why should be a programmer in naija?

programmers dont have a life, most dont have hobbies besides staring at their screen
2)
a simple " hello world" still has bugs?- newbies can debug one all night.
3)
writing any substantial program takes months and sb else could have done it,
better, and pirated versions abound?
4)
programming is tedious, takes years to learn?
5)
u aint sure u of bread on ur table when the code finaally runs
6) programming is a backroom job - the manager takes all the glory?
7)programmers dont make headlines, ha what a life?
programming requires dozens of hours of power , a rarity in naija
9) a programmer without a degree is regarded as a technician
10) u get a flatter arse than u mama gave u,cuz u sit endless hours at a time
11)u risk gettin arthritis early - at least in ur fingers before it spread to other body parts
12) u always chasing latest fads,
today its java,tomorrow dot Net, next week php, next month C# and so on,
13)
a programmer relaxes by dissing other programmers kinda like east coast west coast thing:
java programmers say C++ is rubbish,
C++ coders retort back;
14) programmers neva rise to positions of great importance nationally,
kinda like uplifting a motor mechanic to sit on state guvnor.-
15) after studying for 10 yrs , u only know a drop in the bucket ,
16) programmers are a dime a dozen - despite ur knowledge ur replaceable

17)at the rooot programming is a very dry subject and books that make it interesting
only skim the surface deep - they neva give u full working codes,
cuz a full working code block would probably require a different book of same size
18)
every non - programmer looks at ur code , ur sweat of endless debugging and says,
"oh, that's simple!!"

I think the guy just heard all this from someone, who no less about the lifestyle of programmer.

For anything you do in life, your personal (time) management will determine how u will enjoy or hate your job.

so, man dont say want you dont know much about.

when are we going to have robots abi na cyborgs in our midst.
with cyborgs
the police wont be using humans to fight crime,
banks will have formidable security
, risky jobs will be done by machines
, mama's will relax more instead of endless hours in the kitchen.
the list is endless,
inf act i believe the wonder will eclipse the impact of both the automobile
and
computer age.
but i wonder what's stalling the reality?
aint the world techy enough to spurn this ' bad ' guys.

fallguy this was an article you posted. for this robots to work they would need a PROGRAMMER to make them function or do you expect them to work themselves. Also about the changes, its everywhere you don't expect wat you learnt in primary school as at then to be taught now, there has to be development. And since technology improves everyday we just have to move with the trend. Programming isn't that bad it's quite interesting their findings aren;t limited to computers it goes down to health such as nano technology it needs a software which is done by the programmer. also automobiles,Military,phones,Architecture etc.

sbu , u aint in naija ,
u talking of yankee and britain where work methods are far from arcane
in nigeria,
get my context,
and in business most programmers are regarded as back room boys,
thats why many rush to get an mba , later on .
as for programmers not having a life ,
admit ,coding is a terribly geeky thing to do,
writing a full blown app, as an itenerant nigerian programmer will have to do , to see
some cash flow , needs serious, night long debugging,
in certain cases where programming power is sparse - eg india - the rush to deliver to
market means putting so much work load on the programmers,
this is tasking,
yeah, if u hit the right employer u'll see the juice [money] alright,
but it time expensive.
secondly,look at what java is turning into,
an obese behemoth that can't control itself,and a programmer has to
utilize literally ,thousands of API's ,men the more u learn the more it spawns.
look at php, it aimed at simplicity, but its helper classes are so large,
u see my point,
the basics of coding is easy,afterall its all logic.
but the learning, - a lifetime,
the debugging - ha ! a nightmare.
if u were'nt well paid would programming be such fun?

fallguy,

Quick Question, are you a programmer?.

Listen dude - programming is an art, it's like creative creating or film directing and once you know your shit, it will be like cake. You don't have to be in Yankee or Jand to get paid well, once you are good and talented programmer, you can make it very well in life.

I left Nigeria in 2004 from Lagos City Computer College and Yaba Tech knowing how to code in basic programming only, I couldn't rest because of cult boyz wahala so I had to come to Ghana to start over. I got to Ghana and as God would have it I got a night job as a support technician.

I got a scholarship from my employers because of my programming skills, I even started sending money back to my parents. So, if you are good you are good my friend.

I will agree that others might take the credit but you are still the boss when it comes down to the nitty-gretty and that counts. My boss had to wait for me once because I was in class and we had to go to coca-cola ghana and I was needed urgently.

Coding is not a terrible geeky thing to do - people think you are a geek because you solve problems, good programmers can have no idea in other fields but you will be amazed on how they can get things done outside their profession.

There are so many ways to skin a cat - there are 1001 ways to doing a certain tasks, APIs tend to help us and simplify our work, it doesn't mean you will have to know about all the APIs the world has to offer, haba - you be God. Know the basics and the foundation and start exploring planes others fair to trend.

alexia,

am i a programmer?
i'm still learning but not all that of a newbee,
i'm writing out of my experience with the lifestyle coder's have to adopt
.
i began by accident , and i've grown by self study,
i'm learning data structures in java,
the problem is my lifestyle isnt what it used to be,
i think the high in programming is seeing ur code run,
but my friends and family ,they surfer because
from writing the code to running it to moving on to the next chapter takes time
something 'java programming for dummies' didnt tell me',
so i have to make a lot of sacrifices and i still have a lot a whooping lot to learn!!


maybe i'm confused but i international adverts i see require so much of programmers
and it's not something that u could rush thru in a few months,
unlike school exams where u could jack overnight,not so with code ,
if it dont work, u failed,period. no excuses, and getting code to behave seems
sth of experience - so u see programmers are geeky not by their consent.
code just gat to run!

Somethings come easy for some people, some don't; programming is one of those things. Is it geeky, yes and no. Yes for people that look at programming as hard and no to people who don't.

Is it a worthy profession, you bet. Will it be around for the next decade - I can tell you for the next century.