You Are What People Think You Are — Perceptions of IT 😉
What is it really like to work in IT? Is it work in front of a computer all the time? What kind of people work there? These questions often trouble those outside the tech industry. And yet, fantastic people with numerous passions who love meeting others work in IT. We've come across a few legends and misconceptions about what goes on here. We are happy to tackle them and show you how we see IT 🙂
So let's start from the beginning ⏮
1. Salaries in the IT industry
This is a big thing in the heads of our friends and family. Programmer equals millionaire 😎 And yet, just like everywhere, you first have to gain experience, learn the ropes, to be able to be relatively independent and write good quality code. It's normal that senior positions are very well paid. Are you at the beginning of your career? Then you'll have to wait a while for the proverbial jackpot 😉 However, your earnings are also influenced by your competencies, something that makes you stand out, your work approach, and commitment. So it's worth remembering this and objectively trying to assess where I am as an employee.
2. Programming is not just about writing code.
Exactly. Coding is primarily about figuring things out. Of course there are many helpful tools, but if you don't understand the idea of a business requirement, you won't write what the client needs. You have to translate required expectations into a technological solution. And that's practically all the time. Most of programmers' time is spent searching for solutions to all kinds of problems. The other side of a programmer's work is reading documentation, manuals, forums, and more. So this work is also heavily about searching.
3. You mostly work alone.
Nothing could be further from the truth. You spend a lot of time in meetings and conversations. Often the further progress of your work depends on the contribution of other people — so you have to be in constant contact with them. Depending on what you do and what methodology you use, meetings are a constant element of your work. These can be team meetings, working meetings, client meetings, and many others.
4. Programmers are introverts.
Hmm... As in every industry — people are very different. However, it's not the case that programming is their whole life. At JellyTech we have programmers who in their free time teach others to dance, play drums, guitar, and other instruments, are excellent cooks and the life of the party 🙂 so introverts they definitely are not ☺️
5. To be a programmer you have to be very good at math.
Well, that's not entirely correct 🙂 — meaning, the ability for logical and analytical thinking is essential, but it certainly doesn't have to be very advanced mathematics. Mathematics is the queen of sciences and is useful in virtually every field, but in programming it's knowledge of algorithms that is essential for solving programming problems.
6. You choose a programming language for life.
Again, no 🙂 we'll say more — very often programmers change their main programming language. For various reasons. Sometimes these are project-related reasons, very often development-related reasons. Learning a new language is broadening one's horizons, delving into the secrets of knowledge about code. As with any change, changing a programming language means we enter new perspectives and we are certainly able to learn a lot.
7. Working in IT is only remote work
Yes and no 🙂 We know that many people won't decide to change jobs if it's not 100% remote. However, there is a group of people who want to show up at the company office from time to time. Some companies have solved these issues by leaving hot desks in office spaces and managing them on the basis of office presence notifications for specific days; other companies simply have positions ready for employees coming into the office. At JellyTech, you decide how you want to work — at the office, you'll certainly always find someone there 🙂
8. Programming is very difficult.
Or maybe child's play? Psychologists confirm that children as young as 8 years old are capable of learning to program (specifically, they are capable of understanding what lies at the foundation of programming). Trends confirm this. A huge number of schools are launching coding education at the preschool and elementary school level. Our children will live in a world that is hard for even us to imagine and will perform jobs that haven't been invented yet. Maybe then learning to code will become their main competency? Who knows 🙂
9. Programming is only for the young!
And again scientists come to our aid! Neurologists confirm that a person — specifically their brain — learns throughout their entire life and is capable of doing so. Another question is whether we do it effectively. So in 99% of cases it is certainly never too late to learn programming.
Curious? We invite you to read our other articles as well.
