One of Many

These days there are a lot of programmers, and even more computer geeks. The market for skilled programmers is large, so people think it will be an easy road to riches. As testimony there are countless IT schools hat promise to fill the world with programmers. The only problem is they are not so skilled. Now some will be, but taking a course does not make one a programmer. A programmer motivated to be such by a desire for money will never be as skilled as a programmer who really enjoys programming. As another examples of the effects of this can be felt at my university (the University of Waterloo). Recently people have just not been able complete the CS program there, so the program has come into question. It maybe true that it is hard, but I think there is more going on. I think more people who are not in CS for the right reasons are entering invisioning some sorta dot com nirvana in riches. These people are not cut of for CS at Waterloo; therefore fail and drop out. Standards to get into these courses sky rocket, and the dyamics of the market change.

I find myself in the situation of trying to do what everyone else is doing, but not because everyone else is doing it. I program because I really enjoy it. I like learning new ways and learn about what CS really is. Computer have been in my life for as long as I can remember.

My Father and his Father and his Father before him

Today no one can say that programming is in there genes, but I can honestly say my father was a programmer. He be came a computer analyist before anyone could get a degree in CS. My brothers are also programmers, and to a certain degree so am I. Like my brothers I am more than just a porgrammer. Personally I'm also interested in music--my brothers have other interests that they work into their lives. There was always a computer for two or three in the house when I was growing up. I always had brothers who knew more than I did. Being the youngest I wanted to know as much as they did. This is what fueled my search for understand about computers. I gather knowledge when even it comes up to learn more about how computer really function. Programming and computers will continue to be a big part in my life as I grow up.

Experience

• C++ (C)
• Java
• VBasic
• Pascal

• Win9x
• Linux (unix)
• DOS
• OS/2

• See my PSS development page

My programming education begain with learning some Pascal. This exposure through my brothers enabled to excel at CS in high school. Through two years of CS I learned C++. Starting with simple console based programming, we moved on to procedual programming then into objects (including writing classes). Near the end we started to look into Win32 based programming, but only a very little bit. In university I had to program in Java. It was like C++ it couldn't be that bad. I pick up a java book, and read enough to get a 80 my first (and rather complex) programming assignment. My understanding of OOP expanned exponentiatlly when working with Java at Waterloo. On my first work term I ended up with a fairly mundane job working with some data. I created various little Java programs to help me sift through the data. I also created a macro for Excel in Visual Basic (a language I have never used before). It took me about 3 days to research the necessary VBasic, write the code, and tested it. After that I only need to adjust the data in the spread sheet. During the work term I found I had time to read more. I learned how to program a Swing GUI in Java. Learned how windows programming really works. Learned the Direct Sound API, and bit and pieces about MS COM idea. I also learned about DLL and multi-threaded programming in Win32 and Java.

More than anything I've learned there is a lot to learn, and that I really enjoy learning more. To pass time I've been reading various computer books on various programming ideas. This gives me the skill of being able to pick up new information fast. What ever the programming challenge is I ready to step up and learn all that can be.