CS Degree and Other Qualifications

Don't believe the infomercials or college recruiters. You do not need a college degree to have a career in computer programming. You may want a degree to get a management position overseeing programmers, but it is possible for skilled programmers with less than a year of college to be offered six figure management positions after five years of employment in the industry. There are employers who are more sceptical of hiring college graduates than hobbyists. Such employers prefer people who have worked on open source projects. Open source projects are contribution efforts from many programmers, so the code is available to the masses and programmers do not make money from their efforts. Most college courses in computer science focus on old technologies and obsolete techniques. Hobbyists take advantage of other opportunities to learn and usually enjoy expanding their knowledge and skills through practical experience. There are plenty of online books and 'classrooms' to learn from for free. As my husband has told me, "Programmers control the internet." When you google a term that is in programming, your first couple hits will be programming tutorials, blogs, and discussions. As you feel more comfortable with basic programming, you can expand your knowledge from reading blogs, buying books, participating in user groups, and attending conferences.

As with any job or profession, you need to consider your personality, skills, interests, lifestyle, and values to determine if you will be happy and have the capability to excel. In terms of personality, most computer programmers are introverts. 'Introvert' does not mean a social outcast; an introvert enjoys time to themselves or less than three others, does not need a lot of noise and external stimuli to stay entertained, and usually analyzes what they plan to do and say before carrying out their actions. Computer programmers are very analytical. Syntax and logic are the basic necessities for every computing language. An interest in computers and technology is beneficial, but a lot of knowledge about hardware and operating systems is not necessary to begin programming. The industry you choose to work within as a programmer will be affected by your lifestyle, interests, values, and often preferred programming languages. My dad has chosen to work in a management role within the healthcare industry. My husband still enjoys coding, so he works on registration software for conferences. Nearly every industry requires software or websites, so there are many opportunities for computer programmers. You can choose to develop your own projects into a business, work in an office with colleages, or communicate with the office through conference calls from your own bed each morning.

My computer programming experience is very young. I will be using this blog to motivate myself to continue learning. The languages I want to learn are Python and Objective C. My reasons for wanting to learn these languages are so that I can pick up contract work as extra income and so that I can work on personal projects and companies with my husband.