A profession with a programmer responsibilities is an important quality. Programmer "To help graduates" Useful information. The most valuable qualities of a programmer according to employers

Almost all spheres of life of a modern person are inextricably linked with the greatest invention of mankind - the computer. Of course, the computer has made life much easier for us, made it convenient. And the performance of a PC depends on a programmer - a person engaged in the development and maintenance of computer software.

Almost all spheres of life of a modern person are inextricably linked with the greatest invention of mankind - the computer. Everyday life, production, services, education, airports, military units, hospitals, etc. - today it is impossible to imagine the well-coordinated work of an enterprise or company without a computer. Of course, the computer has made life much easier for us, made it convenient. But if software is out of date or has malfunctioned, the highly intelligent machine turns into a pile of metal that can be used only as a flower stand. And the performance of the PC depends on programmer- a person engaged in the development and maintenance of computer software.

So we can safely say that a programmer today is a hero of our time, whose professionalism directly affects not only the performance of a single computer, but of the whole modern society... That is why special requirements are imposed on programmers based on the peculiarities of their work, which we will tell you about today, and, most importantly, the importance for the development of society.

What is a programmer?

A programmer is a highly qualified specialist who is engaged in programming: writing and adjusting software for computers and other computing devices based on special mathematical models.

The name of the profession comes from the ancient Greek πρό and γραμμα (pre and entry, respectively). In other words, if you translate the name programmer profession literally, we get a "prescription" from which it becomes clear that this specialist prescribes how it should be. Despite the fact that the profession is young, the first program for solving the Bernoulli equation in 1843 was written by Ada Lovelace, by the way, the daughter of the famous poet George Byron, countess and mathematician. She was awarded the honorary title of "first programmer", although the profession is predominantly male. Today programmers are known all over the world and often occupy no less place on the pages of the press than, say, movie stars. Who doesn't know the names of Steve Jobs, Michael Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Eugene Kaspersky or one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates?

Computer programs are the basis for the automation of almost any production or service sector. They allow you to create databases, simplify the management process, perform complex calculations, control production processes, etc.

Note that the profession of a programmer is not homogeneous. There are several narrow specializations within the profession:

system programmer- is developing operating systems, global search engines - his work is, as it were, in a generic relationship with an application programmer. This specialization also presupposes analytical work, which is important for the further development of computers and computer networks;
application programmer- a person engaged in the development and maintenance of programs for one or more enterprises in related industries. He works with a certain direction and functionality of the program, and also develops computer games;
Web programmer- specializes in programming related to the global Internet, the main source of information and a powerful advertising tool. Web-programmer creates sites, promotes them, works with content.

In general, the professional responsibilities of a system, application and web programmer are not much different from each other. This is, first of all, programming and debugging. software product... In addition, the job responsibilities of any programmer include: launching programs and entering data according to the assigned tasks, developing instructions for software, determining the possibilities of using programs, developing and implementing a system for automatic verification of a software product, etc.

What personal qualities should a programmer have?

Programmer work refers to a highly intellectual activity that requires a specialist to have mathematical abilities and logical thinking. In addition, a good programmer must have such personal qualities, how:

ability to self-study;
patience;
excerpt;
sociability;
initiative;
independence;
creativity;
a responsibility;
perseverance.

It should also be borne in mind that the official language of programmers is technical English. Therefore knowledge of English language is also one of the most important requirements for a specialist. Moreover, without knowledge of English it will be very difficult for a programmer to fulfill his professional duties.

Benefits of the profession of a programmer

Benefits of the profession of a programmer associated with great prospects for the development of computers and the Internet. The profession is in demand, since the field of activity of such specialists is practically unlimited: the technical and intellectual capabilities of computers are constantly updated, new devices, gadgets and gadgets appear.

The second undoubted advantage is high wages. Even a novice programmer can count on a salary of about 30-40 thousand rubles. If we talk about the salary of a highly qualified programmer, then a vivid example of such eminent programmers as Pavel Durov and Ilya Segalovich testifies to the fact that the income of IT specialists can amount to millions (if not billions).

