Make Me a Programmer

Is a software engineer the same as a software developer? It’s an understandable question. When you’re on the outside looking into the software industry, it can seem like we programmers (software engineers, software developers, etc.) have a dizzying array of titles. And we do. So, what does it all mean? What’s the difference? Is “software engineer” just a synonym for “software developer”? Is a Software Engineer the Same As a Software Developer? Yes. Full stop. These are the same. Different companies have different title preferences, but the titles describe the same thing: people who write code for a living.   Sure, being a software developer at one company will always be…

What education is needed to become a programmer? If you want to become a lawyer, you go to law school.  If you want to become a doctor, you go to med school.  So if you want to be a programmer, you go to… programming school?  Meaning, you get a computer science degree or two, right? Well, not so much.  It’s a little more complicated than that. In this post, we’ll take a detailed look at the paths to becoming a programmer, focusing on what education you need, how much of it, and where to get it. What Education Is Needed to Become a Programmer?  The Short Answer The question of…

Today’s question is an interesting one that people outside of the programming world ask me a fair amount.  Loosely speaking, this question is one of how programmers interact with the rest of the team. But here’s the thing. That question typically comes to me in the form of many more specific questions:  Should programmers test software?  Or how does project management work with the Dev Team? So let’s today take these questions in aggregate.  Who are the rest of the folks that programmers interact with?  And how does the division of responsibility work? What Are These Other Roles? Before we can really address that, though, we need to take a…

Should programmers blog? I get this question a lot, probably because I’m both a blogger and a programmer.  And because of those two things, you can probably guess my answer.  But my reasoning goes beyond my own experience, and I’m going to go into detail about the points that might explain why. But First, Let’s Answer the Question. Should Programmers Blog? Yes.  As a programmer, starting and maintaining a blog will be a significant boost to your career and to your personal development.  It may get you out of your comfort zone and require some extra effort, but it is unquestionably worth doing. Let’s unpack this a little and get into specifics. …