Hi bro,
I came across your post an curiosity led me in. I finished from Computer Science studies at the University of Ilorin in 2006.
After over a decade of doing what we do, I'm in the position to offer priceless guidance without talking too much.
I would like to gently point out that the word 'gig' that you have been using since your first post in this thread is 'geek', the sister terminology to 'nerd', someone who is an expert at something, not necessarily computers but often used mainly for computer gurus. Please correct that....nice thread though. Cheers.

Pls sir,

I have a problem with my PC, I upgraded it to Window 10, but I activated it using this window activator, but seem it still have issues, it show window will soon expire, I just don't know what to do.

Becoming a Professional Software Developer
Well, before you go any further, know that there is no shortcut to becoming a professional software developer. So what really makes one a professional software developer.
The most important thing is that becoming a professional in anything is never by accident. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication. However, in being dedicated, there are some things you must always do.
The most important thing to any developer is TIME. We all have 24 hours a day but some people seem to have more than that due to the amount of work they get done in such a short time. They were also at a certain point trying to be better, but right now, they have simply become so good that they finish executing tasks even before you finished reading the problem statement.

Ever seen a code jam scoreboard and see the time it takes some people to solve and submit problems. You literally are still trying to grab the concept when someone has already submitted. So what makes them faster and better.

The answer is simple. Sheer concept of revising concepts over a period of time and becoming better at it. So the idea that you can simply wake up one day and be the best only happens in Movies. In the real world, you have to persist in solving problems, reading and doing more than every other person to be better than any other person. So to be a professional, look into your comfort zone and persist in something that takes you outside of your comfort zone, then you are on the path of being a professional.

By being outside of your comfort zone, you should read more, write more and do more. Only then can you say you are on the path of being a Professional. And remember, when you become a Pro, you have simply made your comfort zone bigger by adding the uncomfortables.

Thanks for Reading

Helping Others
For the past few days, I have been talking about becoming a better programmer by developing yourself. Here is another most fundamental way of becoming a better programmer. It is by helping others. 

How does helping others make me a better programmer? You have a wider range of people to teach what you are working on. By teaching more people, you have a better understanding of the concept and idea. You fully understand the whole idea behind what you are teaching which in turn makes you better.

Helping others is not only about teaching. You can design an application for a certain set of people in your house, your neighborhood, your community and the whole world at large. Try help people achieve what they cannot achieve on their own. Push people to become better than they can ever imagine in their whole life.

By helping others do what they concluded they cannot do, you help unleash a certain set of energy to help propel the world and make it a better place. Think of something today that can help the person next to you, the person in the next room or even the whole world at large. Start something small but ensure it makes even a single person better than who they were yesterday.
Organize classes for your friends and colleagues and even the younger ones to become more informed about the full impacts the technology world is having on them. 

The day you make a difference in the life of one person is the day you indeed start living because living is not only about you. It is about what you can do and what you indeed have done.
Thanks for Reading. Please do share with friends and family

The Myth About The Genius Programmer
Most of the time, the ideas we have about Genius Programmers are like those set of guys that have no family relations and only care about one and only one thing in the World: Their Laptop. We believe computer programmers sleep only while their code is trying to be compiled or just running some tests. Those set of guys that even have no time to eat.

Well, some days in your life as a programmer would be faced with activities that would require you to forfeit your food and even your sleep but so is any field of endeavor. It is important that as we begin to work towards becoming a genius programmer, we should remember programmers as just as human as anyone and would have to rest, sleep and eat like every other person.

Genius programmers also have to take some time to learn about something and not that the whole concept just falls into their head all at once. One thing I know is, a genius programmer has had to repeat learning something before he/she became better. They had concepts they did not understand at first, and right now have some new concepts they would love to learn and work on. 

As a developer aspiring to become better, it is important to know that we are shipping ourselves out in various versions. That genius programmer you see might be version 12.0 having had to start from version 0.1. The idea that a programmer simply knows it all is all but false and programmers are not born. Programmers are made. 

A young developer wishing to become better has to know these facts so that he/she can appreciate the little he/she knows and work harder to achieve more. But the idea that computer programmers are always best friends with their laptops is just not it.

Movies have really contributed much to having these ideas as you see movies programmers controlling about 3 to 4 computers all at once typing the keyboard with supersonic speeds. Well, these are possible, but yeah in Movies. In real life, things can happen like that but you have to know that it takes quite a lot of time to achieve.