The main tool professional activity programmer are the computer and the Internet, which opens up unlimited possibilities for remote work. Therefore, a specialist can work both in the office of a firm or company, and at home, on free terms, at any time of the day or night. In a word, a programmer can choose the time and place of work based on his personal desires, capabilities and preferences.

It is impossible to keep silent about the fact that boundless prospects for career growth open up before the programmer: from franchisee to manager. own company... True, fast career is possible only if there are three components at once: desire, talent and a commercial streak.

Disadvantages of the profession of a programmer

Development of a software product involves a high degree of routine and monotony: one single mistake made when creating a program code can turn into a multi-day search for a "problem sector", and this is viewing (sometimes multiple) a huge amount of program code and carefully thinking about ways to fix the error. And this is perhaps the biggest lack of a programming profession.

Another "scourge" of the programming profession is health problems. Sedentary image life, heavy load on the eyes, irregular nutrition ... All this can cause problems with the musculoskeletal system and vision of a specialist.

In addition, by the nature of his activity, the programmer has to communicate a lot and for a long time with other project participants (and in the creation of software, besides the programmer, a large number of people take part), which leaves a specific imprint on the character traits of a specialist. Therefore, it is very difficult for people far from programming to find a "common language" with a programmer. Moreover, programmers, as a rule, are people who are passionate about their work and are able to talk about it day and night.

Where can you get the profession of a programmer?

Russian Institute vocational education"IPO" - conducts the recruitment of students for receiving. Education at the IPO is a convenient and quick receipt of distance education. 200+ training courses. 8000+ graduates from 200 cities. Short deadlines for paperwork and external training, interest-free installments from the institute and individual discounts. Contact us!

To get a profession of a programmer it is necessary to undergo training at the university on the basis of which it carries out training in such specialties as "Software computing technology and automated systems"," Applied Mathematics and Informatics "or" Software and Administration information systems"We warn you right away that it is difficult to enter these specialties: the competition is very high, and only the most worthy and talented can fulfill their dream.

By the way, the Russian programming school is known all over the world, and our specialists are appreciated all over the world for their deep knowledge and creativity. Therefore, the choice of the university is not of fundamental importance: all Russian institutions and universities provide approximately the same level of knowledge and skills. Nevertheless, graduates of such the best universities in Russia, how:

St. Petersburg National research university information technologies, mechanics and optics;
Moscow State Technological University. Bauman;
St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University;
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT);
Moskovsky State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.

Many people know or have heard somewhere that a good programmer should be a lazy programmer, but I think that not very many people know where it all came from and what is behind it. And everyone, for some reason, remembers about laziness, but does not remember about two other qualities that Larry Wall spoke about in his book "Programming in Perl". Actually, he was the author of these "three unique qualities for a programmer", for a good programmer, as he believes, and these three qualities are laziness, impatience and pride.

Let's start with laziness

Everyone thinks that a lazy programmer is a programmer who is too lazy to kick up his ass and do something, and so he sits like that and therefore he misses the deadline and therefore he is too lazy to answer something, he is too lazy to write documentation, he is too lazy to write tests, he is too lazy to write everything , he is lazy and therefore kind of a good programmer. But in fact, this is not so, this is a somewhat special kind of laziness and this is the kind of laziness that encourages the programmer to automate those tasks that he does not want to spend his energy on or that have to be repeated over and over and over again, in fact, one of the qualities of the Perl language is regular expressions. Larry Wall himself, as far as I know, worked a lot with text and became so lazy to constantly do the same tasks with text that he created the Perl language to automate text processing in the first place, of course you can argue how good Perl is or a bad language Perl as a programming language, but this language solved its problems and was at one time a pretty strong player, let's say, on the programming scene. So let's read what Larry Wall himself writes about laziness: “Laziness is the quality that makes you make great efforts to create tools that will preserve human labor, your labor and the work of other people”, i.e. people will use these tools day after day and, let's say, they will not waste energy and labor on these endless things that you automate with the help of these programs of yours. But he also writes that it is important not only to create these tools, but it is very important to document these tools, because you are too lazy to answer these endless questions "how does something", "how does another work". Those. Not only have you created something useful, but you have also documented it so that you will no longer be asked for this advice at all. Larry Wall seems to say that "here I am lazy, so not only have I written (invented) Perl, but I am also writing this book how to use Perl so that you do not ask me these questions." What else can be attributed to the same piggy bank? I would say that sometimes a lazy programmer is a good programmer - when he starts asking "why?" and sometimes questions "features" that he does not understand. Those. sometimes it happens that the customer's problem can be solved without programming at all, because for example this "feature" is not needed, or it can be solved with one email, or it can be solved with one Google-table or Excel-table and there is no need to program anything at all and you save yourself energy and you, in principle, solve the client's problem - I believe that this can also be attributed to laziness.

