The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5) - what it takes to be a programmer

what it takes to be a programmer

I am cs student in a third world country , I am not good at programming.But I intend to do software engineering.I need your advice on how to be a programmer and enjoy it.

Sirma Cherono
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

If you want to test how good you can be at programming, I suggest you start by buying books on the langage you have chosen, preferably ones with exercices, and once you feel comfortable in that langage, try contributing to an open source / community project. Start with small, simpler project and move up. Read the gazillion of good sites / blog with advices for programming style, howtos, pitfalls, etc.

Renaud Martinon
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Write (OR manage the writing OR selling) a piece of software the rich can't do without (probably something that has the likable ability of creating even more worth). Spend rest of life selling it, learn to spend some of that money.

Li-fan Chen
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

You're from a third world country... Okay, seems like you've met all the qualifications to be hired at my company. Just fill ou the paperwork, Sirma.

anon
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

If you don't enjoy it, I recommend you try something else.

GuyIncognito
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

"I am not good at programming.But I intend to do software engineering"
if not being a good programmer, you can achieve nothing in soft engineering, especially in a poor country like China :(

I am from China. I know most companies in our coutry do not have position for product manager (or program manager?). A project leader have to do everything.

How to gain high position in a software company of my poor motherland?

Maybe you can improve you debugging techniques?
you can read the book <<debugging applications>> by John Robbins .

If you warn them in advance, they dislike you.
If you save them afterward, they pay you.

In my experience, debugging is the quickest way to high position.

The side effect is that you will find you love the dummies in your company because they make you valuable :)

reguard
http://www.d2ksoft.com

redguard
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

"I need your advice on how to be a programmer and enjoy it."

I need advice on how to have sex and enjoy it.

Seriously though, the two are synonymous. People can give you ideas on how to improve you programming skill set, but the enjoying bit has to come from within.

I think what you need is to do a bit of introspection, and decide what you enjoy. Only then should you seek help on how to improve the way you do it.

The bonus is if you get paid to do something you enjoy, you earn double.

Tapiwa
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Here's a good test. Get the New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle and try to complete it.

If you can complete it in an hour without even having to erase anything you should be a Fortran programmer.

If you can complete it correctly within a day you can be a C++ programmer.

If you can do all but 2 or 3 clues and then just fill in the blanks with something that sort of looks right you can be a SQL programmer.

If you can't even get through half of it before giving up and have to relay on someone else to complete it for you, you're meant to be a project manager.

If you stab yourself with the pencil before even beginning and have to be rushed to the hospital for fear of dying of blood poisoning, you're cut out to be a corporate executive.

If you scour the internet for the answers or even find someone else who has completed it and copy his work entirely, you're a real programmer.

old_timer
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

"If you scour the internet for the answers or even find someone else who has completed it and copy his work entirely, you're a real programmer. "

best....comment....ever...

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Bravo old timer !!!!!!

Me
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

It's all about the beauty, programming is like doing a good maths problem:

Don't skip lines and have every line correct and useful.

When you see the final source code you should just know you've done a good job.

You should find out why the programming language you're learning was developed and how it has evolved.

Ian McLoughlin
Wednesday, February 11, 2004

"If you scour the internet for the answers or even find someone else who has completed it and copy his work entirely, you're a real programmer. "

The above guy is obviously an experienced programmer...because this is what 90% of the programmers do.

Noname
Wednesday, August 18, 2004