So never stop trying to become a Genius Programmer, but remember, Its actually not what you think it is. Being Genius is about leaning more, doing more and becoming more.
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Changing Perspective
You sometimes want to program something so badly that even when it refuses to work, you don’t give up. Well, that is a very good habit and it is called Persistence. However, you need to know when Persisting is not the Right Thing to do, that is when persistence becomes more like being stubborn. In situations like this, I usually practice something I call changing perspective.

This means leaving completely what you are struggling with and going to an exactly different activity but having the Problem you want to solve in Mind. Doing another thing entirely different allows you to study your problem from a different angle giving you an upper hand in solving your problem.

We all at one point or the other have gotten frustrated at learning or understanding a concept, but however, I believe that knowing when to take a break and get back to work is a very good determinant of how successful a programmer would become.

Changing perspective is not an avenue to become lazy and change perspective on every single problem that you encounter. It is a step that should be employed only when you have indeed given your best to the problem at hand. Imagine if the solution you would provide would save the world, how hard would you try? When you have tried as if the fate of the world depends on your solution and you still don’t get it, then you can change perspective but not before then.

Activities that can be done while changing perspective should encourage the brain to relax. Activities like exercise, watching movies, playing games and lots more can be performed while changing perspective. 
But Remember, The Fate of the World depends on your Solution

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What Skills Can Improve the Act of Programming?
As programmers, we want to always be better at how we program day by day. However, one of the ways to become better at programming is Problem Solving. Programming is essentially problem-solving using the Computer. Being able to understand how lots of problems can be solved would go a long way in making a programmer better than he previously was.

So how does a programmer become a better problem analyzer. The first advice I always give is to start an Algorithm Course. These courses try to analyze various problems using various angles and directions. By so doing, it creates a pool of problem-solving concepts in our minds. Being able to solve problems really fast is also one of the advantages of taking Algorithmic courses. 

You do not learn alone how to solve problems, designing better ways of solving problems is one of the key advantages of taking Algorithmic courses. Also, structures where data are kept otherwise known as Data Structures, are some other courses a programmer can take to help improve his/her skills. 

The time spent in processing information usually involves moving data from one memory location to another and having a fine understanding of how it works would go a very long way to help programmers understand how to code.

So, taking Algorithm courses to help understand problem solving and taking data structure courses to understand how to keep data are some of the few skills I believe every programmer should have in their Arsenal.
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Meeting People As A Programmer
As a programmer, we always want to just be with our computer all day writing code and just deploying to our clients all around the world. The idea of socializing is more like strange to a lot of programmers. I was at a GDG event yesterday and I could say that indeed programmers need to socialize more to help improve.

How can a programmer improve my meeting more people? Well, you get to understand the idea of programming from another angle. You hear different stories of different programmers and how they got into programming. It makes you see your present situation just as a stepping stone to doing something really great.

Most of the time, your Applications become better when different people put in different inputs and these are some of the advantages you get when you meet more people as a programmer. Different platforms are exposed and people share their experience in various fields which helps reduce the time one would have to spend learning something. 

New technologies and their pros and cons and all explained at such meetings so that developers are not blinded by the roars a new technology is making. Programmers become better by connecting with other programmers who in turn connect them to various other resources that they need to help improve their services. The various resources a programmer might be seeking might simply be lying fallow at another programmers house.
Some of the things I learned at the event is to Join Google Developers Group, begin to contribute to solutions to local problems and helping others solve their problems in and around the world. I also learned that very good programmers focus on very few things and become exceptionally good at them.
So it is not by the technologies you know, it is by the Quality of what you know. Also, ladies and women in technology should endeavor to join the women in technology program by Google. It is a really big opportunity for the Female Programmers
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Habits of Good Programmers
The ability of a programmer to become better usually does not lie in the act of programming, but also in the activities done behind programming. Habits are what makes anyone better. Being able to have good habits is what defines a great programmer. Habits of exercise make a programmer able to go further than his/her ordinary ability.

Being able to develop good habits are what really defines any person at any occupation. As such, programming is no exception. But what are the basic habits any programmer should keep?

Exercise: Any programmer who really wants to go beyond ordinary must find time to exercise and as such develop his/her brain and computing power. Being able to find time to exercise is a sign of good habit on its own. I hardly find any successful person who never had to exercise

Good Sleep: A nice rest after the days’ hectic tasks is one way to give the body a great deal of time to recover from the stress it has gone through throughout the day. Programmers should fine time in their ever busy schedule to rest and have a great deal of sleep because without sleep the body gets easily stressed and thus reduces brain power.

Good Food: A new car that lives on bad fuel would break down sooner or later. This is a simple analogy to a good programmer who does not eat good food. He takes whatever food he/she can get without thinking of eating something good. Bad food equals bad body system and good food equals good body system.