Now let's talk about the second quality, which is impatience.

Impatience manifests itself at the moment when your computer slows down, or your program slows down, or your webpack build slows down, or your tests slow down, etc. it pisses you off to constantly wait for all these things, then you just start working on speeding up your build, to speed up your tests, so that everything works for you, for your program to work quickly and so that you have quick feedback - that's the point and impatience appears.

And the very last third quality of a programmer that Larry Wall talks about is pride.

And he cites as an example (means) pride from Greek mythology, i.e. pride for which Zeus killed many people who became proud and began to exalt themselves above God. This is how a programmer should be proud, and he writes that this is one of those qualities that does not allow you to release bad code, poorly written code for which you will be scolded, reprimanded. You write such code as if the next person after you, who will support this code, knows where you live, you do not allow yourself to cut corners, knowing that these cut corners will simply punish you or your colleague painfully in the future. Here again, one must remember that there is always balance, there is premature optimization - one of the evils of programming. Here it is precisely about the required minimum quality for which you are respected in the circle of their programmers.

Businesses often face the challenge of finding talented and experienced programmers on a tight budget. Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Rampton faced this problem personally - he had been putting together a team to launch his new project over the course of several months. Despite the fact that Rumpton lives in the Mecca of the modern technological world, it was very difficult for him to convince people to leave large companies with big salaries and leave to work on a new project. In the process of hiring employees, John developed for himself a dozen and a half qualities that characterize a good programmer and mean that he will almost certainly be a good fit for the company.

1. Strong technical skills

The big mistake HR people make is that they hire people based on a list of requirements. Instead of looking for someone with three years of C ++ programming experience and a year in Java, they look at the entire list of what they can do. But in fact, if a programmer learned the language he needs for work just a year ago, but before that had been programming in another language for many years, then he is an ideal candidate for this position due to a good background in other areas.

An example of an interview question: "Please describe your development experience in other programming languages."

2. Readiness to learn

Technology is constantly evolving and today's programming skills and abilities will become obsolete within a few years. It is important to find a programmer who is interested in observing the latest trends and constantly educating himself.

Example interview question: "What are you doing to keep your skills up to date?"

3. Debugging skills

Writing code is only part of a programmer's job. When the software doesn't work as expected, the programmer must quickly and efficiently get to the root of the problem. Instead of blindly spending hours making changes to the code, find a programmer who will study the code and look for the source of the problem until the answer is found.

Sample interview question: "How do you deal with bugs in your code?" (+ you can give the programmer a test task to debug the code).

4. Ability to work in any environment

Some programmers require complete silence in order to concentrate, while others do a great job when things are chaos and confusion. Personal preferences are an important part of an employee's productivity, so it's best to have a clear understanding of your office environment to avoid problems after hiring.

Sample interview question: "Describe your ideal work environment."

5. Ability to solve emerging problems

Those who have never tried to create an application from scratch can compare programming to solving an extremely complex mathematical equation. A good programmer will always look for ways to get things done, no matter what. Otherwise, you will hear the phrase “It's impossible” every time you propose to implement a new project.

Example of an interview question: "How would you do (offer to solve some completely impossible problem that applies to your organization)?"

6. Passion for work

Many developers tend to just do their job from nine to six, but recruiters usually look for people who will happily solve some interesting problem for several hours in a row. Often such employees can be found by asking them about their hobbies and other interests during the interview. Real programmers are geeks who, in their spare time, play games, build servers, or create apps for friends. This is not the most important trait of a good programmer, but often it is thanks to it that you can find really worthy employees.

An example of an interview question: "What are your hobbies?"

