Programmer “To help graduates” Useful information. Profession programmer Where can you get a profession as a programmer

Technical skills are fundamentally important for any IT specialist. In fact, they represent the core of knowledge that an IT specialist needs to be an IT specialist. However, if a person wants to become truly successful in his profession, he needs other qualities. We are talking about skills that will help a specialist interact successfully with people. Here are 10 such qualities that an IT specialist needs.

Communication skills

An IT specialist is forced to send a huge number of emails, coordinate projects and technical specifications. Therefore, even the most talented programmer must be simply literate. Verbal communication is also important. A very valuable skill for an IT specialist is the ability to explain complex things in simple language to those who do not understand them.

Listening skills

An IT specialist should not only talk about his ideas and thoughts, but also listen to the ideas and thoughts of others. By listening carefully to what your client or boss wants, you can figure out how to make it happen. And don't hesitate to ask clarifying questions.

Teamwork

Very often, IT projects are implemented by a team of professionals, rather than by one person. Therefore, it is very important for an IT specialist to learn to work in a team. As mentioned above, he must be able to express his thoughts and ideas to colleagues, as well as be able to listen and accept someone else's point of view.

Leadership

Even if you are not formally a manager, you will probably encounter situations in your work where you will be required to manage a project for some time. Leadership skills require strong communication skills, the ability to delegate, and an understanding of the end goal.

Mentoring

IT professionals often find themselves in the role of teachers, instructing new employees or clients. An employer will always value an employee who can patiently and effectively train others.

Flexibility

IT professionals sometimes face unexpected challenges or unforeseen changes. This could be some completely new problem or a last-minute change of task on the part of the customer. An IT professional must be flexible to quickly cope with such changes and find creative ways to solve unusual problems.

Creativity

IT professionals are constantly working toward the future, anticipating and developing solutions to potential technical problems and needs. This proactive thinking requires strong imagination and creativity. Employers are looking for people who can approach work creatively.

Negotiation skills

Regardless of the specific specification, negotiation skills will be useful for anyone involved in the IT sector. It can serve in a variety of situations, from hiring people for a project to finding investors or selling a startup. Also, the ability to come to mutually beneficial agreements is a skill that is very necessary for building a career.

Ability to make presentations

Whether it's a one-on-one demonstration or speaking in front of a large audience, the ability to present your work is a very useful skill for an IT professional.

Determination

Many IT projects die due to lack of funding, problems with clients, and poor teamwork. For a project to live, the people who work in it must be focused on the end result and understand what they intend to achieve in the end. An employer will always value an interested and purposeful IT specialist who does not leave a project if temporary problems arise, but stays with it from start to victory.

Programming

History of the profession

At the time of its inception, programming was akin to art, since the basic laws and rules had not yet been developed. It is noteworthy that the first programmer was a woman - Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the wonderful poet Byron. In 1833, the English mathematician C. Babbage invented and constructed the world's first model of a mechanical "analytical" machine that performed simple arithmetic operations. Ada Lovelace wrote several programs for this machine.

In the 40s of the last century, digital computers appeared. The idea of ​​their creation belongs to the American mathematician von Neumann. For the first generation machines, extremely detailed programs were compiled, providing for every step, every calculation operation. Moreover, the machine did not yet understand any language other than its own.

Later, higher-level algorithmic languages ​​(special programming languages) are created, which makes it possible to reduce the process of compiling a program to writing an algorithm in a special symbolic form in accordance with the rules of a given language. Special programs have also been created that convert algorithmic language into machine language.

Numerous developments are currently underway in the field of computing and programming, and incredible advances have already been made. There is lively debate among scientists about the future of computerization, but, undoubtedly, the results of progress in this area will exceed all our expectations.

Programmer - specialist in the field of computer technology, modernsoftware, production automationnal and other processes.

