My school wants me to interview someone who works in a career I'm interested in. Could a programmer lend me a hand by answering a few questions?
Name: Place of work: Career:
How did you get into this line of work? What do you like about this job? What do you find challenging about this job? Describe skills needed for this career. What is the impact on both professional and personal life? What is the future outlook for this career? What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career?
My school wants me to interview someone who works in a career I'm interested in. Could a programmer lend me a hand by answering a few questions?
Yes.
Name: Chris Knox Place of work: Ivycorp CareerJob Title: Lead Software Developer (Main Application)
How did you get into this line of work? Been interested in computers from a young age, mostly thanks to my dad who has been a software guy since the 80s. Started basic programming since I was 12, got into the industry as a tester at 14 (technically not a job since it wasn't for pay). Went to college to get a degree in Computer Engineering, did some internships, and have been working for real for three years.
What do you like about this job? The main thing I like about this job is that it's much more creative than most people think, at least if you are in a job that allows you the freedom to do so. It is very satisfying to have a problem or a feature that you need to fix/add, come up with the solution on your own, and then make it happen.
What do you find challenging about this job? Depends on where you work. Working in a big company was challenging for me because there was never enough things to do, so it was really boring, and the challenge was having to pretend that I was working a lot even though I really had nothing to do. In my current job, the real challenge is in having to deal with the constant changes. Things you did a few months ago may have to be completely redone or are removed entirely, which is frustrating knowing how much time you spent on it.
Describe skills needed for this career. A very good understanding of how to program, and a broad understanding of the different languages and what they are good for. Don't need to know a lot about all of them, or even work with them, but knowing what they are and what they do is good. Once you have that, being quick to adapt is probably the best thing you can have since it is highly desirable for any employer. Knowing your way around an IDE is also good, especially for debugging. Once you know one, you can adapt to others pretty quickly.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life? As far having a career in programming, it helps out professionally since it a field that, once you're in it, is very easy to move around in. I have no worries about ever being unemployed unless it is by choice. My current job has pretty significant impact on my personal life, since I often work long and odd hours, but I've never regretted it.
What is the future outlook for this career? Very positive. The software space is only getting bigger, with more and more interesting things happening in it all the time. Personally, I look forward to working on my own projects that really push the boundaries of my creativity.
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career? Program things on your own. From my experience, school is a good place to get theory and work on some interesting things (which can often times be fun), but true skill in the field comes from doing things on your own. No course syllabus or spec or code to work with. Just think of something that you want to make, and then do it with whatever it is you want to work with. For example, my first project was to create a simple HTML website that had stuff that I thought was cool on it. Then I turned it into a blog. Then I did it again using PHP and MySQL. Then I made a couple calculator games on my TI-83+ (using the calculator no less). Then I made a tic-tac-toe game using C++. Those projects and my previous work experience have been far more valuable in my job than anything I did in college.
My school wants me to interview someone who works in a career I'm interested in. Could a programmer lend me a hand by answering a few questions?
Name: Scott Rubin Place of work: Broadway.com Career: Software Engineer
How did you get into this line of work? - Went to college. Applied for jobs the typical way. What do you like about this job? - Stable, easygoing. What do you find challenging about this job? - Business decisions made by people who know nothing about technology. Describe skills needed for this career. - The ability to find and execute existing solutions found with Google and also come up with new solutions to problems nobody has ever solved before. What is the impact on both professional and personal life? - Same as any other 9 to 5 job. What is the future outlook for this career? - There's little room to move upwards at most jobs of this nature unless it is a technological company that is run by technological experts (Google, Facebook, etc.). Instead, you move upwards by changing jobs. What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career? - Learn the fundamentals. If you really and truly understand how things work, then you can use anything. A lot of people just learn one thing, such as C++. Then when they have to write something in Ruby or Python, they can't. If you really understand programming you should be able to get the job done with any language. If you really learn operating systems, you should be able to use any *NIX, OSX, Windows, or even BeOS. The people who actually know database can use MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, etc. Don't be the guy who only knows one thing.
My school wants me to interview someone who works in a career I'm interested in. Could a programmer lend me a hand by answering a few questions?
