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  3. Why did you became programmers?

Why did you became programmers?

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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

    A Offline
    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!

      C Offline
      C Offline
      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?

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        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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        • 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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          PIEBALDconsult
          wrote on last edited by
          #24

          I needed to fill the schedule for my senior year of high school and "computer math" seemed interesting enough. :shrug:

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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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            Nueman
            wrote on last edited by
            #25

            To get paid to do what I enjoyed. After all these years I still consider myself very fortunate.

            What me worry?

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            • C Chris Maunder

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

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

              A Offline
              A Offline
              AspDotNetDev
              wrote on last edited by
              #26

              Chris Maunder wrote:

              Oh, you'll keep mate.

              I'm not quite sure what that means. Is it some form of Aussie* dialect? *Australopithecus Africanus

              Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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              • A AspDotNetDev

                Chris Maunder wrote:

                Oh, you'll keep mate.

                I'm not quite sure what that means. Is it some form of Aussie* dialect? *Australopithecus Africanus

                Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                C Offline
                C Offline
                Chris Maunder
                wrote on last edited by
                #27

                You'll keep[^] Our interpretation is close, but a little more flavoured with "...and I know where you live." ;)

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

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                • C Chris Maunder

                  You'll keep[^] Our interpretation is close, but a little more flavoured with "...and I know where you live." ;)

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

                  A Offline
                  A Offline
                  AspDotNetDev
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #28

                  You have just barely avoided the Maunder Dictionary, but it won't last. :rolleyes:

                  Chris Maunder wrote:

                  I know where you live

                  True story. I once bought a present on Amazon and had it directly shipped to a friend with the gift note "you don't know who I am, but I know where you live." I also signed it with my name. It was a reference to King of the Hill, but he didn't get the reference and got very upset. :laugh:

                  Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                  • C Chris Maunder

                    You'll keep[^] Our interpretation is close, but a little more flavoured with "...and I know where you live." ;)

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

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #29

                    Quote:

                    This saying is really only used by well educated and intelligent individuals.

                    Nice!

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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?

                      P Offline
                      P Offline
                      Pete OHanlon
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #30

                      I did it for the chicks. Why else would you do it?

                      *pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington

                      "Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos

                      CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier

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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?

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        S Houghtelin
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #31

                        I kind of fell into it. My background was in electronics and we needed to know assembly to troubleshoot the computers back when it was cost effective to do so. The real reason I got into programming was that when I was a lead tech on the production floor part of my duties were to inventory the new builds and returned products and provide throughput results. This consisted of manually counting the devices, writing the numbers down, entering the info into an Excel spread sheet so some office clerk could manually enter the data into Access to make a nice chart. This effort took a day a half to complete which took time from doing what I wanted to do. So I created a few macros in Access that automated most of the work and created the nice chart with just a few clicks. The inventory process took only an hour to do after that. They gave me a bonus check for $2000. I thought wow! All I did was knock out a few lines of code, wrapped in nice looking windows forms and they gave me 2 Grand… Sweet! I was hooked. I never looked back.

                        It was broke, so I fixed it.

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • L Lost User

                          Quote:

                          This saying is really only used by well educated and intelligent individuals.

                          Nice!

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          Chris Maunder
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #32

                          I love the honesty and integrity of community sourced material.

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

                          1 Reply Last reply
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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?

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Roger Wright
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #33

                            When I was young and in grade school we had these things called, "pencils," and used them, along with some cleverly flattened dead tree bits, to accomplish calculations. Later, in college, we had this thing called a "computer" on campus, attended by High Priests in white coats, all kept behind glass walls and unreachable by mortals except via more bits of flattened dead tree bits, punched full of holes, and neatly collected into ordered decks. These we slid through slots next to the glass walls in the vain hope that the Priests would submit them to the computer for its consideration at some time before the semester ended. It was considerably faster and more convenient to solve whatever silly problem we had with pencils and flat tree bits, but our teachers felt we should use the latest technology, whether it made sense to do so or not. Somewhere along the career path, while I was happily solving major technical problems with bits of silicon and germanium, some ninny decided to make them programmable, and that's when things went downhill. Everything I built had to be made to solve problems nobody had, and so had to be programmable, just in case that problem ever happened and needed a program change. Years went by, and things only got worse until everything became programmable, and people became so stupid that no one knew anymore how to work out a problem using a pencil and cleverly flattened dead tree bits. Somewhere in there I learned to program, but as far as I can recall, I never "decided to become" a programmer; it just grew on me, like a nasty tumor or a happily feasting tick. Once my professional skills led to the downfall of the nefarious USSR, I arranged to have myself laid off so that I would never have to program anything at all, but alas, even the local hardware store where I suffered dire underemployment for years and years had those damned computers, and they needed programming. Of course, now that almost nobody remembers how to solve anything without a computer, I and my pencil are kept happily entertained solving problems programmers cause for other people. It's not a bad life... :-D

                            Will Rogers never met 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?

