Take the programing path in life?

[Murii]

Hello!

I`m 16 years old and for 2 years I`m programing,and I`m doing grate at it ! But there was always a problem...if i want to take the programing path in life I need to go to a faculty specialised in programing and math(because that`s the only thing i have in my country,no game dev) so that it`s an issue,not because i don't understand math it`s just because i can`t see myself for 5 years doing hard math and ending doing 0 hard math in an actual job.So that`s why i choosed to became a doctor.But if i think more about it somewhere in my soul i know i want to be a game programmer or a web programmer(even if i never done something in web) !
So now i`m asking you for help.I need some guidance from someone who is now a programmer and has a job and stuff.What job do you have?Are you satisfied?
Thanks you for reading and please give a an advice

P.S:If you are wondering what do my parents think then you should now that they want me to become a doctor.But they never said no to programing because they see me doing it all the time, and enjoy it a lot.They just know it will be hard for me to do all that crazier math!!

[Plu]

I'm a web developer. I have no real education in the field, and I need next to no math for it. Building business software doesn't actually involve that many maths. Most people in my department have even less of a knack for it than I do, and most of my math comes from game programming as a hobby.

Also, becoming a games programmer is hard. So if that's the path you want, you should probably practice a lot, and also work on that math. You'll need it there.

But the job is good, and the pay is also good. I like what I do.

Just remember, programming is a team job. You need to be able to do more than program a computer to succeed.

[Murii]

I'm a web developer. I have no real education in the field, and I need next to no math for it. Building business software doesn't actually involve that many maths. Most people in my department have even less of a knack for it than I do, and most of my math comes from game programming as a hobby.

Also, becoming a games programmer is hard. So if that's the path you want, you should probably practice a lot, and also work on that math. You'll need it there.

But the job is good, and the pay is also good. I like what I do.

Just remember, programming is a team job. You need to be able to do more than program a computer to succeed.

Thanks you a lot! That is the answer I`m looking for!

[kikito]

But the job is good, and the pay is also good. I like what I do.

The pay is good as a web developer. In general it is not so good as a game developer once you take out the outliners like Blizzard and Notch.

It's a market thing: there's more people wanting to do videogames than the industry needs, so programmers have to accept worse conditions to stay competitive. As a result the life of a game developer is not very nice: long hours, and not much pay. People get burned in 5 or so years on average.

Web development, on the other hand, needs much (much) more people, and it doesn't seem to fill up. You can have reasonable hours and a good pay. You can afford to have hobbies.

Since I was little I always wanted to be a game developer. But when I saw the market conditions, I changed my mind. I am now a happy web developer, and I do videogame programming on the side.

Independently of whether you decide to program games or webs or something else, the most important thing you must know about programming is: you must be prepared to never stop learning. You will have to learn new stuff every day until the day you retire. And probably later on. School (whatever school you choose) might look like a long time investment, but it will still be only the first step of your learning progress. You will die and you will not have learned everything that is to be learned.

If this attracts you, then you have what's needed to be a successful happy programmer. Otherwise, I would recommend looking for a different path.

[Murii]

But the job is good, and the pay is also good. I like what I do.

The pay is good as a web developer. In general it is not so good as a game developer once you take out the outliners like Blizzard and Notch.

It's a market thing: there's more people wanting to do videogames than the industry needs, so programmers have to accept worse conditions to stay competitive. As a result the life of a game developer is not very nice: long hours, and not much pay. People get burned in 5 or so years on average.

Web development, on the other hand, needs much (much) more people, and it doesn't seem to fill up. You can have reasonable hours and a good pay. You can afford to have hobbies.

Since I was little I always wanted to be a game developer. But when I saw the market conditions, I changed my mind. I am now a happy web developer, and I do videogame programming on the side.

Independently of whether you decide to program games or webs or something else, the most important thing you must know about programming is: you must be prepared to never stop learning. You will have to learn new stuff every day until the day you retire. And probably later on. School (whatever school you choose) might look like a long time investment, but it will still be only the first step of your learning progress. You will die and you will not have learned everything that is to be learned.

If this attracts you, then you have what's needed to be a successful happy programmer. Otherwise, I would recommend looking for a different path.

This makes me very happy to hear this !! Just Wow ! I`d like to become a game dev but this is not a priority for me,i`d choose web development without any problems!Of course in the free time i`ll make games!So thanks you for replaying to me!

[jjmafiae]

there is also a lot of game devs who have been fired recently.

[Plu]

But the job is good, and the pay is also good. I like what I do.

The pay is good as a web developer. In general it is not so good as a game developer once you take out the outliners like Blizzard and Notch.

Yeah this is true, I did only mean the pay is good for web developers, not neccesarily game devs.

[Murii]

Ok so everything sounds cool so far What languages i need to learn in order to find a job for web dev?Or software development?

[bekey]

-snip-

[Plu]

The web changes very quickly, so I would suggest a good amount of basic knowledge, along with keeping up with the latest trends.

As a suggestion, check out Meteor. It's a very new, absolutely awesome javascript based framework that combines front-end and back-end into a single application. It blew me away when I first saw it And because it's mostly javascript it should look pretty familiar; Javascript resembles Lua quite a bit.

Other than that, more important than knowing any language, is just practicing as much as you possibly can. Build websites and web applications, try out various frameworks, and build a portfolio.