Reading and Writing: Knowledge is what makes anyone great. Finding time to seek knowledge and finding time to search knowledge are some great habits of very good programmers. Programmers should not only rely on what they knew yesterday rather strive hard daily to become better than they were yesterday. Also as a programmer, it is important to search knowledge no matter how small or big you think it is, it might save another programmer elsewhere.

If a programmer can develop some of these habits, it definitely would put you on the pathway of becoming one of the best programmers the world has ever known


Thanks for Reading

The Habit of Writing Clean and Clear Code
What is a Clean and Clear Code? Well, I am still searching for an answer but the closest I have found so far is a that a clean and clear code is a code that does not need further explanation after the programmer has written it. A clean and clear code is so straight forward in its wordings that anyone who looks at the code is fully aware of what the code is trying to achieve.

But it is indeed very difficult to write clean and clear code. Your customers are waiting for the next update and you also want to add more features to your app, if it works, then its okay. You sincerely believe that your code would never have to be updated. Well, no matter how well written a code is, it would definitely be reviewed sooner or later.

Endeavor to always remember the next young programmer who would have to go through your code. Do pity the life of the next programmer who would have to update your code when you are taking a break at the Bahamas. Always think about the next programmer when you are writing your code.

The habit of writing clean and clear code involves always being observant of what you are writing and always ensure to write something no one would have to look for you to understand.

Always seek to create a code that seems documented without having to write a documentation. Use the proper naming rules and always do your best. Sometimes, we really want to write the best of codes, but situations are just not right. No matter how tough it is, ensure you have given your best when writing that code

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The Habit of Practice
Every programmer wishes to have a knowledge of any single technology out there. However, years of experience in the field of computer science has shown that is far better to be a master in a certain field than a learner in a lot of fields. Different technologies daily hit the market and the ability to master and use any of them comes with a great deal of practice.

Don’t Practice until you get it right, Practice till you can’t get it wrong

The act of practice is a deliberate effort in knowing what you do not know and doing it every single time until you cannot get it wrong. As an upcoming developer, an idea that senior developers are geeks and nerds is all we can picture. They command certain technologies with no delay and get it so perfectly well. Well, now I know that being a senior developer means better practice until it becomes a part of you until you dare not get it wrong.

However, practice takes time. Simply because you have been practicing for a few months does not mean you become an expert almost immediately. Your conscious effort at becoming better day by day is all that matters. Never believe that a practice for a certain period is all you need. No, you need to practice for all the times you can remember until the act becomes a habit you cannot go a day without.

The path to becoming better never ends, you simply leave a certain stage and move to another level. Every single day is another chance at becoming better. So whatever it is you want to become better at, Never stop practicing, never give up and always keep practicing. 
Remember, Practice does not make perfect, only a perfect practice makes perfect.

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When Programming Becomes Boring
As a programmer, the only thing you want to do every single day is to solve challenging problems. But wait just challenging problems, NO, a programmer wants to solve new challenging problems every single day. The joy of a programmer is knowing that a certain problem has been solved because of him/her. 

However when a programmer continues to remain on the same lane of problem solving, the art of programming becomes really boring. When a programmer solves the same kind of problem every single day, the joy of being a programmer is snatched from the heart of a programmer.
But how can a programmer ever remain challenged. It all depends on the programmer. Looking at a problem from a different perspective is enough to get challenged to solve a problem. Below are some of the ways I think getting bored with programming can be avoided.

Freedom of Platform: A programmer should have a certain amount of freedom to decide what technology to use for building a certain application. Designing an application with a legacy framework might make business sense to the firm but a programmer would love to test new waters as the concept of being a programmer is about testing new waters always. The ability to decide the framework to start a project challenges a programmer to the core as the programmer would not want to fail. It is the fear of failing the organization that creates the strength and removes boredom from the heart of the programmer

Hackathons: These are really nice ways of removing any myth involved with any new framework in the programming environment. Being able to have sessions to look around a framework does help understand the dos and donts of new technologies and enable programmers to be able to test new waters without having to be stuck on one platform

Online Courses: These are ways to help shift base from current projects and start new projects online. This enables a programmer to be able to learn new things on new technologies with another person who has prior experience on the section. It allows a guided tour of new technologies. 

Rotation of Projects: Allowing programmers to move from one project from time to time provides an easy way of learning new things and resolving different problems at different times hereby not making programmers stuck on a single problem at all times.

