From: Orion 1024 <Orion1024 AT aol DOT com>
Message-ID: <710151fd.34c10b70@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 14:50:06 EST
To: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Interview with programmers
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My name is Chris Kempfert and I am a college student at FCCJ in Jacksonville
Florida.  My English class has been assigned to do an interview paper on a
subject that interests us.  As an aspiring programmer, I have chosen to
interview people with expertise in the field of computer programming.
If you would be willing to answer a list of questions about your work
experience in the programming field, I would greatly appreciate it.  If you
are willing to do this, there is a list of questions below asking about the
various aspects of your job. 
Feel free to exceed the boundaries of the questions by mentioning any other
aspects of your job that come to mind.  When you are satisfied with your
responses to the questions, please email them to me at    Orion1024 AT AOL DOT com.  

(please include your name so I can put them in the paper as well)

I want to thank in advance anyone that helps me out with the interview.
I have been trying to get in contact with professional programmers for the
last four days or so, but with no success.

Thank you for your time and response.
____________________________________________________________________

                 Questions to ask for interview on computer programming


1.     What are the opportunities available today for a computer programmer?
        In other words, what is the current demand for programmers and what
        specific types of jobs do they maintain?

2.     What are the different aspects of computer programming that you have
been
        involved with in your career?  Which ones did you favor and why?
       
3.     Do you foresee an eventual decline in the demand for programmers or
will
        the demand increase?  What factors could potentially affect the need
for
        programmers in the workplace? 

4.     How much effort would be involved for a college graduate with an AS
        degree in computer programming to find an entry-level programming job?
       
5.     What is the typical starting salary for a junior programmer?  Would a
junior
        programmer with a BS degree receive more pay than a junior programmer
        with an AS degree?
        
6.     What is involved in being promoted from a junior programmer to a
        senior programmer?  What is the typical amount of time this process
        would take?
                   
7.     What is a typical work-day like for you?  In other words, how many
        hours a day do you usually spend working and what are all the
different
        phases of the development cycle you are involved in?  What procedures
        are involved in each of these steps of program development?

8.     How much of your work are you allowed to do at home in lieu of going
        in to your office?  Do you find this to be more of an asset or a
liability for
        you?

9.     What is the work atmosphere like at your job?  Is there a sense of
        camaraderie with your fellow programmers, or is it more typical of
        any other job?  Do you think your work atmosphere is indicative of
        other programming jobs?
              
10.    How prevalent is the use of C and C++ in the workplace for building
various
         applications?  Will C and C++ continue to be as popular over the next
ten
         years or so?
       
11.   Is maintaining program portability important in your job?  
        If program portability is of concern, what are the methods you use to
maintain
        that portability across platforms?
       
12.   With respect to your programming, how do you keep up with the rapid
        advances in todays computer technology?  In what ways do these
        technological advances affect your job?  Do you think innovations on
the
        hardware side are outpacing the ability of programmers to stay abreast
of
        these advances?
          
13.   What are the difficulties of working on a project with several other
        programmers?  Do programming style issues exist, or is everyone
basically
        on the same level with each other?
       
14.   If you ever worked on another co-workers code, how well structured and
        organized was it?  Was their code easy to modify?

15.   Where would a programmer learn how to write specific types of
applications
         such as videogames and implementing 3D graphics systems?

16.   What advice in general would you give to someone who ultimately wanted a
         career in computer programming?
____________________________________________________________________