Programmers, describe a typical day of "coding" for us...

[95theses]

In other words, describe the type of algorithms or data you implement or manipulate.

I've had 3 programming interviews lately and awaiting my future job...

I know it's nothing like school, but what IS it like?

Thanks.

return *******;

[ClarkGrizwold]

compsci senior checking in. i want to know about this too.



HEY PROGRAMMERS I THINK IM GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL IS IT WORTH IT

[MrNippers]

I get in around 9:30 and usually zone out for an hour in front of my computer, but it looks like I'm working. I then zone out for another hour after lunch too. In fact, in a given day, I'd say I do fifteen minutes, of real, actual work.

[95theses]

I get in around 9:30 and usually zone out for an hour in front of my computer, but it looks like I'm working. I then zone out for another hour after lunch too. In fact, in a given day, I'd say I do fifteen minutes, of real, actual work.

Sucha good movie. That's real comedy.

[Misctake7]

I get in around 9:30 and usually zone out for an hour in front of my computer, but it looks like I'm working. I then zone out for another hour after lunch too. In fact, in a given day, I'd say I do fifteen minutes, of real, actual work.

You work at Initech brah?

[Furious D]

I get in around 9:30 and usually zone out for an hour in front of my computer, but it looks like I'm working. I then zone out for another hour after lunch too. In fact, in a given day, I'd say I do fifteen minutes, of real, actual work.

Pretty much this...

[ClarkGrizwold]

I get in around 9:30 and usually zone out for an hour in front of my computer, but it looks like I'm working. I then zone out for another hour after lunch too. In fact, in a given day, I'd say I do fifteen minutes, of real, actual work.

oh lawd feelsgoodman

how long you been doing this, how's the pay, is the work harder than your hardest school project, and my most important question, is grad school worth it in this field

thanks

[ClarkGrizwold]

oh lawd feelsgoodman

how long you been doing this, how's the pay, is the work harder than your hardest school project, and my most important question, is grad school worth it in this field

thanks

will rep for life to answers

[bmlkiddo]

On the grind non-stop, both hands on the clock
twenty-four seven cause this life is a job

My singular pennies aren't worth gold to fools
cause he who has the gold in this world makes the rules

Taxes and mortgage they already seek
the 80 in my name goes to hours every week

Two jobs, one life - one day, one night
my cubicle prison hides me from the sunlight

Lost on a cycle, I barely sleep phases
I see no promotion, just CEO raises

My regimen changes as temperament rages
if only my bills had presidents' faces

Stupid solutions, executives got em
cause adding more managers must solve the problem

Staring at these monitors, eyes goin' blind
plus carpal tunnel from codin' overtime

All work and no pay makes a dull boy
All work and no pay makes a dull boy

All work and no pay makes a dull boy
^- All work and no pay makes me a poor boy
All work and no pay makes a dull boy
^- All work and no pay makes me a poor boy

All work and no pay makes a dull boy
^- All work and no pay makes me a poor boy
All work and no pay makes a dull boy
^- All work and no pay makes me a poor boy

All work and no pay makes me a poor boy
^- All work and no pay makes a dull boy
All work and no pay makes me a poor boy
^- All work and no pay makes a dull boy

Back to the grind, gotta start it up fast
can't tell this week apart from the last

Sit through meetings, leave without speakin'
stay late on Fridays come in the whole weekend

Idiots, failures, customers, clients
chairmen, executives, VPs, tyrants

Names all the same, there's no denyin' it
learn the terminology, know your environment

Tired of treadmill pace in the rat race
searchin' the maze for the cheese givin' chase

Really quite different, feelin' out of place
watching the bosses stuffin' their fat face

Overworked, underpaid, see my frustration
so much to do can't even use my vacation

Technical lead on a one person team
but this doesn't seem like the American dream

[95theses]

[LetsGetSwole]

You spend the entire day hating yourself and wishing you were dead

[L1nkown]

in4 answers aswell

[95theses]

You spend the entire day hating yourself and wishing you were dead

lol yeah ok

[Gee2113]

Get in, check email, go to scrum meeting, have a cup of tea. Then few hours staring at the screen before lunch. After lunch repeat except meeting.


not srs, I get about 6 hours of coding done per day when no long meetings etc. I work on a web interface for a telecoms company for ordering and changing mobile phone services etc. Mainly Java and SQL Server work

[bigshooter28]

You spend the entire day hating yourself and wishing you were dead

Pretty much this.

We keep our programmers on the first floor to cut down on the suicide rate. Talk about a miserable bunch.

I should say tho, most of our programmers could be the poster children for the misc. FA geeks, socially awkward, never had a gf, wannabe ceo10k day.

Would not want that job...ever!

[95theses]

This is true, srs.

What you learn in school is worthless in my experience. Universities teach you how to handle massive multi-million dollar IT projects... like anybody is going to trust a young inexperienced ******* like you with a project like that.

