Profession programmer. A vocation or a road to nowhere?
Recently I was thinking about the future of various professions in the IT industry, and more and more obscure moments arose for me for the specialty "programmer". Not in the generally accepted notion among accountants and secretaries that this is a student who will fix the printer and fix glitches with the program - I think for them, everyone who knows how to work correctly on the computer is necessarily programmers :) I mean really a professional in his field, who chose this specialization to Create and Create. I think many people choosing their future profession did this more or less consciously, and, I hope, had an idea about the current and how their professional development would go. But enough philosophy, closer to the point.
All who want to become doctors, in the course of their lives become good professional doctors. Lawyers in the process of their practice gain experience and become respected lawyers who are in demand among their clients.
What happens to those who choose the path of a programmer?
A study of articles, forums, blogs and even my own experience in communicating with people in one way or another connected with programming and creating software shows that to maintain professionalism, a programmer must constantly be aware of many new technologies, know new techniques for solving various problems in order to avoid inventing his bicycle - in general, in every way possible to replenish your piggy bank of knowledge and skills. As practice shows, in the first five to seven years this succeeds quite freely (we take an audience of young people aged 18-25). Nevertheless, during this period there are already enough moments when the technology in which the programmer was a professional becomes unclaimed.
Remember the last decade when Fortran, Cobol, Lisp went nowhere (although someone might say that this is not so, but mass is no longer observed); Basic - as a serious development language; Pascal / Delphi / C ++ Builder (may ardent adherents forgive me) - many libraries and technologies have been supplanted. From the point of view of the software manufacturer, the most modern technology will always be in demand, therefore, a professional should be in the know. But, for example, while a professional is working on a project using current knowledge and skills, the next generation is already gaining experience in new technologies and fields, offering himself to the market as a ready-made specialist, while the old one still needs to be retrained.
In most cases, after a certain time, a professional programmer turns into a project manager, i.e. in fact, as a manager, either tries to open his own business, or goes into freelance (in principle, this is his own business, but on a limited scale). Although, you must admit, not every programmer can become a good leader. What will happen in 10-20 years with those who just know how to create programs and really love it?
It turns out a unique situation: the doctor in most cases remains a doctor, writer - writer, lawyer - lawyer. The programmer has one prospect - to become a manager or change his specialty. Someone may disagree, but how much do you know in the lives of 40-50 year old programmers working in their specialty?
In the end I want to ask a question to everyone who has chosen the path of development as a programmer. Who do you see yourself in the future? And if you want to become a leader, wouldn’t it be better to put more efforts to advance in this area?
All who want to become doctors, in the course of their lives become good professional doctors. Lawyers in the process of their practice gain experience and become respected lawyers who are in demand among their clients.
What happens to those who choose the path of a programmer?
A study of articles, forums, blogs and even my own experience in communicating with people in one way or another connected with programming and creating software shows that to maintain professionalism, a programmer must constantly be aware of many new technologies, know new techniques for solving various problems in order to avoid inventing his bicycle - in general, in every way possible to replenish your piggy bank of knowledge and skills. As practice shows, in the first five to seven years this succeeds quite freely (we take an audience of young people aged 18-25). Nevertheless, during this period there are already enough moments when the technology in which the programmer was a professional becomes unclaimed.
Remember the last decade when Fortran, Cobol, Lisp went nowhere (although someone might say that this is not so, but mass is no longer observed); Basic - as a serious development language; Pascal / Delphi / C ++ Builder (may ardent adherents forgive me) - many libraries and technologies have been supplanted. From the point of view of the software manufacturer, the most modern technology will always be in demand, therefore, a professional should be in the know. But, for example, while a professional is working on a project using current knowledge and skills, the next generation is already gaining experience in new technologies and fields, offering himself to the market as a ready-made specialist, while the old one still needs to be retrained.
In most cases, after a certain time, a professional programmer turns into a project manager, i.e. in fact, as a manager, either tries to open his own business, or goes into freelance (in principle, this is his own business, but on a limited scale). Although, you must admit, not every programmer can become a good leader. What will happen in 10-20 years with those who just know how to create programs and really love it?
It turns out a unique situation: the doctor in most cases remains a doctor, writer - writer, lawyer - lawyer. The programmer has one prospect - to become a manager or change his specialty. Someone may disagree, but how much do you know in the lives of 40-50 year old programmers working in their specialty?
In the end I want to ask a question to everyone who has chosen the path of development as a programmer. Who do you see yourself in the future? And if you want to become a leader, wouldn’t it be better to put more efforts to advance in this area?