6 Misconceptions About Programming and Programmers

To normal people, programmers may look mysterious. Kind of like an alien species who is addicted to being hunched over a computer screen. Gathered from books and most importantly, movies, society has gotten some wrongful conventions over what programming is and what a “true programmer” should look like. With the world being as stereotypical as it is, people get a general image of what a group of people should look like. Most, if not all the stereotypes, are incorrect:

1. Programming is difficult

Wrong! Nothing is difficult when you are determined to know it. And as cliché as this may sound, it is the truth. People normally think programming is difficult owing to the rumors they hear. Truth is, once you start from the basics, it gets easier. At first sight, the numerous terms, languages, and whatnots may seem strange and threaten to give you a headache. Don’t hurry through it. Work according to your pace, start from beginner level and progress slowly. You can take help of these 5 Best Online Programming Courses for Beginners.

Programming languages are so called because they are like languages, say French for example. You don’t begin learning French by having fluent conversations. You may first learn salutations, basic expressions, conjugation, etc. With the more time you spend learning and speaking it, you gain fluency. Same goes for programming languages. Each one has its rules of operation. If you understand them, it gets better. It’s easier to try to master one programming language or concept before moving over to the next.  With enough learning, you could begin “speaking” the language. Check these 5 Easiest Programming Languages.

2. Programming is for smart people

Being smart is necessary for computer programming, as it is in every other aspect of life. But people get the concept of smartness wrong. No, you don’t need to have an IQ of 140+ to write a program. The previous point already established that programming is NOT difficult. Keep it in mind that one does not need to be a genius like Einstein to succeed as a programmer.

3. All programmers are nerds

Hollywood has led people to believe that programmers necessarily have to wear big thick-framed glasses, lack a fashion sense and spend all their time learning/writing code. Well, the last point is true, in most cases. Still, a lot of stereotypes should be abandoned. No, not all programmers wear glasses. Yes, some programmers know their fabrics and can pull off a red-carpet-worthy look when a need arises. Just because your program doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look attractive from time to time.

Admittedly, there are perks of being an introverted programmer. But not everyone fits this profile. Not all programmers spend their day locked up in a room with nothing but their laptops and a cup of coffee as companions. Not all of them are shy, quiet creatures. They can be talkative. They can be outgoing. They can be extroverts who party like no other. The level of social interaction varies depending on the person.

4. All programmers are male

Gender inequality aside, this is false. Female programmers are like the white-horned rhino of the animal kingdom. Yes, they are rare. But they are alive. In the male-dominated field of computer programming, women are “endangered species”. They may be, but they’re not dying out. In fact, their population increases by the day. Look around! Female programmers will do their job well, and look sexy while doing it. You’ll be surprised to know that the first ever programmer to write a code was Ada Lovelace, a female. You can read more about her in our list of Five Women Who Changed Modern Technology and Science.

5. All programmers are single

Just no. Come on, they are humans too. Strange humans, but still humans. As such, they have feelings. And although they generally find it harder to display these feelings to someone and translate it into a relationship, they do try. And those that succeed enjoy beautiful relationships.

Male programmers tend to look for female programmers to share their lives. Admit it, it sounds cute to have that perfect person to spend time and write code together with (#RelationshipGoals).  But there will always be exceptions. There are no rules in the complex dating world. In some cases, opposites will attract.

Also read: How does Programming influence daily life – Life of a Programmer

Programmers value their time, which is spent on coding tasks. If they can sacrifice coding to spend time with you, it means you are important. There’s no time to play around with your feelings. They can be romantic too, especially when it comes to digital communications. When the relationship gets too stressful to handle, they could write a program or bot to handle the texting, calling and sending daily romantic emails to them. Their partner will never even know the difference.

Also read: 10 Funny and Interesting Facts About Programming

6. Programming is all about coding

Haha! Two minutes of silence for anyone out there who believes this. You think writing a thousand lines of code makes your job complete? Wrong! There’s always more to be done. Always room for improvement. And writing code is the easy part. Debugging is trickier. Your compiler will give you an error and warning messages. You’ll try to fix that and get more errors and warnings. You will probably cry a few times and maybe give up on programming. Don’t.

Just when you have successfully compiled your program, free of any bugs, you will think you are done. But then, you have a documentation to write!