Tag Archives: working

What Do Programmers Want?

Posted on March 26, 2013 | 25 Comments

I got an e-mail last week from three students at Halmstad University doing a three month project on what programmers want in a job, and how companies can attract talented programmers. Here are my answers to their questions, in order of importance. Obviously people have different preferences, so it would be interesting to hear what items you agree and disagree with, how you would rank them, and what you think is missing. Continue reading →

→ 25 Comments

Posted in Programming

Tagged , , , , ,

Working as a Software Developer

Posted on December 12, 2012 | 30 Comments

I recently gave a presentation on what it is like to work as a software developer to first-year engineering students at KTH taking an introductory programming course. I wanted to give my view on the main differences between professional software development and programming for a university course.

First I talked about challenges with large-scale software development. Then I listed several development practices used to cope with these challenges. I went on to present ways to become a better programmer, and ended with some fun facts from work.

Continue reading →

→ 30 Comments

Posted in Learning, Programming

Tagged , , , , ,

Top 5 Surprises When Starting Out as a Software Developer

Posted on August 22, 2012 | 37 Comments

Even though more than 20 years have passed, I still remember wondering what it would be like to finish university and start working. Up until that point, I had pretty much spent my whole life in school, with only a few, non-programming summer jobs thrown in. My expectations of what it would be like to work as a software developer were mostly correct, but there were a few surprises in the first few years, and here are the top five: Continue reading →

→ 37 Comments

Posted in Programming

Tagged , , ,