An interesting thread is going around asking how you got started in Software Development.  It seems fun and since Mads tagged me, I thought I’d fess up as well.

How old were you when you started programming?

I guess I started programming when I was about 12 or 13 on my Commodore 64.  It was nothing too wild.  My big project was something I did for the science fair at school.  I had played around with Apple graphics stuff prior to my Commodore, but never got much beyond some simple graphics stuff (and Ultima II) with them.

How did you get started in programming?

I was always interested in computers growing up and after much begging, my parent’s got me a Commodore 64 for Christmas one year.  I played tons of games on that thing, but I did begin to get interested in making them do more.  When I had the chance to actually learn some programming in High School, I knew I’d like it.  So the Commodore 64 sparked the interest, and 2 high school classes got me started doing much more than the very basics.

What was your first language?

My first language was Basic.

What was the first real program you wrote?

Real?  I guess that science fair project was real as I didn’t fail science.  It had something to do with the periodic table, but I can’t really remember. 

What languages have you used since?

Pascal, Fortran, Lisp, Cobol, C, C++, Assembly, FoxPro, FilePro, Visual Basic, ASP, C#, ASP.NET, JavaScript and probably a few others I’ve missed.

What was your first professional programming gig?

My first programming job was with a real estate appraisal firm.  I got a lot of experience there doing everything from setting up Unix servers, to managing GIS projects, to programming.  It was a very interesting job and I stayed there for almost 5 years.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?

Probably.  I still find software development challenge and rewarding. 

However, I was highly skilled in kicking a soccer ball as a freshman in high school.  I was terrible at soccer, but I could shoot hard and place the ball well.  If I knew that kicking field goals might make for a nice living, I might have worked in that direction a bit.  With a bit of luck (ok, ok, a ton of luck), I’d be about to head off to training camp for my 15th NFL season with the San Diego Chargers.  If that had not worked out, I’d probably fall back on Software Development.

What is the one thing you would tell new developers?

Read other peoples code and let them read yours.

Reading code is an obvious statement as everyone has searched for a code sample of something or other.  However, reading beyond a short snippit to see a larger picture and to learn new ways to do things, not just specific functions.  There is just something about a reading through a well thought out project to see how the developers made it work.

Also, don’t be afraid to show others your code.  Ideally, you can check out ego at the door while you show your code to the other developers.  While you might not like the feedback you get all the time, you will often learn new ways of looking at something as well as better ways to do things.

Its all about continual improvement!

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?

Probably building my first web site.  I made a web store, GameSurplus.com back in 2000.  It may have been the ugliest web store to ever exist, but I had fun building it and running it.  (The new owners gave it a face lift.) 

I didn’t really planned on actually building a full web store.  At first, I just bought a bunch of games to sell on eBay.  Then I thought I’d make a static one page site, listing what games I had for sale so people could buy them direct and I could avoid the eBay fees.  It just keep growing and growing and I never really planned it all out.  Next, I added a database to update the games and stock.  Shortly afterward, a shopping cart and PayPal checkout were added.  It went on and on.  (Credit cards, Shipping calculators, tracking numbers, pre-orders, internal inventory reports, etc.)

It was fun as I never knew what it was going to need next and often my wife would work with me helping me to see the best way for the site or admin features to work.  My favorite feature was setting it up to automatically print out all the orders as they came in.  It was always fun to come home for the day and see a nice stack of orders on the printer.

Outgoing?

I guess I get to tag some others, so a few of the people who I’d be interested in hearing from would be Ruslan Tur, Steve Eichert, and Steve Harman.

The second Philly Code Camp of the year was this past Saturday and it was a good one.  (I guess my experience tells me they are always "good ones", but it is worth stating that it was in fact good up front.)  Hats off to the Philly.NET crew.  They really do a fantastic job of putting a code camp together.  It was very well organized and really ran through without a hitch.

This was my first time speaking at a code camp and it was a very interesting experience.  While I thought I was ready to present when I arrived, my Macbook Pro, Vista, and the projector had other ideas.  Since I was first up, I was able to get into the room early and get setup.  If it were not for this extra time, my session would have been a disaster.  I wasted about 15 to 20 minutes trying to get the projector to work off my Boot Camp partition (booting directly into Vista) but it wasn't to be.  (And here I thought it would be my best bet.)  Anyway, I finally booted to the Mac OS, and run my presentation through Fusion.  It worked like a champ, but I had wasted the initial 10 minutes of the presentation.

It was a rough start and not exactly what I had planned, but after things settled down, all seemed to go well.  (Ok, I had no further technical difficulties and no one threw rotten vegetables at me.)  In reflection, there are lots of things I'd have changed, but it was all a great learning experience.  I'm sure I had too many uhs and umms, in the talk and I knew I rushed it a bit as I had planned a full agenda and was now working with a compressed time frame.  So it goes.

