What is software development / programming?
Programming or software development is a process consisting of several stages:
- User requirements analysis;
- Requirements design
- Build and test software applications that will meet these requirements.
Software development is a constantly changing profession. Through therefore, we should adapt As much as it develops new technologies.To a can meet these requirements in keep going change is needed to we find a motivation and a desire learning enough big in order to keep up with these changes.
Advantages of a career in IT
We also discussed the advantages of a career in IT in the the article why start programming
Some advantages:
- Salaries are high even if you are a beginner programmer.
- More and more companies are outsourcing their services in Romania and looking for programmers.
- The work schedule is flexible.
- Companies allow you to work remotely
Time!
There are several possibilities to learn to program, or to develop software, you can take courses at a specialized university, courses at an alternative school, or even online courses.
The most important component in decision making it's time. How much time do you have to learn the new skill?
Depending on your age, you can start with a theoretical high school following a computer science profile, then a computer science university. This path takes about 7 or 8 years depending on the chosen university.
By following this path you can gain a lot of knowledge. Why I say "you can accumulate", because it depends on each of us how captivated he is in the IT field, how prepared the teacher is, both technically and pedagogically.
The role of the teacher
Can the teacher awaken the student's desire to learn, can present the notions in an easy to understand way. In addition to these variables, the fact that many of the subjects studied in high school or college are not necessarily useful in your career as a software developer. In addition, there are many subjects unrelated to software development, subjects such as advanced notions of physics, chemistry or mathematics.
But what if we don't have that much time?
The good news is that in order to get a job in the IT field, you don't have to finish a computer science degree: Polytechnic, ASE or another university. Although it could give you a good start to your career, if you want to work in this field. But you should know that lately, more and more people are starting to program, to pursue a career in IT, even if they have finished other faculties or maybe they are still on the high school benches.
The IT field is one of the most sought after, one of the reasons being high salaries and dynamism or even in times of crisis.
For a long time the field of software development was associated with a solid knowledge of mathematics or computer science. But taking advantage of the help of technology is now easier to follow for those who have studied in other fields.
Mathematics and software development!
The level of mathematics knowledge used in IT, in 90% cases, is the level of primary grades.
Mathematics helps us more to understand the logical aspects behind programming, not complex mathematical concepts.
When it comes to complex math concepts there are dedicated teams of mathematicians who will come up with mathematical input.
On the other hand, if we focus on the notions that are necessary in the career of a software developer, learning can be shortened by a long time. For example following specialized programming courses can be reached at junior level in 6-12 months.
Such a program makes learning much more productive. Since we no longer have the elements to distract from the essentials.
What does software development mean?
Software development begins with understanding user stories. What is a user story is the requirement the client sends to a business analyst. Which in turn presents it to the software developer.
Two steps are crucial in understanding user stories:
- ability to write coherent sequences of events
- the ability to turn these sequences into code quickly and efficiently.
How does a user story turn?
Assuming we can discover these customer needs, we are still left with an important question: how to code them?
It seems obvious that somehow we need to turn user stories into instructional sequences in code.
From user story to code
Can we define a process of turning stories and notions into code?
Can this process be automated?
The answers to all these questions will come with the experience gained. The more real situations we see, the easier it will be for us to adapt and understand more quickly what is wanted from that user story.
Once the user story is understood and we can transform it. Turn it into a coherent sequence of events. Then we use one of the programming languages that we know the sequences turn into code understood by the computer.
In order to be able to do these steps, a development engineer must have at least a junior level of knowledge.
Junior or beginner in software development?
It is that level from which you can manage, under the guidance of a senior programmer, to understand a user story that you will be able to implement.
Specifically, to understand the basics of programming. Master the technologies used in the team.
The most important thing as a junior is to work as well as you can on the assigned tasks, to have initiative, but also to know how to ask for help.
It is always very important for a junior not to take responsibility. That is, to develop an ability to ask for help.
For example, you can give yourself a day or two to try to complete the assigned task. You have exhausted all known methods to solve this problem and ask for help.
It is important to develop this mechanism and not get caught up in the complexity of a task. Often all that is needed is a different perspective on the issue at hand.
Junior versus senior software developer?
Most of the time, the difference between a junior software developer and a senior is personal work experience. What programming languages did he use, what technologies did he use?
To understand this experience, let's try to find the answers to the following questions:
- How many years did he schedule?
- How often did you use that programming language?
- How did he use different technologies?
- How did they use different technologies together?
What does a junior need to know about software development?
- Sometimes the horizon is not visible from where we are. Things around seem complex. Find out what you're looking for. Problems that cannot be solved. We've all been there, and software development is no exception. If you have not yet reached such a situation, you will meet them sooner or later.
- He is constantly learning. The more we learn in the field we are interested in, the better we become at what we do!
- Be persevering in what you do! Don't give up easily on what you want and try to always learn from mistakes!
- Often we can't do it alone. That's why we have to learn to communicate and ask for help from the team.
- Learn to accept criticism, you will not be able to please everyone with what you do. Criticism can be constructive.
- You need to know that you are the only person who can choose the tools to achieve your goals.
- Don't deviate from what you set out to do.
- Now, we must not fall into the other extreme, try to find a balance between professional and personal life!
By far the most advantageous way to start a career in IT is to follow the specially designed flaws of an academy.
SkillUp if you have no knowledge of IT, and want to see if IT suits you, see introductory course in IT, whether you have knowledge of IT, see list of courses.
The advantages you get by following this learning option are:
- the specialized help you receive;
- the curriculum of the courses is oriented towards what companies are looking for, thus eliminating many of the notions that are not immediately necessary;
- creation throughout the portfolio courses necessary for employment;
- relatively short period of 4 months, 6 months in which you can reach the level of junior programmer;
- help in finding a job.