> > On Dec 15, 2022, at 6:14 PM, Patrick Pletcher > <000000e4f601e659-dmarc-requ...@lists..clir.org> wrote: > > Hi, this is my first time posting to a list like this. I am a circulation > clerk who is learning to code at freecodecamp.org. Right now I am studying > html and css, but I plan on going through all the lessons on the website. I > enjoy working in libraries, and I also enjoy writing code. I am not sure > where I am going with this. Do I stay in the library field, or do I go off in > a completely different direction? I would appreciate your input. I think I > would like best to work for a company that provides access to eBooks or audio > books. I like print, but I don't see people using ink printed on dead trees > 50 years from now, with all of the environmental issues the planet is facing.
I’m going to agree on the regex comment (as a Perl programmer for 20+ years). I came into the library community (well, LIS specifically) after working as a programmer on a project where I realized that the problems we were dealing with weren’t technical, so went to grad school to figure out how to reconcile the problem of defining terms and classifications that didn’t match across the community. I have a different suggestion for you… consider getting involved with any user testing and/or documentation efforts for software that your library is using. There’s a huge problem in software development that the programmers already know how the software works and think differently about it than their end users. This makes them absolute crap at explaining things, especially as they often use different language than the users would be familiar with. You can only really do that sort of job for a few years, as you’ll then learn too much to really look at systems with the eyes of a novice. (It can happen with effort, but most people can’t context switch like that) You’ll end up meeting other people with more IT experience that might be able to mentor you as you learn. Personally, when it comes to learning, I pick something that’s bothering me and try to figure out how to make it better. There’s a lot that you can do with bookmarklets (JavaScript saved as a bookmark) or tools like GreaseMonkey / TamperMonkey ) to automate web forms or fix formatting and such. (I even have a bookmarklet for Safari that reformats XKCD so I can print it out and post it) I personally deal with a lot of data extraction type things, so I’d recommend learning stuff like regex, SQL (if you’re working with databases) , css selectors (if you’re dealing with web pages), XPath & XQuery (if you’re working with XML), etc. -Joe Sent from a mobile device with a crappy on screen keyboard and obnoxious "autocorrect"
