Why I love programming
… and why I think is a noble career
Do you remember what you used to answer when people asked you what would you like to be when becoming a grown up? Did you wanted to be a teacher, a doctor, a firefighter, … a programmer?
It doesn’t really matter what was (or what is now) your dream job, I’m sure there was something you found really interesting and you had your reasons to consider this the most amazing job in the world.
So, this is why I wanted to share with you what I love the most about programming, and also why I think this could be a really noble career.
All great ideas start from the ground
My first program 😊 I remember it as if it had happened yesterday (actually it really happened almost 10 years ago!):
I was at my first semester of college in the Algorithms 1 class. We needed to code a program that executed a series of arithmetic operations over two numbers that the same program should asked for. Everything had to be written in Pascal (yeah, that old I am) and it should be a console application.
This was our first chance to build up something from the ground and using the computer, because until that point we were writing and learning algorithms using a notebook, paper and pencil.
So, I started writing the required code, and after a few minutes I had everything ready to compile and execute the program for the first time. I just clicked the Run button on the IDE, compiled with no errors (of course 😎) and BAM! it showed up on the console and it worked as it should. That very moment was incredible, almost magical, and without a doubt, it changed my career as a programmer.
This last story corresponds to my first approach with a computer program. That satisfaction you get from creating something from the ground up and with just a few lines of code was one of the things I loved the most about programming since the beginning of my career, and honestly, I think it always going to be.
Just think about this: it doesn’t really matter how complex and ambitious an application is, they all started the same way, with just a few lines of code. So, do not over think it anymore and start coding those few lines of code for that idea it’s been on your mind.
Anyone can learn to code
Another aspect I love about programming is that to learn how to code you do not have to be a genious with math and numbers. Actually, you can learn to code even if your career has no relationship with computer science and software development at all.
I have had the honor to teach programming to a couple of friends with different carrers than mine (business and gastronomy) that just had to learn the basics and some examples to develop their own websites.
Of course there are technologies more complex to learn than others, but I think that the most important thing you need to develop is to be curious about how systems and applications work.
That curiosity will lead you to research more about the technologies, architecture, and programming languages that applications we see everyday use to work.
You do not need super expensive and powerful computers to start
I think this is one of the key aspects that let many people to initiate in the programming and software development world, because different than other careers, to start coding you do not need specialized equipment that might become really expensive or difficult to get. To get started coding, you just need a basic computer.
Once again, of course there are some technologies or kind of applications where a basic computer won’t be enough. For example, if you’re into videogames development, you might need a more powerful computer able to support that amount of animations and 3D design.
In my particular case, which is web development and, from time to time, mobile development, I have never needed a very powerful computer. In fact, some web projects I had were developed using a Raspberry Pi 2, which costs less than 50 USD.
Recently, I rescued an old computer that was kind of abandoned for the last 10 years ago! I just had to install it an SSD and a lightweight operating system (I chose Xubuntu) to make it live again.
What happen if the computer you already have is not enough and can’t get a better one?
Well, fortunately you have a couple of options. You could create an account on Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure, create a virtual machine with the specs you need and work on it using a remote desktop client from your current computer. They even have some free resources, and if you’re a student, you could create an educational account and have some other resources for free.
It helps you to develop your imagination and ability to solve problems
I think software development is a discipline that keeps you mentally active. This is because, as software developers, we should use our imagination and creativity to solve the problems that we face constantly when coding an application or system.
Even if you have been in charge of the very same application for years, you will eventually find a new challenge that will assess your abilities and technical skills to solve it.
Furthermore, given the nature of the tools and programming languages that are constantly being updating and evolving, this let us to learn new paradigms or ways to code and to apply them to our systems, so it is really important to keep ourselves up to date and constantly learning new things.
Possibility to help a lot of people
Finally, another of the aspects I love the most about programming, and in fact I consider this one the main reasons that makes programming a noble career, is how easy you can create and publish an application and the potential this has to be reached by hundreds (or even millions) of people.
Developing applications that seek out to solve a problem of social character will allow a lot of people to facilitate their job, to make them feel safer and even to improve their life quality.
There are platforms that promote the development of this kind of applications, like hackathons, which brings together a lot of very talented and innovative people to make them work collaborative and to propose a solution to specific problems.
Conclusions
I hope you liked this article and I’d really like to hear what is what you love the most about your job or about programming. We might have some of these reasons in common, and perhaps it also was a factor you considered to take this path as a sotware developer.
