Programming as a job

[Cider]

So I have decided this is line line of work I would like to go into, well this or web-development which I am told can be a program language.

Ive messed around with Programming tuts but not too much. Is it at all possible to do some self-study or does this need to be lecture based.

I don't just want to learn about it but do it as a career.

Any at all suggestions.

[ByTeWrangler]

I'm currently going through "on the job training of Powershell" by CBTnuggets. Although it's not a programming language (or even something close to absolute programming), I still like their series and it includes scripting and other things.

I had tried my hand at programming, when I was 14. I didn't like it and from that day I haven't looked back at programming. I've gone into scripting to an extent just to learn but not to be an expert at it. Programming as a job or career is highly rewarding given that you're exceptionally good at it (this is true for everything but with the number of programmers around, i would stress on being "exceptional").

There are lot of CCNA's around but the one's who get paid well are CCIE's. Same concept (without the certification) applies to programming.

As for Web-development, I'm sure you can try CBTnuggets

http://cbtnuggets.com/webapp/store?o...category_id=39
or
http://cbtnuggets.com/webapp/store?o...category_id=55


Please give enough thought to changing career path.


All the best mate!

[nihil]

I don't just want to learn about it but do it as a career.

Any at all suggestions.

Yes!

1. Consider tax accountancy......it is much more rewarding and less demanding?..............hell, you can always use benzedrine sulphate to stay awake?

2. You want to be a "developer" NOT a "programmer"............ that means you need systems analysis, and systems design, or you will just be another code monkey, paid by how fast and how good you can deliver.

3. As a "developer" you have a career path. As a programmer you don't.

[gore]

Yes!

1. Consider tax accountancy......it is much more rewarding and less demanding?..............hell, you can always use benzedrine sulphate to stay awake?

Not here, that stuff isn't available. In the early days it was apparently used a lot, and in like the 1950s I heard it was incredibly popular and that it was given out for almost everything. But here it's currently not something you can get. I don't think it's even allowed by prescription. Which is weird considering how many of our Grandparents seemed to take them.

If you're in need of being awake here, you can only get Caffeine. Energy Drinks here outsell a lot of stuff, and in tablet form you can get No-Doz and others which are pure Caffeine, which I don't mind, but anything else (Like Amphetamines) you can only get by prescription, and even then, they aren't given out for much.

ADD is something they can be used for, but the ones you get don't exactly keep you awake, and though I have ADD I haven't touched a medication for it in some time. I think I was 10 when I stopped taking those because they didn't help me at all.

You guys over there still have Benzedrine ? I know basically EVERY country has things available over the counter that are prescription only in the states (Like Canada has Muscle Relaxers and Codeine, England I know has a bunch, and other countries) but even those little tiny doses of Codeine you can get over the counter everywhere else, are prescription only here.

I find it stupid considering you can't get high off them or anything, and with the Health Insurance Nightmare we have here, it would make sense to have at least those over the counter as they work well for Head Aches, but, sadly, even a tiny little 8 MG Codeine tablet you can get in Canada, is Prescription only here.

It's stupid because if you have a head ache that Tylenol doesn't fix, you have to see a Doctor, and in Canada, you can simply buy those over the counter. They also have free Health Care, so here, where you have to pay a lot to see Doctors for that, you'd think they'd at least put them Over The Counter so some people could save at least a little money when they don't really require something stronger, but need something a little better than plain Tylenol.

If they had them here it would be nice because then someone wouldn't have to pay 200 dollars to see a Doctor and then have to go wait in a Pharmacy just to get something that you can't abuse anyway.

I haven't ever understood why they're so restricted here considering how great they are for Head Aches. A Head Ache is something where any Doctor will tell you, that Tylenol, and Caffeine, will help. So, if you take something that has Tylenol, Caffeine, AND Codeine in it, you've got a great Head Ache medication.

It's only 8 MGs of Codeine, so it's not enough where anyone would be abusing it, but it also has some Tylenol and Caffeine, which makes it great for a Head Ache because all 3 of those ingredients are good for Head Aches. But, if you want any, you have to drive to another country, because they aren't allowed here.

Apologies for putting this a bit off topic, but I didn't know some of this stuff was available in other countries.

[Cider]

2. You want to be a "developer" NOT a "programmer"............ that means you need systems analysis, and systems design, or you will just be another code monkey, paid by how fast and how good you can deliver.

Hey Nihil, thanks for the reply.

Sorry about my stupidity but could you point me in the right direction here to see what "developing" is all about. Alot of people I have spoken too make up there own theories.

Thanks

[gore]

Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_developer

[Drakain Zeil]

More or less you're looking at two choices here:
a)
I'm going to sit at my desk and fart out code all day, as described to me by some flowchart. In a few years, I'll still be flatulent.

b)
I'm going to sit in meetings and then go to my desk, design relationships between processes, fart out some code based on this, and have some programmer that doesn't know how to do this work on module whatever because we need someone to do this. In a few years of this I will have career options

Anyway, if you want to learn, you need to learn not just how to write in language __blah_, you should figure out how a wide selection of languages that are different in syntax work, next you'll need to learn good practices of writing code, which falls into naming conventions, knowing how to properly OOP (or functionally design), know how to use frameworks.... this is enough to get you up to having the basic tools to being a good programmer, but you need some more stuff such as systems analysis and design which is a whole science in and of it's self, project management, UML, flow charting... documenting... how to set up a SVN/GIT, how to set up different services depending on what you want to develop for. (this way, your boss won't call you a propeller head behind your back because you're really good with just one thing but can't think beyond C#)...

Software isn't a small thing where you learn a language and get a job (well, perhaps I live in fantasy land, I've been mopping up a decade-old mess at work from poor programmers).