© LogicaCMG 2006. All rights reserved

Programming in the real world

By Marc Atkins BSc(Hons) MSc MBCS

8th December 2006

for internal use only

Career Progression

• MSc graduation November 2002

• Technical support until May 2003

• ENTL group of lightershade, nPlusOne and Lumison May 2003 – February 2006

• Leading Engineer logicaCMG February 2006-

for internal use only

Coding in a small company

• Coding is expensive ~ £100 ph

• Billed in 15 minute slots

• Re-use of code essential to build a code library which reduces cost of project and therefore likelihood of winning future work.

• Expect to bill 5 hours of code per day

• No point writing “bells and whistles” as clients will only pay for what they asked for – code needs to match the spec.

• Coding standards are important to allow ease of re-use and readability.

for internal use only

Edinburgh Campaign

for internal use only

Coding in logicaCMG

• Much more diverse range of roles to ‘choose’ from.

• Version control much more important (essential)

• More thorough documentation

• Each part of the lifecycle treated more or less equally

• Bigger budgets, bigger clients, bigger risk.

• Coding standards enforced with regular code reviews

• Everything is checked and reviewed – even test scripts and test evidence

• More insulated from what is going on around you

for internal use only

Getting a job in the real world

• Getting first job as a programmer is difficult:

– Get a job in IT related field

– Keep up to date with current technologies

– Try to get involved in other technologies in the work place to use as experience

• Don’t price yourself out the market. Salaries rise quickly – (if you are good enough)

• Get your CV out into the world

– Websites (www.jobserve.com / www.s1jobs.com )

– Speculative letters

– Networking events such as BCS

– Graduate recruitment…………