Work Conditions

For the work conditions, computer programmers often work about 40 to 50 hours a week. However, many work irregular hours each week, depending on how quickly they are able to complete tasks or projects. Sometimes, they have to stay up all night in order to complete projects on time, or they have to stay a little longer at work. However, sometimes they are able to come back from work about an hour earlier depending on if they completed their task for the company or goal yet, or not.

For the work environment, it really varies depending on who you are working for. If someone worked for large business such as Google, their benefits will be a lot better than someone who worked for a private small business. If someone worked for the government, their wages are usually slightly lower, but they will have great benefits. For example, the senior analyst Amy Yu who works for the government has dental and health insurance, and she also gets four weeks of vacation. In addition, they get to work with leading-edge technology, and most companies will do their best to ensure comfortableness while sitting in front of the desk, because they know that as programmers, it is important to have aesthetically designed keyboards, mouse, and chairs. Otherwise long-term injuries may occur. Also, programmers may sometimes go and meet with other programmers from other places to talk about software ideas and needs.

Click on the pictures below to see their titles and to zoom in on them.

Programming	Coding
The work environment The work environment really depends on the company.	Some basic cubicals
At Google, the cubicals are larger	Sometimes extra hours are needed
Intense staring at the screen

Job Satisfaction

One area of job satisfaction that I can expect from working in this occupation is the ability to work with younger people. Due to the IT industry becoming a lot more competitive, many companies are primarily looking for younger people as their new hires. Therefore, in the IT workforce, I will primarily see people who will be of my age when I am at work, which will allow me to make friends that are closer to how old I am and closer to my interests too. In addition, I will get the job satisfaction of knowing that I improved or done something to better our technology. For example, once my computer programming team completed a project, I will feel the satisfaction of getting something done, and also of having improving the technology or software that a company uses. Lastly, I will get the job satisfaction that I will be able to advance or change from career to career in the IT industry. If I realize that I do not like being a computer programmer anymore, I could easily change into a software developer for example. This is because in the IT industry, occupations tend to be quite similar to each other, and are not hard to travel from one occupation to the next. This also makes me feel more secure that I made the right choice of becoming a computer programmer.

Job Stress

One of the job stresses that I can expect working from this occupation, is that the style of working is by completing various projects. Therefore, during the completion of a project and its approaching due date, I will expect stress on finishing it in time. Therefore, I may have to work over-time or late at night in order to finish the goal on or before the due date. I will also have to continuously learn new skills and hone in on my computer skills, so that I will be able to complete the project while putting in as little extra time as possible. In addition, another area of stress that I could expect from this job is stress to my body. Computer programmers sit in front of their desks most of the time, so it is important to have good posture. Otherwise long-term health problems may occur. There will also be eye strain because I will be looking at a computer screen for most of the time, so it is important that I rest my eyes every few minutes to prevent future eye problems. Another stress on my job is the ability to keep up with the growing technology and to ensure that my skills will remain competitive in the IT industry. In order to do so, I must get good work experience, take extra training, and practise coding on my own time. I hope that my computer skills and coding skills will become excellent, and that I will be able to code almost anything. This will come with time and hard work.