These are few ways I believe Programming can be made less mundane and boring
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Prioritizing As A Programmer
Programmers really love to get a lot of things done within a very short time and as such most of the time, we hardly ever complete any. The joy of wanting to solve a lot of problems should not make us jack of all trade. You recently received a mail from a friend to look into a project, you accepted. Just last week, you started looking at a new technology and this week, you have a new framework to review.

Well, it is indeed very cool to do a lot of things however, knowing how to prioritize would save you a lot of stress. The act of prioritizing is only not useful in programming but in any human endeavor. As programmers, we believe we can do more in very little time, but even the computer has a limit. It can only go so far and stop.

So I would really suggest to always have a list of all the tasks and activities you want to achieve but rather than using a stack to store your activities, kindly use a priority queue such that only high priority tasks get to be resolved fast. Beyond that, simply prioritizing your tasks is not enough, you have to always stick to a certain prioritization pattern. If you change your priorities very often, you simply have no priority.
Starting from today, feel free to work on any number of projects, but always prioritize your tasks and never move around tasks without taking each one to a certain milestone. 

A lot of people would say you mean I should not multitask. NO, I simply mean you should be careful at how you screw up a lot of activities into a single time frame and achieving none.
Remember, There is no such thing as Multitasking. Take your tasks one by one and careful execute each one would be the best advise

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Being fulfilled As A Programmer
Complexity, Autonomy and Connection between Work and reward according to the book Outliers are the three things that determines if we fell fulfilled with our work. As a programmer, the condition stands true. A lot of programmers program not only because of the pay but because of a certain fulfillment in doing what they live to do i.e. passion

As a programmer, when programming problems becomes less complex, we feel a little underutilized and a feeling of being underutilized by a programmer is a very bad feeling.To go from being underutilized to optimally utilized, programmers would have to start thinking of more complex problems than what is currently available. When any developer wants to do more complex tasks, he seeks for the problems himself or herself. The whole world is filled with tasks waiting to be executed by anyone. Our abilities to find these problems is what makes us programmers.

Some programmers sometimes feel their present technical knowledge is not enough to solve a certain problem. It is however important that a programmer puts aside what he thinks and start really doing it. When you feel your current skills are not enough, start with the skills you have and keep moving. At a certain point, the skills you think you do not have are not really as big as you thought they were.

Seeking to solve complex problems are some ways programmers get fulfilled. Also being able to decide which problem to work on otherwise known as autonomy makes a programmer shine more than diamond. The feeling of being able to solve complex tasks based on your decisions and correct fact makes a programmer go beyond the ordinary to always prove that complex things are not really complex.

Most programmers are not into programming for the money, however a direct relation between hard work and reward makes a programmer feel more appreciated. It does not really mean the money is what the programmer wants, it simply means the programmers effort are really appreciated and this makes a programmer really fulfilled.

The field of programming can be boring or fulfilling. It depends on which we choose for ourselves.
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What Really Makes A Programmer?
The act of being a programmer are far from the activities that we do when programming but the activities we do when we are not programming and the personal habits we inculcate within ourselves. Programming is about telling the computer to do something in a way we think. But sometimes, we find it difficult to be able to explain to the computer what exactly we want to achieve. Without having some personal habits, it becomes difficult to be able to withstand those moments when you find it difficult to explain to the computer what exactly it is you want to achieve.

The act of being persistent are habits we need to inculcate without being on the computer. Patience and persistence are the most important key habits any programmer can ever have. The key to making a programmer is what we really do when things are not going fine, what happens when the program is not acting the way our mind thinks about it. When things go wrong, we can either stop it or keep going until we get what we want.

So what really makes a programmer? An individual who even when the code seems out of line still has the persistence and patience to try it one more time. It is not only about what we do on the computer that makes us programmers but the personal habits we keep day to day as programmers. Never has any programmer solved a great problem in one strike. Even if he/she achieves that, it would have come from a series of patience and perseverance over a lot of other programs.

Therefore, even when the program is not working, you can take a break, but never break away. Because the act of programming is about doing one more time when it does not work. It is a do while loop. You cannot stop until the conditions hold true for achieving success.

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Programming and REST
When you work by a programmer’s desk and you ask if he/she has had time to rest lately, the answer is always obvious. NO. I would shortly. A lot of programmers believe in working there best 24 hours a day. Well, that is a good goal to aim, but as we all know, we are humans so that simply means it is not possible. As a programmer, the most important part of your body is the brain and as long as it does not relax, it does not find time to generate new ideas. As long as new ideas are not born, the value of being a programmer is extinguished. Never have a seen a brilliant programmer who does not have to think and work on ideas.

