Programming as a career?

Is anyone here interested in pursuing programming as a career?

Do you think there is enough money and job opportunities to base a lifetime career around programming? I couldn't see myself sticking to one job throughout my lifetime, i'd imagine it would soon become very boring.

Do you think it's hard to get started as a programmer today? It seems that alot of the jobs available require years of experience in industry, written qualifications and are generally geared towards the .Net/ASP languages. In my experience alot of the young programmers on the web stick to php/mysql which I haven't seen much demand for.

I intend to become a computer game programmer for a bit of money but more as a hobby considering i will be making millions myself by then anyway

i can see myself making a career in the beginning with programming, i actually enjoy it. it can also be a great way to keep the brain active.

but your right robson, im job hunting at the moment and everwhere ive looked want asp.net programmers with mssql and 2 years experience.

its one of the reasons im looking to spend most of my time in the future using asp.net. php/mysql programmers are ten to a penny. asp.net programmers are not.

I would love to have a Career as a Php/mysql/css/html etc type job

From what I've seen from respective employers,. no one really cares for PHP/MySQL knowledge, and it's never really used by most businesses for their web sites. However, if you know JSP, Oracle, MS SQL, and ASP/ASP.NET, then I really can't see where you could go wrong. As far as qualifications go, I'm not sure what they would actually want from you. I'm sure that some kind of degree would be wanted, or at the very least, an extensive portfolio of work for different companies. From what I've heard from my lecturers however, when it comes to programming, employers prefer to have younger people working for them, which is why many programmers go into Systems Analysis later on.

Originally Posted by YoungCoder I intend to become a computer game programmer for a bit of money but more as a hobby considering i will be making millions myself by then anyway

Ah yes, I think we've all had that dream.

i know in the US software jobs are dwindling because of outsourcing to places like india. So it wouldn't be to smart to go with only programming...

I'm a programmer in the US... and I do mostly php work. There are an immense number of php sites on the net. Many more the asp or .net. All you have to do is look at what servers run the internet to know that MS does not have a chokehold on the web programming languages. Even sites as large as yahoo use php

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news...le.php/1491221

MS asp.net from what I understand is a huge leap forward in terms of speed. the 'regular' asp was quite slow.. In fact, I changed a bunch of web apps to php for companies strictly because of the speed gains.

Yes, large companies tend to use asp.net, c# or jsp.. Their IT departments tend to be run by the 'good old boys'.. Guys who buy MS's marketing.. But remember, the 'young' programmers are using php/mysql.. someday, they will be running the IT departments..

As far as outsourcing. Only large companies really have a cost advantage to do it. It's difficult enough to manage a group of programmers down the hall. Try managing them halfway around the world. I personally believe there will be an outsourcing backlash (my opinion).

While, I'm not getting rich (yet) freelancing, I see a future where I will be able to put my skills to good use creating software. For me, it's not about money (although it helps). It's about knowing I created something from scratch. To know that I did it, I created it.. It's pride.. Kind of like being a father...

Brett

I know a number of people who make a full time living either working as a programmer for a big company, or being self employed as a programmer and freelancing. One of them only uses PHP, and earns a fairly good salary for it as well.

It is hard to get into programming, and having a wide range of languages that you are familiar with will certainly make it much easier. The more things you can do, the more jobs there are you could do Java seems to be a logical step with current PHP programmers, and Zend seem to be pushing PHP and Java as well lately.

While many larger companies ignore PHP, lots of small businesses seem to be becomming ever increasingly aware that there are lots of php programmers out there, and who'll work cheaper than ASP/ASP.net guys - all in all, makes perfect sense. You can achieve almost anything in PHP these days, and so there's no reason for SB's not to choose PHP, and more and more seem to be.

I can see myself being a freelancer in my future or either have a successful website. Although I love learning php daily and all the functions it annoys me when it gets outdated and I have to get upto date again, starts getting boring. I would probobly be around 25 before I finished learning php and mysql fully as I like to learn different things everyday instead of just one thing. I get bored quickly and like to do my own stuff. So if I were to do programming it would be freelance not working for somone.

If you truly enjoy programming, you may enjoy it as a career but there are a lot of things to consider. I have been a programmer for 10 years now. I currently do .NET , and MS-SQL but I have also done Java, and VB, PHP and MySql and of course javascript. I see lots of messages talking about the virtues of one language over another. The bottom line is no one language can do everything well. (Despite what its proponents may say). What language you should use or would be appropriate depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the environment you are trying to accomplish it in. When you are starting out I would focus on learning good programming technique, many good techniques (and unfortunately bad ones as well) carryover into any programming language. After a while you start to realize that the programming language isn't a big deal, you can learn a new programming language fairly quickly, ONCE you know how to program. If you really want to have a career in programming then I would learn PHP MySQL and .NET and any other languages that have some traction in the marketplace. Also if you want to be a programmer, do yourself and your future clients a favor and learn how to design a good database, take a class or buy a good book on DB design. As a freelancer the more languages you can program in the more work you will be eligible for.

Just my 2cents.