hello nairalanders,
l just got admitted to study systems engineering at unilag and l want to become a very good systems programmer before l leave school, l have the brains but lack the materials to begin programming, l will really appreciate if anyone could help by telling me what l require to begin a career in systems programming , certification exams that will match my undergraduate programme, And also any free materials will be most welcome,

l will be very grateful if my request be granted
thanx____ philoo

first of all, i want you to understand thaere is a big difference between going for IT certifications and aiming at being a very good programmer. if you want to boost your CV go for certification but if you want to be a good coder, you don't really eed all those certifications stuff (at least from starts).

if you wanna do programming start with VB6 or VB.NET.they are both very easy to understand and very powerful, i like to add that programming requires first class passion

Becomming a programmer (or a software developer) is not that tough. Its requires more from your internal world that other external factors. The most important factor is your passion. You need to develop a great ("crazily" borning desire for creating a good quality software. Resolve within yourself to give it all it takes to produce the next generration of software that can fit into a global scale. After all these, then we can start to talk of where to start and want to do on each stage. Let me use my own experience to advice you how you may need to channel your movement. I am also a self made crazy software developer that asked these set of questions like you are asking right now in my infant stage of programming (precisely in my undergraduate days). Find below a list of steps. I think this will help you. I tried them from intuition and it worked perfectly for me. In your own case, enviroment will even favor you the more and you may get there even faster and with a relative amount of ease.

1.) Get a good PC.
You will need to have a good computer (desktop/laptop) laptop perferably for mobility reason.

2.) Decide which language (or technology) you want start with.
The major two competing leading technologies in the world of software and/or web development today are : Java and .NET (pronounced dot net). You can choose any of these technologies to start with. Although, other languages also exist like PHP, Perl, Rubby etc

3.) Gather study materials(books and videos) on your chosen technology or language.
Thank God for the internet, today its now possible to access good resources from the internet almost free of charge. Most expecially, for software development, there is a lot of resources (books, vodeos, journals, articles, weblogs, forums) that you can get absolotely fee of charge. Let me give you just a few online resources that i a have used in the recent past.
Books: www.ebookshare.net, www.4sahred.com
Videos: www.asp.net
articles: www.codeproject.com, www.javaworld.com, www.aspalliance.com
weblogs: www.joelonsoftware.com
forum: www.forums.microsoft.com/MSDN
and many more. The list unending. Just ask google the right questions.

4.) The Internet
This is not mandatory, But it is neccassary. As we all know, internet is a best source of information and resources.

5.) One or more developer friend(s).
This aspect is very important for a newbie in software development. The reason is simple. This is the person that will be putiing you through most of the time when you run into troubles. I believe there is a lot of crazy passionate developers on nairaland. You can decide making some of the your friend in case of when you will need thier assistance. Also you may find friends in your school or your enviroment. Enquire about the programmer in your community. Make them good friends so they can put you thruogh.

6.) Last but not the least, YOUR TIME
This is the most important in all that i have mentioned. You really have to be ready to give a lot of your time to it. This is one of the best venture of out time. But the funny thing is it does not require any capital. All the capital required is your time. You must be ready to sacrifice a lot your time, both day and night. I can remember when i was still in school, i used to be a student in the day and a CODER in the night. I am sure you can guess what that means. Thank God today, I am happy for it because, i am of the craziest passionate developers that Nigeria can be proud of. I major in PAYMENT and FINANCIAL solutions.

You may be surprised that i did not mention names of big IT Institutions around. The reason is simple. For you to be a good developer, you many not neccessarily go to any of those big-named schools. Even if you do, you will still need to follow the above metioned steps. I happened to be a trainer in a number of those schools before i changed fully to real development. I know what kind of stuffs they discharge. This does not condemn going there to learn more. But it does not really contribute, in great proportion as may be expected, to you becomming a BAD CODER tomorrow.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF CODERS,

and have a nice time(s) Coding!

Ahmed, Thanx for the advic. I wld like to av your email addy, mine is dahyooh@yahoo.com, You r too loaded. GOD BLESS for the info I'm expectin your mail soon.

Hi, Ahmed, why do you hide ue email address. Pls let me have it . I got a deal. reach me on bigstar4sure@yahoo.com.
Thanks

@ Poster
I believe you already know that by you choosing to be a system programmer, your main focus is to write programs to maintain/control computer systems software for operating/network and database systems

I'll advice you to learn C and C++ and also learn the main concepts of procedural programming

@poster visit www.examdeal.com 4 the latest

Philoo, can you think of an example project you will like to work on? Or an idea you admire and you would like to program? That will help you in selecting the right languages to use, and will allow you to focus on being result-oriented and the whole software development process.

you would have to invest am afraid

nothing comes easy and cheap nowadays!!

