How to become a programmer from scratch, and is the profession of a programmer right for me?

Everyone chooses the profession of “programmer” for their own specific reason. One decided to simply change his specialty, the second is forced to master another profession, the third does not understand himself without codes, and someone goes into the profession simply out of curiosity.

One way or another – everyone starts from scratch. And before starting from this very scratch – ask the question, do you really need this profession?

The content of the article:

1. The essence of the programmer’s work, specialization, pros and cons
2. Qualities, abilities and skills for working as a programmer
3. Where and how to study as a programmer from scratch?
4. Useful online resources and books for learning
5. How to quickly find a job as a programmer and earn money?
6. Career prospects and salary of programmers

The essence of the programmer’s work is the main specializations, the pros and cons of the work

The essence of a programmer’s work depends on the specialization and the company.

However, sometimes a programmer is “a Swiss, a reaper, and a gamer”. But this, as a rule, is in small firms, the bosses of which save on specialists.

The main categories into which you can conditionally divide all programmers in accordance with their activities:

• Applied specialists. Tasks: software development for games, editors, bukh / programs, messengers, etc .; software development for audio / video surveillance systems, alarms, etc .; adaptation of programs to someone’s specific needs.
• System specialists. Tasks: development of operating systems, creation of interfaces to databases, management of a computer system, work with networks, control over the work of the created systems, etc. These specialists earn more than anyone else in their field, due to the rarity and specificity of the profession.
• Web specialists. Tasks: working with the Internet, creating sites and web pages, developing web interfaces.

How to become a web analyst from scratch?

The advantages of the profession include the following advantages:

1. A very decent salary.
2. High demand for good specialists.
3. Possibility of obtaining a prestigious job without education.
4. The ability to earn money remotely while sitting on the couch at home.
5. The ability to work remotely for foreign companies.
6. Creative profession (however, creativity often depends on the wishes of the customer).
7. Comfortable conditions that large companies provide to their specialists (free drinks / buns, special places for recreation and sports, etc.).
8. The possibility of obtaining an “option”. That is, a block of shares in the company. True, only after working for a certain period in the company.
9. Broadening your horizons. As you develop yourself in the profession, you have to get acquainted with a variety of areas of life and delve into a variety of systems – from office work and accounting to others.

Minuses:

• Working day and night is common in this profession.
• This work for many people will be boring and monotonous.
• The interests of the specialist and the customer do not always coincide, and what is obvious to the programmer, as a rule, cannot be explained to the client at all. This leads to conflict and stress.
• Emergency operating modes are not uncommon.
• The need to constantly evolve, learn new things, keep pace with evolving in the wake of the IT sphere. In just a few years, programs become obsolete, and new ones have to be written.

Video: How to become a programmer?

Necessary personal and business qualities, professional skills and abilities to work as a programmer – what do you need to know and be able to do?

The main qualities of a good programmer

A good programmer should …

1. Love your job. And not just love – to be sick with it.
2. Love to learn and teach from scratch.
3. Be very hardworking, diligent, and patient.
4. Be ready for constant routine work.
5. Be able to work in a team.

What knowledge does a future programmer need?

One should start by studying …

• In English.
• Computer devices and physics of all processes.
• Programming languages.
• SQL.
• Software development techniques.
• Software testing techniques.
• Version control systems.

Programming language – where to start?

All experts recommend starting with high-level Python. (Python), where you can find many books in Russian.

You will also need to study …

• Java. More popular than Python and not a bad choice for a beginner. But more complex than Python.
• PHP. Sharpened for the “web”, but will be useful to any beginner.
• C and C #. Very complex languages, you can leave them for later.
• Ruby. A good option for a second language.
• Django. He will teach you how to program correctly. It is similar in complexity to Python.

Much depends on the chosen direction.

For instance…

1. A web programmer will benefit from knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
2. For a desktop programmer – API and frameworks.
3. For the developer of mobile applications – Android, iOS or Windows Phone.

Where to study for a programmer from scratch – educational institutions in Russia, courses, distance learning, online training?

If you do not have acquaintances who can teach you the profession of a programmer from scratch, then you have several training options:

• Self-education. The most difficult path to programming, which lies through the study of sites, applications, books, etc.
• University. If you just graduated from high school and dream of getting the prestigious profession of a programmer, enroll in the appropriate faculty. You will still gain basic knowledge through self-education, but the “crust” will help you get closer to your cherished goal faster. Choose technical universities, having studied the training programs in advance.
• Personal teacher… If you can find a mentor among the programmers, self-learning will be faster and more efficient. Look for mentors on online forums, IT get-togethers, thematic conferences, and more.
• Courses. They can teach you a particular programming language in simple courses that can be found even in small towns. For instance, “Educational IT-portal GeekBrains “, “Specialist “at MSTU Bauman, “STEP Computer Academy “, MASPK…

You can get a higher education as a programmer in …

1. MEPhI.
2. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
3. Moscow State University of Civil Engineering.
4. Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
5. State University of Management.

