Computers as a Career

Computers as a Career

Thesis: Although computer engineering needs genius minds and their fully responsible behaviour, but, I am ready to take it as a challenging career.

Job Description

The rapid spread of computers in today's society has bought forth the demand for more people to build, write programs for, and repair computers. Computer engineers do the building while computer analysts do the repairs, but the ones that write the programs for these machines are computer programmers.

Profession

Computer programmers write, code, test, and debug detailed instructions for the computer known as programmes (Denning 2004, 22-29). Programmes list in a logical order the steps a computer must execute to perform their function. Programmers often are categorised as technicians (Lavington 1998, 6-13). However, many technical innovations in programming such as advanced computing technologies, sophisticated new languages, and programming tools, have changed the role of a programmer and elevated much of the programming work done today. It is becoming more difficult to distinguish programmers from other computer specialist since job titles shift so rapidly, reflecting new areas of specialisation or changes in technology. Job titles and descriptions also may vary depending on the organization. In this paper, "computer programmer" refers to individuals whose main job function is programming; this group has a wide range of responsibilities and educational backgrounds.

Computer programs tell the computer what to do, such as which information to identify and access (Stokes 2007, 65-78), how to process it, and what equipment to use. Programs vary widely depending upon the type of information to be accessed or generated. For example, the instructions involved in updating financial records are very different from those required to duplicate conditions on board an aircraft for pilots stand training in a flight simulator

Although simple programs can be written in a few hours, programs that use complex mathematical formulas, whose solutions can only be approximated, or that draw data from many existing systems, require more than a year of work. In most cases, several programmers work together as a team under a senior programmer's supervision.

These programs are made up of a series of logical steps that the machine must follow in order for the data to be processed and transformed into usable information. The programmer may use any one of a number of programming languages: COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC are among the older, more common languages. Today, 65 percent of corporate systems still run on COBOL. Programmers should gain familiarity with DB2 and other relational database software. Fourth-generation languages (4GLs) are less procedural and more like natural English, enabling their use for software development by managers and other users. Fifth generation languages (5GLs) include natural and intelligent languages, which are used for software development for artificial intelligence and expert systems.

There are over one thousand computer languages. It is essential that a programmer have a thorough knowledge of the language or languages in which programs are written in the organization where he or she seeks employment. Programmers must further possess a knowledge of general programming techniques and general relationships ...