Any programmers or CS majors here?

[bluestreak]

Over the course of discussions with people, I noticed there's quite a few programmers/software developers here.

What type of work do you do? What languages/technologies do you use in your work?


I've done a bit of everything in IT. It was a bad thing back in Canada but in little NZ, where a 'big' company might be 1000-2000 people, it's a good thing.

Currently doing .NET programming in a all-Microsoft environment. I just love it. The tools are easy to use and are really solid. Best of all, since it's so easy to build things I get to focus my time/energy on working my customers to determine requirements, come up with solutions, etc. I work in a small company (only 4 people) and work on my own product so I get to do everything, including sales.

[maroon]

Yep!

Bachelor CS, but been programming for several years before I took degree. Was going for a masters but figured I needed a break from studying after doing my final project (C++ software plus large written report) in a desperate last-month effort. This coupled with exams at the same time as going out drinking/partying almost finished me off to be honest. Anyway it worked out in the end

At work we use mostly Java and PHP and there is quite a lot of SQL being written too. I have spent some time diving into existing code doing some optimizing as well. Of course there are tasks involving html, css and javascript (mostly mootools/jquery) but I don't spend so much time doing this. I'm better with backend stuff. But it makes a nice variation to help out and produce some frontend too.

It's cool that you do sales as well. I don't, but I have gotten my hands slightly into some project management. That was fun, but certainly more demanding stress-wise.

.NET seems nice, however we don't use it at my work. The closest I have gotten .NET through my current job is consuming .NET webservices (like MS CRM webservice). I got to admit .NET is nice and all as long as you keep the environment all-MS. In my experience it's not designed for mixing with other technologies a lot - and hence it comes across in that way in practice too. We had to code a .NET proxy webservice for MS CRM web service to get it to play well with PHP. In an ideal world this would not have been necessary. Personally once I feel my Java skills are right up there I may look into doing some MS-specific training as well, I think it's important to master multiple toolsets in a professional environment.

I have worked together with very skilled consultants on some projects that are big fans of .NET. From what I have heard other people say and seen in terms of time/productivity I understand you are very happy with it bluestreak

[bluestreak]

The whole Unix/Linux/PHP, etc space does seem pretty separate and distinct from the Microsoft world, as you have noticed. I've done a bit of PHP and use java on and off. I admit I'm not a web developer; my area of expertise is Windows programming.

I use MS webservices all the time. It's the core of our product. I recently used a webservice in conjunction with a Java app I wrote, for a blackberry. Very cool.

When I start out, I was in electronics and learned Assembler. I remember programming 8088's (early Intel processors) on breadboards.
Then I learnt C, which was cool and a step up from assembler
Then I learnt C++, which was cool and a step up from C
Then I learnt Java, which was cool and a step up from C++
Then I learnt .NET, which was cool and a step up from Java
(it never ends!)

BTW, I hear you on the big final project. I had that too. My report actually got me my first job at a big, international software company. I went in for a low-level job and they instead gave me a programming job right away.

I think it's important to master multiple toolsets in a professional environment.

In my experience, it's near impossible to master multiple tools/environments/languages. Better to become proficient in the one that pays the bills and have a track record/proven ability to learn and get things done.

[pangram]

Guilty as charged. Perl developer here, Unix platform.
I work on a web application, so HTML and CSS are involved, as is some JS here and there.

Other than that, I've used Assembler, worked as a Delphi programmer, and been a Unix sysadmin for a number of years.

[Sylvor]

Electrical engineering background here finishing my masters.

I have done some assembly, C, and Java in my undergrad. I haven't gotten to touch much code lately though. I wish I would have taken the software engineering route now because I do miss programming.

[Mehdi]

Studied information science, dropped out of school in my 2nd year.

Studied:
* Turbo Pascal
* Cobol
* Java
* C++

Learned other stuff like php/html/css on my own.

[maroon]

I agree Bluestreek, bad choice of words really by me.

What I meant but unfortunately put across in a bad way; was to have some practical experience and a good overview of .NET as well in a professional environment, not master it as well as I do PHP and Java (it would indeed be almost impossible to get extremely proficient in all as well as keeping up with all the changes really.) I just like learning and using new languages + api's.

Delphi was great in it's prime, it was my main learning platform before I started studying. I indeed looked at C before C++ as well. The Borland VCL was extremely effective for creating Win23 applications that needed a gui fast. I have a decent understand of low level too (assembler), but I'm not going to lie and say I'm very effective at that in practice. I have never used assembler in a work situation, only in my spare time.

Great to see there are fellow programmers here

[bluestreak]

@pangram - I understand your sig! I thought you were a fellow coder. For those that don't understand, see this: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

@Mehdi - I thought I spotted a hint of coding in your posts, when you used !=

@Sylvor - funny you mention that you wish you went down the SW route. I've noticed a lot of friends (including myself) starting out in EE then ending up doing SW development.

@maroon - no worries. I understand Delphi was sort of the equivalent of VB 5/6. First time I used VB, I thought it was great. So easy to put stuff together. You could worry about the big picture, not little details. I've never used Assembler in a work environment.

While sales is fun, I get a great deal of satisfaction being able to work directly with my existing customers to solve their business problems (business analysis).

[holvoetn]

Master in Electronics, Software engineering as speciality (graduated in 1991).
Learned over the years:
Basic
Assembler (6502, Z80, 8088, 80386, 68000, ...)
Turbo Pascal
C
C++
and then I stopped.

Know just about nothing about programming anymore expect for the logical thinking.

Now I am a simple Project manager putting the whip on all those programmers

[Sylvor]

@ blue

I'm finishing up my masters in analog CMOS design ( I made two laser drivers). However some of my favorite courses in undergrad were the programming ones that I took. At the time I enjoyed the electronics one a bit more because I was really good at them relative to my buddies.

Now though looking at the job scene out there, there is a lot more opportunity for someone starting out in programing over being an analog circuit designer. If I can just get my foot in the door I think things will be great, but the jobs are few and far between.

[pangram]

Awesome, Sylvor. CMOS design sounds very interesting The farthest I got was reading a book about embedded system design, but coming from a non-technical background (and non-programming for that matter) I got stuck pretty fast

[SimonTemplar96]

I'm currently a Java programmer, working with web apps.

I've done a little work with .Net and I liked it for the most part, though I definitely prefer C based languages to visual basic. I've only had limited exposure to C# but I liked that a lot and am going to use it more for personal projects etc.

Have also worked with PHP, HTML, CSS etc.

[paalpot]

Master in numerical physics.

Doing Python and C++ programming on Linux (Fedora) platform.
Develop libraries and do number crunching for the oil industry.

[maroon]

Master in numerical physics.

Doing Python and C++ programming on Linux (Fedora) platform.
Develop libraries and do number crunching for the oil industry.

Cool!
Have you studied or worked @ NTNU at all?

[paalpot]

Cool!
Have you studied or worked @ NTNU at all?

No, I went to UiO before I started working here in Trondheim.