My talk with developers

This week I was given an assignment to talk with two developers about a couple things. First off I was tasked with asking them how they got started, which, to my surprise was two totally different paths and, I was intrigued by both. My friends dad who I spoke with told me he didn’t even go to college for programming. You’re kidding me right? He’s in such a successful position right now it blew my mind. He told me he actually went to college and, got a degree in sociology. He then told me that he decided he did not want to be in that field and, got into the IT industry. He fell in love with it and, decided to take a couple classes on coding. He learned Pascal, which, I have never even heard of before. Later, he told me he learned Java and, about four other languages by experience from other co-workers. My dads friend story was way different. He went to college and, got his degree in computer science. He targeted the language Oracle and, he’s even written code for the language which, I thought was pretty cool. The next question I asked was what advice do they have for me? I was told by both to keep my passion for the industry at its highest level. They both said that losing passion for it would eventually lead me to plateauing and, never getting to where I want to be. My friends dad told me he would much rather hire someone who has passion and, no experience in the field than someone who had experience but, had no passion. This leads to the next couple questions I asked, which, was all about if they would work on a project with me. Why or why not? What qualities they looked for in a new hire. Lastly advice for how I could improve. My friends dad told me he would most definitely work on a project with me because he see’s the passion in my eyes and, the way I talk about it with him. My dads friend said yes because he has a passion for coding and, was always willing to try something new. This next question I was asked was something I touched on a little bit earlier in this post. They both told me someone who had passion was a real no brainer over anyone who did not have that passion. Regardless of experience. Lastly the advice I was given was be to patient in my learning, keep working at it, and try to get real world experience. These conversations really opened my eyes into the world of programming and, truthfully, I’m not afraid of the challenge. I’m actually more intrigued. So, That’s my experience with talking to developers. Thanks for reading.

Josh