Learning to code?

[Fairy-Killer]

That was something I thought about when trying to decide what to do with my computer engineering degree. Mix work and play by trying to get a video game job... Or work somewhere else and leave video games be? I chose the latter. With the ridiculous pre reqs, stupid long hours, and lesser pay, it just didn't seem worth it to sit behind a computer and code all day. Speaking of which, I would like to get some sort of dev access to iOS and try my hand at developing some apps in my free time. Is there a way to work around the $99/year fee and can I share the account if I get one? Also, is there some sort of school pricing for this? Figured this is the best place to ask this.

[Purrrfect]

There's only one thing I haven't seen come up, which shocks me.

Learn to document what you do. Then learn to document it better. Then learn to document it even better than that.

Document what you're going to do.
Document what you're doing.
Document what you've done.
Document anything that you're doing in an unusual way.
Document anything else that you're thinking about seriously.
Document some more.

Beyond that, Aurik is on the money, along with several others.

Oh, and just to reinforce... before you start spending money on courses, use some of the information available on the web and free tools to just do some simple stuff. You'll get a feel fairly quickly if the style of problem solving and basic methodologies that good code development require appeal to you.

I, for one, loved the idea of computer programming right up until I went to school for it. I'm better off for what I learned, but the most valuable thing I took away besides a piece of paper is that the problem solving aspects appeal to me a lot more than the rote work. Thus, I'm now a sales engineer, because I get to keep solving problems, get to keep designing systems, get to keep my integrity, and don't have to sit in a box and code. I can still make little programs to solve problems for myself if I need to, but it's on my own terms and my own schedule.

Don't forget this! We never really had commenting stressed in the beginning and consequently it's a nasty fault of mine. It is so much easier to fix/change things days/weeks/months later when you know wtf you were thinking at the time of writing.

[avelle]

I've got a question that probably doesn't warrant a new thread, so I'll just post it here.

I'm currently employed as a C# developer with Kodak, but I've pretty much had it with the company so I want to go somewhere else. As a recent graduate, I find myself spending more time reading books in my spare time than writing software so my portfolio is pretty much a huge bunch of nothing. What kind of stuff do you guys put in your portfolio for interviews? I'd like to start whipping up some things so I have something to show potential employers, but I have no idea what should go in there or what I should spend my time working on. I've been working on simple little XNA games, but I'm not sure that's what non-game companies want to see. Any thoughts from the pros out there? Are portfolios overrated for Junior level developers? Am I ok with just a good cover letter and resume?

[Khamsin]

Troll post? :D

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1179020p1.html

http://unsubject.wordpress.com/2011/...s-game-is-fun/

Pro tip: go work in the real software industry if you want a challenging software engineering job where you don't turn into a slave for from 3 months to a year every project with zero career stability.

It was more of a word of caution, than anything. Read the last sentence as "I hope so... for your sake."