The labour market is becoming so scary that I usually find it difficult to find myself. As a computer science student in a tertiary institution, I was taught to look at a problem and provide a mathematically better solution to the problem than has ever existed.

What I was not taught straight in school was how to immediately code like a geek and write about a thousand projects before leaving school that I so become a hot cake for every organization out there to hire straight away or simply start up by freelance duties.

To try and be a geek in school might mean you have to forgo the academic success and focus on developing apps right from school or achieve academic success in school and develop apps after school. Some people can combine both but it takes a lot of dedication and self-discipline.

I would be using this avenue to enlighten computer science students still in school or those who are yet to become geeks at programming a few steps I have seen others take and has made them successful in the Programming world. I would be more specific about the Programming World so let's go for a ride

First, know that every computer geek today was once a novice who found it difficult to even use the mouse. So if you are at a stage where you can even use the mouse, that means you are way ahead in becoming a geek. Well, a lot of people can use the mouse and the keyboard, so what makes me different. Well, the resolution you are making now is all the difference between everyone who knows how to use the mouse and those who are willing to go the extra mile.

Watch out for the next chapter!!!!
www.cleanandclearcode.

It is not even up to page not to talk of a chapter. a

Choose an Area
Well, the resolution alone would not take you where you want to be. Make an extensive research on which language you want to learn and which area of programming you want to specialise on. This is very necessary to avoid becoming like a float in the ocean that follows anywhere the tide goes. Have a convincing reason why the language you are choosing is the best and why the area you are moving to is the best.

Because there are over a thousand technologies out there that are as convincing as your field, you need to know your grounds before you loose focus and go for something else just because people say its better or something like that.

If you decide to learn Brainfuck, its the most difficult programming language, yet you should be able to convince yourself its the best to do because you would later see more languages and you might just drift away and become a master of all trades.

Choose a certain language and specialisation and make your research. That is far better than jumping from Java to C#, then Ruby and then Pascal. Make a decision and stick to it

Networking[i][/i]
So after choosing an area, the next most important thing is to be connected. Have a github account, a bitbucket account, google developers, facebook developers, linkedIn, quora, stackoverflow and any other medium that can be used to meet real programmers. Understand the basics of each of the groups and please create accounts with reasonable names.

Post only items that are important. And no matter how much you think a question is wack, still ask it. Someone somewhere would understand that you are just learning and would definitely help you out.

Next most important is the Operating system you would be using. Well, Linux is kinda the most used by developers so you should be comfortable using the command line for simple instructions.

Well, the next is to learn some stuffs about Git. What is Git? Do check it out online. We would continue from here the next time

Git and Linux
Have you ever thought about how programmers are able to share code in and around the world. One of the secret to doing that is through Git. There are a lot of such stuffs out there like svn and so on, but git is just fine.

To be able to push code to online repos, you would have to understand a little about git. This is not a class for git but just to highlight to you its uses so that you know what exactly it is you are looking into. After that, I advise you also get a little familiar with the linux commands.
Well Git and Linux were all the inventions of the same Man, Linux Torvald.

After getting around with git and linux, then we are indeed ready to touch on some more other things.

Next, it depends on what you really want to do next. Review the basics of the language you want to work on, read at least two books on the language and have a basic idea on why the language was named its name.

Well, dont fly into starting real life coding just yet. The basics would take you very far so be very conversant with them before you move on any further

pls add me up on WhatsApp 08054720278 @azibit

Github
If you meet a friend you have seen a long time ago, you ask for his/her facebook account or his/her phone number. In the Programming world, people ask for one thing and one thing alone. What's your github account.

A github account is where you save your code online. It allows for you to share with other coprogrammers and prospective employers. Most employers seek to know how well you can work from your github account. Even if you do not have any project, your assignments or codes you read from books are some of where you can start.

A Stackoverflow account is also very important. You ask reasonable questions, you get points, you answer reasonably, you get points and through that, employers can always track you down.

So immediately you finish reading this, create a github account and a stackoverflow account. Please do that. We would continue from here the next time

Are we Second Class Citizens
Let me change direction today and speak about something that really bothers my mind about being a computer science student. Most people especially software developers see computer science as a waste of time. Well I might be wrong, but the few programmers I have seen think so.

Due to this, I pose a question. If you see a road side mechanic who repairs a car, you really want to be a mechanic but if the opportunity comes that you have to go to school to learn how a car is made. Would you still choose to be only a car mechanic?. The answer is obvious.