But how much rest should a programmer have. A programmer should rest as much as possible when tasks are not as much. However, in peak hours, the idea of rest finds its way out of the mind of the programmer and the programmer can go on for hours coding. But never make this a habit. Running long hours coding and only resting for few hours will only take you so far but not far enough. The idea of spending hours on the computer is about spending quality time on the computer and not just any amount of time.

Always create a schedule that allows you enough time to work and also enough time to give the brain rest. The idea of resting should not be a taboo to a programmer. As a programmer, I would love to spend 10,000 quality hours on my computer rather than just spending any time on my computer. 

The whole idea is work enough but always make sure you rest enough because your health as a programmer is indeed your wealth.
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Writing a CV as a Programmer
So I just a mail from my boss to submit my CV. Well, one can simply check online and submit something. Yes, you can, but writing a CV as a programmer is kind of different from writing a normal CV. This is not the type of CV where the school you went to is what is most interesting or the grade you graduated with. Well, they kind of matter, but what is most important is what you can do or what you have done.

A brief description of your name and your contact info is basically okay at the beginning. Then you start providing information about what and where you have made a difference. Your GitHub, LinkedIn and lots more are the type of contact information that wants to be seen in your CV. Provided you have worked on a lot of projects, then it is simply easy to provide a brief description of those projects. But however, if you do not have a resounding previous work experience, there are a lot of other interesting things you can add. So what can I add?

Provide first your best academic achievements. Endeavor to write very briefly about your grade if you really have a strong grade from school. Your previous work experience in whatever little business or organization is necessary. Endeavor to use less fancy text in your CV as programmers are not really thrilled by the fanciness of your CV but the fanciness of what you can do.

A lot of things about CV is that there are a lot of things to not add to your CV but very few things. Do not provide a lot of history about who you are, your ancestral history is really not needed. What you look like is not an option, kindly remove those. It is far better to have a small CV than a bunch of unnecessary information on a piece of paper.

Provide information that shows that you have the zeal to succeed even if you have not yet had any opportunity as doing anything big. Always remember, all it takes is one silly mistake to get your CV in the trashcan. Endeavor to prevent that as much as possible. Review and always review your CV before you send it out to anyone anywhere.

Take more courses online, try to get more certificates and a bit of what makes you better is all it takes to have a better CV. Write more on special websites, do more on free websites and I believe the impact of what you can do is all a CV wants to show the world.

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Communication The Key to Success
A lot of programmers develop relationships with one and only one thing: their laptop. This really sounds very great and productive until you discover that it is indeed one of the wrong things to do. Before you disagree, kindly read through.

We are in a world where people believe they do not need others to achieve success. People believe they can simply survive in the world all by themselves. Yes, that is really good and very great. But remember as a programmer, your greatest strength never lies in being able to work alone. Your strength lies in being able to work together as a team. You are the best programmer in an organization but if everyone does not like to work with you, then your value as a programmer is not really appreciated.

I might argue that if Steve Jobs was still alive, Apple would make better designs than it currently is. However, Jobs is dead and I see no one who has really been trained to take over the works of Jobs. So as a programmer, no matter how good you are, kindly find time to build relationships and I mean great relationships with people around you, because no matter how good you really are, you cannot be here forever. Build relationships that truly matter, make time out to become a better team player.

In the world of programming, very few job placements would require a programmer work alone, however, on a lot of jobs, you have to work as a team even if you are not physically together. Make your team better, discuss whatever silly idea it is you have in mind. Most of us want to act cool and not appear foolish at meetings, so we keep our thoughts to ourselves. Never ever have a time and think as such. The moment you do so, you have already left the team.

Communicate in whatever form you think is necessary, let people know what you feel about a certain idea or concept and never ever be alone. Even computers can never work alone. They need to be interconnected to give us the access that we seek.

Make it a habit today to break away from your normal self-attitude and move around building relationships with people who make you better and indeed feel better.
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Do less to Achieve More
Most of the time when people consider becoming better, they think about adding something to what they are currently doing. But isn’t it better you try to reduce the overall load you have on you to become better. It is not always about how much we carry, it is about how efficient we do the tasks we have. This is why I want to speak to myself today through this post, it does not always make sense to do every single thing you think can make you better to become better. Sometimes it is about removing some little things from our lives that indeed makes us better.

Consider for example all the plans you have set for yourself in the next quarter, it is mostly about doing more and becoming more. But wait, does doing more mean becoming more. No, kindly look back at the number of things you have tried doing and how many have really scaled past the first stage. But imagine you spent all your energy in about half of those tasks, then you might have achieved more.

