass files on android phones and tablets
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.keepass

Apologies for the derailment...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Househo...usehold_income

US household income: 150k alone puts you in 91st percentile. 200k+ in the 96th percentile. How does anyone afford a house in California? I'm guessing 200k equals a 800k ~ 1 mil dollar house??

Idk how anyone affords a house. Theres 1-5 million dollar houses all over the place in and around chicago. Its nuts. There cant be that many people making that much right? But what do I know

Given a reasonably high level of competency, what sets you apart as a programmer is having those "soft skills." Yes, including the quotes.

do places like Amazon/Microsoft hire people without CS degrees (and/or are they significantly stricter about who they hire out of applicants without degrees)?

Families where both people work. People that inherit money. People that are in their 40s/50s that have built up a lot of equity and keep parlaying that into bigger houses.

I mean, there's not *that* many expensive houses.

People that inherit or get "starter house" money from their parents.

I've met quite a few NYC transplants here, and yes, they are asked a million times about how expensive it is there. All that I've bothered to ask told me that not only is LA more expensive, but the average pay is much lower.

I read somewhere that LA has one of the worst income to rent ratios in the nation. Yes, I'm sick of this town and yes, I plan to move in some near-ish future.

They bought a house in the 90's (or before).
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...28-36226?row=2
Property History:
1996: sold $218,000
2014: listed $7,350,000

It says the building was remodeled and restored in 2000. I wonder how much they spent on that?

04/30/2001 Listed $1,450,000 $345 — MLS #01026613
07/25/1996 Sold $218,000 $90 — MLS #606768

Real estate has gone bananas here. But not 7x in 5 years.

Venice was a straight ghetto in the 1990s. It wasn't until recently, when the rich folk moved in (Nicholas Cage, most famously) that Venice was desirable to live in.

Gang activity

The Venice Shoreline Crips and the Latino Venice 13 (V-13) are the two main gangs active in Venice. V13 dates back to the 1950s, while the Shoreline Crips were founded in the early 1970s, making them one of the first Crip sets in Los Angeles.

In the early 1990s V-13 and the Shoreline Crips were involved in a bloody, brutal war over crack cocaine sales territories.[7]

While violence has decreased, they continue to remain active in Venice. By 2002, numbers of gang members in Venice were reduced due to gentrification and increased police presence. According to a Los Angeles City Beat article, by 2003, many Los Angeles Westside gang members resettled in the city of Inglewood.[8] Author John Brodie challenges the idea of gentrification causing change and commented "... the gunplay of the Shoreline Crips and the V-13 is as much a part of life in Venice as pit bulls playing with blond Labs at the local dog park."[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice...#Gang_activity

Still some really bad areas. I worked in Abbott Kinney area about 7 years ago. Not a place you'd want to walk around at night. There was some upscale restaurants starting to open up around that time, so I guess the area is much better now.

I work in a small company/team and everyone is very important.

The developers are very important, but the spec and requirements they are given is equally important. The QA that is done on their work, and the way that QA is explained to them is important. It is important that the business use-cases from the client are communicated to specialists that can architect out how we are going to write it.

Any good system fails if it has a single point of failure. If you are relying on having the absolute best programmers that anticipate every issue and can interact directly with end-clients, etc. then you are doing things completely wrong. You should have a system that people can learn in and contribute to without having to be "rockstar ninja wizards" and if people leave you can go on and be prosperous.

My only advice right now is that you will be self-learning a lot while in community college. The only thing you will be using classes at community for, is a syllabus/guide on what to learn.

Once you go to a university, the door opens up to internships and more opportunities.

Nonetheless, you super green, so relax and just explore.

Washington state seems to be a good combination of high salaries, cost of living, and desirable location. There are a lot of tech jobs in the Seattle area that pay $150k+ and there is no state income tax.

Meh, the weather subtracts a LOT from Seattle's otherwise undeniable desirability.

I get seasonal affective disorder really easily. I worked in a couple of programmer shops where they liked to keep it very dark all day. After a while I started feeling like complete **** at work for no reason.

I love the pacific NW but I think I'd get pretty depressed when it rains for a month solid.