Career in Programming
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Career in Programming
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| Hello! I was wondering if there's anybody on this forum that programs for a living and how much they enjoy their job? I love to program and would love to do it professionally and was wondering if I could get some opinions on whether or not this is a good career path and some tips on gaining employment as a programmer. Thanks a lot! BlaBZ ouT! |
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| Speak to gray alien or maybe gfk, he wrote a load of games in blitz a while back and got very very rich from it |
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| Well, if your good at programming and you get/have some education then you can make a pretty good buck depending on where you work. If its a hobby for now, use it for a career... that career may lead you to other places (so you can go back to hobby programming) but at least you make a decent buck along the way. I did corporate programming for about a year and a half. Made an account & group management web application (for Active Directory through LDAP calls) that implemented a standards book about an inch thick. Its up for National use so thats cool, but when I was doing that I didn't want to program again later in the evening, so making games just dropped off the map. I MUCH prefer having my programming time for games but thats just a personal thing. I moved into Management so I have programming energy now. |
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| Program defence related for the last 10 yrs. It's alright but it can get monotonous. I would say if you want to do it, aim for something where you design and program. If you just program a box to x/y/z specification it is real monkey work... and there is one more thing every programmer fears... PAPERWORK! It's no glamour game. |
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| I nearly replied to this earlier but the question was way too open-ended and I didn't know where to start, but since I got mentioned... or maybe gfk, he wrote a load of games in blitz a while back and got very very rich from it That depends on your definition of "very very rich". Up to 2006 I made enough to pay for, say, a couple of cars. But as it was my main income for a couple of years, it mostly went on bills and boring stuff.Writing games for yourself is one thing as you can do what you want. I don't think I could take a job where someone tells me to write a game, and I write it. It might be a game I completely despise and I know that'd show through. If you're planning to do it freelance I'd strongly recommend a business/accounting course of some kind. I'm considering that myself at the moment, just to brush up on things. If you plan on working for a AAA games company then you will need to learn C++ inside out. A lot of companies accept graduates but they do expect high-level qualifications and/or a proven track record in writing released games. |
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| I work in a software company and I use SQL Server, Delphi and C#. It's a joy to be part of a team and combining your code with the code of others. Also I really dig DBMGRs and SQL Server is my main area of interest right now. Now that I'm a programmer on my day job I wouldn't know how to quit doing it. |
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| and there is one more thing every programmer fears... PAPERWORK Oh, I've got someone else to do that stuff :-) And if you work with an international company (or perhaps one with international clients) you might even get to travel a bit - although if you are just a grunt-programmer there's usually less chance of visiting client sites. I was in Palestine recently. Wonderful people, lovely country. In my job I use Informix 4GL, VB, C++ (both g++ and vc++), Java, shell scripting, php, as3... And I also dba on Oracle when the need arises. Plenty of variety too, usually. If you like programming, there's no harm in doing it professionally. Personally, I like the fact I get paid for doing something I enjoy - there are many people who have a job they hate! |
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| I program machines for a living, not computers though as such...these computers are dedicated to operating machinery. |
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| I used to program video games for a living (for Cybiko and InFusio - both now out of business) - it was the worst job I've ever had! The pay was decent, but it was very monotonous and it seemed like we were always trying to catch up with technology. I worked on over 400 games between the two! (Mostly handheld games, with some major ports to J2ME such as Moto GP and Mortal Kombat). The problem with most programming jobs is that you end up with your laptop on you 24/7 and every day turns into a 16 hour workday. I now work at a chemical plant on 12-hour rotating shifts, and I love it! I can now forget about my job when I get home and do what is important to me and my family. I would guess that programming makes a better hobby than a job for most people. |
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| Do you mean independant programming or programming as a career in a "normal" job. In the latter I've no advice, for the former - go to college and get a computer programming degree. After that take whatever job you can get as a start (I would avoid operations type work though - that usually gets you nowhere.) After you get some experience switch jobs and work your way up - some companies promote from within but not many. If you are a top performer you will work your way steadily up the ladder. A LOT of people got into programming simply for the money a few years ago, and they are easy to get past... As for liking the work, I love it - part of that is luck on the jobs that I got, another part is that I am good at it, and the final part is that I like the entire software development process from gathering specifications all the way through to ongoing support (well, support of a program that stinks is no picnic - but I've written most of the programs I supported) |
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| I've been a full time web developer of some sort for the past 6 years or so, since I was 19. I have about 80% of a computer science degree, and I do recommend finishing one simply because it will expose you to some basic stuff that a lot of people will miss if they are self taught. I have pretty much always worked for an employeer in an office. At my current job, they have a great environment and usually very interesting work. I was hired as a PHP programmer but on my first day given a Django book and was told I'd be doing Python/Django programming. It's been pretty much awesome to work at a place that recognizes individual's abilities apart from a piece of paper - they care about what you get done and what your skills are. The problem is that I don't think there are very many places like this. My previous job had a very different culture that I fond sort of depressing. I did learn "new" technologies there - but they were only "new" to me. Had to do a lot of Classic ASP and T-SQL programming. If you don't know what it's like to debug a 500 line T-SQL stored procedure written by a guy who still works at the company but refuses to maintain his own shitty code, then you are a luckier person than I. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a mixed bag. The money is good - I'm not aware of any other field where someone without a college degree can make a significant amount of money in such a relatively short period of time. I do well for myself, I'm comfortable and I have almost always liked what I do - even at the previous place I complain about. The bottom line for me was this: I'd been programing since I was 9. I simply couldn't imagine doing anything else. If someone doesn't feel that they have no choice *but* to go into programming, I can't recommend it. You'll hate it if you don't love it already. |
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