|
I find it most surprising that the distribution of the results for this question seems like a fairly typical bell-shaped curve, EXCEPT FOR the huge "bump" in the "over 20 years" range. I'm trying to figure out what this tells us, but I'm scratching my head. Anyone have any theories 
|
|
|
|
|
Freshman year of high school the math Dept got a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I (there was no PC yet), but I learned a lot about PEEK and POKE!
|
|
|
|
|
01-Jul-2006-----------------Now 
I believe in LOVE AT FIRST SITE...
Bcoz I have loved my Mother...
even since I opened my eyes...(ICAN)
|
|
|
|
|
I am quite surprised that there are less percent of 2-5 years option being chosen. Since this poll is there for around 7 years, I believe the statistics might go wrong as the time of casting the votes differ person to person???
|
|
|
|
|
In my opinion it's OK. Boom around SW development was sometimes in 90th years, wasn't it?
|
|
|
|
|
I think a lot of programmers were hired to tackle Y2K and the internet boom.
John
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, even the stats show high percentage for over 20 years !!
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, I started learning programming after completion of my XII-th standard and continued. Did engineering on CS and started my professional career in 2007. It's 2011. I am now CodeProject MVP, Mentor, Microsoft Silverlight MVP, Speaker in various events, Author of various articles. I will continue my work on development as long as I can...
|
|
|
|
|
Great Have +5
I believe in LOVE AT FIRST SITE...
Bcoz I have loved my Mother...
even since I opened my eyes...(ICAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Hey, thanks. BTW, why you are not posting in GIT?
|
|
|
|
|
|
In December, 1963, I graduated from Siena College with a BS degree in Physics. I had planned to continue my education with the intent of preparing myself for a career as a nuclear experimental physicist. However, because my grades were not good enough (note I graduated in December, not June), I decided to enter the military. I joined the US Coast Guard in January 1964 as a Seaman Recruit. I was stationed at the Reserve Training Center in Yorktown, VA. There, I underwent training at the Officer Candidate School. In June 1964, I was commissioned an Ensign.
My first assignment was the US Coast Guard Third District Office in New York. My duties involved ordinance and readiness. A good deal of time was spent writing various war plans for the District's ships and stations. Because I had been trained as a physicist, I was well adapted to understanding the effects of nuclear weapons. I don't think that many things have scared me more than researching these effects.
In October, one of the Yeomen told me that he would be out of the office for three months working on a Civil Defense report for the US Army. The task involved cross adding the numbers of personnel available for Civil Defense activities. He told me that the difficulty was to make the numbers cross add so that the totals of the rows equaled the total of the columns. I reluctantly released him to perform the task.
Shortly after, the Third District Office moved from the US Customs House in New York to Governor's Island in New York harbor. I was told that I was required to move to the Bachelor's Officers Quarters (BOQ) on the island. I was a night person. A large percentage of my duties involved riding cutters and small craft, observing day to day operations of various units. Riding small boats meant being on the water at night. (It has always amazed me how many accidents or rescues occur during darkness.) So I tended to wander Governor's Island at night, either to or from a small boat.
One evening, on return from a visit to a local station, I saw lights on in a building that I thought shouldn't have lights on. On entering the building, I found the lights coming through a door that had been left open. Entering the room, I found box upon box of gray and blue - what turned out to be a large IBM 1410 mainframe. I asked the operator just what this machine was and he told me "a computer." Not quite knowing what a computer was, I asked some questions, gradually coming to the conclusion that this machine could add columns and rows. When I pressed the operator, he told me that I should see the Chief. The next morning I did just that.
The Chief was a radar operator who was performing duty ashore.(Most radarmen seldom see the shore; in those days they were almost exclusively assigned to ships.) I explained the problem of the Civil Defense report and asked if the computer could perform and report the necessary calculations. When the Chief replied affirmatively, I asked how I could arrange to have the task performed. "Simply" the Chief replied. I had to do the programming. He gave me two books: the Principles of Operations and the RPG Language Reference. He told me that everything I needed was in these books.
I took the books to my room in the BOQ and spent a week reading them. I was clueless when I finished. I returned to the Chief and told him that I read the volumes but wasn't sure that I understood how to solve my problem. He asked how many times I had read the books and I replied once. The Chief said that I needed to read them at least three times. I returned to the BOQ and started reading them again. Slowly, more and more concepts became clear until, finally, I realized how to do the job.
I told the Chief that I was ready and asked for a pad of coding sheets and a pad of printer layout forms.
