The Top 10 Programming Skills That Will Get You Hired

dgz said:
Thanks :) I used to do scripting 15 years ago but programming is entirely different. Will do my best for a few months as I hate giving up.



Same exact problem. Reading is fine, actually coming up with solutions on my own seem pretty damn impossible at times. It gets worse after looking up a solution and comparing it to my approach. I didn't choose the noob life, the noob life chose me... for some twisted reason. Though corporate politics seemed easy, after a certain point I couldn't live with myself anymore.

We require more minerals, so programming it is... for now. I hope you succeed. Wish me patience :D
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Personally reading code is very simple. Especially when it is commented. Go read up on structures. This is likely your issue. Learn data modeling and flow.

Once you understand how data comes in/is created, how its manipulated and passed off, then outputted.. thinking through solutions becomes much more intuitive.

Try designing functional applications that are simple in nature.

One of the most helpful projects I ever did was one I was allowed to do on my own (lol, group project who was supposed to do the interface while I do functions.. who showed up at my door night before without jack shit working lol). I wrote an application for metric > SAE and SAE > metric conversions. Then I subsequently wrote an interface for the entire thing. I did wet/dry volume/weight measurements as well as power conversions.

It was flawless, I was super proud. The only part at the time that was annoying was fireplugs for Java. A concept that was fucking retarded to me at first, but then made sense. (it's just piss poorly worded and was never taught in my class).

I wasn't a big fan of Java, but it is solid for teaching OO programming. DO NOT learn linear programming first, it's a fucking waste of time.

The biggest lesson for programming, one word: paradigm. You create your own, for everything. Once you realize that you create everything from objects to functions to actual naming conventions, it all starts to fall into place and make sense. This is why people with mechanical/engineering mindsets kind of do better in programming IMHO, we typically don't have trouble seeing something and coming up with a multiple part solution.

Most programming concepts I put into place were minutes of thought at most, it was just dealing with cumbersome development environments or just finding the time to sit down and code uninterrupted (I personally hate coding in snippets shorter than 2-3 hours at a shot.. it feels like you get nothing done).
 
My biggest weakness is I simply don't understand inheritance, extensions or encapsulation. Sure I can do getters and setters, and even pass variables happily around a private environment, but I just don't understand the bigger stuff.
 
Quicksilver_ said:
My biggest weakness is I simply don't understand inheritance, extensions or encapsulation. Sure I can do getters and setters, and even pass variables happily around a private environment, but I just don't understand the bigger stuff.
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unless you're building libraries, you won't ever need that stuff (there are exceptions to that rule - i'm throwing out a generalization here). once you start requiring the use of extenders and inheritance (and using them in a real way) it'll make more sense.

there's no reason to get overly complicated unless you absolutely have to. KISS is my friend, unless of course I'm getting paid (or want to spend a lot of extra time) to build highly maintainable code.
 
mdburkey said:
The languages are important to know -- but once you know one or two languages well and have mastered the basic concepts, learning another is a matter of a few weeks at worse.

Of course, bouncing back & forth between languages is guaranteed to give you migraines -- I'm currently supporting one older project in VB6, supporting another project that is based on Keil C on an 8051, having to occasionally revisit some Windows networking C# code for yet another contract, while my primary job right now is writing Linux device drivers under C (ARM platform).

If you want to look for a good skill set to make good money -- learn low-level embedded programming, how to write device drivers, FPGA programming (VHDL, etc), or DSP programming.
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I think I'd rather bang my head against a wall than deal with VB6.

I had a teacher in high school who sat on the standards committee for VHDL. Only competent computer teacher I ever had.
 
kcmastrpc said:
there's no reason to get overly complicated unless you absolutely have to. KISS is my friend
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This is really the best advice for programming IMHO. People tend to over-complicate things and eventually end up with a spaghetti monster. You may be comfortable dealing with it, but expecting someone else to figure it out, or coming back to it years later, can be problematic.

If you are into game programming, download the source for some iD games, they tend to be well coded - even without comments. I'm sure there are other, maybe better, examples. Also, game programming/scripting is a super fun way to learn. The Unreal Development Kit is free and you can probably do a lot with that. There is also some kind of environment used in Carnagy Melon that always looked interesting (if you don't mind the more "kiddy" mentality): http://www.alice.org

Whatever approach you use to learn, try to make it fun. You don't need to memorize every function or syntax, rely on a good reference book/website for that. Also, start out small. Overly ambitious projects can lead to frustration - if you find yourself really stumped then try something simpler and come back to the project later.

Good luck!
 
eqtitan said:
This would explain my baldness.

Side note been learning php, found a few good books and doing the w3c tutorials. The damnedest thing is I can read a complete code and understand almost every damn thing, but for the life of me I can write my own code. GRRRRRrrrrrrrr
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Ahh...age old problem.

Step one..you take somebody elses code and use it.
Step two..you take somebody elses code and change it just slightly
Step three..you think you can write better code than what you used in 1 or 2 and spend the next five years doing it!

And most people don't write all their code form scratch every time. I always start from a template and go from there. I then figure out what I can re-use from previous builds. Modern programming is about developing a set of tools that you can use again and again and again. If you don't, you will drown. Those tools don't have to be your own, but you need to know your tools and keep them "sharp". If you do...it is possible to build rome...in a day.
 
but what am I supposed to do when I can only bring my visual basic skillz to the table? /resume
 
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