Some reasons why we seem to pick a lot of tasks is because we tend to lose patience with one thing and the next thing that comes to mind is to start another. My suggestion is simple, kindly drop all those other stuff and focus simply on one and only one thing at a time. Put all your efforts into making that single thing succeed. With that, you can begin moving from one task to another. This suggestion does not mean becoming monolithic or something else, it simply suggests you do more on one task than sharing all the energy on different tasks without achieving any.

Make it a priority today to work towards achieving success in a single task and use that approach every single day.
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Nice work Op...

Very very useful...

Try One More Time
So I decided to work on a new project and chose to use semantic UI for the front-end design. So here I am happy about starting until I could not set up the semantic project using npm. I took my time to actually go through the site trying to understand one or two things before I decided to install using npm. But it was like I did not even understand anything, my mind was already saying negative things about how my competency was in question as I could not install this project.

I tried reading the log to understand what was happening. I updated node on my system but was still the same thing. What else would I do? I simply had to download the simple zip folder of the project and continue. By the way, I showed a colleague the error it was throwing and he also tried but did not work out then. In my mind, I was like this is impossible. Little did I know that the key to getting it done is doing it one more time.
What had been causing the whole trouble was that I did not run npm init on the new folder I was using before I started the project.

This was what my colleague later told me was the problem. And when I tried it, indeed the solution was right there. So whatever issue it is you are facing today, it might not work out right away but the secret to getting it done is doing it one more time. Share your problems with friends, trying to solve a problem alone is awesome but sometimes you have someone right next to you who has the answer. Before asking your colleague, endeavor to run every possible way of solving the problem and if it still does not work out. Pass it around to your friends and colleagues, share your problems and never ever forget to Try Again One More Time.

We break at a certain point and convince ourselves that we are not good enough. Being good enough is not the point, it is about being able to not give up even when a problem seems unsolvable. As a programmer, your daily life involves solving problems and any problem that comes really easy is not worth it. So do take a few more seconds and look at that problem again. You might just have skipped one line or one instruction. Do try again one more time

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Ups and Downs In Programming
When you see the geeks and nerds code the whole time, you simply ask yourself if you can be like that. I mean having a high spirit to program every single day. But so far, I believe every day is not always a high point for a programmer. Sometimes you feel like coding for the whole day and sometimes you feel like dropping the programming profession and simply starting afresh elsewhere.

But I believe it is how we handle our down days that really determine how good we really become. It is how you act on those days you feel like staying in bed all day and doing nothing more. These are the days that really determine who you really are in the field of programming. Programming is about solving problems and so your down days is also a problem that needs to be solved.

Don’t beat yourself up if it is a rather simple mistake that made you feel down. No matter what makes you feel down in your low days, always remember the good days ahead. Never think that programming is an everyday sweet adventure. Some days would be so boring while others would be the best of your life.

How you can pass through the down days is to realize and acknowledge days that are indeed your down days and understand why you are indeed down. Seek methods within yourself to prevent what happened to happen ever again. In your down days when productivity is all time low, kindly find time to relax, feel the world, change perspective and do some more things not related to programming.

Give yourself a break and always remember that you are not stupid or bad, you are simply experiencing what every single programmer faces once a while.
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A Day away from Programming
So my office decided to organize a hackathon event on Algorithms. Most programmers were tired from the long week of work and could not make it to the event. So the event held anyways with the people present solving a Dynamic Programming Problem. It was nothing much but was really hard to implement. Afterward, we decided to go out of the office and go for a break outside.

I would seriously advise programmers to take some few times out once in a while to go places which are not necessarily programmer related fields. Take some time out to visit nice places and get some great energy refill for your body. So we went to the cinema but did not really watch any movie and we went out to have pizza and milkshake.

These few activities might not mean a lot to a programmer but I assure you it creates a certain sense of energy in the body and mind clearing whatever backlog you have in your memory stack and letting you view a certain problem from another perspective. Being around the office and programming environment always creates a certain fixed perspective to a certain problem but taking some few minutes outside of your everyday zone would go a long way in improving the mindset of how to solve problems.

Also, it makes a lot of sense if this is done in groups as it breaks out the normal routine of being only with your laptop all day long. Organizations that really want their programmers to succeed needs to inculcate the group socializing attitude to help improve productivity and help change the mindset of programmers. This might not have an immediate business value for the company but in the long run, it would definitely pay off.

Once again, I appreciate the effort of my organization in helping to create the “A Day from the Programming World” experience. It was really fun.
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Follow the Hard Way, Programming is not Easy
So a lot of people ask you if they can learn Java in two weeks and I am like are you really seriously asking that question. Learning and especially in programming is not a task you start and finish, it is a life-long obligation to becoming better and mastering the act of solving problems. So do we always know how to solve all the problems, well the answer is obvious.