Name: Luis Arruda Place of work: ExaGrid Systems Career: Software Engineer
How did you get into this line of work? Played a lot with computers and even some really simple programming as a kid. After some time in college (and input from friends who saw how miserable I was with my major at the time), decided to take computer science classes. Turns out I took to computer science like a duck to water (at least compared to the other stuff I was taking) and got a degree in computer engineering. After that, I found a job with a computer company and been working as a software engineer since.
What do you like about this job? I actually do enjoy the process of coding -- coming up with solutions to problems, writing software to solve those problems, and so on. In some ways, it's almost like being paid to work on a hobby, since I also do some hobbyist programming in my spare time (though the programs I work on at home are very different from those I do at work).
What do you find challenging about this job? Debugging. Actually, some times the problems to solve can be very tricky and the pressure of a tight deadline can make it even more challenging. Debugging is part of it as sometimes your first attempt at a solution to a problem doesn't work and you need to spend even more time figuring out what's wrong with your solution (assuming the idea itself is fundamentally sound and the error is in how you implemented said solution). Also, since you work in a team environment, sometimes you're tasked with learning and debugging code someone else wrote, which is even trickier as sometimes you have to think like the other person.
Describe skills needed for this career. Definitely skills in problem solving and in programming. While I typically only work with one language on a day to day basis (C++ in this case), knowledge of additional languages is always useful as I've also had to dabble with Java and Perl -- and that's only at this particular company. Previous companies have involved dabbling with straight C, shell scripting, Python, and Ruby as well. Also, you shouldn't limit yourself to only knowing higher-level languages such as Python and Ruby -- you should be at least comfortable, if not fluent, in a range of languages from assembly (any should be fine to just get the concepts -- you can learn the details of specific architectures as needed), C, and C++ at the lower end to Python and such at the higher end. The more languages you know, the better, as it makes you much more flexible and valuable. Being comfortable at playing around with hardware also helps, though it's not as necessary. Oh, and general business and communication skills are also very useful -- you'll often have to write specification documents and give presentations on your designs. Finally, being able to do system administration (typically on Unix/Linux), while not a must, is certainly very helpful as well as it just makes you that much more valuable to an employer.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life? Professional has been good, since this is a career with a lot of growth that I've been in for 12 years and have only been out of work once for all of 2 months. I also regularly get called by recruiters looking to hire me as well. Personal has been mostly fine, like any other job, but it has peaks and valleys. There are times I've had to work crazy late hours and such, but my employer is pretty good about letting me work from home. Therefore, on those days where I do need to burn the midnight oil, I'd often leave the office at my usual time, eat dinner at home, and then finish up working remotely from home.
What is the future outlook for this career? Very good. Software engineers are in high demand and should be for the foreseeable future.
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career? Never stop learning. In your spare time, you should read programming journals and magazines, hang out on various online forums, and try to pick up new technologies, languages, and so on. The more you know, the more marketable you are. You may be a C/C++ systems software specialist based on experience (like I am), but if you're also more of a generalist with your overall skill set, that makes you that much more valuable and hire-able.
Does anyone on this forum know the copyright status of the Quake "Dominating" sound effect? I know it was later used in Counter Strike, and is pretty ubiquitous in FPS culture. Has it been released to the public domain?
Does anyone on this forum know the copyright status of the Quake "Dominating" sound effect? I know it was later used in Counter Strike, and is pretty ubiquitous in FPS culture. Has it been released to the public domain?
It's being used now. Not on all servers, but on a lot of the pubs.
It's not officially a part of Counter-Strike. That is the joy of a game using *gasp* dedicated servers run by the users. People mod their servers to do whatever they want. You can include any audio files whatsoever on your server to be downloaded to the client and bound to certain events. Ever play NS1 on the Clan server? While it's changing maps it plays popular songs relating to the word "bad." The NS guys didn't put that there.
It's being used now. Not on all servers, but on a lot of the pubs.
It's not officially a part of Counter-Strike. That is the joy of a game using *gasp* dedicated servers run by the users. People mod their servers to do whatever they want. You can include any audio files whatsoever on your server to be downloaded to the client and bound to certain events. Ever play NS1 on the Clan server? While it's changing maps it plays popular songs relating to the word "bad." The NS guys didn't put that there.
