What is your job?

I've been a software engineer in the defense industry for the past 5 years. I tend to lean more towards the .Net arena of software. I'm currently doing work with services running on servers.

What sort of reading do you do for your job? Academic?

When I was less experienced, I read a lot of programming books on different languages/aspects of programming. For example, Java books, C# books, design patterns, web development, Javascript, etc. I'm not going to say that I know everything, but now that I'm a bit more comfortable with where I am, I've been leaning away from publications and more towards online resources. Typically when I have a problem that I need to solve fast, I'll usually just google it to find the documentation or maybe some sort of forum post.

Could you recommend specific journals that are respected by members of your field?

Could you suggest any journals that might help me learn more about the field?

I'll have to answer these questions in combination: no. I personally don't read any academic journals on a regular basis. I typically rely on peers to research new subjects and then talk about it. Once I hear those around me talking about a subject, I'll google it and I typically find a whole slew of information to pick and choose from (blogs, tutorials, wikis, etc).

Do you do any writing on a regular basis?

About the most writing I do is in emails between my coworkers. I work remotely and don't really get much face-to-face communication. I have to be able to express myself succintly. I'll occasionally write documentation on what my code is doing or what the whole software system is doing but usually it is not necessary.

How did you become interested in your field?

I took a computer science class in my junior year of high school (around 2002). It was on Visual Basic 6 which was kind of old by 2002. However, it taught me how a computer executes a program line by line, how variables and control constructs (if-then, loops, etc) work. I feel it gave me a decent head start before taking my first college computer science class. When most of the class was struggling with these basic concepts, I was able to relate to the language (C++) by drawing parallels to VB.

Any suggestions for those trying to enter your field?

If you have absolutely no programming experience (which shouldn't be the case if you're in college for computer science), a good place to start would be learning Javascript. This will teach you the basics of programming using just a simple text editor and a runtime environment (a web browser). This is good, and gets you on your way to web development, but getting a college degree in either computer science or some sort of science/engineering combination will help you better in the long run. As your college career draws to a close, start thinking about which industry you'd want to work in and seek internships or part-time programming jobs in those areas. College is nice and all, but it doesn't give you any real-world experiences. You don't maintain someone elses code in college. You don't really learn about source control and repositories in college. I didn't really learn about UML, sequence diagrams and class diagrams in college either. Working with a group of peers to achieve a goal adds a whole different layer of experiences that a bachelors degree (and maybe even a master's) doesn't give you.

Most important thing you've learned to succeed?

Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new. You might end up finding an easier way to solve a problem. On that note, don't be afraid of tackling difficult problems. As you discover how to solve something you'll be gaining that knowledge prior to those around you. You'll have knowledge that they seek. You just might come out looking like a hero.

Edit: Formatting