The Codist - Programmerthink

So You Want To Become A Programmer?

Posted: 04/17/2007, Perm Link Readers: 7720


I get emails from people who want suggestions on how to become a programmer, so it might be a good time to write a few notes on it.

EDIT: Programming as a career, not learning to program by itself. This is all based on the folks I've helped through the years and talking with other programmers on how they got into this as a career. Learning programming itself is a completely different topic.

1. Get An Education

Get a degree in computer science or the equivalent. It doesn't matter whether it's a four year, two year or technical school. The whole point is that no one will hire you without experience unless you have a degree. Don't expect to learn everything you need to know, however. The point of the degree is to get you your first job. Most of what you need to know you will learn later anyway.

In the 80's I had no degree in computer science and got my first job because they were desperate and I had some graduate experience (in Chemistry). Today it's different where getting your first job virtually requires a degree.

My sister got a two year associate CS degree, went to work at IBM and is now a VP (in charge of fostering CS educations no less).

2. Can't Get The Education? Back Door It

Work in QA (Quality Assurance). Assuming you find a good quality QA department (which isn't treated like a third-world stepchild) in a company with a lot of software development, you have a great opportunity to be exposed to software, interact with programmers, and hopefully absorb some education. It may take time, and you might have to switch jobs but eventually opportunities will show up; it's always easier to build programmers from within than hire from outside. Once you have a real programming job then you're no different than the "educated" folks.

3. Pick A Language and Learn It

If you've never programmed before, where do you start? Lots of people will suggest things here (usually their favorite language). So many to choose from, it's hard to pick just one.

Languages come in many flavors, here's a hacked up attempt to categorize them:

  1. Traditional Procedural Languages (C, Fortran, Visual Basic, etc.)
  2. Object-Oriented Procedural Languages (C++, Java, C#, Smalltalk, Ruby, etc.)
  3. Functional Languages (Haskell, Erlang, Clean, Lisp, Scheme, etc.)

Most jobs today fall into category #2. Speaking of jobs:

  1. Microsoft .Net World (C++,C#,Visual Basic)
  2. Java World (Java)
  3. PHP
  4. Everything Else

These are the divisions in the world regarding the platform, which is the programming language, frameworks, tools, environments and philosophy that binds it all together. Most jobs are in the first three.

So what to learn? It might depend on where you live, not every location has enough opportunities to provide prospective jobs. If you live in a high tech area (Boston, New York, Bay Area, etc) you can go with a less popular, but more learnable and advanced platform.

My suggestion here is learn Ruby. Fewer jobs but most are smaller companies more likely to hire less established programmers than Behemoth Inc. Another choice but with more jobs might be PHP, it's easy to learn but in the hands of less experienced programmers you can learn a lot of bad habits. Learning Ruby will make it easier to learn Java or C++ than if you start with PHP.

Another suggestion would be to learn Javascript; combined with learning Web Design (ie. HTML, CSS), there are lots of new opportunities these days doing Ajax in the browser where you can focus on just the client side. It might even help you get into jobs even if you lack other programming skills (see #2).

Of course you could learn something from the functional languages but be advised that the number of jobs is far more limited, and you will not be able (or want to) switch to the more common procedural languages like Java or C++.

The largest companies are more likely to use Microsoft or Java than anything else (although PHP is pretty high up there too). Learning these platforms takes a whole lot more time; it's not just the language but all the associated frameworks, tools, environments and servers that will tax your brain. With Java you have more choices for tools (free!) and frameworks (also free!).

Programming can also be split into areas (along with the more common language choices):

  1. Web Programming (PHP, Perl, Python, C#, Java, Ruby, etc.)
  2. Desktop Application Programming (C++)
  3. Server Programming (C++)
  4. Database (SQL)
  5. Communications and Network Programming (C++, Java, Erlang, Haskell)
  6. Scientific Computing (Fortran, C++, LISP)

4. Write Code

The only real way to learn to program is to program. Period. You can read books and tutorials, attend seminars, even get a degree; but unless you write code you will never be an effective programmer. Lots of code. Broken code (learn to debug). Most programmers start young, have lots of time to code, and learn useful lessons early just by doing. Don't just write little snippets (like many college courses make you) write useful stuff, web applications, calendars, widgets, basically anything that someone (even you) can actually use. I started off writing little apps for a food coop, and a newsletter writing application. Writing a sort routine will not teach you that much. Having someone depend on something you wrote (even minimally) teaches you a whole lot about debugging, and design, and users, and feature requests, all useful things to know.