Mathematicians have made all the research for the Engineers and the Engineers are just applying the theories. Would you still say an Engineer is better than a Mathematician. Each and every one excel in the field they choose.

Similarly is the case of a computer science student and a software developer. The theories are there to use, but we are taught to understand how the theories were made. As a computer scientist, the act of programming is not to design something end users can see and be woowed, no we design theories that make the software developer woowed.

It is left for the software developer to woow the clients with what the computer scientists have created. Computer Science as a course is not only for us to understand Software Development, go for an MSc in Software Development if you need that. What Computer Science teaches is how to harness the great powers the Computer has. Design effective ways to make the Computer go faster and more efficient

So if you are in Computer Science just to learn to develop software, you have bought too little. Ideas like Networking, memory management, Operating System Optimization would all look like Rocket Science to you and you say its a waste of time.

No, Computer Science is based on the theories on which the Practicals are built. So if you are looking to become only a software developer, please do look a bit further because computer science is far greater than what you have in mind.

Watch out for more
Computer Scientists, We Rock

We are What We Do?
When you watch movies, the impression that hackers or bad ass programmers are born might come to your mind. But the few moments I have seen excellent programmers, the Only thing I have learnt is that it takes a lot longer than you think for you to really become what you really want to be.

It might not happen in a day, a week, a month or even a year. But do keep practising and remain consistent in whatever you are learning. Never give up. Take your time to browse some of the greatest programmers and computer scientists and checkout how long they have been in the field. Some started as early as 8 years old. Now they are 20 years old with 12 years experience.

So because you are also 20 does not mean you should give up on what you cannot do. Practice always. In the field of programming, the only practice we have is to write code and write more code. Do not think I understand this, write it, study it and write again. By writing more, you become a better writer. Same as programming.

The Journey to programming might not be easy as you would see very young people doing things you can only imagine. But just know that, the more you write code, the better you would become. So do more and you would be more.

Thanks

Good work you‘re doing @op

I have been in the IT for a few years and there is something I have observed which is that your personal life would strongly determine how well you can work with others. Most IT firms would not let you alone work on a project, God forbid, you wake up tomorrow and move to Google. Who would continue on the project? That was a joke. But seriously, the idea is you cannot work alone and you must work with people.

No matter how good your programming skills are, without the right personality, you might soon get bored off by others and believe me, most people are very easily replaceable. It does not mean you have to always be the nice guy and accept every shit from everyone.

But you should endeavour to not always be too self-centered in whatever decision you make. Always consider the wellbeing of your team mate and your organisation at last. And also before I forget, do check out www.gitter.im.

Always remember that even the best of programmers need to get along well with others, so you also have to. Please don't stop learning and don't stop coding.

Programming is in you

How to become better at Programming
Have you ever seen programmers who are really really good with their profession and you keep wondering whether they have a special type of brain. You begin to think you can never be like them. But I got a simple secret for you about how to get better in programming.

Other than reading and writing codes, you need to really read books. I mean serious books. If you want to be a better programmer, I have these questions for you.

1. How many authors of good books do you know?
2. How many good programming books have you read?
3. How many more are you willing to read?

Are you the type that just skims over books and thinks they will stay in your head forever. No, there is no easy way to success. Endeavour to read and teach others. Practise because reading without practise is far worse than pouring water into an empty basket

If you want to be better, keep these steps
1. Read more books
2. Join more online classes. Coursera, code academy, udacity and many more out there
3. Talk to people better than you about how you can become better.

Just know that there is no short way to success, you have to work for it

nice one

Why are you here?
Most people are in the programming sections of life because it is their passion. They love hugging, eating and drinking with the computer. They find peace while knowing a computer system with internet and power supply is right beside them. They love programming.

For a few others, well they do not know why. Maybe a friend is involved, so I have to also be involved or maybe a family friend has it going fine in the programming world. No matter how much IT is changing the world and so on, we all cannot be IT experts. Some of us would have to do other things as well.

So my piece of advice is to really have a solid reason why you are in the IT planet and it does not mean you are weak if you decide to step back a little and do some more things that make you happy.