                              R Offline
                              R Offline
                              Ravi Bhavnani
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #34

                              > Why did you became programmers? Quite by chance. I was studying Electrical Engineering and had to take a Programming 101 course as a pre-requisite to Numerical Analysis.  My math prof told me, "Go take a course in Fortran."  When I went to the CS department to sign up, they laughed at me and said, "Fortran is obsolete - we teach structured programming here.  Sign up for Pascal 101."  (Please don't laugh - this was 32 years ago). So here I was, a grad student with stubble amidst a sea of freshmen, when the instructor walked into the class and on day 1 ordered us to "empty your minds, for I am about to teach you how to think".  It was love at first sight (with CS, not the instructor) and I've never looked back. Today, I write code for a living, then come home and write code for myself.  I spend most of my weekends writing code and building and maintaining my freeware apps.  Building software is all I ever want to do in life. :cool: /ravi

                              My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                              1 Reply Last reply
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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?

                                X Offline
                                X Offline
                                xExTxCx
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #35

                                IT was a backup plan. Physics/Astronomy was my original goal... Took a job in IT and have been in the field since.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • 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
                                  Lost User
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #36

                                  My father was a lecturer in cybernetics, so I was lucky enough to actually have a computer and robots at home in the days before most people knew what one was, and feared the other. Taught by self Basic on the commodore PET , then6502 assembler. Wrote a version of missile command on the PET (a challenge on a non-bit mapped screen, I can tell you!) when I left school there were only 3 universities I the uk doing comp sci courses - I ended up joining the Metropolitan Police as a trainee programmer - much better than being a poor student as they trained me to code while paying me and providing accommodation and the best bacon rolls on the planet. The rest, as they say, is history. Some may say 'ancient history'

                                  MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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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.

                                    V Offline
                                    V Offline
                                    Vivi Chellappa
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #37

                                    Tim Corey wrote:

                                    I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh:

                                    There is a Doonesbury cartoon for that. PS. Actually, it a computer operator's job, not a programmer's.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • 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

                                      G Offline
                                      G Offline
                                      Gary R Wheeler
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #38

                                      I thought it was your prediliction for supervising machines powered by small, voracious rodents?

                                      Software Zen: delete this;

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • R Roger Wright

                                        When I was young and in grade school we had these things called, "pencils," and used them, along with some cleverly flattened dead tree bits, to accomplish calculations. Later, in college, we had this thing called a "computer" on campus, attended by High Priests in white coats, all kept behind glass walls and unreachable by mortals except via more bits of flattened dead tree bits, punched full of holes, and neatly collected into ordered decks. These we slid through slots next to the glass walls in the vain hope that the Priests would submit them to the computer for its consideration at some time before the semester ended. It was considerably faster and more convenient to solve whatever silly problem we had with pencils and flat tree bits, but our teachers felt we should use the latest technology, whether it made sense to do so or not. Somewhere along the career path, while I was happily solving major technical problems with bits of silicon and germanium, some ninny decided to make them programmable, and that's when things went downhill. Everything I built had to be made to solve problems nobody had, and so had to be programmable, just in case that problem ever happened and needed a program change. Years went by, and things only got worse until everything became programmable, and people became so stupid that no one knew anymore how to work out a problem using a pencil and cleverly flattened dead tree bits. Somewhere in there I learned to program, but as far as I can recall, I never "decided to become" a programmer; it just grew on me, like a nasty tumor or a happily feasting tick. Once my professional skills led to the downfall of the nefarious USSR, I arranged to have myself laid off so that I would never have to program anything at all, but alas, even the local hardware store where I suffered dire underemployment for years and years had those damned computers, and they needed programming. Of course, now that almost nobody remembers how to solve anything without a computer, I and my pencil are kept happily entertained solving problems programmers cause for other people. It's not a bad life... :-D

                                        Will Rogers never met me.

                                        G Offline
                                        G Offline
                                        Gary R Wheeler
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #39

                                        Great post, Roger. One question: what's a tree?

                                        Software Zen: delete this;

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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