carreer opportunities

[eao197]

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:24:00 +0400, John Demme <me at teqdruid.com> wrote:

> eao197 wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:26:14 +0400, John Demme <me at teqdruid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Don't become a D programmer.  Don't become a C++ programmer.  Don't
>>> become a
>>> C# or a Java programmer.  You really don't want to become a Ruby or
>>> Python
>>> programmer.
>>>
>>> Just be a programmer.  (Or engineer, architect, designer.. whatever)
>>
>> It looks like: "Don't become a stomatologist. Don't become a surgeon.
>> Don't become a oculist or a otolaryngologist. You reallu don't want to
>> become a cardiologist or a neurologist. Just be a doctor!"
>
> Hearts and nerves aren't going to go away anytime soon, languages will  
> come
> and go!  When's the last time you programmed in PL/M?  (I'd ask about
> Fortran, but for all I know you're a math guy.)

I'm not a mathematician. I learnt computation mathematic (sorry, I don't  
know presice English term) in my University. But almost all my career I  
write libraries and frameworks for different areas and build different  
systems from them.

I wrote my first program in Basic on tiny Soviet computer BK-1001 with 16K  
RAM in 1989. Then I learnt Pascal, C, x86 ASM, FoxBase, Prolog and C++ in  
the University, then was Java, then Ruby. I'm a C++ programmer since 1993.  
Now I use C++ and Ruby, sometimes D.

>
> Plus: I don't know a whole lot about becoming a doctor, but as I  
> understand
> it, when you go you med school- that's what you do!  Become a doctor!   
> As I
> understand it, doctors won't typically specialize until after their
> residency via a fellowship, if they specialize at all.  Anyone to
> confirm/deny?  I don't really know what I'm talking about here.
>
> Anyway, specializing in a bodily system is more like specializing in a
> particular problem set (like getting a PhD- which I am in the process of
> considering, by the way.)  Languages are more like tools.

I think there is some background that students must take during studying  
in university. For programmer it should include: basic data structures and  
algorithm, basic OS organization principles, basic compiler-related topics  
(grammars, parsing), basic databases principles (relational and  
object-oriented), some from functional and logic programming, some from  
mathematics, and so on. This background, IMO is like first years in  
medical university.

But I think that strong knowledge in some language is necessary to  
successful start at the first job. Because it allows you to concentrate on  
problems domain, not on a language.

(I don't know the situation in West Europe and USA, but here in former  
USSR there is some specific in equcation and hiring.)

> However, IMO a guy who really only knows a language and doesn't have any
> engineering skills, doesn't make for a great software engineer.  It's  
> like
> the difference between knowing a CAD software and being able to design a
> part.  The guy who knows the CAD software real well is pretty helpful,  
> but
> if he can't design the part, he's not an engineer.  That's not to say  
> he's
> not useful, however.

I worked with a very smart guy who was (and now is) a language guru and  
simply an encyclopaedia-man. He wrote programs very slowly. But he was  
very very useful member of our team.

Also I think that it is impossible to learn someone to solve problems. It  
is a kind of human possibilities. Some people can detect and formalise  
problems, but unable to solve them. Some people can solve problems, but  
unable to organize proper implementation. Some people can write a lot of  
code but can't make good design.

> the smartest people I've worked with have told me that when it comes
> to hiring, they'll take smart and eager to learn over familiarity with  
> the
> tools anyday.

Yes. We're trying the same. But it is a very difficult task.

But there is another side of the problem -- it is good to work with people  
who are smarter then you. But what worries me: do they want to work with  
me?

-- 
Regards,
Yauheni Akhotnikau