Often the projects require months off planning, programming and continual work to get the applications to performing at their highest possible performance levels. Third, many companies now sponsor in-house training and development seminars, with a few even having local universities come in and teach the latest techniques on programming. This is a major time-saver for programmers as it gets them more knowledge to do their jobs, and also make them more valuable in their careers for the long-term. Fourth, programming is a profession that lends itself well to individual achievement and accomplishment. For those programmers who are exceptionally good at their work, they become well-known in their fields and often get promoted. Companies also provide many conveniences to programmers to alleviate time drains on them. Google for example has a dry cleaner, free gourmet lunches, relaxation rooms with pin-pong tables and beanbag chairs in addition to having wireless Internet available everywhere in their buildings. Google has the philosophy that programmers are most creative and productive when they are given the freedom to work in a manner they choose to. Google is in fact part of the next generation of software companies, especially in how they nurture productivity in their computer programmers and web developers.
Summary of how this information will be used
In presenting this information to a live audience of high school students I would first stress the need to find a career that best aligned with their innate skills, interests and what they were passionate about. Next, I would tell them that going into a career based on these criteria is much better than purely pursuing money as the primary reason for choosing what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives from a professional standpoint. Thirdly, I'd tell them about the best programmers there are, people like Dave Cutler of Microsoft who helped invent Windows NT, or Linus Torvalds, the developer of the Linux open source operating system. There is also Tim Berners-Lee, who invented HTTP and now works at MIT defining the semantic map of the Web. From these world-famous people who all started out in programming I'd give the students the following top ten list of things to consider if they wanted to be a rock star programmer (rock star in this case means exceptionally good at what they do.
Go and learn how to write code now and see if you love it or not. If you're passionate about writing excellent code then programming is going to be a good career for you.
You hate leaving things not finished. This is critical for any programmer to have this type of need for closing off tasks, from the small to the very large.
Like to tinker with machines, math problems, even Suduko puzzles.
Have a knack for finding patterns in anything, from data in a math problem to your own social network.
Likes to test their own code and checks it regularly for bugs.
Has the ability to take code found through Google Code Search and include it into their own programs.
Really cares about the user experience when it comes to how their applications, even small ones, will be used.
Writes beginning code that is logically easy to follow.
Likes to continually learn about how to make JavaScript applications work faster and likes to learn about PERL and XML.
Understands how the various system software components of a PC work together including the operating system and applications.
Getting a Career Started in Programming
Above all it is critical to be passionate about technology if anyone is going to excel in computer programming. This is a must-have as it will help you to get more learning in and actual experience in less time than if you push yourself into a career in programming just for the money. Second, regularly attempt the impossible and work very hard to attain those goals, even if it is writing a Web application using Java or JavaScript. The reason for this is to learn faster by doing. Third, only read the best quality articles and books on coding you can find, and also read as many excellent programs as well. You can find many programs available that are open source and using utilities its possible to look at their specific approach to defining data structures for example. Fourth, concentrate on creating applications from as many different programming languages as possible. These are all steps one can take on their own, using resources on the Internet.
There are many excellent college and university programs that have programs for bachelor and master degrees in Computer Science. Increasingly these programs are teaching the fundamentals of how to program using Web 2.0 applications and tools as well. Having a passion for this area and the innate skills sets transforms the effort of getting a bachelors or masters degree into more of a journey to gain more knowledge and less of a burden. The essence of excelling at programming is in that point; having a passion and the skills necessary to excel in this are is critical.
Appendix:
TABLE 1:
WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS
Applications
Descriptions
Blogs
References
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