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  3. Why did you became programmers?

Why did you became programmers?

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  • M Michael Sernal

    Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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    R Giskard Reventlov
    wrote on last edited by
    #4

    Michael Sernal wrote:

    When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT?

    Sort of. I have been lucky enough to have more than one of my life's dreams come true so I'm quite a happy bunny.

    "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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    • I Ian Shlasko

      For my fourth birthday, I got an Atari 800XL... One of those computer-in-a-keyboard systems that used game cartridges and saved BASIC programs on audio casettes. Rumor has it, I played the games for a couple months, then decided I wanted to write my own. My father gave me a copy of The IBM Basic Handbook, taught me about line numbers and for-next loops, and from that moment on, I was doomed to be a programmer. I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

      Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
      Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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      R Giskard Reventlov
      wrote on last edited by
      #5

      Ian Shlasko wrote:

      I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

      Similar: it's when you realize that it doesn't really matter what you create as long as you are creating that you fully begin to enjoy the sport of development. :-)

      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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      • M Michael Sernal

        Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #6

        Michael Sernal wrote:

        When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT?

        No. That was more of an accident. In 1978 I walked into a Radio Shack and saw a brand new TRS-80 (Model I) and the manual. Then I spent an hour or so trying to convince the computer to do something. When I came home I was in trouble (as usual) and surprised my poor parents by telling them that all this was unimportant because I needed a computer.

        At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity

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        • R R Giskard Reventlov

          Ian Shlasko wrote:

          I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

          Similar: it's when you realize that it doesn't really matter what you create as long as you are creating that you fully begin to enjoy the sport of development. :-)

          "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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          I Offline
          Ian Shlasko
          wrote on last edited by
          #7

          Uh... No... I don't really enjoy this very much. It just pays a lot better :)

          Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
          Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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          • M Michael Sernal

            Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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            GateKeeper22
            wrote on last edited by
            #8

            Yeah I have known that I would be a programmer since I was 8. And I never looked back. Been programming now for the better part of 20 years and it is still as exciting today as it was back then. I never doubted that decision.

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            • M Michael Sernal

              Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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              Tim Corey
              wrote on last edited by
              #9

              I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh: Actually, I knew I wanted to be a programmer since I wrote my first "app" in BASIC. At the time, I thought I would only ever be able to do it as a hobby. Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

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              • M Michael Sernal

                Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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                Gary Wheeler
                wrote on last edited by
                #10

                Because I didn't have the face or the body to be a gigolo. Come to think of it, I'm still paid money to do disgusting things with other people, so it's okay.

                Software Zen: delete this;

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                • A AspDotNetDev

                  Fixed the title for you. I took a programming class in high school (9th or 10th grade) because I had crazy ideas of what it was to be a programmer (basically, look at a bunch of 1s and 0s and make cool stuff from modifying them). Before that, I didn't really touch computers. Well, it wasn't exactly what I thought it was, but when I took that class I became hooked. I don't remember if I knew I would do that for a career, but I did know I wanted to program computers for the rest of my life (for money or not).

                  Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                  Michael Sernal
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #11

                  Thanks. As for me when I finished high school I don't know what degree to take and then my brother told me to choose one that i won't feel bored going to school one that I will find interesting so I took a degree in IT.

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                  • T Tim Corey

                    I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh: Actually, I knew I wanted to be a programmer since I wrote my first "app" in BASIC. At the time, I thought I would only ever be able to do it as a hobby. Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

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                    AspDotNetDev
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #12

                    Tim Corey wrote:

                    I did it for the opportunity to meet women

                    Psst, work for as a web developer in a marketing department. ;)

                    Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                    • M Michael Sernal

                      Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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                      C Offline
                      Corporal Agarn
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #13

                      My degree in engineering and first (real) job in material testing shows what I wanted to do with my life. I am not a true programmer as my current "expertise" is DBA. Got into computers through need while managing a database of pipeline disasters.

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                      • T Tim Corey

                        I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh: Actually, I knew I wanted to be a programmer since I wrote my first "app" in BASIC. At the time, I thought I would only ever be able to do it as a hobby. Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #14

                        Yes, the programmer groupies are a good reason, but they can be a pest at times...

