Products of our environment? In what degree?

Question

Are programmers products of their working environment?

Two programmers A and B get hired at the same time at different companies.

Imagine programmer A working in a small company (2-3 people) that undertakes small projects and has no intention of educating its staff (certification courses and other educational opportunities). What are his chances of developing his skills since there is no chance of extending his education and by working on small projects that do not require high/expert-programming skills?

Now image programmer B who works in a company that offers courses and undertakes big projects from different fields allowing its staff to extend knowledge and expertise.

I believe that programmer B will have more knowledge and expertise than programmer A after some time. He will also be able to search and find a better job with a bigger salary and maybe more benefits.

In what degree does the company that employs you affects your career and development as a programmer?

Should a programmer that wants a job must take under consideration the company profile? Or should he accept any job (since he needs one) and then move on?

With all these said in what extend doe the company you work in defines how you evolve? Or it is completely up to the programmer to evolve on his free time?

Answer 1

Surely you learn a lot from being inquisitive, from studying books and tutorials, from contributing to websites, forums etc? You're not limited by what your minimum tasks are at work. In fact, if you're not interested in finding new solutions to problems or in extending your skill set, I wonder if you don't have the relevant aptitude to be a coder. Incidentally, I believe that it can often be the case that you learn more in a small setup. You will often have to perform different roles - sys admin, analysis, design, testing etc. as there won't be others dedicated to these specialized functions as would be the case in a larger enterprise.

Answer 2

It depends on the person and how interested they are in what they do.

Answer 3

It all really depends on the company, depending on how you want to evolve the job might not be ideal for you in either case.