Pits on the way to becoming a programmer

Hello, Habr!

In my spare time, reading an interesting article about becoming a programmer, I thought that in general we are walking along the same minefield with a rake on a career path. It begins with hatred of the educational system, which supposedly “should” make us seniors and ending with the realization that the heavy burden of training lies only on our shoulders, but often this awareness comes late.



I must admit that in most cases all these difficulties are screened out by quite a lot of people who are not ready to break themselves and learn constantly, and those who want to get into IT only because of the mountains of gold, which promise smart articles on the examples of outstanding personalities of our time, run the risk of breaking into reality reefs .

I think that each of us at least once thought about himself that he is not smart enough or good for this profession, that this is not his thing at all. Or on the contrary, that he is incredibly exceptional, that his knowledge is at such a high level that it is unlikely that anyone will be able to compete, much less teach something, is familiar? If so, then breathe a sigh of relief - you are on the right track. All these are typical emotions for a novice programmer, but do not relax, the most difficult is ahead.

I want to show you the main points in becoming a programmer on the example of my history and my mistakes, most importantly, no matter how badly you evaluate yourself, this does not mean that you need to give up. The meaning in this story may seem trite, and the conclusions would seem to lie on the surface, but often many need a little push to understand the obvious facts.

The first error is to consider yourself the smartest


Probably worth starting with school time. Like most teenagers, I did not consider studying something interesting, it was much more interesting to play computer games. I was fascinated by stories, inspired by the beauty of virtual worlds, I liked to feel in the center of events. Over time, thoughts began to appear in my head about how cool it is to make games and that I must be their developer. I started learning a little bit about programming. And after the first method, which added two numbers, I already walked with my nose up and thinking that I understand programming, I am a programmer, and our computer science teachers do not understand anything in this life, teaching us what a computer is and all kinds of things conjunctions and disjunctions. It was the first and most stupid mistake, but more about it later.

I studied so-so, so after 9th grade we can say that I was kicked out of school. I couldn’t go anywhere with my certificate and had to go wherever they took, but they took me to some low-level school (vocational school). I still thought that I was a cool programmer and all this education did not give up to me. Six months later, I began to understand that something was wrong here and I did not want to be surrounded by a not very developed society, which my irresponsibility to myself awarded me. I decided to return to school and yet I was definitely already kicked out of grade 10. At this stage of my life, I realized that you should rely only on yourself, neither friends, nor family, no one will put knowledge into you if you yourself do not want to study.

The next stage of life was a technical school or college, as you like. Briefly, omitting the process of crawling on my knees and searching for a place to go to, I made a lot of efforts to enter my normal place with my certificate and entered. I already understood then that in order to achieve something you need to learn, and I devoted myself to education and a bit of programming. But again he quickly became disappointed and again returning to his first mistake, he insisted that the education system does not give anything, that I am smarter than people who teach something. Nevertheless, common sense remained in me and I did not give up training and continued to make efforts for my development, because it is difficult to refuse what you put a lot of your efforts into. I’m sure that if they just paid for me and I didn’t make an effort myself, I would not have such an opinion.

The second error - excessive understatement of one’s knowledge


During my studies, there were interesting championships in sports programming, in which I decided to participate, which in the future became very useful for me. Now my pride and maximalism has been replaced by a terribly low self-esteem, I kept saying that I don’t know anything, I don’t understand anything, it’s difficult and it’s not mine, but the excitement of the competition made me grit my teeth and try to change something. Good motivation allowed us not to give up the desire to study programming, and the prize in the form of a prize place to understand that all this is not in vain. This was the first step to the right path.

It is important to understand that for any person studying some kind of new activity, at first it seems that he conquers the mountains, the development is so fast that the amount of new information overflows his head, a sense of enlightenment begins and comparing how much the skill has improved over this time can only be done by yourself admire. Then the motivational mood is replaced by depression with the feeling that nothing is happening, the skill does not move anywhere, because if you compare the results of development, it will seem that it is slowing down more and more. This is the so-called pit, which lies in wait for everyone who decided to become a professional in any activity. Remember that if you have reached this point - you are already on the right path, this feeling will arise in the future often, the main thing is not to let yourself break and quit.