                        At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity

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                        • M Michael Sernal

                          Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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                          Slacker007
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #15

                          I didn't get into this programming stuff until after I got out of the Army. It found me, I did not find it. I have never looked back. ;)

                          "the meat from that butcher is just the dogs danglies, absolutely amazing cuts of beef." - DaveAuld (2011)
                          "No, that is just the earthly manifestation of the Great God Retardon." - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "It is the celestial scrotum of good luck!" - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "But you probably have the smoothest scrotum of any grown man" - Pete O'Hanlon (2012)

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                          • M Michael Sernal

                            Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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                            Chris Maunder
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #16

                            Because I'm a control freak who reckoned he could do it better than the IT department where I was doing grad work. Turns out I was right :D

                            cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                            • I Ian Shlasko

                              For my fourth birthday, I got an Atari 800XL... One of those computer-in-a-keyboard systems that used game cartridges and saved BASIC programs on audio casettes. Rumor has it, I played the games for a couple months, then decided I wanted to write my own. My father gave me a copy of The IBM Basic Handbook, taught me about line numbers and for-next loops, and from that moment on, I was doomed to be a programmer. I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

                              Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
                              Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Michael Sernal
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #17

                              Gamer? Yes? I used to play a lot of video games when i was still a kid Super Mario was the first game i played. And since I'm into gaming I want to know how they created them and so i took programming.

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                              • M Michael Sernal

                                Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

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                                Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #18

                                In retrospect I think I was lied to.

                                Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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                                • T Tim Corey

                                  I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh: Actually, I knew I wanted to be a programmer since I wrote my first "app" in BASIC. At the time, I thought I would only ever be able to do it as a hobby. Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

                                  R Offline
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                                  R Giskard Reventlov
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #19

                                  Tim Corey wrote:

                                  Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

                                  Yes, that did come as a bit of a shock!

                                  "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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                                  • M Michael Sernal

                                    Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

                                    L Offline
                                    L Offline
                                    lewax00
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #20

                                    I grew up around computers (my dad's), so I always had an interest in them. By the time I got to high school I was proficient in using them, so I didn't want to take the "desktop publishing" class offered (basically how to use MS Word), so I got permission to skip it and take a class in HTML instead, that went well so I took the only programming class offered, in VB.NET (I use the term programming lightly here, it was basically make a form, do some calculations with numeric types when a button was pressed and displaying the result in a label). I toyed with that for a while (I hadn't learned anything useful in the class, took me a while before I figured out there were things like loops and that you can define your own functions, etc.), then picked up a book on C++ I found on clearance, taught myself that, took classes in QBasic and Java when my school joined a program that added some more classes online, and by the end of high school figured I just keep doing it. I graduate with by BS in Mathematics and Computer Science next May, and my MS in the same the year after that. :-D

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                                    • C Chris Maunder

                                      Because I'm a control freak who reckoned he could do it better than the IT department where I was doing grad work. Turns out I was right :D

                                      cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                      A Offline
                                      AspDotNetDev
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #21

                                      You must have had one reeeeeaaaaally horrible IT department. :)

                                      Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                                      • A AspDotNetDev

                                        You must have had one reeeeeaaaaally horrible IT department. :)

                                        Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                                        Chris Maunder
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #22

                                        Oh, you'll keep mate. Yes you will.

                                        cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                        • M Michael Sernal

                                          Hi guys, When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT? Or do you have other dreams and it just happened that you would like to know how the computer works and stuff and ended up taking up a degree in IT?

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          GuyThiebaut
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #23

                                          I was lucky enough to own a ZX spectrum back in 1982 and ever since then have been fascinated with IT. Fortunately back in the 80's IT progress was slow enough that I could learn at a reasonable pace - although there was no world wide web so I had to make do with 400+ page manuals that could in no manner be described as user friendly. I can't say I knew it, but I was fairly sure after a few hours on the good old speccy that I would be using computers in one way or another in my adult working life. I took a degree in IT because I thought it would make me money - what I got was something even better than money, I got to work in an area that I really enjoy :)(being a lawyer or doctor would have made me much more wealthy)

                                          “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                                          ― Christopher Hitchens

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