How I Program Stuff

I love programming. I can truly say that of all the things I enjoy, I enjoy programming the most. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you create something. Writing code is a lot like building your own little universe.

When you build stuff, you’re in complete control, and, no matter how hard you fight it, your code directly reflects yourself. If you write sloppy code, I can almost guarantee you’ll be a sloppy person. If you haphazardly throw code around with any care or passion, it’s likely you treat yourself the same way.

I tend to think of myself as a passionate programmer (subsequently, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read). When I’m building things, I do so with a lot of care. I like to:

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Why programmers work at night

A popular saying goes that Programmers are machines that turn caffeine into code.

And sure enough, ask a random programmer when they do their best work and there’s a high chance they will admit to a lot of late nights. Some earlier, some later. A popular trend is to get up at 4am and get some work done before the day’s craziness begins. Others like going to bed at 4am.

At the gist of all this is avoiding distractions. But you could just lock the door, what’s so special about the night?

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Finding the right developer is often seen as a daunting, potentially overwhelming process. But it doesn’t have to be that way, especially if you approach the process of hiring a developer like you’re hiring a member of the team.

Admitting that may be career suicide, or possibly it will cost me dearly because ‘software engineers’ are raking in the big bucks these days, but the fact of the matter is that I’m a programmer. It’s what I do best and it is the job title that I associate with most because it feels as though the biggest chunk of me will always be most likely to blurt that out when people ask me what my job is. That I like to program definitely helps.

This post is intended for young, competent programmers who are looking to start making their livings as independent, contract programmers - probably high schoolers, college students or recent college graduates. I won’t be discussing specific figures, but rather a strategy for coming up with a fair price point.

Getting paid, getting paid

When I was about to begin my first paid programming gig, I was a college senior and I didn’t have a clue about how much I should be charging. I knew I was pretty good at what I did - I had a few successes on the App Store and a portfolio of open source projects I was proud of. Even so, I’d never worked as part of a development team before, and had never worked for a top tier client on a high-pressure project. So, I asked around to my older friends who knew a bit more about the business.

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Programmers are f***ing lazy