Programmer

Qualities that will help you be successful in this profession

(professionally important qualities):

Abilities, skills:

· high level of development of logical thinking

· flexibility and dynamic thinking

· ability to analyze a situation (analytical abilities)

· good level of development of long-term and operational (short-term) logical memory

· memory on symbols (signs, symbols, plans, diagrams, graphs)

· high level of development of concentration, volume, distribution and switching of attention

· the ability to correctly express one's thoughts

· developed imagination

· tactile sensitivity (finger sensitivity)

· hand stability (low tremor)

· attention to detail

· ability to create an image from a verbal description

· developed abstract thinking

· creative abilities

· tolerance to static physical activity

· ability to quickly navigate the environment

· mental performance

· penchant for research

· ability to foresee the result

· high level of development of technical abilities

· good level of development of mathematical abilities

Personal qualities, interests and inclinations:

· attentiveness

· accuracy

· patience

· independence

· perseverance and perseverance

· determination

· responsibility

· diligence, diligence

· propensity for intellectual activities

· ability to make independent decisions

· independence (having your own opinion)

· self-sufficiency (focus on one’s own strengths, self-confidence)

· perseverance

· ability to engage in painstaking, monotonous work for a long time

· ability to work in a team

· observation

Qualities that hinder the effectiveness of professional activity:

· inattention, absent-mindedness

· impatience

· low level of logical and abstract thinking

· rigidity of thought processes

· severely developed myopia

What areas can a programmer work in?

· computing and research centers (institutes)

· enterprises and organizations of various profiles

· banking system

· educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities)

· IT companies

· programming departments in various commercial organizations

· controls

· industrial production

· software development

· development of operating system, interface, networking

· working with global networks

· development of technology for solving information processing problems, determination of a data processing scheme and algorithm, selection of a programming language to describe the compiled algorithms

· determination of information to be processed on a computer, its volume, structure, input scheme

· determining the possibility of using ready-made programs

· adaptation of existing programs to the characteristics of a particular enterprise (debugging of developed programs, definitionpossibility of using ready-made programs, developedpublished by other organizations)

· finding and eliminating various errors that may be contained in the program

· development of instructions for working with computer programs, development and execution of technical documentation

· support of implemented programs and software tools

· participation in the creation of catalogs and file cabinets of standard programs, in the development of document forms, underpressing machine processing, in design work to expand the scope of computer technology

What makes the profession attractive?

· high social prestige of the profession

· opportunity to realize creative abilities

· greater degree of freedom and independence at work

· "internationality" of the profession

"Pitfalls":

· sedentary nature of work

· “ragged” working rhythm

· risk of decreased level of social contacts and connections

Possible occupational diseases:

· cardiovascular

· ocular

· diseases of the musculoskeletal system

· physical inactivity and other disorders caused by a sedentary lifestyle

· nervous disorders

Health contraindications:

· neuropsychiatric disorders

· color vision impairment

· severe eye diseases

· motor coordination disorders

Career prospects associated with administrative positions of group or project manager, network administrator.

Core subjects of the school program and additional education:

programming and computer science, mathematics, English,

Businessmen often have to face the problem of recruiting talented and experienced programmers on a limited budget. Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Rampton faced this problem personally - he assembled a team to launch his new project over the course of several months. Even though Rampton lives in the mecca of the modern tech world, he has had a hard time convincing people to leave big companies with big salaries and go work on new projects. In the process of hiring employees, John identified a dozen qualities that characterize a good programmer and mean that he will almost certainly suit the company.

1. Strong technical skills

A big mistake HR professionals make is that they hire people based on a list of requirements. Instead of looking for someone with three years of experience programming in C++ and a year in Java, they look at the entire list of things they can do. But in fact, if a programmer learned the language he needed for his job just a year ago, but before that he had been programming in another language for many years, then he is an ideal candidate for this position because of his good background in other areas.

An example of an interview question: “Describe your experience developing in other programming languages.”

2. Readiness to learn

Technology is constantly evolving and today's programming skills and abilities will become obsolete within a few years. It is important to find a programmer who is interested in observing the latest trends and constantly educates himself.

Sample interview question: “What do you do to keep your skills relevant?”