7. Resistance to stress

Programming can be an extremely stressful profession. When deadlines are tight and nothing works, it's easy to lose your mind and start to go crazy. The ideal programmer can handle the most difficult stressful situations and, most importantly, be able to keep working.

Sample interview question: “Describe a situation when you were under tremendous pressure and your application was not working. What did you do then? "

8. Skills of communication with "ordinary people"

Usually, programmers are not required to be able to communicate with clients - for the most part, they sit at the computer all day and communicate online. However, programmers regularly interact with managers, employees, and customers, so the ability to communicate well with others is a must. This is especially true if your programmers are sometimes asked to take part in meetings with clients and explain how the system works.

Sample interview question: "Explain how your favorite application works in a way that the average person can understand."

9. Laziness

The author of the book Perl Programming Languages, Larry Wall, believes that the three main skills of a good programmer are laziness, impatience and pride. Laziness may sound like a bad trait for any employee, but IT managers say that if you want to find The best way to do something, ask a lazy person how. Most likely, this person will find the fastest and effective method... Developers often find ways to automate processes, which saves companies time and money.

Example of an interview question: "Tell us how you save your time by automating processes."

10. Understanding business processes

If you focus only on creating software, it is very easy to lose sight of the big picture. The ideal programmer needs to understand how a business works and go beyond building applications. A business-oriented programmer can come up with ideas for new applications that will improve performance later.

An example of an interview question: "Have you ever participated in improving the company's business processes?"

11. Ability to plan

Instead of grabbing at all the tasks in a row, the programmer should first learn as much as possible about what will be final product... After completing the analysis, the programmer should be able to design the structure of the program even before entering the first line of code.

Sample interview question: “How do you get started on a new design? What are you doing first? "

12. Ability to overcome failure

It is very rare for programmers to do something on the first try. For the most part, they face difficulties in solving the assigned tasks from the very beginning. It is important to select a team that will see in mistakes and shortcomings first of all a challenge, and not a sign of defeat. They need to be patient and able to start over, even after hours of work.

Example interview question: "Have you ever spent hours studying code and looking for a bug?"

13. Ability to work in a team

A programmer rarely works alone, even if he is the only developer in the company. It is very important for him to be able to work with other programmers, business users, marketing and sales department.

Sample interview question: “Tell us about your experience teamwork».

14. Readiness for research

The programming language is only part of the big picture. To create a program for their employees or clients, a good developer must know in detail how specific industries work.

Example of an interview question: “Give an example of a case when you had to delve into the details of a particular business? How did you solve this problem? "

15. Compliance with deadlines

Most programmers work on time-bound projects. It is clear that managers should set reasonable deadlines for developing and debugging applications, but programmers themselves should show respect for deadlines. It is important to determine that the candidate will do whatever it takes to "fit" the deadline.

Sample interview question: "Tell us how you work with constant deadlines."

Finding a good programmer is not easy, especially if your programming knowledge is limited. In such cases, you can invite someone from your team who understands this topic to participate in the interview. They will help you formulate questions that you might not be able to ask yourself.

If you have all these qualities, then you can also familiarize yourself with the owners who used most in demand from employers in 2014 according to Linkedin.

Technical skills are essential for any IT professional. In fact, they represent the core of knowledge that an IT specialist needs to be an IT specialist. Nevertheless, if a person wants to become truly successful in his profession, he needs other qualities as well. These are the skills that will help the professional to successfully interact with people. Here are 10 such qualities that an IT professional needs.

Ability to communicate

IT specialist is forced to send a huge amount of emails, coordinate projects and terms of reference. Therefore, even the most talented programmer should be trite literate. Verbal communication is also important. A very valuable skill for an IT specialist is the ability to explain complex things. simple language those who do not understand them.

Listening skills

An IT specialist should not only talk about his ideas and thoughts, but also listen to the ideas and thoughts of others. By listening carefully to what your client or boss wants, you can figure out how to accomplish this task. And do not hesitate to ask clarifying questions.

Teamwork

Very often IT projects are implemented by a team of professionals, and not by one person. Therefore, it is very important for an IT specialist to learn how to work in a team. As mentioned above, he should be able to express his thoughts and ideas to colleagues, as well as be able to listen to and accept someone else's point of view.

