Advice for a beginner

[PatrickIRL]

Hi all,

This is not for me. I've been asked by my nephew, who's interested in becoming a programmer, for some advice. I've no idea where to start, I can give him books, but don't have time to spend with him to answer his questions.

Other than tek-tips, do you have any suggestions, links, recommend books, etc that might help?

Appreciate anything.

Thanks, Patrick

 

[Stella740pl]

Kind of a wide area to give advice, in the absence of particular questions or particular areas of interest, or any information at all.
How old is he? Is he in junior high/high school and wants to try something on his own first, or planning to go to college soon? Is he an adult that already working somewhere and wants to switch fields?

When I was in high school and was considering computer-related college majors, a friend's mother took me to work. She was a mainframe programmer. She showed me around, explained what they did, and it all impressed me so deeply, I decided that I want to do this. Everything else I learned first in college, then during work for professors and internships, then at work - from books, older colleagues, and personal experience (never actually worked with mainframe, though). I don't know how this would apply to your nephew, but it worked for me.

 

[MDXer]

First step is for your nephew to decide what interests him. I have many QA and help desk people at my company who want to join development, but can't decide if they want to do app development or DB development. People excel faster at something they enjoy doing so I first tell them to decide what development they enjoy.

Shoot Me! Shoot Me NOW!!!
- Daffy Duck

 

[lespaul]

also, depending on age, there are several cities that have a "high tech" highschool (albuquerque is one and it's based on one in San Diego). Have him search for one in his area.

Here's a link to the abq school:

http://www.hthabq.org/

and the San Diego:

http://www.hightechhigh.org/schools/HTH/

and the non profit org that supports development (associated with the SD school):

http://www.hightechhigh.org/

Leslie

Anything worth doing is a lot more difficult than it's worth - Unknown Induhvidual

Essential reading for anyone working with databases:
The Fundamentals of Relational Database Design
Understanding SQL Joi

 

[PatrickIRL]

Thanks for all the tips, I realise now I didn't give enough information, apologies.

<Stella740pl>
He is 21, currently working for a manufacturing company but he really wants to get into programming. No experience, but that's no barrier. He has an idea for a course, I've steered him, rightly or wrongly, towards either C++, Java and .NET

<MDXer>
Fair point, could well be that once he's sees something such as DBA or N/W admin he might say "YES!!!". Gotta run this by him, interesting.

<lespaul>
We live in Ireland but again we have some pretty high tech schools and colleges where he could do something. As I stated to Stella740pl, he is interested in a course of some sort, but doesn't know yet.

Thanks to all of you for your time on this, I really appreciate it. I suppose next step will be to talk to him about this and see what area he wants to work.

Patrick

 

[Onyxpurr]

Is he more creative or analytical?

I'm more analystical so I do a lot of SQL reporting. And I love it!!

However, if he's more inclined towards creative, I might suggest web programming or software development. Perhaps even gaming programming??

 

[prosper]

Being Analystical does not represent he is good with SQL. A beginner in computing may be not so analystical.
I think some tests or introduction material may help him a bit.
I am aslo analystical and I would like to analyze the pattern of data but I focus more on programming. (If I am better in SQL, I may get a higher salary...)