Dave Donaldson

How I Got Started in Software Development

Wednesday, October 15 2008

This post is way, way overdue, but it's been sitting in my queue ever since Jim Holmes tagged me *four months ago*, so I figured better late than never :-)

How old were you when you started programming?

I didn't really get into computers and programming until I went to college, so I'm a late bloomer compared to a lot of people.

How did you get started in programming?

"CIS 111: Programming in Pascal". That's how I got started. When I went to Ohio State, my major was Actuarial Science because I was good at math and you could make a lot more money as an actuary than you could as a math teacher. One of the prerequisites for the major was the Pascal course, and the rest is history. It didn't take long for me to realize the logic involved in programming was how my brain worked, and not long after that I switched majors to CIS.

What was your first language?

Like I said, Pascal was the first real language I'd been exposed to, but HTML was my first language outside of school.

What was the first real program you wrote?

Honestly, I don't remember.

What languages have you used since you started programming?

Pascal, Modula-2, C, C++, C#, HTML, Java, JavaScript, ASP, ASP.NET, VB6, VB.NET, SQL.

What was your first professional programming gig?

At Ohio State I had a part-time job in the Math Department for a little organization called The Ohio EMPT Program (wow, that site is still the same as I left it). While there I worked with some smart people who exposed me to many different technologies, the big one being this thing called the World Wide Web. I was instantly fascinated with it and vividly remember using the NCSA Mosaic web browser to read as much info as I could find. That lead me to build the first version of the EMPT site (this is the oldest version on archive), which became my personal playground for trying out new things.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?

Absolutely.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?

Constantly learn. Things change so fast in this profession that it's way too easy to get left behind. It's critical to keep your skills as up-to-date as possible.

What's the most fun you've ever had programming?

For the most part, I tend to have fun whenever and wherever I'm programming, but I have to say the most fun I've ever had was about three years ago when I worked on a project with James Avery and Jayme Davis. It was a large consulting gig, with myself and James being the first two people on the project, and even though there was a lot of pressure, we had fun right from the beginning. As we built the team we were fortunate enough to hire people who added to the dynamic, and then Jayme came onboard and kicked it up a notch. We did some good stuff on that project and worked our asses off, but had a lot of fun doing it. Early in the project we moved the team into a large conference room and looking back, that was the smartest thing we did because otherwise we would have been off that project in no time ;-)