By the time I graduated, I already realized that our education is not so useless, it gives you the opportunity to choose the direction for your development, but you are responsible for it. I had a clear goal, I liked to do some projects, I had a little knowledge and motivation to move on.

Here, it is necessary to note a very dangerous abyss. Having dealt with all past difficulties, it seems that here it is, something that I have been striving for so long. I know what I want, I understand where I need to develop, I have a goal and I am ready to enter adulthood, get a first job, yes, it will not be a dream job, but I will do things that inspire me.

The bottom line is that the first work, and indeed any work plunges into the wrong world, about which you dreamed. It turns out that the peak that you have overcome is only the first step to what seemed already very close.

Why it happens?

When you get your first job, you suddenly realize that your knowledge is sorely lacking. This is partly true, and you may get the feeling that programming is not yours. But earlier we had already encountered this feeling and learned to overcome it. Having mastered, you understand that the problem lurks here worse.

Professional attenuation


This stage in my career was the most painful.

The first work was completely different from what I imagined it to be. Those projects that I developed in my free time that inspired me and brought great pleasure. had nothing to do with work. Everything that I tuned myself in and dreamed about simply flew into the reefs of reality. This is a very breaking factor, I was upset a lot and thought that everything was wrong or something was wrong with me. Boring tasks and routine work just finished. I wanted to develop, offered new ideas, new tools, but for the most part - it was not necessary for business, all that is already there - brings money, which means it's good. Not to mention what you can read in clever articles and books: programming is a high-paying hobby that you enjoy and you get paid for it. Perhaps in some particular way,

I note that this stage eliminates even more people who have hardly overcome past obstacles and simply did not get what they dreamed about. You must understand that working as a programmer is not your favorite hobby, at least at the beginning of your career. This is the same work that rarely gives pleasure, but brings money. It is very important how you set yourself up to overcome this difficulty. It is very easy to give up here and then the whole attitude to work will turn into a simple need to earn numbers on the map, professional development will stop, and this is inadmissible in the career of a programmer. It is necessary to overcome yourself and properly configure, understand that work is a tool whose behavior depends on you. Appreciate all the experience that can be gained when the time comes, the experience will be enough to go to a better place, so on and on and with time you will begin to see the very horizon that you dreamed of as a student. But remember that it all depends on you.

In today's realities, programming skills alone are not enough, you need to be able to interact with people, to understand. how the business in which you work is organized and how exactly you bring him money. It is much easier to pull up a “team” person in programming than to develop communication skills. Therefore, pay attention to any experience that you can get, but do not forget that all this knowledge should complement each other.

Leading the story to a close, I will give a reinforcing example. My first job could not boast of any technologies or development vector that I wanted. But once we came up with new-fangled development methodologies based on Agile principles, which managers wanted on the pretext that this would increase the pace of development, and therefore the company's profit. This allowed us to look at the whole process from the inception stage to the full functioning of the newly made team. In the future, these skills were very useful in future jobs, which emphasizes the importance of extracting useful experience from any situation.

What is the result?


  • If you think that you know everything, I advise you to think it over well.
  • If you think you don't know anything, you're on the right track.
  • You need to understand that no one will put knowledge into your head if you yourself do not want to. This is not a problem of education, stop wasting time looking for its imperfection, because work also will not put knowledge into your head if you do not want to.
  • Do not create illusions that the work will be fun, as your hobby brings it immediately after the diploma falls into your hands. Programming is the same kind of work, it can be routine, tedious, unpromising, and it can be interesting and exciting, but it is work.
  • Everyone can become a programmer, the main thing is not to give up and overcome the difficulties that await everyone who decided to get into IT.

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