You could be a high schooler weighing up their options on what to pursue as a career or you could be an adult who is tired of their existing work routine and looking for a career change.
Software Development offers you an opportunity at a career which will not only challenge you every single day but it will also make your work anything but routine. In return, all it demands is for you to be passionate about it.
What does it require from you?
If you’re someone who believes in doing things by the book, relies heavily on theoretical concepts, needs hand holding I am sorry but Software development is not for you. But if you are someone who is constantly looking for new challenges and has an appetite for learning, software development could be the perfect match for you.
What do you get if you become a Software Developer?
Future Scope!
If there’s anything to learn from the last 5 years to help predict the future it is that technology is going to take over almost every aspect of our lives. Cable TV, movie, music have already transformed, as we go along more industries such as your retail outlets will be completely transformed. In facvt, It has become so ingrained that we don’t even need to move a muscle to make coffee anymore. Hello Alexa!
What I am trying to say is that there is an endless scope in what technology could do for us but this is not even the best part, the demand for a quality software developer has never been higher. And the learning path into becoming one has never cost lower. In fact, with all the online resources available, you could become a quality software developer without spending a single penny.
What you save in money you will have to pay in self-motivation. It isn’t a walk in the park and there are going to be times you will be frustrated and hate it but you have to will yourself to not give up.
How much do you get after becoming a Software Developer?
Being a software developer not only do you get a chance to solve real-life problems but you also get paid handsomely to help companies and people trying to solve these problems.
In the software industry, the pay is directly linked to your skillset and has no relation to your experience. You could be someone who has spent one year learning how to code and building dummy applications and you could land a salary significantly higher than someone who has been writing the same code and maintaining it for years.
This is how the entire industry works, you get paid for what you bring to the table and not for how long you have been at the table for!
Work Life Flexibility
See how I use the word Flexibility instead of balance? I am not going to lie, you will have long hours of mentally draining work, you will often be dealing with problems which may seem unsolvable and unclear but you will get to work in an environment which seems most comfortable to you.
Most tech companies have innovative workspaces with some even having sleeping pods at workstations to help developers disconnect! The nature of work allows you to have the kind of flexibility to stay at home and work. There is an increase in the number of people working remotely and picking projects from sites online while they are traveling the world!
There are so many reasons I could point out why you should become a software developer. But since you have reached this point you might as well give it a try and see how you like the taste of it. As I have mentioned above, trying does not cost anything. Try it and see how it goes.
Refer to my next article to see where you should start to become a rockstar web developer. Until then, Happy Coding 🙂
The Becoming Of Good Programmer With Great Habits
“A programming language is a formal language, which comprises a set of instructions used to produce various kinds of output. Programming languages are used to create programs that implement specific algorithms.” ~~~ Wikipedia
Why am I sharing the definition of the programming language with you?
Because I want you to know that the ‘sole purpose of any programming language is to generate output – not just any output but one that fits the requirement specification of its target user. And to become that programmer, you need to understand the core constructs of a programming language first.
Some of the healthy programming concepts are mentioned below:
- Store data into the code using variables and objects. Think about Facebook storing millions of user data to show you the text, images, videos, etc.
- This will allow us to create arrays and collections so that we can place a list of similar types of items together.
- Use APIs to connect with the external data safely and securely.
- Instead of typing logic manually use logical and comparison statements to differentiate and make decisions, this will decrease the size of the code and increase efficiency.
- Use Comment wherever possible so that we can specify what we are asking the machine to do in a human understandable language.
There exist two type of programmer: One who writes code so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the second who make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.
Both of them are in the race to rule the world, but the first method is a far more difficult path to become a bigger and better idiot-proof programmer. If you haven’t already decided your type yet, I’d advise you to do it now!
Here is a sure shot way to becoming the programmer who writes the code that computer, as well as a human, can understand:
- Use more declarative documented comments in conjunction with single/multi-line comments to make the code more understandable by the human.
- User properly structured indentation taking special care of where the code starts and where it ends.
- Proper naming conventions will make your life much easier. Use single responsibility principle for naming class, use camel case for naming variables, and avoid magic numbers.
- Good code is well-tested. The test serves as an executable specification of the code and examples of its real use.
- Good code does think in a straightforward and obvious way.
- Good code is developed in a small, easy to read units of computation. These units are reused throughout the code.
- Instead of reinventing the wheel, try to use standard libraries and extensions wherever appropriate and available.