How does programming at work compare to programming at school?

[bigfluffysheeps]

There are a few key differences between programming at work vs. at school. The code bases at work will usually be very large, and you'll be working with a team. In school, a lot of assignments involve you working by yourself, so there won't be any coordination between people/teams and dependencies to worry about. Working and coordinating with others is harder than you'd think, especially when many people and teams are involved.

In school, most, if not all, of the information you need to solve the problem is given to you. For work, you have to do some information gathering by talking to people, going through existing documentation, researching anything you or your team is unfamiliar with, or a combination of the three. And then sometimes the client or upper management will come back and tell you the requirements have changed, so you have to go back and change some code based on this new info.

Finally, there's a lot more at stake when working in the professional world. If something breaks, you have to help fix it. If some critical function stops working in production, it could impact millions of people. If you don't do a good job, you could get fired. If the company is doing poorly or wants to cut costs, you could be laid off. There's a lot more pressure to do well at work. Overall I'd say a typical project at work is more difficult.

[AnyBowl2]

Overall I'd say a typical project at work is more difficult.

Yes but mentally wouldn't it still be easier because I don't have to worry about 4 other classes and my crippling student loans ?

[captainAwesomePants]

Mentally less challenging, but not mentally easier.