The programmer's career

-- IBM Kou Weidong, chief architect of software group Greater China

There are some youngProgramAsk me how to proceed in the future? As the saying goes, all the major roads go to Rome, and different roads can go to success. 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 programmersThey are not very familiar with the skills of General programmers, and can solve all kinds of common programming problems in their hands. It can be said that such experts "get older and more valuable ". However, such experts also have certain risks: As experience increases and age increases, 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 expertIt is 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 relatively rich, and more people are involved.

Become a companyTechnical DirectorIt is the dream of many programmers. This path begins from being a junior programmer to a Senior Programmer who focuses on projects and develops into a project manager and Development Manager, and eventually becomes 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 high level of power and a large number of people in charge of 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.

The end of some career development for programmers isChief 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 famous composer in history, outstanding architects can write beautiful music in various software ".

Other programmersEntrepreneurshipThey will start their own business after some technical accumulation and grasp some market demands and management methods. Once successful, such people will be very influential, such as GoogleAnd the founders of Yahoo are both success stories of technological entrepreneurship. However, this road is also the most difficult. There is a saying that "you don't know your family, you don't know how difficult it is. 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 programmersTechnical support routeAnd then become a technical and industry consulting expert proficient in business. 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 a technical expert proficient in this industry over time. If you are familiar with a certain type of solution (such as ERP, CRM, SCMYou can develop into a cross-industry technical expert.

 

Some programmers will becomeItColumnist and Freelancer. 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 postArticleEarn 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 ~ 5The time of the year varies with individual qualities. 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 it. 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 want to learn from the beginning to the advanced level, what you need from the senior level to the expert is to constantly try and stick to it. Compared with the previous stage, this process is longer and usually requires 5 ~ 8Year. 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 ~ 35Between the ages, since they are young, they are better at learning and are physically energetic. Many programmers who have gone through this stage have worked all night. In this period, you have a lot of time to learn and improve and lay a solid foundation for your future career. And once it exceeds 30Years old, both physically and mentally, will change from 30 ~ 40The age is a transitional period. At this time, programmers (many people no longer program) have defined their own development direction and are directed to Objective 1. Expert programmers.

work hard to make achievements. 40 ~ 60 at the age of experts, a good programmer has grown into an expert by fully fulfilling his desire to "break into a butterfly.
programmers have a great career and hard work. If you enjoy high salaries and master the latest technologies, you may become the richest person who has successfully started a business, it even has the opportunity to change human lifestyles (such as Internet browser development, e-commerce applications, and mobile phone text messages). This is the life of programmers in the eyes of others, every year, many new people join this huge team 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. It depends on your choice if there are many development paths for programmers.