And etc.

Video: 7 mistakes novice programmers make

Useful online resources and books to teach you how to work as a programmer

• habrahabr.ru (articles on IT-topics, information on a variety of topics). This resource is known to every programmer.
• rsdn.org (books, topical issues, useful forum, filling gaps in knowledge, materials in Russian).
• sql.ru (excellent convenient forum, useful literature and even job offers).
• theregister.co.uk (IT news).
• opennet.ru (news, useful articles, forum, etc.). Resource for professionals.
• driver.ru (driver library). A useful site for beginners.

Learning Resources:

1. ocw.mit.edu/courses (over 2000 courses on various topics).
2. coursera.org (over 200 courses, free).
3. thecodeplayer.com (walkthroughs for beginners).
4. eloquentjavascript.net (resource for an introduction to Java Script).
5. rubykoans.com (for anyone learning Ruby).
6. learncodethehardway.org (learning Python, Ruby, C, etc.).
7. udemy.com (paid and free courses).
8. teamtreehouse.com (over 600 lessons).
9. webref.ru/layout/learn-html-css (for mastering HTML and CSS).
10. getbootstrap.com (exploring Bootstrap features).
11. learn.javascript.ru (learning frontend and Javascript).
12. backbonejs.org (for front-end developers).
13. itman.in/uroki-django (for learning Django).

Free learning sites to help beginners:

• ru.hexlet.io (8 free courses on C and PHP, JavaScript and Bash).
• htmlacademy.ru (18 free courses for layout designers).
• codecademy.com (popular courses on languages, tools, and more).
• codeschool.com (over 60 courses (13 free) in HTML / CSS and JavaScript, Ruby and Python, iOS and Git, etc.).
• checkio.org (for learning Python and JavaScript).
• codingame.com (learning through video games, 23 programming languages).
• codecombat.com (learning JavaScript, Python, etc.). An educational game available for those who do not yet speak English.
• codehunt.com (training to find errors in the code).
• codefights.com (a training platform through tournaments where you can “thunder” for an interview with a decent IT company).
• bloc.io/ruby-warrior# (learning Ruby as well as arts / intelligence).
• theaigames.com (development of programming skills – an exciting online game simulator for the programmer).
• codewars.com (a collection of educational interactive tasks for those with a minimum of knowledge).

Usually it takes from six months to 12 months to learn the basics of programming on your own.

How to quickly find a job as a programmer and start earning – advice from experienced

Naturally, you simply cannot get a job in a normal company without work experience.

So…

1. Read books, explore websites and educate yourself, but start writing your very first lines of code now.
2. Create and complicate tasks for yourself according to the material covered.
3. Look for your first projects, even for “ridiculous money”, write yourself in your “resume”.
4. Look for a job on Russian-language freelance exchanges (ru) and on English-language exchanges (upwork.com) – there are more chances of getting it.
5. Start with small projects that you can handle.
6. Do not miss out on the open source option (there are always not enough people in such projects).
7. Help “for a pretty penny” (or even free, for experience) familiar programmers. Let them give you easy tasks.

• Be sure to write: your work experience, a list of languages ​​and technologies that you speak, education and contacts.
• We do not cram the entire list of our qualities and talents into the resume. Even if you masterfully play the button accordion, you shouldn’t write about it in your resume.
• Design your resume with creativity in mind, but relevant.
• You should not fill in items like “your goals and ambitions” or “who do I see myself in 5 years.” It is enough to write what you were doing earlier and what you would like now.
• Don’t write about languages ​​and technologies that you only know by name. In the resume, you should write only those in which you swim, like a fish in water. For everything else, there is a magic phrase – “had a little experience.”
• If you are a professional Delphi master, do not forget to mention that you also know C #, jave or another language, because just a “dolphi programmer” is essentially not needed by anyone (delphi is the basics that every graduate is familiar with).
• Do not mention work that was not in your specialty. This is not interesting to anyone. Also, nobody cares if you have a driver’s license or a car. You are not going to get a job as a courier.

Programmer career prospects and programmer salary

The average salary of a programmer in large cities of the country is from 50,000 to 200,000 rubles…

In Russia as a whole – from 35 thousand to 120,000…

The profession is on the list of the most demanded – and the most solidly paid. Even a modest specialist is able to earn money for a sandwich with caviar, but a professional will definitely not need money.

From trainee to head of IT department is not that long, and the salary at the very top can reach $ 4,000 per month. Well, then you can move to the leaders of a large project (note – for software development), and here the salary already exceeds $ 5,000.

The Colady.ru website thanks you for your attention to the article – we hope it was useful to you. Please share your feedback and advice with our readers!