Find mentors
Learning how to program can have a thousand paths which is why we all need mentors to lead us through the path and not make the same mistake twice. Look around the internet, find people who are already where you aim to get to. Find your way into their circle and every opportunity you find, ask them questions. questions that truly matter and it would not take long before you find yourself becoming better

I would also use this opportunity to ask Seun Osewa, CEO of nairaland to help start a mentorship club for young Nigerians who are looking to become more like him in the future. We Nigerian Youths need your wealth of experience to help find our ways in these waves of high tide in Nigeria

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

What Most Programmers Neglect?
This might be based on my personal opinion, but a lot of programmers usually joke with their health, exercise and what they eat? When the Founder of facebook came to Nigeria and still found in his busy schedule a time to exercise, there and then I knew that to be a better programmer, exercise needs to find its way into your system.

A question might be "So, Mark exercises, is that what made him a great programmer?" Well, I cannot answer that question but here is one thing that I know, is that to become a better programmer, you need to use your brain more and that is exactly what exercise does. It exercises the brain, pumps to it more oxygenated blood and that means more activity and development to the brain

About food, if I can use an analogy, food is like fuel to the body. If you have a car, would you give it just any fuel to use, the answer is simple. NO. So therefore why do you feed your body system with junks and expect it to give great results. Its not going to work out.

My dearest advice would be to always make time to exercise, have good rest and make sure to eat very good food because the programmer can only code better if he/she is healthy and strong.

Thanks

https://medium.com/@abdulazeezidris28/getting-employed-as-a-programmer-198fb6b46b2#.l2ug98x61

Becoming a Better Programmer
Ever thought of just moving from the bottom of the leader to the top in the area of programming, you wish you can just be the best just like that. Type codes like a ninja, people knocking at your door for answers and you would just be there responding to them in the best way that you can.

But did the best of the best just get there, well we all know the answer. So if you are still struggling on the ladder of becoming a better programmer, keep going because it takes more than sheer wishing to becoming the best. It takes a whole lot of discipline. Working while you can and even when you cannot.

Its about reading books, writing and reading code consistently without ever looking faith in yourself even when everyone says its not possible. You have to be ready to go beyond your normal daily activities if you want to be the best at programming.

If you are average, then your results would be average. So start going beyond your normal daily routine, follow the routines of champions and you would not remain average.
Keep developing yourself, keeping learning and keep coding.
Programmers, We ROCK

Awesome

pls add me 08168221332

Hard Work
I had a few seconds today to reflect on the word HARD WORK. Without having to use a dictionary, you can immediately understand the meaning of the work. It simply means work that is hard.

This word is used a lot for great people. It simply means not settling for work that is easy. Simply put, work that is hard is what makes great men. Never saw a great man or woman who never did something people see as hard

On your pathway to becoming a better person, evaluate the tasks you do everyday. Hard does not mean physical strength alone, it simply means exerting more efforts than normal. It means getting to do more than the easy part of any task and scale it up to the harder parts

Never has there been a path to success or greatness which was easy. So if you see yourself doing real hard tasks, keep going because it simply means you are already on the part to doing real great things.

Evaluate yourself daily, look at the tasks you have for the day, and ensure you have exerted all the efforts you can before giving up. Then you are simply doing a hard work and never stop doing the hard work because HARD WORK PAYS.

As a programmer, this simply means having to read every piece of code in that project, write every piece of code you see. Read books, meet people and never stop aiming to be better, the skills you have and the relationship you have with people should never stop. Keep doing the hardwork and the act of programming would become a way of life for you.


Read More at https://medium.com/@abdulazeezidris28

God bless you for this.......... I'm glad

What Makes a Better Programmer?
The only thing that makes a better programmer is being able to make the computer do work faster. The question then is how do I make the computer go any faster.

Making the computer go any faster depends on how you pass it the instructions to execute. It simply means how well do you write your Algorithms. Algorithms is found in every day of our lives. Programming deals to a very large extent with algorithms and it would be really nice if every programmer takes one or two Algorithm courses.

Being able to think of solving a problem in a number of ways is far interesting than just having a single way or no way at all. Algorithm courses help programmers devise various methods of approaching a problem and as such help provide numerous ways to solve problems without having to use just one method.

Becoming a better programmer depends to a large extent on how you are able to solve problems which is one thing Algorithm courses specify. So therefore, to become a better programmer, you need to take more Algorithm courses to help widen your scope on how to solve problems.
Thanks for Reading

Good job OP!

Your Skills Would get you the Job, But your Attitude Would Make you keep It
Well, the ideas we have about programmers from movies most especially are guys that just sit by themselves just using the computer without any friends or family. Well, that might be true for very few real life jobs but the other remaining programming jobs involves you having to work with a team.

