Programming As A Career

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

Yeah! You saw it wright. "Programming vs Career" not "Programming and Career". Let me elaborate. I am 19 and have been programming for few years now. My language wallet is comprised of GW Basic (that I learnt in my school), C++ (in Higher Secondary) and the VB 6.0 IDE (perhaps the easiest of them all). Currently I am prepairing for the Joint Entrance Exams, here in India, for Computer Science and Engineering. Actually, I am not quite into studying my course material and my career is in disarray, because of my immense passion for Computers, be it Programming, Gaming or just tweaking around. I wonder if there's any one else with this sort of a problem. Neverthless, I still enjoy my 19 hours with the Computer (which I have been doing almost mechanically since the last three and a half years or so), despite occasional scrutiny by parents and constant feeling of remorse for what I have done. I would like to hear from you guys over here as to what you think of a weirdo like me. Besides, how much of a scope is there for a good (I guess I can rate myself good, on the other hand hand you guys wouldn't agree, since you don't know me! Ah! know me yet, that is ) programmer without a degree in this market.

Edited June 8, 2006 by turbopowerdmaxsteel (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

I would say that you must work for your exams first, because if you are not lucky with your exams you are out.However, as soon as you will be successful with your exams, then, the school exams time will be forgotten, and the most import thing for your future boss will be the fact that you love computers.So, keep going loving computers and spending time on programming, but remember that if you want to have a good job you must first of all be successful with your exams.Exams is a neglective point if you are successful.Exams will be the most important thing in your life if you fail your exams.So, first, be very active at school.RegardsYordan

[pyost 0]

Go with the exams, but keep in mind that it isn't programming versus career, today it's programming = carrer

[Sarah81 0]

You can always look at your career training as a step toward what you really want to do with your life. You may not think that your exams, classes, etc. are important compared to any programming that you're interested in doing and learning, but they'll help you out in one way or another. Can you alter your career-training path so that you can learn programming, which seems to be what you really want to do with your life? And to answer your question about programmers without degrees:I have an uncle who taught himself COBOL years and years ago. He spent some time in college, but put in an application to a very large banking/insurance corporation when he was partway through. He never finished his degree but doesn't have to worry about making money - mainly because he still works for that corp., but as a systems analyst (read: more money and a better job than the one he started with).I also have a few pretty good friends who didn't go to college, or finish it if they *did* go, who are doing all right. They have work experience instead of degrees, so employers are all right with hiring them.Here in the U.S., companies place a high value on the piece of paper, but many are willing to make exceptions if you're good and can prove that you're capable of handling everything in the job description.

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0]

Yeah! You saw it wright. "Programming vs Career" not "Programming and Career". Let me elaborate.

 

I am 19 and have been programming for few years now. My language wallet is comprised of GW Basic (that I learnt in my school), C++ (in Higher Secondary) and the VB 6.0 IDE (perhaps the easiest of them all). Currently I am prepairing for the Joint Entrance Exams, here in India, for Computer Science and Engineering. Actually, I am not quite into studying my course material and my career is in disarray, because of my immense passion for Computers, be it Programming, Gaming or just tweaking around. I wonder if there's any one else with this sort of a problem. Neverthless, I still enjoy my 19 hours with the Computer (which I have been doing almost mechanically since the last three and a half years or so), despite occasional scrutiny by parents and constant feeling of remorse for what I have done. I would like to hear from you guys over here as to what you think of a weirdo like me. Besides, how much of a scope is there for a good (I guess I can rate myself good, on the other hand hand you guys wouldn't agree, since you don't know me! Ah! know me yet, that is ) programmer without a degree in this market. Not to forget, I am really looking forward to getting to 5 Posts.

????[/tab]Reading your story I rolled back some 10 yrs and found myself going through the exact same dilemmas as you - although I believe I'd been into programming far longer than you at that period. My first experience with computers was when I was in my fifth grade and my coding journey started when I was in the 6th.

 

????By the time I was doing away with my H.S. I wasn't just a "weirdo" to quote you - but a wholesome maniac. My parents would have to lock up my keyboard+mouse to restrain me from wasting time with the computer rather than studying for my H.S. papers. Now quite similar to you - I had this belief that I was one of the best non-certified coders - at least one of the better ones. Urrgghh.. Vanity - I tell you. Anyway, my team had won the All India Software Development Competition (school level) held every year at BITM (Birla Industrial and Technological Museum) - that of course had it's own added effects. The Telegraph published our pictures along with a big article on how we did proud to Calcutta. Well - as I said, vanity - the worst and the most silent killers of all But then I thought I was unstoppable.

 

????What it did to me was to totally neglect my studies - screw up bigtime in H.S. and screw up the JEE even worse. Quite naturally - when the results came out I had a rather tough time (alright - "tough" is an understatement) even getting into a good univ. where I could pursue computing studies - something which I so loved with a passion. None of those certificates I'd won in various competitions ever helped me get into a decent univ. Anyway, I landed up in Bangalore - in an entirely unrelated stream of studies (Environmental Engg.)... as that was the only one I could get with my Karnataka CET ranking. By that time it was a tug-of-war between my dad and me. He wanted me to stay close to home and do a degree in computers - he didn't care how much donation it'd have taken for me to get in one of the good private colleges. But it was a question of my own merit to myself too - so I was pretty adamant about it. I'd got through whatever course in Bangalore with my own merit and that had to be it. The result of trying to cope up with something that you never loved was disastrous - but I realized that only too late, i.e. 2.5 years down the line.. I just didn't get interest in that damned Environ. Engg. thingie.. gave up midway and just came back home. That period was a total loss - and I was at a loss too, as to what to do. Seemed like I didn't have many options open.

