Since studying CS I have been trying to find out what potentials has a programmer for a living. I have concluded to the list below.
In our particular or peculiar global social-economic period of History what you would advise a new programmer to try or to choose first so as to make a living from the potentials below or from your own ideas of potentials?
What would change in one's advice if the new programmer had an initial capital and what if not?
So my list of potentials is:
- Try to obtain as many skills as possible so as to be hired in a great company with a great salary.
- To go to as many as possible interviews so as to prove that you belong in the category above.
- To become an Internet superstar so as to show everyone that you are a CS guru so there is no need to go to interviews because one day a company will call you or you earn money from advertisements.
- To write major books on CS so a company will call you and you earn money from the books, too.
- To obtain a PhD and when a company approaches academic community for CS majors will find you, or if you approach a company you will surely be accepted due to your academic career.
- Academic career focused on research so as to commercialise a super optimized software.
or To found your own company:
- Publishing software that solves a problem that millions of people need that to be solved, so customers will find your company (Hey can you tell me which is the best word processor? -- Answer: Surely it is Microsoft Word-- ).
- Founding a company that helps other companies in difficult projects ( Microsoft helping IBM).
- Found a company that except from solving common problems also creates new needs for people and it is your company that calls people to adopt new daily habits using fancy graphics and so on such as developing new games. (e.g. I want to do an extra job to buy an iMac despite the fact I already have a quad-core).
- Company that contributes to an existing software ecosystem (writting apps for AppStore).
- Company that creates from scratch a new software ecosystem (AppStore or a new programming language).
- Open sorce software, earning money from advertisements or to earn publicity and sell the same software with more features.
- To mix software skills and an art or a science or a service with all above uploading a site with as many users as possible having them paying or having companies paying for advertisements.
What potentials would you add to the list above?
My own point of view: all above are not discrete choices but steps that you can move from one to another but the matter still remains where to start from? e.g. Obtaining skills from books or to obtain skills from a project that you start writing?
Thanks in advance!