5. Read

Like I have said before, I read blogs, programming news sites, basically anything I can find to keep up with what's going on, changing or sucks in the world of programming; even stuff I don't use. It opens your mind to other approaches and other ways of solving problems. Don't for a moment ever think you know enough and can stop learning. That's when the technology steamroller runs you over and leaves you behind.

6. Hang Out With Other Programmers

You can learn a lot from other programmers, both good and bad (and good and bad things!). I've always been willing to mentor other beginning programmers or answer questions on how to do something. Not everyone does, but you can tell. Pick their brains.

If after all this, you find you don't enjoy programming, it's too difficult, you want to toss your computer out the window, then find another line of work.

Or like the rest of us, come back tomorrow and try again.

Also read my post All I Need To Know To Be A Better Programmer I Learned In Kindergarten.

Tags: programmer, learning
Zaph0d 04/18/2007 01:30

I call BS. Intended audience is unmistakably developers. Either this, or this was a very poor introduction article. For such an audience this article is:

  1. useless.

  2. demeaning (come on "Hang Out With Other Programmers"? Treating JavaScript as a first level language? shame on you).

Most articles here have a much better quality to them.

aku 04/18/2007 04:30

Your articles are always a very good read.

Mat Schaffer 04/18/2007 08:22

I think I agree with Zaph0d on this one. I think #4 would have made a better introduction of sorts. Learning languages is great 'n all, but people usually need more focus than that. Also, although #6 touches on it, finding a mentor is a great way to make rapid progress as a beginner.

http://rubymentor.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?AurSarafAndSamantha is a really good case study.

Mike B. 04/18/2007 08:56

Good Read and I think it could work for beginners with a little tweaking.

codist 04/18/2007 09:34

I failed to title this article or write a proper introduction to differentiate learning to program from how to get started in a career in programming if you are in a different field or have a different education. My bad.

codist 04/18/2007 11:12
brian 04/18/2007 16:32

ZaphOd: You're utterly wrong.

  1. For someone trying to become a programmer, no advice is useless.

  2. Hanging out in with geeks (i.e. users groups) is a great way to not only learn, but also network and find jobs.

  3. I don't know what 'first level language' really means, but Javascript is incredibly important these days. If you don't know it, you're missing out...

sanjarUz 04/18/2007 23:59

I'm not pursuing programming as a career, it is rather a hobby slowly growing into passion. But anyways the article described exactly what I've been intuitively trying to do for the past year or so: I started with HTML, them came CSS and JavaScript. Now I'm trying to bite into PHP.

Btw, JavaScript IS good for beginners: you don't need much to start with (a decent book and.. a browser?) and it gives good understanding of basic programming concepts like variables, arrays, functions, etc and provides a good foundation for further (self)education.

Thank you for the article, having read it I'm a little bit more confident that I'm on the right track.

joe 04/19/2007 00:03

i think the whole ruby thing is still up in the air.. but might be a good investment to those who learn now. i would've put python on the list!

shevken 04/20/2007 10:57

I wonder why is python not mentioned. Hmm

codist 04/20/2007 11:27

Ok I added python, brain was rather empty that day.

Havery Sugar 04/20/2007 14:16

I agree with all of your advice but I would add that if you want to be in this for the long haul, learn something about data structures and algorithms. If you're not taking courses, find a couple of good books and implement some of the stuff in your prefered programming language.

Also, find yourself a niche and stick with it. For example: Web applications, embedded software, networking software, etc.

Matt 04/20/2007 19:36

Why aren't C# and Java listed as desktop and server app languages? It seems like most companies these days, including mine, are moving away from legacy C apps on the desktop and server because .NET and Java offer improved productivity and deliverables that contain fewer bugs.

Bob C 04/22/2007 11:48

I am going to agree with some of the above, but I do have my reservations. I have been reading your posts for some time now and only rarely found things that I would consider crazy, but this one is riding that line. I have seen that you intended this to be a how to get a job as a programmer, but I still think it’s far easier than you make it look. I am agreeing with Zaph0d, on the grounds that I doubt that any of this has the effect that you have provided, to the fresh blood. From my experience with learning to programming it’s not something that a one size fits all approach will help, but more a talent that people either have and embrace or don’t. Admittedly I have a few friends who have taken to programming late in life, but they have little chance to be able to achieve a real programming job because they lack one thing that hasn’t been mentioned and most of us already have – Drive. Mentoring and learning languages and so on is really grand but unless the person is truly driven to pull something off they will probably not achieve.

