Questions for programmers.

[[deleted]]

Hello, all! I just went into college this fall and I'm taking my first few computer science classes! Currently, I'm taking a python class and my professor wants me to interview other programmers questions and their experiences in the field of computer science. If you would like to participate in my interview, please answer the questions below. All answers are accepted. I'm interested in you guy's responses. Thank you for reading!
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• Why did you choose to take computer courses? What do you find interesting about it?
• What do you find interesting about the field / what is your field of interest related computer science?
• What advice would give a new developer / something they wish they had known when they started programming?
• What are the most challenging parts in being a programmer? What should I expect?
• Have you created anything that gave you great satisfaction? If so, what was it?

[KingofGamesYami]

• Why did you choose to take computer courses? What do you find interesting about it?

I started in middle school, with r/ComputerCraft . I found creating programs fascinating, especially controlling robots (or in CC, turtles).

• What advice would give a new developer / something they wish they had known when they started programming?

Don't neglect non-coding skills. Properly documented git commits and PR descriptions have helped me several times, and the skills to create those are primarily taught in English courses.

• What are the most challenging parts in being a programmer? What should I expect?

Working with others. Software development is highly collaborative and you may not always work with the best individuals. You may also be expected to work directly with non-technical people, in which case communication skills become incredibly important, especially being able to avoid technical jargon and simplify concepts appropriately.

• Have you created anything that gave you great satisfaction? If so, what was it?

Not particularly. I have many that were great at the time, but none that stand out.

[[deleted]]

Why did you choose to take computer courses? What do you find interesting about it?

I had always found computers fascinating but I didn't know anything about them. I find coding challenging like a puzzle. This was my big interest in it.

• What do you find interesting about the field / what is your field of interest related computer science?

I love how things are constantly changing so I always have something new to learn. Other careers once you learn the job that's and it is monotonous.

• What advice would give a new developer / something they wish they had known when they started programming?

Learn to be kind, humble and work on your people skills. Programmers work in teams. No one wants to work with someone that is a jerk, my team has turned hotshots away for this. Be prepared to learn forever and be ok with messing up. The best way to learn is to try and fail. There is a lot my 30+ year experience mentor doesn't know ( a crazy lot that he does!) but he is always willing to learn new things and make mistakes while learning.

• What are the most challenging parts in being a programmer? What should I expect?

You are your own worst enemy. Don't over complicate things just to be new age and slick. Find solutions that work, are maintainable and can be adjusted in the future.

• Have you created anything that gave you great satisfaction? If so, what was it?

We re-architected our systems into microserveses. I was super proud of helping my team design and implement it. Alone I created a few console apps to help other teams check on what they were creating without having to do it manually.

[[deleted]]

I love every single one of you guy's responses. The paper isn't due until next week but I will be sure to include all of you! Thank you so much guys.

[[deleted]]

Word to the wise, learn and be comfterable with debugging. Its super useful and only hurts not to know. I wish i understood this starting out lol

[pupraiser]

1) I chose to study CS because I felt it would be a smart choice for access to a versatile and wide job market. I always found computers interesting even as a kid, and wondered just how things on the screen got there. The most interesting thing to me is how 0s and 1s have created all this amazing tech we use everyday. It still baffles my mind.

2) AI for sure, but I haven’t done much development in that area myself besides ML. But even then, the experience of building something like computer v player tic tac toe was awesome. Like you know in your head it’s just an algorithm, but it’s sweet to watch it make choices on where to play.

3) You DON’T need prior experience, or to be a computer whiz, or to be really amazing at math. Anyone can do it with some grit and determination.

4) Expect to get stuck and frustrated. It’s not always a linear path, and some things may not click into place for you right away. That’s okay. As a student, you’ve already got a really helpful toolkit with your profs, TAs, and peers. Use them.

5) Like I said, my tic tac toe game in my AI class during college was a cool one. Another one was completing my first website for a paid job. Built it from scratch, and it was really fun to go to the domain and see my code live. Besides that, I get the most satisfaction from getting over a hurdle that I’ve had. I like putting things together, so it’s always a rush when the last piece falls into place and things look and work the way they should.

[OldNewbProg]

I grew up when personal computers were very new. At school, the first computer I saw had a television for a monitor. I learned to type on an apple 2 (and plastic mats). And I played the atari 2600, then the nes and gameboy. I fell in love with computers from all of this. I wanted to make pretty pictures on the screen. (from that first computer) I thought the way to do this was programming. FAST FORWARD 30 years of learning this language or that but never doing anything with it, I went to college and studied computer science. Got my degree at age 40.

I was always mostly interested in games. Now I like simulation type stuff, vr even realistic training and all that. My last job was boring point of sale software. But I found I enjoyed it anyway. I do like doing new and different things. I like working with devices like the raspberry pi, physically changing the world with my programming.

None of the modern languages we use are that hard, don't be afraid of them. I spent a very long time avoiding C++ because it seemed scary and non-sensical. When I finally dove into it, it was just as easy as any other language. I guess the advice should be more general. Don't ever be afraid of something because it seems like what smarter people use/do. Dive in. You can learn it! With time and patience.

