<p>Hey what's going on? I am currently an "Information Science" major and am taking both Java and VB right now. Anyway, I'm noticing that most of our projects involve having 3 people (myself included) writing code at a time. In these projects it usually comes down to one person writing code, and two people sitting next to him checking for errors and debugging the program. Is this how it is in the actual career field as well, or you do you all get to write your own code? I just don't know how much I would enjoy a career where I am just sitting around correcting other's mistakes.</p>
<p>The majority of software jobs will involve working with other software developers, but that doesn’t mean that you’re all going to be huddled together around a single computer. Instead, each developer will have his or her own set of tasks to complete. So to answer your question, yes, most programmers write their own code… but you may still end up having to fix bugs in other people’s code. </p>
<p>Every job is a little different. I had a friend who was hired as a software engineer but his job mainly consisted of reading and writing documents like software diagrams, requirements, and so on. He quit after half a year. I once had a job at a video game company that used pair-programming and agile development, so I was always working side-by-side with another programmer, all day, everyday. I also had a job where I was often the sole “software guy” on a project, so I basically wrote entire applications by myself.</p>
<p>If you like to hack away on your own, you can find those sorts of jobs, but working on a team can be fun, especially if it’s a team full of pleasant, competent folks.</p>
<p>I suppose that you can look for jobs where you are on your own, but be happy that you are getting state of the art training for your resume.
[Pair</a> Programming](<a href=“Extreme Programming: A Gentle Introduction.”>Pair Programming)</p>
<p>Re: pair programming - It seems that management consulting ideas infect the programming world as well. I don’t doubt that quality is improved in some cases but I hate to see these management concepts touted as uniformly positive. From an organizational behavior/human behavior standpoint the concept sounds fine when you are dealing with two employees of equal ability. I can see though that high talent employees with type A tendencies could be very frustrated in this environment.</p>
<p>So then it’s not that hard to find a job where I am riding solo then? I don’t care if I have to read over other’s programs, I just don’t want to it to be me sitting and watching another person coding all day. If I can get a job other than that, I think I will be okay.</p>
<p>Very few companies are doing all-the-time pair programming. More commonly you will work alone much of the time, but have a peer review process and/or organized group code review meetings. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, the good (and on rare occasions bad) news is that lots of things related to CS/IS are different in the real world than they are in college. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Pair programming was a fad that came and went very quickly. Hopefully companies still aren’t using it.</p>
<p>I worked on a project where we tried it, and we gave up after about three days. Everyone hated it.</p>
<p>Good then it sounds like I don’t have much to worry about then. That’s a relief.</p>
<p>The answer is no. I have several family members in computer science, which includes my own dad. My brother is majoring in it. Most people I know in this field work from home. My dad says he has a group, but the manager assigns each person specific jobs. So no, it pretty much never works that way in the real world. My dad says it never works that way in the real world. I asked him for you. He is an IT manager for one of the biggest software companies (but I cannot post the name because I cannot be identifying)</p>
<p>I hope that helps!</p>
<p>A lot of programmers have the option of working from home a day or two a week, but most programming is done in the office.</p>
<p>“My dad says it never works that way in the real world.” </p>
<p>Never is too strong a word. Sorry, dad.</p>
<p>For example, I am working at a large, profitable internet company (among the top 20 most valuable of all time). We do not do pair/team programming everyday, but we do have “war room” days for big releases when everyone gets together in a room and works to support the release and put out fires.</p>
<p>“Never” may work at dad’s company, but it doesn’t at mine. Most of the time you’re on your own, but teamwork is still an ingredient.</p>
<p>The main lesson here for Jnelson: when you get out into the job market, be aware that different companies have different development cultures. Much like applying for college, applying for jobs will be most fruitful if you focus on finding a culture that is a good fit for you. I like the 90/10 balance of solo vs team work I have here, but for you it might be 50/50. 80/20, or 100/0 that works best. I like coming in to the office most days with occasional work from home, but you might prefer being able to work from home most days with occasional time in the office.</p>
<p>This is what you ask about when the interview inevitably arrives at “So, do you have any questions for us?”</p>
<p>@Stembound</p>
<p>Tell your father, that I said thank you for answering my question.</p>
<p>@DreamSchlDropout</p>
<p>Ok I will make sure and ask the interviewer at the job that I’m applying for if pair programming is a big part of their company. Thanks.</p>