I would also suggest another change to your post. At the end of your second point you stated “Once you have a real programming job then you're no different than the "educated" folks.” Years ago when I started getting into the programming world out of school I would have been completely happy to have heard this, but having been here and seen my managers being laid off and sent back to school because they lack their degree, this may become something of disillusionment to the new folks. Being educated in an art is not something to take for granted, and certainly not something to ignore. Schools provide the bridge between functional and experience driven knowledge, and I’ve never been happier to have taken the scholastic approach, than in an interview when a manager who has no clue about my schooling asks me a question about something that is rarely used, like a fork in C/C or another obscure item like function pointers (which don’t exist by the same name) in PHP. In the same boat, I don’t think that JavaScript should be used as a starting block for anyone, but especially in relation to AJAX. The whole interaction model for AJAX is strictly confusing if the person has never built a web application to know what they should be grabbing or why it works that way. AJAX is still shunned at my current place of business, although I’m not sure why, as well as many others that I have been at over the years. I highly suggest the languages like C, PHP and even Java if someone is interested in learning to program.

Above all else, advice for the new blood coming in should be something that benefits them all the way along, something that we too can benefit from. I suggest new programmers do everything in their power to not become rooted in any camp and keep their minds open to the world. Becoming a Java Programmer is often the worst thing to do to yourself, when the world of programming shifts so quickly and never sticks to a single language. Currently I work in a number of languages, on a daily basis, and as a jack of all trades I find that I am constantly finding openings to cram myself into at work. A very good thing that I have been doing over the years is to learn two languages a year. No need to focus on the idiosyncrasies, just a functional knowledge and lots of book reading to find examples of how to use the languages.

Stephen 04/23/2007 18:03

C isn't dead. Perl isn't dead. The marketplace still requires them. For that matter, COBOL isn't dead (though i you didn't hear it from me).

When i was a kid, the low-barrier-to-entry language was BASIC. Dykstra ruined it with his "GOTOs are bad" prejudice. Listen up: prejudice is bad - it means "without thinking". But BASIC wasn't perfect, and could easily be improved. I've not been following the state of the art in introductory languages.

An odd thing about employers is that they generally don't ask their staff what language should be used for any or all projects. It would almost never be the language that gets used. Never. For example, there aren't any tasks for which i would recommend Visual Basic. And since companies seem to be in the habit of using non-programmers for senior IT staff, the decision gets made by an idiot, without the slightest clue. Fortunately, this only costs a factor of two or three in development and support, and rarely is the cause of complete systems failure.

Wulfcry 05/11/2007 17:20

Hahaha in about ten years programmers wil still talk over this subject of starters knowhow same questions same answers different game.

The one and only thing satisfied me by finisingh an application that its work and is dun with the language I prefered for simple or powerfull enough reason to do the work and this should be te course for any starting ibbit who whant to learn coding.

Its all proces related if you want global take the web based development if you want power learn to handle assembly or c/c if you think uhm keep it simple protoype a litle then python is there for you.

Anonymous 06/22/2007 06:01

I came to the conclusion that you guys are all crazy, who would of thought that becoming a computer programmer would ruin your personalities....sit back and look at the big picture and read what you guys just typed, you're all crazy!

03/11/2008 18:19

I thought you major in computer programming to become a programmer?

Anonymous 07/31/2008 11:36

I'm trying to get a programming job, I have a EE degree which I haven't used in 20 years and spent 5 years doing software application support, then stayed home and raised kids. The problem I'm having is that every time I learn a language, it seems the jobs are advertising another new language! I don't know any one language well enough because I don't have the industry experience and I just keep taking courses, but then I forget it when I'm done because I don't use it! Ugh. Competing with fresh young college grads for internships isn't working out either. Any suggestions? Help!

Rakesh T 06/20/2010 10:44

Good article. I think before starting your career in programming, you should first work on deciding your path you will be working on. Even if you are working on something, you must learn and continue what you have planned.

For example, if you started with web development (with PHP, Ruby on Rails) and are working on projects, but you should also keep learning other languages/frameworks/tools. With time it becomes difficult to learn various languages and mostly acquiring skills at particular languages/technology.

Say you planned to learn at least a dozen languages and frameworks, tools with sufficient knowledge and experience in each of them. So plan wisely and keep following your plans

w t 07/04/2010 19:15

correct