JaWiB

I'm 15 and I'm very interested in programming, enough that I would definately consider it as a career. However, some of the posts I read on this topic were a bit discouraging...Especially when one read something like "...very few of the people on these boards are professional programmers..." and I'm wondering if I would have a chance at a good career if I get a start now and learn c++ and then maybe move on to OpenGL since I'm interested in graphical programming. I'm fairly good in math and plan to make it through calculus by the time I graduate. Any advice as to things I can do to help me on my way? And what kinds of programming jobs are most widely available these days?

Thanks

__________________
"Think not but that I know these things; or think
I know them not: not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I ought."
-John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

"Work hard and it might happen."
-XSquared

Silvercord

don't be afraid to kick your own ass to learn uncomfortably difficult new ideas.

SourceCode

You can do anything you want if you put the effort in, just make sure it's what you want to do and give it your 100%.

alpha

I agree. Reason for the quote you posted may have been because quite a few people on this board are students, so...

As far as programming jobs, there is a wide range of them. For example, cell phone programs, spacecraft software, software company jobs, etc. etc.

adrianxw

>>> And what kinds of programming jobs are most widely available these days?

The simplest answer to that is "none".

The entire IT sector is in a global recession. There is to much uncertainty in the world, so the customers are keeping their old systems and making do. Those that are buying, are tending to non mission critical stuff. Many large software houses have fired staff, and many others have opened coding shops in cheaper countries like India.

When a job come up, you are likely to be competing against experienced qualified professionals.

The wise men say the recession is just about over, but then they have been saying that for more than a year now.

Of the few areas where there is still some activity, web-programming is still stumbling along, and embedded systems, particulaly in the mobile market is still rising.

__________________
Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

mart_man00

what about the low level guys? i heard theres plenty of c++ programmers(sorry, i mean the newbie ones that didnt know what a compiler was till college and used one for like a year.) and to many visual basic, what about assembly and asm?

i also heard something about fortran and cobol....ill probally skip those for a while.

java? html seems good.

adrianxw

>>> what about assembly and asm?

Assemblers are not as widely used as some addicts would have you believe, at least, not any more. One of the key selling points a software house has when competing with others, is time to market. High level languages deliver products faster.

The old reasons for using assembler, i.e. tight small fast code were great when hardware was the principle expense, now, people are. Yes, you could probably write a system in assembler that will run on a Z80 with 64k, try it with VC++ and it needs a Pentium and 512k, BUT, so what? The VC++ system cost a fraction because the programmer knocked it out in a week.

Bear in mind I've been programming professionally for 25 years. Assembler was often the only choice, but no longer. There is only one customer of mine that still requires me to use assembler, there are no reliable compilers for his chosen platform, (Fairchild F8), and since that chip is dead, no-one is going to make one. Otherwise, I haven't used much assembler in a professional project for years.

Even the extremely high performance embedded micros in the channel units in out satellite control systems have an OS and are programmed in C++, albeit a rather specialised development system.

>>> fortran

I haven't used Fortran professionally since 1996. It is still the language of choice for many scientists/mathematicians.

>>> cobol

I haven't used COBOL professionally since 1982. Lot of legacy code out there needs maintaining, (because people are afraid to invest in new systems for various reasons), there is a niche market for a good COBOL programmer.

__________________
Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

XSquared

Work hard and it might happen.

I'm 16, still in high school, and a teacher approached me about writing a program for him. I did it, and he ended up showing it to some people at the school board. Now they want to have a meeting with me and there might be money involved as payment for coding.

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Naturally I didn't feel inspired enough to read all the links for you, since I already slaved away for long hours under a blistering sun pressing the search button after typing four whole words! - Quzah

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minesweeper

XSquared, you are only 16? I must say you know a lot about programming for someone of that age.

JaWiB

Hehe, thanks for all the feedback, guys!

Xsquared- Watch out--I still have a year to get to where you are ;P.

__________________
"Think not but that I know these things; or think
I know them not: not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I ought."
-John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

"Work hard and it might happen."
-XSquared

XSquared

Thank you.
I only started teaching myself C++ last June. :P

__________________
Naturally I didn't feel inspired enough to read all the links for you, since I already slaved away for long hours under a blistering sun pressing the search button after typing four whole words! - Quzah

You. Fetch me my copy of the Wall Street Journal. You two, fight to the death - Stewie