After your first C book

[zolfaghar]

I am almost done with my first book in C. I am so glad you guys told me switch to another book. Which for me it was Stephen Kochan's book; the first book I had was outdated. It was a good book though. I have some questions please about what to do next to become better faster. And by that I mean becoming a competent developer and be able to land a job in the domain. I do realize some of choices have to do with what I like to do, and what I have done so far. Frankly I have a lot of knowledge of security, and would love to get into development of security infrastructure devices such as Web Application Firewalls or Next Gen ( well not any more; they are hear already ) Firewalls like PaloAlto or Fortinet. I also like IoT and Embedded devices, and have built my own rom from AOSP before. The last chapter of Steve's book covered a bit of OOP; had a section on objective-c, another on C++, and yet another on C#. The following are a list of items I have in mind, I appreciate if you could rate them in order of importance as a next step for me.
- read K&R book
- read C specifications
- Dig deeper in C by reading book like Mastering Algorithms with C
- learn some python as it relates to software development
- learn C++ ( I do know oop a bit from a Java data structure course I took and did very well in it )
- Join an open source project and contribute to the code ( try to at least ) If you can suggest any that would be super.
- Focus on objective-C? If so I like to ask if this language is primarily used for the Apple products and if I need to have an Apple device to really be effective with it? I compiled a sample code with MinGstep. I did read that Apple's libraries are important for this type of development. Are there any other applications of Obj-C?
- Learn C#? How popular if C# in the market please? From what I have learned it is part of .Net and I would love to be involved in Azure development efforts if learning C# will give me an edge in this domain.

[Elkvis]

It really doesn't matter what language(s) you learn next, if any. To get better at coding, you need to write lots and lots of code. To become a master of something, it takes approximately 10,000 hours of practice. If your goal is to master programming, the quickest way to achieve this goal is to look at literally every problem in your life as if it were a programming problem, and then write a program to solve it. Once you master programming, in general, it matters very little what technology/language you use. Any Turing-complete language can be used to solve any programming problem (mostly).

[ddutch]

I understand that you want to become a good developer and by doing more study improve your chances to get a developers job.

The languages you are considering, except objective-C, all rank in the top-ten of the Tiobe index (TIOBE Index | Tiobe - The Software Quality Company).
At the moment Java has the highest position. Ok, the rank order in for example the Tiobe index can be an argument to specialise in a certain language but on the other hand there are millions of projects and jobs which use a different tool/language.

Also your personal taste/preferences play a role; for example I feel most at home in projects which are programmed in C.

After all, the best way to learn and improve your skills is by doing; getting experience.

If I were you I would join an open source project. While doing so one can get feedback from senior programmers. They are not always friendly but it might stimulate to do addittional study as well.
And ... it looks good in your CV.

I'm sorry but I can not recommend specific projects, have a look at github.com !

Good luck

[taazz]

Depends heavily what you like to do keep the marketing bullets out of your decisions (azure, IOT, cloud computing, java, python etc) and look at the various developing sectors that you would like to get involved. In general you should read a good book about algorithms and data structures (in fact start collecting algorithms and data structures those are THE most used resources), multi threading programming, graph theory and applications, a book on operating systems would give you a good overall skill set too and then there are the pure mathematical skills graphics, geometry, 3d rendering and after that you start with the more "practical" skills eg emulation (mechanical, fluid, waves etc) CAD, CAM etc. So where do you want to go? If security is your best thing then start reading about communication protocols learn the 7 layers (if memory serves me right) of socket communications from the hardware to drivers up to tcp/ip then go commercial GSM, ATM, wifi and other commercial communication protocols take a good look on the math behind the multiplexing of those protocols you will see them in variety of protocols start collection algorithms and data structures for them etc. when that is done you are 70% developer and a good one. You only need to start looking hard for problems in the existing designs and how to avoid them in your implementation also problems in the existing implementations and how to avoid them in yours keep in mind that design and implementation are two different separate things both have their problems and some times you need to change the design others changing the implementation details might be enough. That is the turning point from a good developer to an excellent.

Well personal opinions take them with a grain of salt and all that.

[Tien Nguyen]

If you are in the job market your best best bet is through referral from your college. You have to be in the top percentage ranks to be able to get a job after college. I've seen potential candidates from experience getting jobs programming however I had college under my belt. So it was easy. Without a formal college it is extremely hard if at all to get your foot in the door. No one will pay you to study on their company time. You have to go to work and earn a degree at the same time. Then the company will pay you after you have landed that 2-year associate degree. However you MUST finish. Why would a company pay someone WITHOUT experience when someone from a connected source they know have them?

[zolfaghar]

Thanks. I am not discounting the benefits of education. I have a Master's in Telecommunications. I have not had the opportunity to focus on programming before in a professional context; I have done device configuration many times though. That is not programming though; it is using the APIs, which someone else created. Some may feel I should look to more high level activities; perhaps activities which are not so close to implementation and technology. My goal is not really finding a job; I like to be more effective and increase my insight of IT industry.