Ah, I should have assumed that. I suppose in my brief stint playing CS, I did only frequent a few pub servers (mostly newb-friendly ones). I am surprised that you haven't heard it in the game, Scott, but I suppose we just played within different pockets of the CS world.
It's being used now. Not on all servers, but on a lot of the pubs.
It's not officially a part of Counter-Strike. That is the joy of a game using *gasp* dedicated servers run by the users. People mod their servers to do whatever they want. You can include any audio files whatsoever on your server to be downloaded to the client and bound to certain events. Ever play NS1 on the Clan server? While it's changing maps it plays popular songs relating to the word "bad." The NS guys didn't put that there.
Ah, I should have assumed that. I suppose in my brief stint playing CS, I did only frequent a few pub servers (mostly newb-friendly ones). I am surprised that you haven't heard it in the game, Scott, but I suppose we just played within different pockets of the CS world.
I have heard it. I was just confirming my suspicion that you were confusing server mods for the real deal.
Does anyone else ever feel like your Facebook is like a pokedex for your friends? A lot of them are there not because you actually want them, but just because you want them to be there. Like maybe its more about collecting friends than actually having them?
Does anyone else ever feel like your Facebook is like a pokedex for your friends? A lot of them are there not because you actually want them, but just because you want them to be there. Like maybe its more about collecting friends than actually having them?
Not really. Possibly because I use Facebook a lot, but my Facebook friends act as my news/cool stuff filters as much as this forum does. I don't have that many friends whom I don't pay attention to.
I think that the country (possibly the world) is compromised 90% by fascists, racists, and idiots. This isn't just some abstract belief based on polls, this includes friends and people who are close to me. Have I become paranoid?
Why did everyone decide to go fucking nuts about gas prices? Sure, they're higher compared to what Americans are used to (though they're not that high when compared with CPI and taking inflation into account), but is it really that big of a deal?
Comments
On a more serious topic, can anyone recommend a good first paintball marker?
Name:
Place of work:
Career:
How did you get into this line of work?
What do you like about this job?
What do you find challenging about this job?
Describe skills needed for this career.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life?
What is the future outlook for this career?
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career?
Name: Chris Knox
Place of work: Ivycorp
CareerJob Title: Lead Software Developer (Main Application)
How did you get into this line of work?
Been interested in computers from a young age, mostly thanks to my dad who has been a software guy since the 80s. Started basic programming since I was 12, got into the industry as a tester at 14 (technically not a job since it wasn't for pay). Went to college to get a degree in Computer Engineering, did some internships, and have been working for real for three years.
What do you like about this job?
The main thing I like about this job is that it's much more creative than most people think, at least if you are in a job that allows you the freedom to do so. It is very satisfying to have a problem or a feature that you need to fix/add, come up with the solution on your own, and then make it happen.
What do you find challenging about this job?
Depends on where you work. Working in a big company was challenging for me because there was never enough things to do, so it was really boring, and the challenge was having to pretend that I was working a lot even though I really had nothing to do. In my current job, the real challenge is in having to deal with the constant changes. Things you did a few months ago may have to be completely redone or are removed entirely, which is frustrating knowing how much time you spent on it.
Describe skills needed for this career.
A very good understanding of how to program, and a broad understanding of the different languages and what they are good for. Don't need to know a lot about all of them, or even work with them, but knowing what they are and what they do is good. Once you have that, being quick to adapt is probably the best thing you can have since it is highly desirable for any employer. Knowing your way around an IDE is also good, especially for debugging. Once you know one, you can adapt to others pretty quickly.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life?
As far having a career in programming, it helps out professionally since it a field that, once you're in it, is very easy to move around in. I have no worries about ever being unemployed unless it is by choice. My current job has pretty significant impact on my personal life, since I often work long and odd hours, but I've never regretted it.
What is the future outlook for this career?
Very positive. The software space is only getting bigger, with more and more interesting things happening in it all the time. Personally, I look forward to working on my own projects that really push the boundaries of my creativity.
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career?
