Programming: Intrinsic or Taught
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I am an ex-Australian Airforce technician commissioned from the ranks as an Engineering Officer. Was forced into handling large amounts of complex data occasionally needing me to write scripts and routines (funny how the services do that). While teaching myself to program using Visual Basic, I was doing a degree in my own time. Part of my degree included some Software engineering units (NOT BY CHOICE). There was a fair amount of pressure having to turn in one assignment a week (same workload as the full time students). Strangely enough I found I was good at it and actually enjoyed it. This was when universities were teaching PASCAL and C. I found the formal education knocked of the rough edges of what I had taught myself. But you must continue to learn and adapt to knew technology. I would rate it as 75% self taught and 25% educated.
Programming is something you either get or you don't. If you have the interest and the motivation you will learn.
muskrat wrote:
I found the formal education knocked of the rough edges of what I had taught myself.
They give you a basic understanding of structures and how to break a problem down into smaller, manageable units but ultimately its up to you.
muskrat wrote:
But you must continue to learn and adapt to knew technology.
That's pretty much the deal in any technology the only difference is ours changes so rapidly! Mike
"It doesn't matter how big a ranch ya' own, or how many cows ya' brand, the size of your funeral is still gonna depend on the weather." -Harry Truman.
Semper Fi http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
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Taught myself while working as an computer technician, so I could exercise the computers to find bugs. Taught myself while getting BS in Math, so I could do analysis and homework. Taught myself while working as a software tester, so I could exercise the programs I was testing. Refined all of that while getting MS in Computer Science. Continued teaching myself while writing software for the last 25 years. Maybe it is intrinsic, or I wouldn't have been able to teach myself as much.
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
My sophomore/freshman years consisted of Assembly, Fortran, Cobal, and C (Oops! Just dated myself!) The professor told us, early-on, that all who graduate from these courses will be able to produce code; only 10% of those graduates will produce good code. With that bit of corporate insight, coupled with personal experience, the issue is soundly placed to rest. If one is object-oriented, is proficient in UML, and is of keen analytical mind, he/she should be able to be a winning programmer regardless of the training platform (informal/formal). By the way, Jim, (SS) stands for Submarine Service; a pair of dolphins (fish), silver or gold, represents "Qualified in Submarines". My first boat was SSN-579. What was yours?
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On my way to work today, I was thinking about my development as a programmer. I do have post-secondary education in the field, but, I think what I was taught there was more of the syntax of a language than how to program itself. With that thought in mind, I would describe myself as self-taught. As an example of being completely taught a skill, my oldest brother is a meat cutter by trade. He was taught his skillset by our father and then refined his skillset by attending college. How would you describe yourself in this regard? Tim
I would describe myself as self-taught indeed. At the age of 6 I've been copying BASIC programs from the language manual which came with my ATARI 400. I learned pascal from Borland's Turbo Pascal integrated help. My very first job as a programmer was in C++, so before going to the interview, I bought a book, and spent a week or so in learning and practicing the language syntax. That was around the age of 17. 15 years passed since then, and I've been working (pretty much constantly) in over 10 different companies including 4 Startups. I finished my BA in economics when I was 20. It was a poor learning experience, but it did open some doors when I applied to jobs which required some higher degree...
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My sophomore/freshman years consisted of Assembly, Fortran, Cobal, and C (Oops! Just dated myself!) The professor told us, early-on, that all who graduate from these courses will be able to produce code; only 10% of those graduates will produce good code. With that bit of corporate insight, coupled with personal experience, the issue is soundly placed to rest. If one is object-oriented, is proficient in UML, and is of keen analytical mind, he/she should be able to be a winning programmer regardless of the training platform (informal/formal). By the way, Jim, (SS) stands for Submarine Service; a pair of dolphins (fish), silver or gold, represents "Qualified in Submarines". My first boat was SSN-579. What was yours?
SSBN 633 (Blue Crew) USS Casimir Pulaski. The only Polish ship in the American Navy. 7 patrols from '73 to '76. I just assumed it meant that because it was attached to your rating {ETN2(SS)} only if you were had passed your sub quals and could wear the Dolphins.
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
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SSBN 633 (Blue Crew) USS Casimir Pulaski. The only Polish ship in the American Navy. 7 patrols from '73 to '76. I just assumed it meant that because it was attached to your rating {ETN2(SS)} only if you were had passed your sub quals and could wear the Dolphins.
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
SSN-584 (Seadragon) & SSBN-633(Gold), fellow bubbleheads. I learned good things in college about data structures & the way operating systems & compilers/interpreters work. Well worthwhile. Programming, itself, is an art, less learnable and more zen-like IMHO. Many people speak English; few well even after a lifetime of "practice". Same goes for computer languages.
Bill
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SSN-584 (Seadragon) & SSBN-633(Gold), fellow bubbleheads. I learned good things in college about data structures & the way operating systems & compilers/interpreters work. Well worthwhile. Programming, itself, is an art, less learnable and more zen-like IMHO. Many people speak English; few well even after a lifetime of "practice". Same goes for computer languages.
Bill
That's three bubbleheads. I wonder how many others there are. The environment is good training for programming. Long durations being kept from the rest of society, learning systems in detail, concentrating on details for long periods of time, problems that better get fixed or everyone goes home.
SludgeBug wrote:
Programming, itself, is an art
"Most people want to build beautiful, elegant things. If you rob them of that, you're taking away the passion of the craftsman." Grady Booch
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
