I have been memed.
How old were you when you started programming?
10
How did you get started in programming?
I was a fresh faced young thing of 9 when my sister and I received a Commodore64 for Christmas. Incredibly after a few months I got tired of the assortment of games that we had. As luck would have it the amazing machine came bundled with the Commodore 64 MicroComputer User Manual which included more than the average User Manual will these days. That book taught me how to make my C64 do things! Soon I was making the most awful noises and random series of images flashing across the screen. It was possibly the best Christmas present ever.
What was your first language?
C64 BASIC
What was the first real program you wrote?
I’d have to say my synthesiser would be it, I had worked out how to program the SID chip built into the C64 and wired up some code to read what key was being pressed and then played a corresponding note.
What languages have you used since you started programming?
Visual Basic, Classic ASP, SQL, PL/SQL, JavaScript, C#, Java including J2EE, HUGS, PROLOG, Modula2, C, and pile of frameworks that have their own languages or XML vocabularies.
What was your first professional programming gig?
Writing VBA to connect an Access based contact database to some Excel documents, saving the office lady at least 20 minutes every time the client got a new work request, not to mention reducing data errors due to the removal of the Alt+Tab integration layer.
If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
Absolutely, I probably would have pursued it as a career option sooner too!
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
Don’t look for the ‘perfect answer’ to a given question. Look for the answer that best suits the needs of the client because at the end of the day our job is ultimately about how well can we make life better for them.
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had… programming?
For me the the best thing about this job is the people, it’s one of the reasons I love working at Intergen. The people make it a place that I want to be. Sure the challenges of solving tough technical issues are great and highly rewarding but for me the people make it really worthwhile. Be it knowing the shared pain of a hellish project or the healthy debate of GUIDs v.s. auto incrementing integers as keys the people make this industry what it is.
I choose
Gav's Blog - Tech Adventures 