Why a Career in Computer Programming Doesn’t Suck (A Response)
Programmers need to be lifelong learners. I’m not sure what else to tell you. Lots of people change their professions. It’s not too late for you. Alternatively, you could find a job using a stable technology that you enjoy. Maybe you should find somewhere that will let you use C or C++, both of which are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
To the readers, pick a field that’s compatible with your own nature. You’ll be much happier. If you find that you’ve chosen the wrong field, change it. It’s just a job. Find something you actually enjoy, even if it means a massive career change. It’s better to be poorly-paid and happy than highly-paid and miserable.
Related: Hiring Software Developers – Want to be a Computer Game Programmer? – Engineering Graduates Get Top Salary Offers (CS is close)
March 18th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Google Summer of Code will pay about 800 students $4,500 to work on open source software development projects this summer at over 50 open source organizations including: Gaim, Drupal, EFF, Haskell.org, OpenOffice.org, Subversion and Wordpress.
November 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am
“American Rubyists frequently take up all the points of Ruby’s power, expressiveness, and efficiency, but they don’t seem to register the point that Ruby was designed to make you feel good…”
February 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
“Get interested in programming, and do some because it is fun. Make sure that it keeps being enough fun so that you will be willing to put in ten years…”
February 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am
1. Mathematics requirements in CS programs are shrinking.
2. The development of programming skills in several languages is giving way to cookbook approaches using large libraries and special-purpose packages…
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google: “If you want to know what programmers do, the best thing is to read their code, but failing that (or in addition to that) you need to read interviews like this…”
March 7th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Dinosaur Comics: “programming is for folks who are thrilled when a computer reminds them they’re missing a bracket or a semicolon”
July 16th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
“Carnegie Mellon University’s Randy Pausch…argues, many computer science departments are a quarter century behind on adapting their instructional methods for the purpose of attracting and retaining students…”
December 29th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Programmers also tend to be active life long learners. This isn’t to say programmers tendencies are all easy to manage. They also are more likely not to accept what most people are willing to accept and can therefore be annoying to some…
February 1st, 2009 at 1:41 am
I’ve been in computer programming field for quiet some time now and from my experience I can surely say that its one of the best places to stay in.
Some nice information about all this in your blog thou, keep up the good work!
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I think the programmer need to update many tools for their work. So they need to be lifelong learners. Acording to me, to become a good programmer, you need to have an indulgence.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:17 am
A very good point about poorly paid and happy! I am on work experience in an office with computer programmers and it does not seem as high pressured as i first imagined and is at times quite educational and enjoyable.
May 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I agree. I’d like to add that Programmers/Developers have to balance there ego and accept other people input on what they have written (Code) and be open to discuss solutions that they came up with, with other developers because they might have a better way to solving that issue.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
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