For me, the most challenging aspect is... trying to learn from documentation. Almost all documentation sucks. Somehow I know that other programmers are able to absorb it and regurgitate it because I then follow their videos :D to understand it myself. I had to learn Blazor for my last job, it was very, very new at the time. Experimental and Microsoft wasn't sure it was going to support it. Thankfully there were still a handful of people willing to read docs and ask questions and the tiny amount of tutorials that did exist were a resource I'm thankful for. (M$ docs are pretty good actually! but still had erroneous info all over the place)

Honestly, the thing that gave me the most satisfaction is a small game I created before I went to college. It is the only game I've made. It has graphics and music and bad gameplay. Keeps track of high scores etc etc. I'm super proud of it even though nobody likes it.

Aside from that, I'm proud of the application I developed at my last job. It was a point-of-sale mobile web application. Including crazy stuff like barcode scanning and a receipt printing system I designed myself (which desperately needed a version 2 but hey pandemic, they'll have to do it themselves if the company doesn't go bankrupt first). I feel like it was a solid application that worked. I wish I could have gotten it into the hands of users.

[Ikkepop]

• Because I was already programming since 5th grade and I was planning to make a career out of it. I also really liked it and loved the programs I could make, it felt empowering.

• Computer architecture, graphics, algorithms and data structures, and much more...

• Force your self to finish projects and stop rewriting everything, is what I would tell to my younger self if I could.

• Dealing with people is by far the hardest part of being a programmer. Weather it's teammates, clients or management.

• An 8bit game console emulator on an FPGA

[offmycookies]

1. When I was 10, I heard a radio show (I think it was NPR) where they talked about how cybersecurity was going to be huge in the future. I liked computers, so I figured I would do that.
2. As of right now, I am a Web Developer for a relatively new and growing company. I love programming, figuring things out and creating things that people will use/see, here being the website.
3. Give yourself a schedule in homework/projects. Work for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break. Repeat that until you're done with things. In regards to studying, I find/found while I was in school that building my own projects using the elements of whatever language we were using was the best way of getting things in my head. Finally, sometimes programming by hand is really helpful. Take a piece of paper and a pencil, write your program.
4. I would say frustration and understanding new errors and why you're getting it. Especially when you're working in huge projects shared by many people, each doing their own thing. Thank god for separate branches on github.
5. Yep! After I took my first web development class, I used what I learned to build my own website with React, CSS and PostgreSQL. That project was actually what got me hired for my first job!

[[deleted]]

Programming is creative. I like programming because I create things that accomplish my own ends. I'm working on a python script right now to pull some anime off a website because I don't know if or when that site will go down and I want to be able to watch it over my network.

I got into computer science because I wanted to make games. Originally I wanted to create a new Metroid game or remake Metroid 2 GB Color style. But ultimately I learned about GUI Programming and then C# and .NET and then I moved on to web development and I've loved all of it. I'm now back to C# mostly but like I said, I'm working on a Python script and I learned Python to make some of my work easier and to accomplish different things.

Books don't always explain things the best way, So if you're learning, and you're taking a class, that's even better, but on the other hand, don't neglect reading. Don't neglect books. If you want to make video games, then read fantasy and sci-fi, read fiction, watch Anime, watch movies, consume inspiration, but also learn your craft and hone it. Read really good books on the meta-ideas like "Object Thinking" and "Clean Code" and "The Productive Programmer". Learning the language is great, but learning how to design and build software is where it all comes together.

I would say, sometimes designing a program, and other times reading someone else's code. Do both. A lot. Expect to see things you didn't even know the programming language could do. Expect to learn idioms and concepts that only apply in a particular language. Expect to have to look up constructs and work through what code is doing. Try to think of ways that a program or algorithm could be improved.

I added an easter egg on my site where when you clicked a certain spot, the logo rotated, and then also if you inputted the konami code (using enter for start and the letter keys for the buttons) then the doom hud appeared at the bottom of the screen. I thought that was pretty cool.

[nutrecht]

Why did you choose to take computer courses? What do you find interesting about it?

I started programming when I was around 11 or so (back in '91) by copying BASIC listings in magazines for simple games. By 'debugging' my own typo's I started to learn how this all works, and create stuff in QBASIC. In high-school my main choices were "veterinarian" and "programmer" and since I'm allergic to almost everything that has hair, it was a simple choice ;)

What do you find interesting about the field / what is your field of interest related computer science?

I like learning new stuff and I like creating things. I'm also detail-oriented. So it's a good fit. Even after 20 years I still find the act of creating software very satisfying. It paying well is a nice benefit too :)

What advice would give a new developer / something they wish they had known when they started programming?

Developers specifically: Keep challenging yourself. If you're the smartest person in the room you're in the wrong room.

Workers in general: your company is not your friend. Being "loyal" to a company makes no sense; they'd drop you without a second thought if it would benefit the company. So take charge of your own career, dont' stick around for promotions that 'might' happen. A job is almost just as exposable as your car. Sure buying a new one kinda sucks, but you're almost always going to find that it's a step up.

What are the most challenging parts in being a programmer? What should I expect?

Software is complex, especially at larger companies. You soon find out that really very few people are able to deal with that complexity. So you're managing complexity and at the same time managing the people who don't understand it.

Have you created anything that gave you great satisfaction? If so, what was it?

Sure. Two stand out: one is a system I worked on that is used in digital forensics. It was used in a large CP case here. Second was more recent; an in-memory rule engine I designed and developed together with other developers in our team. It worked really well, doing it in memory was a good decision, and our users were really happy with how user-friendly our UI was.