any programmers in the house please??? what do you do ???

[drgonzo120]

hello,


i'm studying csharp in belgium, and i'll have to do a "stage" , go work
for a few months in a company, and then, hopefulmy, get a job, but now,
i wonder, in what directions is csharp used, so, i wanted to ask all
the csharp programmers here: can you please reply exactely what you do
for profession??? ( i dont mean:"i program in csharp"), what
exactely...? what are the possibilities for getting a job, what is
possible with csharp...

sound editing programs??? DB driven applications, ERP applications ,
???


thanks, dudes, i really need this info to orient myself somewhere ...

 

[drgonzo120]

i would love to program machines, but do i have to be an engineer for
that ??? and can c# be used to program machines ??? or is c++ more
widely used for that kind of stuff ??? or java ???


thanks dudes, trying to find my way in the woods

 

[Kevin Spencer]

C# is used to develop almost any type of software, at least any type of .Net
software. There are literally hundreds of different sorts of software
development work you can do with it.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
To a tea you esteem
a hurting back as a wallet.

 

[Pete Davis]

If you want to see what kind of work is available, the best thing would be
to go to employment web sites like monster.com and see what jobs are
available.

In my case, I own my own contracting company doing contract programming. I
currently have only one contract. I'm writing custom controls for the
framework used in a clients suite of commercial apps. It's definitely not
entry-level work. The people I work with all have many years of experience
and are, with a few exceptions, very accomplished developers.

As for whether or not you need to be an engineer, that depends on the job. I
personally don't have a degree. I dropped out a semester short of completion
for money reasons, and entered the work force and have never looked back.
When I came into the field, knowing WHAT a computer was, was more important
than whether or not you had a degree. It's never mattered since. I don't
know how entry-level are treated in general on this point these days. I've
been in the field long enough that nobody is even going to check if I have a
degree anymore.

But like I said, go to a job site and see what jobs are available. That will
give you a better idea than doing a survey here.

There are a huge variety of programming jobs available. Here are just a few
things I've done in the field:

Telephone billing software
RF Engineering simulation software - Used to design cell phone networks.
Figured signal propagation, interference between towers, traffic analysis,
etc.
Army Logistics software - Used to calculate what equipment can be put on
which ships and planes to deploy troops.
Hotel Management software
Inventory tracking & management software

As you can see, there's a bit of variety. If you ask me, one of the coolest
things about being a software developer is when you get a new job, you can
usually learn about a completely new field (RF Engineering, Telephone
switches, logistics, hotel management, inventory management, or in the case
of my current job, developing custom controls).

Pete

 

[drgonzo120]

thanks for the replies so far, and Mr. Kevin Spencer , what do you do ?


thanks

 

[Code_Hound]

I program in C# having come from a C++ background. Pete is right you can
end up being involved in any industry that requires the skills of a
developer. I've never really focused on any area to start with and worked
in area such as ;

Telecoms designing sofware tune mobil networks (FBI ended up being a big
customer as it turned out the hardware we also made could be used to listen
in on people)

Graphic design company doing web stat software

Office software for business workflow

However I then moved into financial software as the jobs tended to pay more.
As you built up financial knowledge you became more desireable and could
demand greater salary.

BTW I'm now in Telecoms again and working in Belgium

Good luck in whatever area you get into.

 

[Bruce Wood]

I'm assuming that you mean robotics, and yes, I would guess that C++ or
even C is used more commonly for that, although building robots with
..NET on board is probably coming.

If you're interested in a particular kind of work, you're better off
taking courses in that particular area (such as robotics) and seeing
what languages they use, rather than learning a particular language and
then trying to find an application for it. It's far easier to learn a
(new) programming language than it is to learn about a particular
problem domain. If I were to go to work for, say, an engineering
company tomorrow and they used C++, I would just go and learn C++, or
Java, or whatever they need. I have a better chance at getting the job
if I understand their business but need to learn a programming language
than if I know the programming language but don't understand their
industry.

As to what I do, I work for a small company building custom business
software. Our company produces wood products and has very specific
requirements for how their computer systems need to track their
business. The team that works here architects and designs programs that
help run the business more smoothly.

I've also worked for a supermarket chain (Java), a mobile phone company
(C), and a phone company doing GIS (mapping, also in C).

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Kevin is just fine.

I do a little bit of a lot of everything. I have written ASP.Net
applications, web services, Windows Services, class libraries, Windows
applications, ASP.Net Controls, Windows Forms Controls, XSLT Transforms, and
a few other things here and there.

Sometimes I wish I could be more specialized, and I'd love to work on one
application (or a family of applications) for its entire lifetime. But in
the meantime, I'm afraid I have to do whatever is handed to me, and that
seems to be somethig different every time. I learn a lot, and thankfully, I
love to learn and research. Fortunately as well, my company encourages this.

My favorite technology so far is Managed Direct 3D, and I hope eventually to
work with this full time. In the meantime, however, I do whatever I'm told!
;-)

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
To a tea you esteem
a hurting back as a wallet.