Hello Coders and friends, how will it cost to get started cos am in the same position as philio. I will like to go into software development. e.g game softwares. Also i want to ask, is multimedia and catooning programming?

tANKS

l thank you all who contributed to this post,
l am most grateful ,
now l have a head-on,
l would really want to specialize in systems securities, so l think l have to start with the c-programming ,
thank you all once again


GOD BLESS ALL NAIRALANDERS

Really!

Ahmedguru: Please edit your post - it's www.4shared.com

guys in the house you too much i want to know how to be a good programme decoder too plz, this is my mail de.joshua1996@yahoo.com i need ur help , thanks

If anyone can help, i need 2 know how to use sql server database with VB 6.0 application. I need it

Hi Philo, U really need a detailed guide; becos in system programming u need to appreciate both hardware and software interactions and not just a programming language. try contacting me for adequate guide. 07036340903 or naturatis@gmail.com

seek you shall find
ask you shall recieve
knock the door will be opened to you.

submit yourself under a made programmer and add your own creativity.

Hello Philo. I graduated from Systems Engineering Unilag. I will advise you to stick with Ahmed's advice. I think that it's right on point. As per programming language of choice, I will really suggest C++. It's still the most versatile programming language in the world. Once you understand the underlying concepts in C++ (particularly OOP), you can easily migrate to other langauges (Java, .NET, PHP).

I must inform you that Systems Engineering is not primarily about programming or software development (a good systems engr can do this well). It's basically about developing (Engineering) systems and ensuring that the sub-units work effectively according to user requirements. This involves a lot of calculation and modelling, that's why we program a lot. One of the reason I suggest C++ is because you can get opensource libaries to help you in some of the work you'll do. MATLAB also supports C++ very well. Oh no! I didn't mention MATLAB? Love it baby. You can't survive long without it (Robotics, Operational Research, Image Processing, Control Systems, Statistics, Neural Networks, Symbollic Maths, Signal Processing , ).

Finally, if you're adventurous, you may want to use Linux instead of Windows. You can learn a lot from studying other peoples' code. I also think that it's a good OS for learning about computing. Besides, I use C++ QT graphical framework for GUI's and I think it's far easier than Microsofts MFC. You will also learn so much about systems security and get the chance to study the source code of major cryptography algorithms even down to hardware implementation (by studying the OS kernel source code)

Bottomline, love C++ and MATLAB. Start now, you won't regret it. You can do .NET and Java later. Before I forget, keep natura's contact details in case you want to get your hands dirty with hardware programming. I have only programmed PIC chips and I can tell you that you definitely need someone to guide you especially if you're using Assembly language.

I'm going to bed. Cheers!

NB: If you don't understand a lot of what I've said or are confused somehow, welcome to Systems Engineering. Finally you have a chance to use that brain of yours. Hopefully, UNILAG won't sweep you off your feet completely

Hi guys, this is also interesting. I ve been looking for this kind of forum to discuss about software development, though I m not that computer literate. Let say 50/100 but i so much love this aspect of computing. Can someone recommend a good School around Ajah axis thet one can register for this course. Or is it only offer as a degree course in universities?

@POSTER

Stay blessed.

This was actually what I meant to write.I tender my unreserved apologies to all offended parties.

@ Pap, why do I have a feeling that you posted to the wrong board? Mild retardation is really not a nice term to use especially for someone like philo that wants has a plan for school.

Philo, don't worry, you'll meet more people like pap that don't understand you.

Stay blessed.

and can a lady with social Science background fair well in this area

@poster

you need attitude to be a good programmer. First dont expect anything for free you have to be ready to invest i.e you time money and all sorts.

dude anyone that likes programming and IT is my friend so as friends i recommend u to firstly focus on JAVA,the best programing lang. ever made.this said get a copy of JAVA,HOW TO PROGRAM 7TH EDITION by DEITEL & DEITEL, after that spend good devoted time to practice,if u bcome an expert sun microsystems certification exam might be a plus.good luck

Your focus and concentration matter alot in becoming a good systems programmer.

Best of luck!

Best of luck in your quest for knowledge. You may get more help from htlmltakl..com, I will continue researching on your behalf.

This trend should be nominated for best trend.

Poster
OK. . . .

Hi nairalanders plz i need ur advice on what certificatn i need 2 hav as a student studyn electrical & electronic. Plz i dont know where 2 stat

Go for MCSE Microsoft Certified System Engineer. google more info on it