3. Debugging skills

Creating code is only part of a programmer's job. When software doesn't work as expected, the programmer must get to the root of the problem quickly and efficiently. Instead of blindly spending hours making changes to the code, find a programmer who will study the code and look for the source of the problems until the answer is found.

Example interview question: “How do you deal with bugs in your code?” (+you can give the programmer a test task to debug the code).

4. Ability to work in any environment

Some programmers require complete silence to concentrate, while others work well in chaos and confusion. An employee's personal preferences are an important part of their productivity, so it's best to have a clear understanding of your office environment to avoid problems once the person is hired.

An example of an interview question: “Describe your ideal work environment.”

5. Ability to solve emerging problems

Those who have never tried to create an application from scratch may compare programming to solving an extremely complex mathematical equation. A good programmer will always look for ways to complete a given task, no matter what. Otherwise, you will hear the phrase “This is impossible” every time you propose a new project.

An example of an interview question: “How would you do (offer to solve some completely impossible problem applicable to your organization)?”

6. Passion for work

Many developers are inclined to just do their job from nine to five, but recruiters are usually looking for people who are happy to spend several hours at a time solving some interesting problem that needs to be solved. You can often find such employees if you ask them about their hobbies and other interests during the interview process. Real programmers are geeks who, in their free time, play games, build servers, or create applications for friends. This is not the most important trait of a good programmer, but often it is thanks to it that you can find truly worthwhile employees.

An example of an interview question: “What are your hobbies?”

7. Stress resistance

Programming can be an extremely stressful profession. When you have tight deadlines and nothing is working, it's easy to lose your mind and start going crazy. The ideal programmer can handle the most difficult stressful situations, and most importantly, will be able to continue working.

Sample interview question: “Describe a situation when you were under extreme pressure and your application didn’t work. What did you do then?

8. Communication skills with “ordinary people”

Typically, programmers are not required to be able to communicate with clients - for the most part, they sit at a computer all day and communicate online. However, programmers regularly interact with managers, employees, and clients, so the ability to communicate well with others is a must. This is especially true if your programmers are sometimes asked to sit in on meetings with clients and explain how the system works.

Example of an interview question: “Explain how your favorite app works in a way that the average person can understand.”

9. Laziness

Larry Wall, author of the book Perl Programming Languages, believes that the three main skills of a good programmer are laziness, impatience and pride. Laziness may sound like a bad trait for any employee, but IT managers say that if you want to find the best way to do something, ask a lazy person how. Most likely, this person will find the fastest and most effective way. Developers often find ways to automate processes, which saves companies time and money.

An example of an interview question: “Tell me how you save your time by automating processes.”

10. Understanding business processes

If you only focus on building software, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture. The ideal programmer must understand how a business works and go beyond creating applications. A business-oriented programmer can come up with ideas for new applications that will subsequently improve performance.

An example of an interview question: “Have you ever participated in improving the company’s business processes?”

11. Ability to plan

Instead of trying to tackle every task, the programmer should first learn as much as possible about what the final product will be. Once the analysis is complete, the programmer should be able to design the structure of the program before entering the first line of code.

Sample interview question: “How do you start working on a new design? What's the first thing you do?

12. Ability to overcome failures

Programmers very rarely succeed in doing something on the first try. For the most part, they encounter difficulties in solving problems at the very beginning. It is important to choose a team that will see mistakes and shortcomings primarily as a challenge, and not as a sign of defeat. They must be patient and able to start over even after hours of work.

An example of an interview question: “Have you ever spent hours studying code and finding a bug?”

13. Ability to work in a team

A programmer rarely works alone, even if he is the only developer in the company. The ability to work with other programmers, business users, marketing and sales is very important to him.

Example of an interview question: “Tell me about your experience in teamwork.”

14. Willingness to explore

The programming language is only part of the picture. To create a program for their employees or clients, a good developer must know in detail how specific industries work.

Example of an interview question: “Give me an example of a time when you had to delve into the details of a particular business? How did you solve this problem?

