[Reprinted] the programmer's career

Author: Ke Weidong, chief architect of IBM software group Greater China

Some young programmers ask me how to go in the future? As the saying goes, all roads go to Rome. Different paths can be successful. The path you choose depends on your interests. Some programmers may ask: What should I do if I haven't found my own interests? My advice is to try more and work hard, which is the only way to your career. After you have accumulated a certain amount of technology and experience, you will face multiple choices. The path varies from person to person.

If you are very interested in one or more technologies and can continue to study, you can gradually grow into an expert programmer after a period of accumulation. Expert programmers are not very familiar with the professional technologies they have mastered. They can solve all kinds of common programming problems in their hands, it can be said that such experts are "more old and more valuable", but such experts also have certain risks: with the increase of experience and age, their wages will become higher and higher, when companies change their technical paths and no longer need professional skills from expert programmers, or want to reduce the cost of doing things, they may face unemployment or looking for another job.

Senior Training experts are also a good development direction. To become a training expert requires not only profound technical skills, but also excellent communication and expression skills, because their main task is not to develop a certain technology, but to disseminate technical knowledge. This road is very wide. Some excellent technical trainers, in addition to their own jobs, will also give part-time lectures at the university. Although the technology used to train experts may not be able to reach the level of expert programmers, the work content is richer and more people are allowed to contact.

It is the dream of many programmers to become the technical director of the company. This route is from a junior programmer to a Senior Programmer, focusing on projects, and then becoming a project manager and Development Manager, and eventually becoming a technical director or vice president of the company. These programmers follow the Technical Management path. Starting from the project, they gradually accumulate management experience and then grow into excellent technical managers. The Technical Director has an extraordinary influence in the company and even in the technical field. It is a great temptation for programmers who are interested in becoming the company's leadership. However, a large number of people with high power and management means greater pressure. The Technical Director should not only stay sensitive to new technologies, but also devote himself to management. This path may be more difficult than becoming a pure technical expert.

There are also some programmers whose career development ends with the chief architect and chief designer. This type of programmer's interest is not a specific technology, but a focus on the design of software products or software application projects. If the software project development team is compared to a band, the programmer is equivalent to a music player (such as a violin player or a flute player), who is responsible for playing their own musical instrument; the project manager is the conductor of the band, responsible for directing and coordinating the cooperation of the band; the architect is equivalent to the composer. Starting from the entry-level architect, you have gradually become a senior architect or chief architect. As a great composer in history, outstanding architects can write beautiful music in various software ".

In addition, some programmers are eager to start their own business. When they have accumulated some technical skills and grasp some market demands and management methods, they will start their own business. Once successful, such people will have a great influence. Founders like Google and Yahoo are examples of success in technology entrepreneurship. However, this road is also the hardest. It is hard for people who do not know Chai migui when they do not start their own business. Entrepreneurship involves all aspects, and a slight difference will result in a loss of money. There are a lot of programmers who are involved in entrepreneurship, but few of them can actually succeed. To embark on this path requires not only extraordinary courage and courage, but also perseverance and deep business intelligence, coupled with market opportunities, to win the end.

Many programmers develop into business-proficient technical and industry consulting experts by taking the technical support line. This type of programmers will join the sales team after they become senior programmers, directly facing customers and taking charge of technical issues. If you are very familiar with a certain industry (such as banking and telecommunications), you will become an expert proficient in this industry over time. If you are familiar with a certain type of solutions (such as ERP, CRM, and SCM) if you are very good at it, you can develop into a cross-industry technical expert.

Some programmers will become it columnist and freelancers. These people are usually interested in writing and have good text expression skills. They will write their own content or experiences in technical work, and then post articles to earn the draft fee. As long as you are proficient in technology, such people are very popular in magazines. There is also a kind of freelancer in North America called a contractor, that is, to undertake projects from time to time, sign an agreement before the project starts, and end the cooperation after the project is completed. Although this kind of profession is not much in China at present, its freedom is also very attractive to many programmers.

There are several ways that programmers can choose based on their own interests, but in general, no matter which way they take, there is a prerequisite: advanced from junior programmers to senior programmers. Before that, you didn't even have a chance to choose. From elementary to advanced, usually 2 ~ In five years, personal qualities may vary. Everyone said that programmers must endure loneliness and boredom, while young programmers must overcome their impetuous mentality. In the early stages of my career, many people will always be confused. At this time, you must calm down and seek advice from senior programmers to familiarize yourself with the technology, development processes, and industry. Sometimes you may feel like you have fallen into a sea of knowledge, and it is difficult to grasp all the strange things around you. Therefore, we need to explore the path, gradually find the direction, and make progress in the search.

The success of advanced programmers does not mean that the future is bright. If you need learning from elementary to advanced, from advanced to expert, you need to constantly try and stick to it. Compared with the previous stage, this process is longer and usually requires 5 ~ 8 years. During this period, people will be more confident and confused as they have accumulated and achieved some achievements. One problem will often be hovering in their minds: how is the future going? At this time, you can use the resources you have accumulated to make more attempts, try different roles and projects, and deal with different customers for a long time, naturally, you will find the most appropriate development direction.

To sum up, the period of junior programmers and senior programmers belongs to the first stage of career development. We can call it the golden period. At this stage, programmers are 20 to 20 years old ~ During the 35-year-old period, since he was young, he was more adept at learning and energetic. Many programmers who had gone through this stage had the experience of working all night. In this period, you have a lot of time to learn and improve and lay a solid foundation for your future career. However, if you are over 30 years old, your physical and mental skills will change, from 30 ~ 40 years old is a transitional period. At this time, programmers (many people no longer program) have already defined their own development direction and made great efforts to achieve their own goals. 40 ~ 60 years old is an expert period, so far, a good programmer will thoroughly realize the desire to "break into a butterfly" and grow into an expert.

The programmer's career is wonderful and hard at the same time. Enjoying high wages and mastering the latest technologies may become the richest people who have successfully started their own business. They may even have the opportunity to change the way they live (such as Internet browser development, e-commerce applications, and text messages) this is the life of programmers in the eyes of others. As a result, many new people join this huge team every year to experience the long-awaited wonderful life. However, most people ignore the hardships behind the glamorous scenes. The cost of high wages is high work intensity. The cost of learning new technologies is heavy work pressure. The price of becoming a richest person is heavy traffic, if we want to change the way we live, we need to endure the boring and lonely day after day. You have to taste it on your own. There are many development paths for programmers, depending on your choice.

(This article is from the 0811 issue of programmer magazine)

 

By gqzhu