What would I have to be good at to become a computer programmer?

Question

Obviously computers and software but I’m talking about like math and science type stuff. What does it take to program is what I mean.

Answer 1

Yes Maths is an obvious one. After that it depends on the types of software you want to make. Gaming, physics would be handy. Theres a lot of need for programmers in the financial sectors, so some of that could be a real advantage to you. Perhaps some engineering skills. All of this really is domain specific to the software your creating though.

Answer 2

Jim's top 10 for what it takes to be a good software developer.

1. Patience... you have to sit for hours and think and type and think and type and test and think and type and think and test and...

2. Self Learner... computer technology changes so fast, you have to read, and research, and try things out on your own to keep up.  By the time there are classes and text books for a topic its probably old and out of date already.

3. Creativity... writing software is a creative process, you are making something out of nothing.

4. Ability to deal with anoying people... customers, bosses, ex-wives (well maybe not you) you have to be able to listen to what they want and go back and forth clarifying what they really need and delivering something that works for them.

5. You gota be able to see BOTH the trees and the forest... details are important, and a good software development environment is full of tools to help with details like syntax checkers and name completion and auto formatters, but you gota be able to see where its all going, whats the point, whats the big picture, hows it all gona work together.

6. Take pride in a job well done... a good developer will go the extra mile to make things work smoothly, ensure reuse, build a helpful feature that wasnt required, use a new technology, or by adding that extra bit of coolness to a user interface.

7. It helps to be able to type without looking at the keys.

8. Loose the comfort zone, a good developer is not afraid to try new things... new technologies, new paradigns, new styles, new management techniques.  Just because you got it done the old way before doesnt mean there aint a better way out there now.

9. Respect people... especially elders, acknowledge that others see the world different than you and have different life experience and can contribute in their own way. Older programmers have porbably forgotten more syntax and languages than youve even heared of.

10. Perseverance... this stuff can be very frustrating, compilers that take FOREVER, intermittent run time errors, sometimes you bang against the same problem for hours, all night long, only to get to the point where you understand that you were looking at the wrong problem all along.  You gota be able to keep your cool and KEEP GOING.

Answer 3

Everything the other guy said except the "great math skills." Of course you would need to be strong in math to do video game programming, or other 3d graphic manipulation, or any math based programming, but from what I've seen, database and general business programming don't need a ton of math skills.

Answer 4

Well of course it dependes on what progran you are making. If your making something like "Microsoft Word" you need to know grammar and spelling. But what every programmer needs is creativity. The goal of a programmer is to get the job done as fast as possible using the least amount of memory.

Answer 5

LOGIC  

Answer 6

Great math skills, problem solving, and ATTENTION TO DETAIL! Its a whole new concept when you begin but once you grasp it, if you keep focused, you can learn with practice.

Answer 7

Basic math skills, great analyzing of problems and most of all I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T.

and an additional tip....

don't limit yourself to only one or two programming language.

explore others and don't rely on school lessons, they only teach the basics