From making video games that you have on your shelf, to letting your smart fridge connect to Amazon, programmers make some of the most important and entertaining software. Programmers build the code that runs the many apps, websites, and software that you and I use on a daily basis. Without programmers, computers, phones, and many other things would just be a bunch of metal and plastic. I have been playing video games since I can remember, learning code is easier than ever, and there’s tons of people who are looking for programmers to hire. For these reasons, I want to become a programmer for different games and software. 

I have been playing video games since I was 3 years old. The first game that I remember playing was Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and I loved that game. What I enjoyed about that game was that it was fun to play and it offered the right amount of challenge for me when I was younger. As I got older and continued playing video games, I started to get interested in how these were made. I would watch documentaries behind the development of these games and was fascinated by how they were able to make them. I also saw videos that breakdown the code and mechanics of some of my favorite games. Another thing that helped me get interested in programming through games is the modding communities for games. They modify the files of games to add or remove stuff from games. This then led me to how people made software for computers in general and I thought that it was very interesting. This would then lead me to wanting to learn how to write code. 

Learning the basics of coding is easier than it ever has been. Not only are there tons of books used by some of the smartest programmers available, there’s other places where you can learn the basics. There’s hundreds of videos that talk about the different programming languages, their difficulty to learn, and where you can practice writing in that language. If you want to further your knowledge on programming, there’s classes that can teach you more. If you’re stuck on something, there’s a welcoming community that can share advice and tips on how to overcome that problem. You can also use what you know from coding to modify games, which can be great practice for when you make one from scratch. While learning how to write code may be easier, programming is still very difficult even if you learn everything there is to know. So why pursue this career, to simply put it, there’s lots of people hiring and they pay well. 

There are tons of people who are looking to hire programmers to help build websites, apps, and other software. I just checked if Microsoft is hiring and the first position that was shown was a software engineer. Software engineers are similar to programmers, the main difference is programmers usually focus on a single stage in development while software engineers oversee development from start to finish. Not only that, but there are multiple openings for software engineers available just in Chicago alone. It’s not just Microsoft hiring either, there are multiple companies and smaller businesses that are looking for programmers. Also, programmers are relatively flexible on where they can work. Most programmers work at an office, but they can also work anywhere that they can have a computer and internet access. Okay, that may all sound good, but how much do they pay? Most programmers can make $60k-$100k a year. I don’t know about you but that seems like a decent amount for me.

I used to play games for hours and hours back when I was younger. Ever since I got interested in the development of games, I was able to find many ways to learn the basics of coding. I can use that interest to find multiple job opportunities from multiple well paying companies. I have been playing video games since I can remember, learning code is easier than ever, and there’s tons of people who are looking for programmers to hire. Through working on different software, I can help make peoples’ lives easier and happier.