How long does it take an experienced programmer to become proficient with a new technology / language? [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I realize that the question is likely o get a lot of "it depends", but I am curious anyway. When you hire somebody new (but experienced) to the team, and they don't have expertise in technology you are using, but know something similar, how much time do you budget for them to "get online."

I am talking about something fairly substantial, like a language, or a framework / product that has a lot of ways of doing things. Obviously, many libraries takes very little time to start using.

In my own experience (10 years of experience, including a fair amount of consulting, so learning new technologies is par for the course), it takes me about three to six months of experience to become proficient at a new technology, and about a year to feel like I am approaching expert level where I know all the basics and medium-difficulty issues, along with a few areas very well.

What do you do in your projects? How do you budget the time to account for learning.

manpreet 2 years ago

It doesn't only depend on the individual involved -- it crucially depends on the specific technology as well as the individual's background; certain technologies, esp. languages, are just harder and slower to get into. I've seen world-class Java gurus with zero previous exposure to C++ take many months, say on the order of six or so, to be fully productive in C++; vice versa (world-class C++ guru with zero previous exposure to Java) I've seen take about 2-3 months; again for extremely experienced and skilled programmers with no previous exposure to dynamic languages, being fully productive in Python can be expected to take 3-4 weeks. In each case I'm talking about 100% full-time involvement in the relevant technology, by a programmer in the world's top one percent in terms of skill and experience, within a team having several other programmers of that caliber who also gurus in the specific language in use.

Factors that can shorten the time are previous exposure to "similar" languages/technologies, e.g. a solid background in C makes C++ slightly faster to learn, solid background in C# helps with Java, solid background in Ruby or Perl helps with Python. Factors that can lengthen the time include lack of suitably experienced teammates, not being 100%-immersed in the "new thing", and psychological resistance (not really wanting to do it with all one's heart!-).

I've focused on programming languages for my examples, but some technologies can be even harder, i.e., take longer to master -- if you've never written embedded real-hard-time programs (no dynamic allocation of memory allowed, proofs of upper bound on response time required of all function) even six months might not suffice; some application areas require mastery of application domains that, all on their own, can take even longer (if to understand at all what's going on, and therefore be fully productive, you need the equivalent of a BSc in Psychology, or deep knowledge of the Law, or a CPA's qualifications, etc, well, each of those takes years on its own!).