Pros/Cons of a Career in Programming? - Developers

Hey, I'm doing a career project and I need to find out what the pros and cons of being a programmer in the field would be. Something like "the pay is good" would suffice. Thanks! (I'm not entirely sure this topic is in the right forum, I always have that problem)

You get to do what you love

Programming is very time consuming to learn

You will have no friends, and end up a social pariah.

Here's what I could think of: [B]Pro's:[/B] You can make stuff that hasn't been made. There is almost no limit to your creations. Group projects are even more possible. [B]Cons:[/B] Special knowlege is usually (If not always) needed. You must learn programming. Etc

Pros: - The pay is VERY good. Cons: - Time consuming (Not only during your work time, but because it will make you constantly wonder (even outside the job) on what things you could do to improve your code / fix a problem, you'll find yourself sleepless trying to think of something)

You will learn advanced mathematics whether you like it or not.

It gets boring when you get assigned things you aren't particularly enthusiastic about.

Am I the only one who sees the fact that you get to spend your whole life in front of a computer screen a con?

[QUOTE=Red_Eyes;21862649]Pros: [B]- The pay is VERY good.[/B] Cons: - Time consuming (Not only during your work time, but because it will make you constantly wonder (even outside the job) on what things you could do to improve your code / fix a problem, you'll find yourself sleepless trying to think of something)[/QUOTE] The pay is pretty average actually. Programmers don't usually make over £40,000 annually.

[QUOTE=Xeon06;21863744]Am I the only one who sees the fact that you get to spend your whole life in front of a computer screen a con?[/QUOTE] a con?:confused:

Pssht..who needs a life anyways?

[QUOTE=Xeon06;21863744]Am I the only one who sees the fact that you get to spend your whole life in front of a computer screen a con?[/QUOTE] Are you aware that your life is going to be spent infront of a computer screen, unless you're going to be in entry/mid law enforcement, warehousing, manufacturing?

[QUOTE=Hypershadsy;21862424]Hey, I'm doing a career project and I need to find out what the pros and cons of being a programmer in the field would be. Something like "the pay is good" would suffice. Thanks! (I'm not entirely sure this topic is in the right forum, I always have that problem)[/QUOTE] pro's: Pay is good, as long as you love coding you won't get bored, usually alot of new stuff. con's: hard to meet deadlines, picky bosses who want everything to be a button, people wanting you to do IT work because "you're good with computers"

[QUOTE=Xeon06;21863744]Am I the only one who sees the fact that you get to spend your whole life in front of a computer screen a con?[/QUOTE] I've never understood this argument. Whatever you end up doing as a steady job, it will most likely be just as mundane. [editline]11:08PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Richard Simmons;21863994]Are you aware that your life is going to be spent infront of a computer screen, unless you're going to be in entry/mid law enforcement, warehousing, manufacturing?[/QUOTE] And this, suck it up.

You will be under lots of pressure to get stuff done before it can be. If your like me then you like everything to work right or at a minimum work reasonably well. In a programming career you will be pushed to get stuff done and it will most definitely not work when it's released, you will most likely have to go back and fix some aweful hacks you had to put in just to get the job done but which cause the software to crash on any PC which doesn't have a .txt file on the desktop called billybobthornton.txt. If you can't handle pressure, chose a different profession.

[QUOTE=MBGrimm;21862602]Programming is very time consuming to learn[/QUOTE] Well ofcourse, you never stop learning.

A lot of programming gigs involve working for & being supervised by a boss who is not as smart as you and makes a lot more money. I'd say that dealing with people who aren't computer-savvy is the worst part. This isn't in all cases - sometimes I enjoy teaching an intelligent person about technology. Other times, I'm dealing with clueless idiots who have no chance of understanding the job that they're hiring me to do

[QUOTE=Jallen;21863808]The pay is pretty average actually. Programmers don't usually make over £40,000 annually.[/QUOTE] $61000 CAD? That's pretty good.

I've heard from my Computer Networking teacher that if you go to a company like Microsoft or those in their programming positions, they want you relaxed, they want you to be able to think, as long as you meet their deadlines you can walk in wearing jeans and a t-shirt along and as long as you meet the deadlines you're okay. But if you miss a deadline I heard they fire you right there.

Con: Boring. Its only for people that have alot of time. ( i.e People with no lives)

[QUOTE=madmax678;21866936]Con: Boring. Its only for people that have alot of time. ( i.e People with no lives)[/QUOTE] You shouldn't be programming if you find it boring. Same thing goes for anything else.

The worst thing that could happen is if you somehow manage to break all of your fingers at the same time right before you're assigned some work.

[QUOTE=madmax678;21866936]Con: Boring. Its only for people that have alot of time. ( i.e People with no lives)[/QUOTE] Just because you find it boring doesn't mean everyone else does, or that they have no lives. It's a hobby like anything else. Some people play Basketball, others read or build model ships, we happen to program.

[B]Pros[/B] -Involves a lot of thought -Will make you smarter -Good experience, and free lancing can make you some good money [B]Cons[/B] -The client telling you they want this, you doing exactly what they said, and then when they see it they change their mind and want something else -People judging purely based on ascetics and not the functionality -Hours spent staring at a screen trying to figure out why something isn't working -Eyes hurt from staring at screen

Cons: We wanted this impossible to implement feature yesterday. And with no bugs. It can be very stressful because of this. And I always get chewed out any time there is a bug, no matter how minor. I cranked out a copy protection scheme in straight C in only 3 days, then my boss got pissed because there was a memory bug that only showed up on Windows Vista/7, and the only thing I have to test on is XP; which was unaffected. [editline]09:04PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Red_Eyes;21862649]Pros: - The pay is VERY good. [/QUOTE] I hope you're kidding. Programmers don't get paid shit.

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;21868606]Cons: We wanted this impossible to implement feature yesterday. And with no bugs. It can be very stressful because of this. And I always get chewed out any time there is a bug, no matter how minor. I cranked out a copy protection scheme in straight C in only 3 days, then my boss got pissed because there was a memory bug that only showed up on Windows Vista/7, and the only thing I have to test on is XP; which was unaffected. [editline]09:04PM[/editline] I hope you're kidding. Programmers don't get paid shit.[/QUOTE] Programmer pay is variable to a lot of things. Specifically team size and project type.

It really depends what you're doing. But if you love to program, you'll generally love to work as a programmer. Some people just 'love' to program, I know I love nothing (well, nothing much) more than a 5 hour coding sesh.

It sounds like there's more cons than pros. I can't tip the scales to pros and make it sound like I'm going to like what I'm going to do.

Just curious are you thinking about which degree you'll take? Computer Science isn't a path to just programming, I'm thinking about being a consultant myself because of the aforementioned pay issues.