leokoach

Some of us new starters probably asking “What the other guys know that we don't know? Why does it always seem like they do everything the complicated ways? How come they get the big bucks?

I will not talk about codes and won't even mention a line of code here, but I will tell you what I feel about the whole coding us vs. them (us, as beginners vs. them, as pros)

You probably know, programming languages are layers on top of each other starting from “1”s and “0”s. Binary language, assembly language... all the way top to VB. VB probably is the top of the mountain in this pile. Each layer somebody wraps the bottom layer to make things easier for upper level. It's like onion layers, it stinks more when you peal it more (Stinking = difficulty). Especially older days, we (as programmers) were worry about the speed more than security. Now, it's speed and security. Whoever can go deeper (code closer to the bottom layer) makes things run faster and more secure. Because each layer that is wrapped is actually more work for the hardware and more risks for leakage (memory and security wise).

Have you ever heard of “Ear to ear message” game? You have friends sitting next to each other, and first one starts saying something to the other's ear, everyone passes the same message the same way, whispering to the next person's ear. Sometimes you hear much different outcome at the end. You should try it, very entertaining game. Less people you have is less likely mistakes made. Not because there is something wrong with anyone, but because of the sound differences and hearing differences of each person. An average programmer is the person at the end, but a good programmer gets up and goes a few rows down to ask what the word was. In return, that programmer gets better results because of the extra work (by the way, it's not in the rules of the game. You just can't go and ask others what the word was during the game but after the game is over).

So, they (pros) code the way closer to the bottom layers, so computer would have much better and faster understating what was said and process better and faster. Should this make anyone uncomfortable? Well, yeah, but it's not the end of the world. Companies hire programmers to make their jobs “easier”, “secure” and “faster”… in production and/or services. So, who would get the big bucks? Of course whoever sits closer to the first person.

Study hard and code (learn) everyday