So to anyone who wants to understand a certain framework or technology, I believe you should stop allocating time to learn and understand a certain thing. You can allocate time to understand the basics but never have in mind that after a certain time you stop learning. Programming is no joke, it is similar to marriage in that you just learn the basics before you start it, but once you start, you keep learning for all the days of your life.

So, it is important that you know that programming is not as easy as you see it in movies and even if you are able to master the basics in two weeks, it still requires a lot and lots of practice to become better at it. You do not become a champion overnight, you need to pay the price. Pay the price of lots and lots of practice, day after day. And for whatever you learn, try as much as possible to apply it to a certain problem around because a lot of people understand certain technologies, but our inability to show and apply what they have done almost makes them look as if they have no knowledge about the technology at all.

And lastly, stop jumping from one technology to another just become a certain blog said that the technology is the next best idea after slice bread. Take your time to research any new thing you want to work on so that you do not spend a lot of time on a lot of different things and cannot make a single program out of it.
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Mentorship: A Simple Key to Success
Recently, I got a message from a friend who wants me to be his mentor in programming. I believe I have not yet attained the stage of mentoring anyone but the simple truth is you do not know when you have either. People simply feel you have attained that stage and believe whatever it is you say to them concerning development. As a programmer, we always want to choose to be alone with our computers always doing what we love to do best, coding. We live as if the world is going to be forever, but here is the fact, we cannot live forever.

For the time we all have left, let us share whatever little experience it is we have. The world needs to be a better place by the type of information we put into the world. No matter how small a certain information is, as far as it has been of help to you, it would most definitely be of help to another person. You do not have to affect a thousand people before you believe you have made any impact. Just for a single person to read and appreciate whatever it is you have written or spoke about is all that matters. Stop expecting to change the world big. Kindly start small. 

As a programmer, the code we write are the basic resources we live when we die, but the guidance and advise we give to others stay forever. That code might just be deleted and started again tomorrow, but that life you help influence would always remember you as the great programmer who helped make someone better. The world is far beyond you alone, the world is about how much you are willing to contribute. It is not about how happy you are, it is about how much meaning you put into another person’s life. 

Think and think again. The world is limited, but the ideas and advice we give live on forever till the world ends. Make it a part of you to become better everyday. Start mentoring and let us make the programming world a better place

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Just Start It
A while ago, I had an idea to start a project that records all the errors ever encountered in every project ever made in my company. Well, there are a lot of applications that allow you do that was all my inner mind was telling me. But day after day, I see programmers running around trying to solve the same problem that was once solved by another programmer. Having an idea can be simple compared to really executing the idea. We have the mindset of starting big and being big sometimes scares us, so we choose to give up and do less important tasks to fill our day rather than really doing what we love to do.

I want to inform you that if you keep leaving your idea without execution, you would one day see another person executing the same idea and all you would say was I did have this idea. And so what if you had the idea, start something today. The world moves rather fast making us believe that we also need to catch up and move with the same speed as the speed of the era. However, this is completely false as the path you follow is based on you and you alone. Nobody can tell you what path to follow if you have a right path ahead of you.

So what am I saying? That little idea you have being nurturing. It's time to start building it day by day, a piece at a time. Do not rush it, for you can be overwhelmed by what it brings. Break the barrier of simply thinking of ideas and doing nothing about it. If you really want to be a person who leaves a remarking impact on earth, then it is time you start moving from where you are and moving to where you want to be.
You are not a tree if you do not like where you are, MOVE.

People seem to get comfortable with where they are hoping that the situation would magically change itself. NO, it would not. You need to make a move and see how things go. Being a programmer or any other great person is about moving towards your goal daily and it involves you JUST STARTING today
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When You Want To Quit Programming
Programming is fun, programming is sweet, programming is easy. These are comments you receive or give on the days when you feel the vibe and love of programming. On days when things get really awkward, you feel like giving up and just going back to your room and sleeping. And sleeping forever.

The act of programming is never getting the solution every single time although that is what you want to feel every time.
It is about trying to never give up every single day when you feel like giving up. It is about making a new resolution to try programming again tomorrow even if you did not get it right away. I believe the key to becoming better at programming is knowing that some days would be bad and some days would be good. But never let the bad days decide what you finally become. Who you would become is greatly dependent on what you do on your bad days towards making it a good day.