It's all about what you can actually do.

Ok, so what do you do? That's my question.

[SitchNoHomo]

[LickitangBrah]

miscin all day long do some work in 1-2hours @ night profit

[95theses]

Get in, check email, go to scrum meeting, have a cup of tea. Then few hours staring at the screen before lunch. After lunch repeat except meeting.


not srs, I get about 6 hours of coding done per day when no long meetings etc. I work on a web interface for a telecoms company for ordering and changing mobile phone services etc. Mainly Java and SQL Server work

So, you're updating algorithms? Updating functions? Manipulating data? What exactly are you doing.

[Schmyzz]

computer programmer here. its really easy. now rep me

[Fozzy13]

compsci senior checking in. i want to know about this too.



HEY PROGRAMMERS I THINK IM GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL IS IT WORTH IT

grad school for CS? lol no you idiot

[SaviorSix]

procrastinate, get frustrated at the existing infrastructure/business applications, do whatever flavor of the moment project gets handed to me


brb nothing is documented

brb everything is tribal knowledge

brb jerry-rigging old technologies

brb 10000000000 stored procedures on our sql server

[95theses]

procrastinate, get frustrated at the existing infrastructure/business applications, do whatever flavor of the moment project gets handed to me

Do you like doing it? Was it what you hoped for??

[Bongos]

basically this


get rich or die tryin

[SaviorSix]

Do you like doing it? Was it what you hoped for??

I like some of the stuff. This isn't really an IT shop though - I work for a furniture manufacturer. We've only got a 5/6 person IT department plus the director. I'm sure I'd like it a lot more if we were using more up-to-date technologies, actually used some best practices and documentation, had a development methodology, etc....

[95theses]

I like some of the stuff. This isn't really an IT shop though - I work for a furniture manufacturer. We've only got a 5/6 person IT department plus the director. I'm sure I'd like it a lot more if we were using more up-to-date technologies, actually used some best practices and documentation, had a development methodology, etc....

What's the salary if you don't mind me asking? 40k-50k?

[Engineer_Guy]

In other words, describe the type of algorithms or data you implement or manipulate.

I've had 3 programming interviews lately and awaiting my future job...

I know it's nothing like school, but what IS it like?

Thanks.

return *******;

-Get in around 7.
-Put lunch in fridge
-Get water and coffee.
-Read/respond to emails
-Get more coffee
-Do actual work
-Mornings usually involve a bunch of ad hoc meetings with other engineers about the project we are working on.
-Lunch
-Afternoons are a mix of more work time and meetings.
-Leave between 4-5.

Actual work involves writing design documents, functional specifications, actual coding, debugging code, recreating customer problems, writing unit tests, and prototyping or researching.

My work is with factory networking communication protocols so a lot of what I do is time critical. As far as algorithms and stuff, I've probably worked with most of the things you've learned in Data Structures or Operating Systems courses. Things like linked lists, hash tables, semaphores, DMA etc. These things are usually pretty easy to implement though. The tough part is adapting new functionality into a old complex system that has some tightly coupled modules.

[vikings_70]

So, you're updating algorithms? Updating functions? Manipulating data? What exactly are you doing.

Christ almighty we don't 'update algorithms' all day.

I'd say maybe 5% of my job I'm actually utilizing anything to do with 'design patterns' and things I learned in school. The rest is figuring out how to make stuff work in the environment you're working in. You'll very rarely be working on something from scratch, so more than likely you'll just be adding to an existing code base.

5+ years in, I write property tax software primarily in C#.


Also as he^^ mentioned, a lot of testing and recreating customer environments to debug issues.

[minandmax]

Depends where you work. Place I worked the longest, 'aol' (yes, they're still around and they concentrate on advertising), my day consisted of probably a 3-4 hours of programming on average. A lot of the development was following coding style/conventsion/standards (C++). It was a bad place to work because it was very hierarchical so the programmers were given tasks whose implementation was pretty simple/monkey-see, monkey-do. Hated that job.
Current job is pretty cool. I'm genuinely interested and work 7/8 hours. It includes researching things (a lot of time) and coding. This is in web development, which I love since it moves quickly and there is a huge community with lots of open source code that is, by nature of most web development tools (like Rails and javascript), easy to 'install' in your own projects. Also, web development includes client side, server side, databases, deploying on application platforms or virtual machines, etc.. so there is a lot to play with/learn.

One thing I'd like to state is that your algorithms knowledge is primarily useful for interviews. It's nice to keep up with it but I've found that I rarely do any sophisticated algorithm work at work.

[ClarkGrizwold]

grad school for CS? lol no you idiot

I know its not necessary, but if it makes me that much better, it seems like a good idea

can more people chime in on this for me? thanks. i got about a year left. pretty much took all my major courses.