Programming

[chameleonov]

I did a University education as a .NET developer in my late 20s. After I got my degree it was close to impossible to get a job. I was hired at a place for a few months, where they expected me to turn into a Senior dev in a couple of months and demanded that I take a 700 page book home with me and study it on my private time, and be done with all the tasks within two weeks, the boss adviced me to work overtime(with no pay) and they told me I needed to do the company's work outside work hours. It was like a huge joke. After this circus, I tried searching for a couple of years around the country(I live in northern EU) with basically getting false promises and jokers calling me on a regular basis(headhunters I think they're called). The only real way to break into this industry is to know the right people, that's how many in my class got their job. This whole STEM shortage is a huge scam. They're looking for John Carmack level of programmer. But these companies can't even pay for a Junior dev or intern insurance. Companies have to start getting charged with criminal activity for lying. All of this is really sad because I actually liked developing and programming.

Sorry that this got slightly outside of subject. I'm just trying to warn other people, that's all.

 

[Nervous Rex]

They're looking for John Carmack level of programmer. But these companies can't even pay for a Junior dev or intern insurance. Companies have to start getting charged with criminal activity for lying. All of this is really sad because I actually liked developing and programming.

There's a running joke in the industry that interviews are much more interesting than the actual job. In the interview they'll quiz you on all sorts of algorithms and obscure coding tricks. The actual job is to move the button up 3 pixels and make it blue.

My most recent irritation is that executives at large corporations treat programmers as a commodity - a programmer is a programmer is a programmer. They need X programmers for the job, so they either hire or lay off programmers to meet that target. But HR and hiring managers treat programmers as unique individuals - they want to make sure you're a "good fit", have the right skills and abilities, etc. They act like they are sifting through a thousand piece puzzle looking for just the right piece. So which is it? Are programmers all the same or are we actually unique? I have my answer, but corporations can't seem to decide.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Started with Fortran, then Basic, then Cobol, then Z80 assembler, then C++, then Python. When I started messing with computers, you generally had to write your own program if you wanted to do anything.
Most of my programming now is C++ and Python for arduinos and Raspberry Pis

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

I started off messing around copying out of some code books for the Radioshack Color Computer when I was in kindergarten (usually needed help debugging, though).

Eventually picked up C#, some Python, Java, various different flavors of web development as they came out (HTML4, XHTML, ASP, etc), some powershell, and finally about 12yrs of T-SQL stored procedure / function / architecture for work, and some SQLite.

 

[vrmm]

I am a programmer in C# and SQL. Would like to participate in this programming forum, as per my interests and time.

 

[Slime_Punk]

Most of my programming now is C++ and Python for arduinos and Raspberry Pis

Nice! What kinds of projects have you been using microcontrollers for, if you don't mind me asking? I've got a whole pile of knock-offs and clones and I need some inspiration, lol!

 

[Jumpinbare]

1. A power distribution controller for my sailboat. Controls cabin lights anchor light, running lights and accessory electronics. Cabin lights (LED) can be dimmed, anchor light can change color (RGB so any color), there's even an SOS function that blinks all the lights in Morse Code SOS.
2. A pump controller for my wilderness cabin. I have a shallow well. The electric pump can draw water so fast it drops the water level too much and draws air which makes the pump lose priming. So the controller allows the pump to run 1 minute and wait 4 minutes. It continues cycling until the water level in the storage tank reaches the full mark. At that point the pump doesn't run again until the tank level drops.
3. A radio beacon controller. Sends the letter V in Morse Code 3 times, then my callsign 3 times, FL (for Florida) 3 times. This whole set repeats 5 times, then "Transmitting from the Green Swamp in Central Florida" is sent once. The the whole process starts again. The beacon is running 5 watts of power on 10 meters, and serves to tell people when the radio propogation is good into Central Florida. It has been heard in Austrailia, New Zealand, and Several European countries.

Those are my most current arduino projects. When I was still working, I often dashed off an arduino project to deal with problems at work.

I have a low power FM station controlled by a Raspberry Pi. It has 1200+ mp3s that it plays in shuffle mode, interjecting station ID every 5th song. Since shuffle is random, you can actually hear the same selection right after itself or a couple of songs later, so I keep track of the last 15 played and if the shuffle picks one of those, it shuffles again. As each new song is played, song #15 is dropped off the list.