15. Meeting deadlines

Most programmers work on projects with deadlines. It is clear that managers must set reasonable deadlines for developing and debugging applications, but programmers themselves must respect deadlines. It is important to determine that the candidate will do everything possible to “fit” into the assigned deadlines.

An example of an interview question: “Tell me how you work under constant deadlines.”

Finding a good programmer is not easy, especially if your programming knowledge is limited. In such cases, you can invite someone from your team who understands this topic to participate in the interview. They will help you formulate questions that you might not be able to ask on your own.

If you have all these qualities, then you can also familiarize yourself with the holders who were in greatest demand among employers in 2014, according to Linkedin.

Many people know or have heard somewhere that a good programmer must be a lazy programmer, but I think not very many people know where this even came from and what is behind it. And everyone, for some reason, remembers about laziness, but does not remember about the other two qualities that Larry Wall spoke about in his book “Programming in Perl”. Actually, he was the author of these “three unique qualities for a programmer”, for a good programmer, as he believes, and these three qualities are laziness, impatience and pride.

Let's start with laziness

Everyone thinks that a lazy programmer is a programmer who is too lazy to get off his butt and do something, and so he sits like this and that’s why he misses deadlines and that’s why he’s too lazy to answer something, he’s too lazy to write documentation, he’s too lazy to write tests, he’s too lazy to write everything , he is lazy and therefore seems to be a good programmer. But in fact this is not so, this is a somewhat special kind of laziness and this is the kind of laziness that encourages the programmer to automate those tasks that he does not want to spend his energy on or that he has to repeat again, again and again, in fact, one of the qualities of the Perl language is regular expressions. Larry Wall himself, as far as I know, worked a lot with text and he became so lazy to constantly do the same tasks with text that he created the Perl language to automate text processing in the first place, of course one can argue how good the Perl language is or Perl is a bad language as a programming language, but this language solved its problems and at one time was a fairly strong player, let’s say, on the programming scene. So let’s read what Larry Wall himself writes about laziness: “Laziness is the quality that makes you make great efforts to create tools that will save human labor, your work and the work of other people,” i.e. people will use these tools day after day and, let's say, will not waste effort and labor on these endless things that you automate with the help of these programs of yours. But he also writes that it is important not only to create these tools, but it is very important to document these tools, because you are too lazy to answer these endless questions “how does this work”, “how does that work”. Those. Not only have you created something useful, but you've also documented it so that you won't ever be asked for that advice again. Larry Wall seems to say that “I’m lazy, so I not only wrote (invented) Perl, but I’m also writing this book on how to use Perl so that you don’t ask me these questions.” What else can be included in the same piggy bank? I would say that sometimes a lazy programmer is a good programmer - when he starts asking the question "why?" and sometimes questions “features” that he doesn’t understand. Those. sometimes it happens that a customer’s problem can be solved without programming at all, because for example this “feature” is not needed, or it can be solved with one email, or it can be solved with one Google spreadsheet or Excel spreadsheet and there is no need to program anything at all and you save yourself energy and you, in principle, solve the client’s problem - I believe that this can also be attributed to laziness.

Now let's talk about the second quality, which is impatience.

Impatience manifests itself when your computer slows down, or your program slows down, or your webpack build slows down, or your tests slow down, etc. you're annoyed by constantly waiting for all these things, then you just start working on speeding up your assembly, to speed up your tests, so that everything works for you, so that your program works quickly and so that you have quick feedback - that's what it's all about and impatience appears.

And the very last third quality of a programmer that Larry Wall talks about is pride.

And he cites as an example (meaning) pride from Greek mythology, i.e. pride for which Zeus killed many people who became proud and began to extol themselves above God. This is what pride a programmer should have, and he writes that this is one of those qualities that does not allow you to release bad code, poorly written code, for which you will be scolded and blamed. You write code as if the next one after you, who will support this code, knows where you live, you do not allow yourself to cut corners, knowing that these cut corners will simply painfully punish either you in the future or your colleague. Here again we must remember that there is always a balance, there is premature optimization - one of the evils of programming. Here this is precisely the necessary minimum quality for which you are respected among your programmers.