I know, I know. You’re here looking for the best programming book for beginners (if you came here from Google). The one book to rule them all, as it were. I wish I could give you that. I wish anyone could. But here’s the thing. Programming is so involved—so complex—that anyone offering a book like that is selling you snake oil. There are bootcamps and four-year CS degrees dedicated to preparing you for a programming career.  No one book is going to stand in for that. And that applies even if you’re looking for a hobby, rather than a career. So, what I’ll do in this post is make some…

Recently, an outsider to the programming world offhandedly asked me a question: “why are there so many programming languages?” This gave me pause for a moment.  When you’re steeped in the programming world, you just kind of take this for granted.  In that sense, it’s like me asking you right now, “why are there so many spoken languages on Earth?” But I reflected a little further on it.  And I decided it would make good fodder for this blog—one that answers questions asked by newbie and aspiring programmers.  We answer questions about whether software engineers are happy and whether programmers should blog.  Why not this question? So let’s look at…

On this blog, we’ve taken on some questions that seem as though they’d be too general to answer.  For instance, we looked at what programmers wear to work and whether programming is hard.  And now, in that same vein, I’ll answer the question, “are software engineers happy?” Of course, you must understand that this involves painting with a broad brush.  How could it not? So the idea here isn’t to peg every software engineer on the planet, nor to speak in absolutes.  Rather, it’s about taking a look at the most common case for those of us in the field. I’ll give you a short, quick answer.  Then I’ll list…

On this blog, we cover a lot of topics about how to break into programming.  So that practically begs us to answer the question, “what makes a good software engineer?” Well, let’s answer that question today. What Makes a Good Software Engineer: The Short Answer In fact, let’s answer it briefly, right out of the gate.  This will set the stage for the more detailed answer below, where I’ll offer 13 different traits that will help you become a good engineer. A good software engineer is someone who is not only competent at writing code, but also competent in everything else required to build, deliver, and ship valuable software.  A…

Is programming hard? This is a question many non-programmers ask me.  This makes it rank up there with questions like, “do programmers work from home” and “what kind of education do you need to be a programmer?”  Inquiring minds want to know. But unlike some of those questions, this one is actually pretty tough.  It’s a simple question, but the answer is very nuanced. So let’s dive into it, in detail, and help you understand whether programming is difficult or not. Is Programming Hard?  The Short Answer So first off, let’s tackle the question with a short and direct answer.  This will set the stage for the remainder of the…

If you’re contemplating a career switch into programming, you’re probably wondering what it’s like. And I don’t mean in the existential sense. Rather, on a day-to-day kind of basis, what’s it like? Well, today we’ll take a look at what programmers do in the office. What Do Programmers Do at Work? The Short Version If you’re looking for an abbreviated answer or a summary, I can certainly provide that. After all, I spent a lot of years working as a programmer in an office. So I can speak at length and summarize quickly. So, what do programmers do at work? Well, not surprisingly, they spend a lot of time programming…