Make Me a Programmer

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…

Let’s talk about learning today.  Specifically, let’s talk about learning a programming language.  What’s the best way to learn C#? For the most part on this blog, we’ve answered questions that non-programmers might have about the world of programming when they’re thinking of breaking in.  And while I suppose learning a programming language could fall into this category, it’s a little more specific. But I wanted to examine this topic with a blog post for a specific reason.  I happened to Google “best way to learn C#” and find that something was consistently missing from the results. Don’t get me wrong. The results are helpful.  It’s just that they seem to focus…

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…

In this post, I’ll answer the question “do programmers work from home?” This is a burning question in the minds of many. And it goes beyond programming and beyond IT. There are a few ways to answer this question so I’ll go through each. You’ll learn more about how programmers and anyone can work from home. I’ve been on all ends of that spectrum in my eight years of working in software development. In the first segment, I’ll share my experiences. Later, we’ll look at how to find these opportunities. Finally, I’ll wrap up with other models besides full-time employment. Let’s get started with the first case…

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…

Should programmers learn HTML? I haven’t thought about this in a long time, but I recently came across a programmer who didn’t want to learn HTML. He does mobile app development for Android and iOS. He has an opportunity to learn HTML and add it to his repertoire, but he won’t. I think everyone should learn HTML, and here’s why… You Can Get a Job Using HTML A quick search on a job board like Indeed.com returns about 30,000 jobs using HTML. The salary range for those jobs is from $30,000 per year to $130,000 per year. There are even jobs that are not programming jobs where they want HTML…