The layout that I had chosen for the report required that I prepare a printer control tape, a loop of paper that was punched with holes in any of twelve columns. The printer could be instructed to sense these holes, moving the paper tape (and thus positioning the page) until the desired hole was sensed. Today, of course, I would not use a control tape but this was my first program. I decided that I needed a top of form punch. The top of form punch was usually placed in column one of the control tape. Following that would come a page heading, followed by the data and results of the calculations. Between the heading and the data, I decided to use another punch, this time in column two. I designed an input format and then wrote the RPG program. I pored over it, finding and correcting errors until I was satisfied with the program. I then used a keypunch machine to construct the deck of "IBM" cards that would be fed to the computer. The Chief helped me with the job control cards. Finally, I was ready. I scheduled time on the machine at two AM the following morning.
Upon arriving, I told the operator that I needed the printer control tape installed. He took the tape and replaced the standard tape with the one I provided. The cards were loaded into the card reader and the machine was booted to read the program and data. In about ten seconds all the cards had been read. The machine started flashing its panel lights and then paused. The operator said that the program was about to execute. And execute it did! Suddenly the printer started spewing paper out. I'm surprised if we didn't waste half a box before the operator could stop the printer. There was nothing on the paper. I was crest fallen. I collected my cards, my printer control tape, and my program listings and returned to the BOQ.
For two days I pored over the listings. I couldn't see anything wrong. I desk checked the code over and over. Still nothing. Finally, I rescheduled time on the machine. This time I met another operator, one who I hadn't met before. We went through the same setup and started the job. I hadn't told the operator that I hadn't made any changes so, after the machine panel lights stopped flickering, I was next to the printer ready to press the stop button. But the printer just started printing the results of its computations. The US Army Civil Defense report was finished in about six seconds.
I was baffled. What had changed? I knew I was dealing with a different operator. That was the only variable. So what could an operator do to cause the printer to spew out paper? Unfortunately, I was unaware that the standard printer control tape was doubly punched for top of form: one punch in column one, the other in column twelve. I had only punched column one. And of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, the first operator installed the printer control tape reversed. Because there was no punch in column twelve, the paper just kept moving, continuously seeking a punch that wasn't there.
I learned two lessons that day: don't trust operators and always double punch the control tape.
But something bad also happened. The program ran without a flaw. I thus missed the opportunity to learn how to debug a computer program - a skill I was required to learn on my second program.
We used the program for three years. I was then assigned to a Coast Guard cutter; then to Vietnam; and finally to Coast Guard headquarters. In 1971, I received a call from the Third District asking what this cabinet full of punched cards was for. I told them what they were for and how to use them. But they decided to destroy them. I guess they liked adding columns and rows by hand.
|
|
|
|
|
Great story! Have a 5. 
/ravi
|
|
|
|
|
I enjoyed that +5
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for telling your story. That is fascinating.
|
|
|
|
|
I was first introduced to computer when i was in class V. i started professional programming in 2004
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
Never mind - my own stupidity is the source of every "problem" - Mixture
cheers,
Alok Gupta
VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV
Support CRY- Child Relief and You
|
|
|
|
|
Hi Alok,
Humm I was watching you since 2006 ...
When I was fresher, I read your 45 day series article. The concept was really cool
I believe in LOVE AT FIRST SITE...
Bcoz I have loved my Mother...
even since I opened my eyes...(ICAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Shilpi Boosar wrote: When I was fresher, I read your 45 day series article. The concept was really cool
thanks  .... me too liked the concept... but never able to find much time to write more
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
Never mind - my own stupidity is the source of every "problem" - Mixture
cheers,
Alok Gupta
VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV
Support CRY- Child Relief and You
|
|
|
|
|
I no longer program so my cumulative years ended a few years back. Unless you consider the occasional scripts programming, which I don't since they're not what I'm paid to do.
|
|
|
|
|
The original survey had the greatest number of developers, 30%, having worked 2-5 years... 7 years later, in the early results to this survey, the bulge is at 30% having worked over 20 years. What's up? Did the old-timers discover CodeProject.com sometime between then and now?
|
|
|
|
|
Perhaps it's because this survey clarifies that "working" means "getting paid". I have a little over 5 years of actual work, dating back to my first job about 8 years ago, though I have been programming in school (some consider that "work") for about 11 years (maybe 13 or so if you count that turtle-based "programming language" where the turtle could only turn in one direction).
I put 5-10 years since I've only been paid to work for just over 5 years of my life.
|
|
|
|
|
I guess so, I joined 2.5 years ago.
while (e) { Coyote(); }
|
|
|
|
|
That's easy, just bill your client 2.5 hours for every hour you work. 
|
|
|
|
|
It could also be different people voting. It's only 1k out of 7.5 million.
Jeremy Falcon
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