Being able to work with a team is actually an edge every recruiter looks for when hiring. Your skills would make you do great things, but most of the time, you cannot do all the work alone. You always need certain few helps from each and every person. That is when you have indeed started work.

Are other programmers happy to have you on their team, well, you might say you are not really interested in whether people like you or not as far as you do your job. If you think so, I think you do need to evaluate your ideas.

What people say about you goes a long way to show how well your service within an organization is required. I simply want to say that programmers should try as much as possible to develop a good interpersonal relationship rather than just believing skills is all that is needed.

Your skills are very important to the computer, but your attitude is very much important to the people around you. Endeavour to make a positive impact on people around you rather than only showing them your skills

Thanks for reading

Understanding The Basics
The concept of every programming language lies in the ability to be able to understand its basics. Understanding why the language in itself was created in the first place, its current place in the market and its future prospects are some of the fundamental parts of a language every programmer should.

I got into a discussion with my colleagues about how best to understand a language and the only solution we could get was to understand the basics. The basics of any language is what would make you or break you in the language. Being able to use some features of a language does not make you proficient if you do not understand the basics behind those features.

The basics of any programming language is about how to create any other feature from the most basic features of the language. To be able to understand any abstraction made in the language rather than just using features without having a full grasp of the basics.

As a developer, it would really go a long way if before you delve into any language, you create time to understand the fundamentals of the language rather than just using its features and hoping to learn from there. This would be a good approach if the language is just for something urgent but if you want to become an expert in such language, using its features and hoping to understand along the way would not do you real good.

So whatever language it is you are currently working with, Never Forget to Always Understand its Basics
Thanks for Reading

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Learn for free this weekend

Never Belittle Your CS Certificate
I see a lot of people trying to be humble and try to say their Computer Science Degree never gave them any edge in the Industry. Well, no matter how small it is, the computer science student is never the same if he/she had never had a course in Computer Science.

Just because you are at a work place where the concepts of Computer Science are not the deal does not mean you do not have an edge. The computer science course is like a sharpener that has sharpened your career. What ever you use it to cut is left for you. Imagine trying to use a sharp axe to cut your nails or trying to use a sharp blade to cut a tree. It would not work.

Simply because the degree is not currently giving you an edge should not make you just give up on why you ever studied Computer Science. I do not mean to say the degree gives an upper hand, but I mean it does make a great difference even if you cannot presently picture it.
So whatever you do, never belittle it as it has helped you in ways you cannot imagine. Keep learning, keep studying and you would definitely become better.

Thanks for Reading

What Motivates a Programmer?
As I sat quietly listening to one of my bosses explain why he wanted to really change environment of work, it did occur to me that programmers were not a normal type of employee. What do I mean my that?

He did not really complain about the salary, but continuously explained that he was no longer feeling challenged in his work. Some employees would not mind continuing at the same task for the rest of their lives but the life of a programmer is way different. After listening to his story, I did grab some things about what motivates programmers.

Problem Solving: A programmer does not want to continue solving the same problem every day using the same technology or idea. A programmer loves to solve different problems at any time using different techniques and methods he/she can lay their hands upon. Doing the same task daily does not create a source of joy for a programmer and when a programmer does not change tasks, he feels frustrated and demoralized. So for any company who has developers, endeavor to keep programmers more challenged with different issues daily rather than having to remain at the same task.

Autonomy: A programmer would really love to move at a certain pace on a project and not be delayed because of certain factors. Having to wait for certain things to happen before a programmer can get back to solving problems is one of the greatest problems programmers face. Ability to choose what to work on, time schedule and technology to use are some of the decisions programmers love to be involved in and not to be simply pushed into doing something because that is what the employer wants. I have never seen any programmer who wants to deliberately fail, so if a programmer is given the opportunity, the only thing I know is the programmer would always do his best.

Growth: Any organization that wants to keep a programmer must be such that the programmer grows. Growth means being better than the person you were yesterday as a programmer. Becoming a better problem solver using various skills and techniques are some ways a programmer sees growth. A programmer would want to be able to see an idea and simply think of a better way to solve the problem than is already available. Without growth, this is not possible.

Beyond these few points, I would also advise that for any programmer to remain motivated and developing, some personal habits have to be inculcated. Some are:
Reading
Being Religious
Exercising
Eating Good Food
Sleep

These extra few habits would in a long way build a developer even before he seeks for further means of development from his/her environment. The highest point of any programmer I believe is to develop a solution to a problem in a way no one has ever conceived of.
Keep being motivated and become more better.
Thanks for Reading