Why I think I will write computer programs till death ?

Well your explanation and examples do not justify "Why I think I will write computer programs till death ?"

The coding you do is just for "understanding" stuff? then I too do same. For me programming is a hobby, but if it gives me money then it is just a coincidence.

But I am in touch with many programmers who are between 50 and 65 in UK, Switzerland etc. They are very proud to say they are programmers. Definitely this job need brains :)

In India, I do not see any programmers who crossed 40-45. After that they usually get into 'meanagears' position or simply change career. There is a hidden-complex for our guys that coding job is for low-profile or less experienced guys. After 3-5 years of programming, if you were not able to reach the level of at least "lead", you will be considered as a 'less capable person'. So this feeling force one to move to top or switch the career.

Last day one guy saw me doing some coding and asked me 'you still do coding'? (This guy got moved to BA 4 years back)

Hi all ,

>

>Well your explanation and examples do not justify "Why I think I will write computer programs till death ?"

>The coding you do is just for "understanding" stuff?

When I said , I write computer programs for understanding stuff , I was implying ( though not explicitly mentioned ) that programming

is a great cognitive tool to understand computer programming concepts and non computer programming concepts. I learned a lot about

Finance ( I had a course called "Mathematics of Finance" ) by learning math behind it. When analytical math began to get heavy , I wrote

programs implementing those mathematical stuff using numerical methods. After this , I began to get the essense out of analytical math.

Writing software routines for functional domains will give you better insight into those domains. That is why I said , even if I have to stop

writing code for production purposes , I cannot stop writing code for cognitive purpose.

The examples I gave are software programs written by me just for understanding computer programming concepts. Best way to learn and talk

about programming models is write interpreters for the same . Another case in the point is learning of graphics pipeline will be better if we

implement a toy pipeline ( to program graphics in software , u only need some familiarity ) and see how the stuff works. Those examples were

some stuff which I wrote.

>

 > For me programming is a hobby, but if it gives me money then it is just a coincidence.

>

Good for you. I have got other hobbies !

>

>But I am in touch with many programmers who are between 50 and 65 in UK, Switzerland etc. They are very proud to say they are programmers. Definitely >this job need brains :)

>

I agree !.  I happen to analyze this phenomena bit deeper. In US , Europe and Japan , the new generation is more interested in becoming

managers as they understood ROI is better in becoming managers. (They are fast learners ! )

P.S :- I had pasted something which I wrote in my blog. I discovered this when a friend of mine asked "Why you are still getting hooked on to programming ?"

Hi Praseed,

 Thank you for your sharing, That encourages us alot. Majority of my friends are willing to change their career to non-IT or networking.

Inspireable.

Hi jinesh ,

     Happy to know that you found my small article useful.

     Pressures of modern life forces people to switch careers. So, we cannot blame them.

     When I started It was called Computer Programming. And all of us were proud to call ourselves Computer Programmer.

     In those times , programming was mostly systems software development and some application software development

     using Xbase tools.

     Then, the stuff morphed into Business augmenter. Some people captured the opportunity and era of Visual Basic , Power

     Builder and Delphi arrived.

     Between 1998 and 2002 , the stuff once again changed character and Computer Programming ( by now people began to

     call it IT ) became a business enabler.

     With the maturity of JEE and .NET stack , IT became a business Driver. Then , the bugs , support staff , managers and all

     kinds of specialization created a "messy" menatal model. Majority of the people see Computer Programming as part of

     the IT bandwagon. There is nothing wrong with it. The only problem which I see is , Something which is a mental construct

     is perceived through the eyes of a practitioner.

     I am advocating a model called "Programming as an Intellectual Activity". Pursue It as a spare time activity. You will emerge

     rich in ideas and the ideas thus generated can act as a feed back to your career. At least,I have benifited from it.

regards

Praseed Pai

Earlier programming efforts were very high. There was a high requirement of 'brains'. Not with the introduction of RAD tools, it is easy to build world class applications without much programming.

Past = 10% Requirement Analysis, 80% Coding, 10% Testing

Transition period = 20-30% Requirement Analysis, 50-70% Development+Coding, 10-20% Testing

Present = 30% Requirement Analysis, 40% Development, 30% Testing

... my views.