 

????However, all this while, one thing I never lost was my passion for computers. By hook or by crook I continued to be in touch with my "loved" one And miraculously wherever I went (even though my dad wouldn't let me carry my own computer around) - I'd land up with one. Anyway, providence as they say, seemed to have had its own share of fun in store for me. It was a long and winding course - but within an years time I made my way to Thailand - studying InfoTech in an American university here. From then on - things headed for the better.

 

????By the time I was almost finished with my degree, I was recruited by this startup software firm with a big percentage of its shared as an added incentive to put in my work wholeheartedly - and I've been with them ever since. Now I can proudly say that we've got our own classy sw products here in the market doing quite well. But all that took years of patience, terrific hard-work (sometimes 18-20 hours a day) ... and a lot of encouragements at what seemed to be hopeless break-down points. The moral of the story is that today I stand far more humble regarding my coding skills. All that vanity - even the faintest traces of it are completely gone. Once you hit the stage of real-world coding you'd be faced with unimaginable challenges - and there'll be points you'd have to immerse yourself into long periods of research. The amount of knowledge you'd face is unfathomable - and you'd indeed feel rather microscopic in facing it.

 

[tab]The crux of the matter it - leave aside your messing-around with the computer part for a while and study your *bottom* off for the JEE. I can say that I was EXTREMELY LUCKY in getting out of india and making a life elsewhere. Not everybody gets that opportunity - and you KNOW how hard it's to make a decent living, staying in India, amidst a population of over a billion. In other countries - work experience does count a lot. But in India - the one and only way of proving yourself - is through that piece of paper. No one's going to take you up on word-of-mouth or demonstrations of skills - or even if someone did, the job you'll land up with will never satisfy you. Once you're into the degree course, you'd find plenty of time to exercise your computing skills and prove to the world WHO AND WHAT you are. But till then - don't ignore any of the Entrance tests you might be appearing in. I'm telling you - not everyone's as lucky as me.. Luck might not have favoured me in many different ways, but it sure does believe in giving me second and third and fourth chances. But one shouldn't stretch or test that to its limits - as even luck has it's own quota of endurance. So just hold your horses till you safely sail through the entrances. Till then, study HARD and ALL THE BEST, bro.

 

Best Regards,

m^e

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

Reading your story I rolled back some 10 yrs and found myself going through the exact same dilemmas as you - although I believe I'd been into programming far longer than you at that period. My first experience with computers was when I was in my fifth grade and my coding journey started when I was in the 6th.

My mistake for not clarifying, but I was into computers from class four . But it was only in class 10 that I got a PC. Nice to know that I am not the only one of this kind and I presume I am not the last either. Anyways, thanx for the advice bro. Now I know that I gotta be super lucky to get to the top (this way that is), which I promise I won't take for granted and yeah study my *bottom* off for the JEEs

 

Often I need motivations from experienced peeps to keep on studying (thanx to you this time).

 

Talking of similarities between me and the 10 year old model of yourself:

 

> Computer Fanatics (Make no mistake I am no less than you )

> Vanity (Offcourse)

> High School Mess Up (Dunno how you screwed it up, but I did get a compart in Mathematics)

> Dads vs Us (At times I considered myself more mature than him)

> Kolkata connection (From what you wrote, I suppose you lived there and as for me, I am based there but I have been living all my life in Deoghar)

> Literature (I must say, you 'sound' exactly like I want to, with those sarcastic follow ups)

 

Now for the dissimilarities:

 

> I didn't win the AISD as you did, I didn't even here it before (Well you can't expect that from a small town dude like me, genuinely speaking)

> My dad wishes that I should atleast do a Graduation. He says, "The way you are going you'd be called just a matric pass, atleast make sure you are a Graduate".

> Hard Work: As for now, the only thing I can work hard on, is that seducing QWERT based keypad.

 

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Before I peace of, thanx for taking the time from your busy schedule and writing so much descriptively for me. I'll make sure that it doesn't go in vain. Last but not the least, we are gonna meet somedays, somewhere, sometime and hopefully work together.

 

Together we stand, divided we (correction I in this case, since you've already faced the challenges and stood tall) fall.

[yordan 10]

From my own experience :If you have a lot of diploma's, they are worth nothing because the most imporant thing is your experience with computers, installing, developping, writing, help-desk.However, if you have no diplomas, you are nothing, almost no manager will even give you a phone call.So, first finish your school, get graduated, and then say "of course, I have a lot of diplomas, but I also have a lot of computer experience".

[Vyoma 0]

Hey m^e, we have another one from India here. And is it just coincidence that I too have so much in similar to you two?

 

Let me see, I got my computer when I was in 6th grade, and from that time onwards, all I did was tweak around with my computer. I somehow, managed with a clean sheet till 10th grade. Then, my passion for computers payed off by getting me selected into the 'elite' few who could tour a Indian IT company for about 12 days. That was the first glimpse of the industry for me.

 

After the Pre-University, I still do not know, but I should say it is out of luck that I mangaged through the CET (Common Entrance Test) of Karnataka and got a Engineering slot at MIT. No not that MIT, but Manipal Institute of Technology. I chose Electronics and Communications as my discipline, just so that, I could broaden my horizons. The stategy worked, and I ended up having better know-how of Computers than those of my peers who chose Computer Science as their discipline.

 

But, I should say, that if you are in India, your academics count, and that it did for me. In 2004, I got selected from the campus by a reputed IT company, and now I am in a job that is pretty close to programming.

 

So, my advice: Study your *bottom* off! You will get plenty of tinkering time later. Trust me on this one. I am at present, doing all other things in my free time than computers (oil-painting, guitar, novels, and what not).