Leadership

Even if you are not formally a manager, in your work you will probably face situations where it will take you some time to manage a project. Leadership skills require strong communication skills, the ability to delegate authority, and an understanding of the ultimate goal.

Mentoring

IT professionals often find themselves in the role of teachers instructing new employees or clients. An employer will always value an employee who is able to patiently and effectively train others.

Flexibility

IT professionals sometimes face unexpected difficulties or unforeseen changes. This could be a completely new problem or a last minute change of task on the part of the customer. An IT professional needs to be flexible in order to quickly deal with such changes and to find creative ways to solve unusual problems.

Creativity

IT professionals are constantly working “for the future”, predicting and developing solutions to potential technical problems and needs. This kind of preventive thinking requires a lot of imagination and creativity. Employers are looking for people who can be creative.

Ability to negotiate

Regardless of the specific specification, negotiation skills will be beneficial to anyone in the IT sector. It can serve in a variety of situations, from hiring people for a project to finding investors or selling a startup. Also, the ability to come to mutually beneficial agreements is a skill that is very necessary for building a career.

Ability to make presentations

Whether it's a one-on-one demonstration or speaking in front of a large audience, presenting your work is a very useful skill for an IT professional.

Purposefulness

Many IT projects die due to lack of funding, problems with clients, and poor teamwork. For the project to live, the people who work in it must be focused on the end result and understand what they intend to achieve in the end. The employer will always appreciate a motivated and motivated IT specialist who does not leave the project in case of temporary problems, but stays with him from start to victory.

To put it simply, programmers are people who use mathematical models to create various programs and algorithms.

The main task of a programmer is to develop computer programs and algorithms, refinement and simplification of existing software.

With the current level of technology development, almost any company is interested in automating the processes that occur at the enterprise, such as:

on-net work of the company,
exchange of information between departments,
inventory of products,
supplying the corporation,
sale of goods through Internet technologies.

It is on these issues that specialists such as programmers play a major role. They create programs and applications that take into account the specifics and focus of any enterprise, from travel agency to sports facilities.

Programming began to emerge a very long time ago, and at the beginning of its path it was very similar to art, since it did not yet have any laws, frameworks and rules.

The first programmer, oddly enough, was a woman. Her name was Ada Lawles. It all began with the fact that in 1833 the famous British mathematician Charles Babbage constructed the first so-called "analytical" machine. She did the simplest math. It was Ada Lawles who, in turn, was able to write the first few programs for the new invention.

The profession received a new round of development in the early forties of the twentieth century, with the advent of the first digital electronic computers. They were created by the American mathematician von Neimann. The programs written for the first machines were extremely detailed, and they took into account every calculated operation, every logical step. The device had its own unique language, except for which the machine did not understand any other.

The further creation of special programming languages made it possible to bring the industry to a new qualitative level, that is, to compose programs using algorithms, special symbolic forms that corresponded to a specific language. In the course of development, special programs were also invented that convert languages from algorithmic to machine.

At the present time, with the constant development of science and technology, there are many newest developments in this area and every day the industry is getting more and more development.

Professional holiday

Programmer's Day is celebrated in different countries differently. For example, in Russia and Ukraine, it is celebrated in September. V Russian Federation it is celebrated on September 13, and in Ukraine every first Friday of the same month.

Varieties (specializations)

All representatives of this profession can be divided into three categories:

Application specialists. These people make up specific programs for certain businesses. Such developments include accounting software 1C, or logistic - ABM Rinkai TMS.
System programmers- these are employees who are engaged in programming operating systems, an interface to data distribution databases, and working with a network.
WEB programmers just like the representatives of the previous category, they work in the network sphere, but on a more global scale. They create various sites, web interfaces and dynamic web pages and so on.

Pros and cons of working as a programmer

Like all other professions, this one has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider some of them ...

Advantages of the specialty:

the ability to constantly develop, progress and improve;
high level of self-expression and self-realization;
in the labor market;
the prospect of work without obtaining a diploma of higher education, just a certificate of completion of courses of a certain orientation is enough;
a huge scope for the manifestation of the creative and creative abilities of a person.