Program things on your own. From my experience, school is a good place to get theory and work on some interesting things (which can often times be fun), but true skill in the field comes from doing things on your own. No course syllabus or spec or code to work with. Just think of something that you want to make, and then do it with whatever it is you want to work with. For example, my first project was to create a simple HTML website that had stuff that I thought was cool on it. Then I turned it into a blog. Then I did it again using PHP and MySQL. Then I made a couple calculator games on my TI-83+ (using the calculator no less). Then I made a tic-tac-toe game using C++. Those projects and my previous work experience have been far more valuable in my job than anything I did in college.
Place of work: Broadway.com
Career: Software Engineer
How did you get into this line of work? - Went to college. Applied for jobs the typical way.
What do you like about this job? - Stable, easygoing.
What do you find challenging about this job? - Business decisions made by people who know nothing about technology.
Describe skills needed for this career. - The ability to find and execute existing solutions found with Google and also come up with new solutions to problems nobody has ever solved before.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life? - Same as any other 9 to 5 job.
What is the future outlook for this career? - There's little room to move upwards at most jobs of this nature unless it is a technological company that is run by technological experts (Google, Facebook, etc.). Instead, you move upwards by changing jobs.
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career? - Learn the fundamentals. If you really and truly understand how things work, then you can use anything. A lot of people just learn one thing, such as C++. Then when they have to write something in Ruby or Python, they can't. If you really understand programming you should be able to get the job done with any language. If you really learn operating systems, you should be able to use any *NIX, OSX, Windows, or even BeOS. The people who actually know database can use MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, etc. Don't be the guy who only knows one thing.
Place of work: ExaGrid Systems
Career: Software Engineer
How did you get into this line of work?
Played a lot with computers and even some really simple programming as a kid. After some time in college (and input from friends who saw how miserable I was with my major at the time), decided to take computer science classes. Turns out I took to computer science like a duck to water (at least compared to the other stuff I was taking) and got a degree in computer engineering. After that, I found a job with a computer company and been working as a software engineer since.
What do you like about this job?
I actually do enjoy the process of coding -- coming up with solutions to problems, writing software to solve those problems, and so on. In some ways, it's almost like being paid to work on a hobby, since I also do some hobbyist programming in my spare time (though the programs I work on at home are very different from those I do at work).
What do you find challenging about this job?
Debugging.
Describe skills needed for this career.
Definitely skills in problem solving and in programming. While I typically only work with one language on a day to day basis (C++ in this case), knowledge of additional languages is always useful as I've also had to dabble with Java and Perl -- and that's only at this particular company. Previous companies have involved dabbling with straight C, shell scripting, Python, and Ruby as well. Also, you shouldn't limit yourself to only knowing higher-level languages such as Python and Ruby -- you should be at least comfortable, if not fluent, in a range of languages from assembly (any should be fine to just get the concepts -- you can learn the details of specific architectures as needed), C, and C++ at the lower end to Python and such at the higher end. The more languages you know, the better, as it makes you much more flexible and valuable. Being comfortable at playing around with hardware also helps, though it's not as necessary. Oh, and general business and communication skills are also very useful -- you'll often have to write specification documents and give presentations on your designs. Finally, being able to do system administration (typically on Unix/Linux), while not a must, is certainly very helpful as well as it just makes you that much more valuable to an employer.
What is the impact on both professional and personal life?
Professional has been good, since this is a career with a lot of growth that I've been in for 12 years and have only been out of work once for all of 2 months. I also regularly get called by recruiters looking to hire me as well.
Personal has been mostly fine, like any other job, but it has peaks and valleys. There are times I've had to work crazy late hours and such, but my employer is pretty good about letting me work from home. Therefore, on those days where I do need to burn the midnight oil, I'd often leave the office at my usual time, eat dinner at home, and then finish up working remotely from home.
What is the future outlook for this career?
Very good. Software engineers are in high demand and should be for the foreseeable future.
What are your words of wisdom for someone entering this career?
Never stop learning. In your spare time, you should read programming journals and magazines, hang out on various online forums, and try to pick up new technologies, languages, and so on. The more you know, the more marketable you are. You may be a C/C++ systems software specialist based on experience (like I am), but if you're also more of a generalist with your overall skill set, that makes you that much more valuable and hire-able.