Beyond my session, I enjoyed a number of interesting sessions and had some nice conversations.  The sessions I attended were all very good and really showed the passion of the presenters.  These people made you want to dig further into the topic after you left the session which is the mark of success in my book.  I never seem to get to talk to all the people I had planned to, but I will admit that by the end of the day, I was exhausted and just ready to go home.  I think I'll make sure I'm better rested for next time.

If you came by looking for my code samples from the presentation.  I will make them available in the next day or so.  Sorry for the delay.

The beginning if a new year is a common time to look back over the past 12 months to evaluate what you did, where you went, and where you are going.  Without boring you to death, I thought I'd share a few things I learned and a few things I hope to do better in the coming year.

Learned

1. If you aren't growing, move

I had become stagnant in my previous job and had known for a while it was holding me back professionally, but it is hard to leave a secure job.  However, last spring it become very clear to me, I was going to continue to get frustrated in my position and this summer found a new opportunity closer to home that I'm happy with.  My new job keeps me working full time in the technology that I enjoy and has cut down on my frustration 10 fold.  I feel less stressed and I'm becoming a better developer every day.

2. Don't be afraid to share

For years, I kept thinking that I should get involved helping with an open source project.  I thought about many projects at many times, but was always a bit timid to dig in and submit patches and new features.  It was easiest to keep on the fringe and do nothing.  Early this year however, I decided to stop procrastinating and do something.  I ran across the BlogEngine.NET project very early in its life cycle and offer to do whatever was needed to help.  It has been a wild ride that has been a great.  I've met a ton of nice people, learned quite a bit, and have a something I'm excited to be a part of.  I only wish I had done something like this sooner.

3. I can't learn everything about everything

I spend a lot of time every week reading, studying, and trying new technologies.  It seems the more time I put in the less I know.  In years past, I tried unsuccessfully to read and learn a little about anything and everything.  In the past I've kept a huge reading list I would never get through a feel a bit lame about not having learned some of this stuff.  This year, I just learned to let go of some things.  I still like to get a general idea of most of the major topics in my development world, but I've focused my studying on smaller areas and going deeper.  No guilt, no stress, and better learning.

For 2008:

1. Get more active in the developer community

I see this as an extension of my open source lesson from 2007.  I can only see advantages of getting more active, learning to know new people, sharing ideas, and working together.  I guess we'll see how I do this, but I think it will be a combination of live events, participation on community sites, and blogging.  I'm already registered for the January Philly Code Camp and Mix 08.  If you're going to either of these, introduce yourself.

2. Prioritize my time better

This will be a daily challenge for me.  I think I made some good strides in this area in the past year, but I want more.  I know my priorities in life.  However, it is easy to get off track and waste time on something that I really don't need, care about, or even enjoy.  I've already started to plan better over the past few weeks and hope to continue to do so.  I need to come up with better ways to take advantage of small pockets of time that I come across as well.

3. Reach outside

Sometimes you just need to add something different in the mix to see how it works.  I've started to read a few blogs that our outside of the development areas I work in.  I hope to find a few more gems over the coming year.  I don't want to study these things in depth, but just get a little insight into what others are learning, enjoying, and interested in.

Landon Xavier Nyveldt joined the family this past Friday morning.  We had a scheduled C-section so while he wasn't a surprise, the "he" part was.  (We elected to not know the gender beforehand.)  Landon was born at 10:39am weighing 8 lbs even and measuring in at 19 and 1/2 inches long.

Shelah, Landon, and I spent just over 2 days at the hospital.  It was a time of sleep, rest and more sleep for Shelah and Landon.  Dad got plenty of rest too mixed in with trying to be helpful and catching up on some reading.

Shelah and baby are doing fine and just got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon.  In the evening, the rest of the Nyveldt clan (Betsy - age 5, Jack - age 4, and Bria - age 2) came home and the party has begun.  The kids seem very please with their little brother.

I'll be spending the week at home helping out and enjoying some quality family time.  With Shelah recovering from the operation, I imagine I'll be plenty busy.

I've posted more pictures over on our family web site for friends and family.  The private galleries were these pictures are require a password however.  (Friends/Family who read this and need the password, should email or call me for it.)

With many apologies to Eric Sink, I'm finally getting around to paying up for my sourcegear shirt tonight.  Many moons ago, Eric offered sourcegear t-shirts for the simple price of posting a picture wearing the shirt.  I figured it would be easy, but alas, I never got around to holding up my end of the deal.

A recent hard drive crash has me looking at backed up pictures and I noticed a few included me and the shirt.  This jogged my memory and had me search through my file for the note that came with the shirt and the details of my end of the deal.

So here are some pictures with the shirt for your viewing pleasure along with my calves who were born in October.

Note: the pictures aren't likely exactly what Eric and his team were looking for, but they will hopefully give a smile and even us up none the less.  The calves (Flower and Woof) seemed to enjoy tasting the shirt after there evening meal.