Cons of the profession:

the complexity of the perception of data, since not every person can understand what the programmer understands, therefore very often it is necessary to explain certain points many times;
sometimes you have to work in a time pressure mode;
constant negatively affects health, in particular, vision and the musculoskeletal system suffer especially as a result of the so-called sedentary work;
very often the work is routine and repetitive;
the character of a person who becomes nervous, irascible and harsh in his actions and judgments often suffers.

Requirements for the profession of a programmer

As with getting any job, the job seeker must meet certain requirements, which can vary, but have basic similar principles, which are something like this:

knowledge in the field of modern technologies and programming languages such as HTML, SQL, PHP and others;
in writing and composing programs;
the ability to compose and read a technical assignment;
the ability to decipher and adapt someone else's code;
understand auxiliary programs;
at the technical level.

Job responsibilities of a programmer

A programmer's circle of employment includes many different activities. Among them are:

on the basis of various mathematical models and algorithms, compose and form programs for the assigned tasks;
test and debug an already written product;
develop technology for solving problems at all stages of information processing;
determine which of the existing information is subject to computer processing;
choose a programming language with which the program will be written in the future;
elicit data test cases that allow you to understand whether the program is suitable for its purpose;
launch an already debugged application and enter initial information into it based on the tasks set;
adjust the program based on the analyzed data;
determine whether it is possible to use any ready-made software products;
make up technical documentation, as well as instructions for working with the program;
realize Maintenance and software maintenance;
ensure the uninterrupted operation of computers and associated equipment;
prepare technical means to work, as well as monitor their serviceability and technical condition;
timely repair equipment;
carry out a timely inventory of funds.

A responsibility

As with any person, programmers tend to be wrong. However, the great advantage of this profession is that even if any defect or defect is committed, all this can be identified already at the testing stages and eliminated at the stage of debugging a program or application.

Do not forget about violations of legislation related to copyright and interference with personal data, which carries criminal or administrative responsibility.

Credentials

At the same time with job responsibilities, you should also pay attention to the rights of employees of the IT department. So, what are the rights of representatives of this profession:

has the right to take certain actions when a situation may arise in which obstacles arise for the employee to carry out his activities;
make proposals to the management of the organization on measures to improve the work of the enterprise in the IT field.

Features of the profession of a programmer

The labor market is growing faster than the IT industry, driven by the large number of experienced professionals the company is interested in.

A feature of the profession can be considered that it allows you to have a so-called free schedule, as well as not be on the staff of the company and work remotely. It is also possible to get Additional income, work from the outside, which allows you to make good money.

Professional skills and abilities

When applying for a job, a programmer must have, among which we can distinguish such as:

knowledge of English at a technical level;
psychological stability;
creativity of thinking;
high emotional balance;
perseverance and patience.

Personal qualities

Patience and endurance are indispensable qualities in the work of a programmer, they help him to concentrate on work and perform it efficiently.

Given that the field of IT technologies is developing very quickly, a representative of this profession must constantly acquire new knowledge and skills, improve in his field, in order to then be able to quickly adapt to the situation that has arisen. In the absence of this factor in the programmer's arsenal, the value and demand for such a worker can significantly decrease.

An important role is played by the objectivity of the assessment of technologies and the possibility of their use at each specific example... That is, each new development should be applied expediently to its intended purpose and to simplify, not complicate the work.

Programmer career

There is a mass good examples to start a career as a programmer, as an example the opportunity to join the development of a new project.

Russian specialists are considered to be very talented, and accordingly their projects on the market are quite expensive. Therefore, they are popular with Western investors, who often offer good money for projects. In this regard, personnel began to be appreciated in our country, since the importance and expediency of this profession in recent times increased several times.

Where to work for a professional

IT specialists are in demand in almost all spheres of society, since in modern world the importance of computerization and everything connected with it is very important. Society cannot do without the help of specialists in this industry.

Programmers are required everywhere, from a trivial housing estate to a large oil corporation.

What is the salary of programmers

The sphere of programming remains one of the most profitable and in demand. The advantages are high wage, social package, the ability to work anywhere in the world.

Java and NET programmers have the highest salary level, and on the contrary, the work of system administrators and specialists is paid least of all. technical support etc.