How and why did you get into programming coming from another background?

Question

There are many programmers who come from other backgrounds like engineering, physics or even social sciences. I have found myself programming more and more during my post graduate studies in the field of manufacturing and I am thinking about taking a programming job when I finish, because I find programming very creative and intellectually satisfying.

What were the most influential factors, when you were (or weren't) switching to programming from another background? I, for example, am afraid I have too much catching up to do never formally learning about algorithms, databases, etc.

Answer 1

From the people I know that have done this transition, it tends to be a mix of the following:

• Software Engineering has a bigger job market/more freedom of movement
• Practical work that can be intellectually stimulating (build something!)
• Would have done CS if they could start over (they were too early, or didn't get how cool it can be)
• Many end up hating their careers professionally, even though they liked it academically.
• Cooler companies/cultures, especially in the web space.
• Sometimes, wanting to live in a certain part of the country means no jobs in their field.

Just a few examples ;)

Answer 2

I started off in University as a Civil Engineer. I discovered I hated it after a year. But I didn't have enough money to go back and start again in Systems Design Engineering, so I finished up, but went into my first job programming for Civil Engineers, then programming in a Geographic Information System, and now just general programming. You have to be ready and willing to learn quickly, keep abreast of the latest technologies, and give yourself a good grounding in the basics that CS students learn early.

Answer 3

I was in school for physics when I got a temp job in QA at a medical device company. I did pretty well and was offered a full time position. I became interested in the products that the engineers were designing and taught myself how to program in my spare time. They hired me as a junior developer a little less than a year later.

Answer 4

I actually moved from a 15 plus year career in Graphic Design and Art Direction into my now 5 year Flex, Actionscript, and PHP development career.

Although I had dabbled in, and enjoyed, programming of various flavours all through my life, the main reason I actually made the switch was because of my frustration with the nebulous nature of aesthetic solutions vs. the finite nature of code solutions.

When I was Art Directing and the client demanded that I "Make it appeal to 34 - 45 year old sportsmen!" I would dive into a never ending fractal of social research and statistics and come up with 23 valid solutions!

Now when a client demands "Make it work like powerpoint but for hipster grandparents holiday snaps!" I can still slip into a never ending fractal of social research and statistics but at the end I will have one solution that works!

Answer 5

By training I am an avionics specialist with 10 year experience, eight in the USAF mainly in electronic warfare systems and two commercial, mainly in autopilots. Modern avionics requires automated test equipment. It is not humanly possible to run all of the tests required to certify equipment. It would takes weeks to test a single component by hand. It takes the computers hours. I found the software more interesting then the hardware.

Once the airline business took a nose dive, I decided to change careers. Today I write code for industrial robots. I find it interesting as we are always being ask to work in different domains such as machining, medical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, in fact just about any field you can think of someone some where is trying to automate it.

Answer 6

I found out my girlfriend was pregnant.

I was a retail sales guy with a degree in Journalism making very little money. My girlfriend was doing programming as a side job while she was at university.

To make a long story short we discovered she was pregnant and I realized that working retail making $1200/month (in '96) just wasn't going to cut it.

She pushed me into learning programming. I didn't think I was cut out for it, but I bought a book on MS Access and VB and started sending out resumes. One place hired me for what I had been making at retail. Boss gave me a $100/month raise every month and after a year's worth of experience I got a job earning much more money.

I've never regretted it one second. I enjoy writing software a million times more than I ever enjoyed sales or newspaper writing.

Answer 7

My hobbies led me here. I've always loved automotive and photography and wanted to build a site to showcase my efforts. I found I enjoyed the development process as much as I enjoyed my other hobbies. Since development offered a clear career path that I couldn't envision in my other interests, I stuck with it.

No regrets!

Answer 8

I had a former co-worker who transitioned to software development from a background in medicine. He was educated at a very prestigious school, and had finished his internships a couple years before the career change. He was on the path to a cozy, lucrative career helping people.

But he switched - obviously not for the money. His sizable school debt was definitely easier to pay off on an MD's salary. His reasons were stress, lack of interest in medicine, and a desire to let his inner geek out.