Never let your bad days get the best of you

Every day is what we make it. You decision to make it good or bad depends on you. It would always want to be bad but if you try just one more time, I believe you can change the result. Programming is fun and easy only at the end. If it is not fun and easy, you are not at the end. You are likely at the first chapter of the problem. The first chapters are always easy to read and gives you a fine rush to continue reading. However, right into the book, in the middle, you feel like dropping the book. But if you endeavor to keep up reading, you would soon get to the other end where everything is nice and fun.

Before you give up today, kindly take a minute to try not quitting. Know that every day comes with its own lessons. You just learnt for today. Nothing lasts for long even your finest code. Enjoy the good days and endeavor to persist in the bad days. They all don’t last for long

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Finding Your Path
Becoming a programmer is no accident. You either choose to or not. Being in between means you are yet to discover what it is you want or you have discovered it and you are yet to make the move. What programming entails is a set of decisions needed to be made once and for all. Make the decision to become a programmer and go for it

People say becoming good at something requires a lot of passion. Programming is not about doing what others are doing because they are doing it. It is a set of actions to become better than who you were yesterday. Conscious and precise practice is what it takes to become a greater programmer. Plan to always move from where you are to where you want to be every single day of your life.

Take risks, see through obstacles and always find a solution. Take steps towards actions and do less of talking. Whatever it takes to become great legally and purposefully is what you need. Make practice and purpose your main goals and drive forward. Take opportunities and use them wisely. Be friendly and happy in your ways. Never take anyone for granted in the field of programming. Also do the best you can and always do them with passion and love. Your passion goes in a long way to determine how far you go in programming.

Kindly make the decision to make it a path to see and follow. Never become a programmer to please others. If what you do does not make you happy and help others happy, kindly take your time and find what it is you need to make you happy. Life is too short to sell your happiness for another.

Keep coding, keep programming and keep getting better

Follow The Standards: Test Your Code
The standards are not to be made too rigid that one cannot find his/her way around but must be made flexible and understandable so that people find it appealing to use and follow. Standards are everywhere, so is programming. The various standards that have come up in programming are being tested and retested everyday but as agile programmers, we sometimes see these standards as a waste of time.

One such standard is in the aspect of testing codes. We always have a feeling that my code works. Why test it. It is the same feeling we have when we say why fix it when it is not broken. It always looks like the act of testing is a task to be done once in a while in very few projects. But I believe it is time programmers begin to inculcate into themselves the culture of testing. I think learning basic programming should start with testing every single instruction we write. When you start learning to program, the idea of testing code is never a big issue. So it becomes rather difficult to bring up testing after a while when the programmer is already used to believing that their code works just fine.

It would indeed go in a great way to improve our code if programmers at every point in time learn to test, from the front-end to the back-end, from the engineers to the designers. Testing should not be left in the hand of clients who always feel the lash of the program when they have to use a software to determine what the problems are.

Testing is life. Testing is programming. Testing cannot be relegated

These words and many more are the various types of statements that should ring in the mind of programmers day and night so that they understand that Programming without testing is simply buying a mobile phone without guarantee that the phone works.
We might still buy the phone anyways but the fear in our hearts would indeed be very great. Its time to make the standards of testing a part of our daily routine and only then can we begin to write clean and clear code.

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Keeping Up With An Idea
Ideas are hard, ideas are easy. It depends on how frequent you have ideas and how much of your ideas have been executed. Well, I would say ideas are easy if you only think about them and do nothing. But ideas become rather hard when you follow up on them after thinking through about them. It is rather interesting to note that an idea is never owned by one man, but the success of the idea is owned by he/she who finally implements it.

Thinking about ideas without executing them is like imagining yourself at the beach while you are still in the comfort of your room. 
Simple progress day in day out is all that is needed to make an idea successful. People would only know what you did when the idea is ready. But a lot of people always want to create an unrealistic timeline for ideas which is why people sometimes give up half way into an idea. Ideas can be easy in the mind and simple to discuss, but every idea requires a certain amount of persistence and perseverance. It does not just happen.

It might take a minute, a hour, a day or even forever. But never give up on trying out your ideas. But note that ideas should not be written in stones that you cannot think of something else. Being consistent in ideas is nice, but know the point at which you need to take a break and diversify your brain energy into another idea. Becoming obsessed with an idea is nice, even if no one sees it from your perspective, but it is also important to know when to take a look at the idea from another perspective.

Ideas are life, Ideas are dreams imported from another realm into the planet earth

Never give up on trying to make your idea work, it does not mean always being on it, it simply means always trying to make the idea 1% better day in day out. It would indeed be very bad if you see another person execute your idea even badly and still makes people happy with it. Take your time today to review that idea and take small steps to make it happen

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