This article is for all aspiring programmers of all ages, both students and those who are out of school and want to retrain. Also, to parents who are thinking about their children’s future, or to the curious who are intrigued by IT.
Programmer skills
You don’t become a programmer overnight. You have to be patient. That is one of the qualities a programmer should have. A programmer should, among other things:
Have logical thinking, because this is very important in programming
He should enjoy improving himself and should be directly interested in keeping his knowledge up to date, because the IT field is evolving rapidly
Be proficient in English because the languages and documentation for them are in English
He should definitely be goal oriented so that he doesn’t give up at the first hurdle. Currently (2016) I have about 15 years of experience and I am still learning new things because new technologies are coming out and I want to stay in demand and up to date.
Knowing how to code doesn’t mean knowing how to create a console calculator, it means knowing object oriented programming, design patterns and being able to create complex enterprise software. You will learn everything here, just go at it gradually, be patient. Don’t go all at once, I’m just saying this now to give you an idea of the scope of the education.
Choosing a programming language
This point is very important. You should start programming in a modern programming language. You should choose a language according to two criteria:
How you will use the language in practice (extension, salaries, development …)
What platform the language is designed for (Web, PC, Phone …)
For several years now, the two most important languages – Java and C# – have dominated the larger business. Java is the alpha and omega in the corporate sphere, C# is actually Microsoft’s Java in my opinion. A close second is PHP, which in turn is extremely popular for smaller to medium sized projects, salaries in it are therefore a bit lower, however if you want to run a business and create your own project, it’s a great choice. This is followed by the more complex C++, Python, Ruby and more.
Suitable languages
To get started, ideally choose one of these languages (links will open online courses, the basic ones are free):
Java – A leader in the corporate sphere, a modern language with a virtual machine, works on all platforms (Windows PC, Linux, Mac, powers mobiles, printers, automata …). Oracle claims that Java powers 3 billion devices. Java is an open technology, meaning it is completely free and anyone can contribute to it. Java is a universal language, it runs applications (Open / LibreOffice), games (Minecraft) and websites (Aukro). I recommend Java for employment, the salaries are seriously great, but be prepared for enterprise libraries to be quite complex.
C# .NET – Surely others will forgive me if I call C# „Microsoft’s Java“ (in my opinion). It’s free in its basic version (MS recently released the entire language as open-source, but some other tools and services are paid), and since the language is centrally maintained by a single company, its libraries are clearer and better documented than Java’s. Linguistically, it is much further along than Java, and contains many extra constructs, which makes programming much easier later on, but you need to learn these constructs first. For corporate solutions you need paid licenses. The capabilities of the language and its real-world use are identical to Java (universal – applications, websites, games), many enterprises run on it as well. C# is such a middle ground in my opinion.
PHP – An open language that has become popular in the web field. Since it was created as a hobby project, it has gained a reputation somewhere for being a low quality language. However, it has grown quite a bit since Facebook was written in it, and is now a quality and full-featured tool, tailored for web development. It runs server-side and generates pages that people request. For example, ITnetwork and the aforementioned Facebook are programmed in it, as well as Wikipedia, etc. Servers are extremely inexpensive, it is claimed that it powers most of the sites on the internet. I recommend PHP for business, it is cheap to run and the language and the frameworks involved are relatively simple. Of course you can find work easily, it’s just not as well priced.
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