for what its worth, i had no formal programming education (i followed accounting and business management tracks at A&M), but rather learned everything i know “on the job”… as with many things in life, being immersed in the material is one of the best ways to learn! 
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@Newf you should totally pick it up again there’s tons to learn! If you know HTML/CSS you could go the javascript route or if you’re looking for a more strongly typed/more powerful/higher learning curve language you could start tutorials on python/java/c#(personally, I wouldn’t do c# because it’s really just windows)/possibly c++ if your a masochist… You could probably find multiple of people on here who could attest to each languages usefullness. And there’s tutorials! oh so many tutorials!
Here’s a gaming program path you can pick when you go for your bachelors at my eventual university @SteveAdamo. EAE. Haven’t really looked too much into it but I think there’s multiple tracks inside it such as animation/artsy one, a game engineering one (programming!), and a business side of game dev track… pretty cool stuff
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Exactly my point. I’d rather work with something that will have a much longer lifetime (which I already mentioned) than something that’s not.
@Newf @SteveAdamo I think it’s better to start as early as possible. Learning on the job is great, but having any kind of experience before starting the job is even better. I’ve always wished I’ve started earlier.
oh, i couldnt agree more… i was just speaking about my own experiences, and the unfortunate set of circumstances that prevented me from doing just that (namely, not knowing it would have been the wiser decision)…
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I always bother myself with the fact that I didn’t do anything until I turned 19. Specifically Minecraft comes to mind, I played the Alpha but started making videos a year after. Would probably be able to live from the videos by now.
But its not just making videos, its using twitter, facebook, marketing, community interaction and building relations with all kinds of people that are important in this line of work. Most people seem to disregard that as a possible line in the CV 
So basically, if you start early, you will most likely learn much more than just what you want to do and it will be useful. Just make sure to set your priorities properly.
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I read this article yesterday and thought it was exactly on the mark.
I think this is true in a lot of University CS programs, and it’s probably incredibly destructive to the profession as a whole. We need more computer scientists in every country all over the world; how are we going to get there by scaring 80% of the people off? Part of this is a kind of schadenfreude–I suffer so now you suffer!!!–and part of it, especially at higher level classes which are all about theory, I think has to do with the general tension in higher education between teaching skills and advancing theoretical research.
My personal experience has been that if you want a job as a software engineer, all you really have to do is master 1st year material–a few propular languages, data structures, algorithms, good coding practices, etc. and then apply what you’ve learned to internships you can parlay into a full time job. Every other class thereafter is about building character (and friendships, and stick-to-it-ness) through massive amounts of suffering.
What do you guys think; is the suffering actually a necessary part of the experience?
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Well, count me as one of those that were thrown out after the first year. With statistics showing that about 45% of all first-attempters (and up to 75% of those who try a second time) fail the first year exam (for which mathematical analysis accounts 20% alone, the real “programming” and CS part is perhaps another 20% - the vast majority is (“unrelated”) maths) and this being consistent over the years, it’s hard to say that this isn’t the case. Especially when miraculously about the same amount of students passes every year. Statements like “It doesn’t matter that you are good in a subject, you have to be in the top 20% to receive a passing grade” are not exactly helping either.
“You have at least 15 years of experience with Visual Studio 2013 and a master in low orbit ion cannon operation system programming or equivalent.” The requirements that some company want - even for an internship - are ridiculous. But if they manage to find people that meet these criteria, well, why not…
It takes a certain, wicked mind to begin with. Otherwise, it’s impossible to survive debugging.
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I agree with this but with the following addendum: I was watching a plumber work on giant set of interconnected (disgusting) backed-up pipes in an apartment building he had no engineering spec for, and it occurred to me that his skill set was an awful lot like mine. Maybe electricians, HVAC specialists, municipal planners, etc all have the same wicked mind.
Well, it’s a big world and if reddit or 4chan is any indicator, it’s also a really really weird world filled with really weird people. I wouldn’t doubt that there are other professions that require the same kind of wicked.
Or even worse…
yes, but probably more so the “growing as a person” experience, as opposed to the “preparing for a career” experience…
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The “I would never have been able to climb the Mount Everest if I didn’t know how to set breakpoints properly.” kind of?
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I put too much effort into it to actually make it look nice or something, but at least I tried Steve! I tried.
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I say jokingly all the time that maybe I’m just a masochist in the fact that I truly enjoy the painful hours and thoughtfulness that CS can demand… But ultimately, I just truly love it. I love learning.
Like your the article about technical entitlement though it truly is an incredibly deterring environment. First semester that I took (seriously anyways) there was five computer science class’s on my list. They ranged from the basics like SQL to Data structures & alg to Discrete Mathematics. In every single one of those class’s I took there was some guy already with a job in the CS field for 6 years and 10 guys who had been programming since middle school. I’d only been programming for 2 months at the point and only knew a little bit of Java… I actually found myself lying about my experience at some points because when you tell people who’ve been programming for a long time that you just started their respect for you instantly declines and shows. If I didn’t take so many darn class’s and actually enjoy the homework… There’s no way I would’ve made it through because the people were just straight up non-inclusive ( at least for the most part).
so to answer in short… I don’t think the suffering is necessary and in fact would be a lot easier if (like your article) people weren’t so darn degrading in the CS field! 
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And I just changed my major to Computer Science. . . . .
Worst Topic To Read. . . Ever.
-mind explodes;
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I considered writing something exhorting prospective developers to do various things. I considered describing what I expect and demand, as someone who hires (and, disappointingly often, fires) developers. I considered advising people of certain ilks and descriptions to pursue other professions. In the end, though, I decided simply to share this now-classic link, and encourage everyone in this thread to read it:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/why-cant-programmers-program.html
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@Avairian don’t distress! haha If there’s anything you could take away from this it’s that… You can start programming at any age. That and don’t let the advanced Tech’s who’ve been writing code before they could spell get you down!
As @sdee said (in multiple threads i believe as well)…
@HamoPeche that’s insane! That’s crazy that someone wouldn’t be able to do that little coding bit… as well as not knowing recursive? Funny article.
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Well I’ll still distress for awhile. I’m 21 and I just started my first C++ class. That and the fact that I am horrible with math is not setting me up very well. 
I love solving problems though. That’s what first got me into spending a semester in high-school learning SQL and sparked my interest in programming.
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welcome aboard @HamoPeche! glad to have another elder statesman around…
then you will find programming immensely satisfying…
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Agreed, do not panic! 
If you can do iado, you can do this. 
@not_owen_wilson and I were just talking about this at lunch. All you really need to be able to do is count from 0 to 1 to n, and watch out for fenceposts. XD
That’s not saying it won’t be hard, because statistically, it’s likely to be. But so is saving the world and everything else worth doing. In this case, maybe some of the difficulty is even even front loaded.
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