A Professional Programmer Comes Only From a Software Development Company

People become programmers in one of the following ways:

• Study hard and get a job in a software company, or
• They write a program and a friend or colleague declares them as a programmer, or
• They do programming as a hobby.

What do you think a person who has become a programmer just by chance (option 2) or by hobby (option 3) can become a professional programmer, would be aware of all online tools and technologies that is expanding everyday in the industry. I certainly don't think so.

I'm myself a hobbyist programmer and can measure the seriousness and in depth knowledge that I posses with those professional people with whom I work. I've seen them teaching their newly joined colleagues about professional programming, about large code bases and diverse skill levels, and about the consequences that can occur in further managing the website if they do not use those "professional" skills.

A friend of mine, who works with a very successful software development company as a Sr. developer, told me that there is huge gap between a programmer and a professional programmer. He told me that he took around 25 years of working to become a hotshot professional programmer, and it won't have been possible, in case he would join that company. This gives me an idea about the vital significance of a 'company' in becoming a professional programmer. Beyond technical terms, true professional qualities are trustworthiness, teamwork, leadership, communication, constant updating of skills, an interest in minimizing risks and accountability. Let see the significance of these qualities one by one:

Trustworthiness - Is the person capable of respecting the privacy of the clients? Can your project manager trust who with sensitive information?

Teamwork - Do you cooperate with your team members, help them when they need it, and do not get involved in official politics?

Leadership - Do you believe in knowledge sharing and can you delegate your task efficiently?

Communication - Do you respect the people you work with, irrespective of their designation, and above that does the way in which you communicate with them also suggest this?

Updating Skills - Are you aware of the latest methodologies in the industry like eXtreme Programming, new libraries, refactoring tools, standards, file formats and protocols, Unicode, XML, SQL, and all the other acronyms, the platforms that your potential clients are using, about cross platform development etc.? Do you keep yourself and your team members updated?

Minimizing Risks Familiarity - Do you keep track of known bugs in a database so that they can avoided in further implementations

Accountability - Is your software developed according to standards, and have you documented your work, all current and past bugs, progress, problems, signed-off milestones, etc. Documentation at first seems like a non-programming concern until you consider how many people require documentation. Some programmers also need high level, API level and in-code documentation. Project managers need planning, progress, and bug documentation and further your client would need documentation on how to use the software.

In order to become a professional programmer you need to possess a genuine interest in the field. This fact is taken care by software development companies. This is the main reason why companies are preferred to the freelances by clients especially for offshore software development, because they maintain standards.

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