Life of A Computer Programmer

  A television is nothing without its channels while a computer is nothing without its programs. There is a field of technology, undervalued by others, yet quietly contributing to us with their hard work for our leisure and ease in performing tasks using computers. These people are called computer programmers.

  A computer programmer is an individual responsible for writing and designing programs regarding to the use of computers. The duty of a computer programmer depends on the position, company management structure and economic situation of the world market. Some programmers will have specified tasks and roles to accomplish while others are required to cover a wide range of work in their everyday life.

  As a son of a computer programmer, it is observable that my father lives a very busy life. Competition is high in the technology firms due to the number of programmers present in the present now. With the family depending on him, he is required to leave the house early in the morning and to come back around nine in the night, only having a short 1 hour lunch break before continuing his work again.

  After a number of years, his hard work had finally paid off- it brought him up to a good position in the hierarchy of his company, from a small newly experienced working clerk to a high profile IT manager who is respected by his groups and staffs.

  From the interview conducted with my father, the responsibility of a computer programmer varies accordingly to the position and rank in the hierarchy. The aim of the technology department of his company, HSBC, a large international bank corporate with over 7,200 offices amongst 85 different countries, is to develop new computer programs as well as improving the pre-existing programs present regarding to the needs of the company.

  As a fresh seed in the company 10 years ago, my dad’s responsibility was more to carrying out orders like writing and establishing the coding of his own assigned task. Gradually rising up to higher positions, there was a shocking fact where the requirement of knowledge and understanding based on technology in his duties were slowly depleting.

  However, his jobs and tasks are starting to focus more on giving out orders to the staffs under him. Supervisory roles are given to him where he is in charge of distributing the tasks and roles among his staffs to meet the target, at the same time overseeing the work of his co-workers and subordinates, occasionally hiring and training new employees, hence taking action if one does not meet with the standards of the company.

  Sometimes, my father’s team will be handed tasks regarding to maintenance of company’s data such as updating new data and storing old data away or upgrading the database system of the company.

  For every fixed period of time, he is required to submit a report that involves a series of graphs, tables and analytical data that displays the progress of the creation of the program and the performance of a program. But before that, various tests fulfilling certain criterion should be run on the program to verify that no errors are present in the coding and is fit to be included in the main program

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   With the saying “A king is nothing without his people”; a leader is nothing without his group members. As an IT manager, my father relies deeply on his team to produce a good product, where each individual has a different role that contributes to the end product. The basic structure of an IT team consists of system analysts, program managers, program developers, and last but not least, the programmers.

  A system analyst is responsible for identifying necessities in the company’s preexisting programs by researching, planning, installing, configuring, troubleshooting, and maintaining. By the completion of analyzing the program, the system analyst has to design upgrades or new programs to boost performance while saving costs, handing down the requirements and criterion of the program that are needed to be fulfilled to the program manager.

  The role of a program manager is to ensure that the program meets the requirements and to plan the project so that it remains within the budget in addition to meeting the deadline. Hence, the program manager is also responsible for dividing the tasks amongst the fellow programmers working in the programming team.

  Being a programmer, the basic building blocks of the IT compartment, as pre-mentioned, is in charge of  writing out the coding for the tasks allocated to them. It is a position that every tech graduates will experience by joining any corporate as this allows them to observe and understand the infrastructure of the company, and gain enough experience to understand programming in real life to manage people efficiently.

  In the development of company programs, HSBC’s IT department uses multiple platforms such as IBM series, AIX (UNIX), Windows 2000, Windows 7, LINUX and programming languages such as iSeries (RDGICE), COBOL, Java, Lotus Domino etc. The usage of the different platforms and programming languages is determined by the complexity and criticalness of the program.

  Java, famous for its platform-independent characteristics in reference to the ability to be supported by various operating platforms, enabling flexibility in programs, it is used as front end tools to allow interactions with the user and program. Examples of programs used by the bank are its website, http://www.hsbc.com.my/, and the user interfaces of the ATM machines.

  With the IBM iSeries programming language supporting automation features, it is used as the bank’s core system where self-managing, self-healing features could be run by the program automatically as it manages transactions, deposits, loans and banking features automatically, transferring the data into the bank’s database. 

  As for internal office uses, Lotus Domino is a programming language specially designed for interactive uses where programs are developed to manage company claims and leaves made by the employees. COBOL is also used for report generating programs programmed by programmers to allow them to keep track of the situation.

  Overall, being a programmer, skills do not solely apply to only programming itself, however, it also requires social and leadership skills to allow the employees to communicate and stand out in the eyes of boss. Of course, one could remain in the status quo for many years, while some can work harder and get a raise in position. “No pain, no gain”, most importantly, be hardworking and never give up on your goals in life, no matter what.

Bibliography

1.       Interview with Mr. Koh Wai Hoo (IT manager of HSBC Tech Department)

2.       “Advantages of Java." Advantages of Java. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v7r1/topic/com.ibm.aix.prftungd/doc/prftungd/advantages_java.htm>.

3.       "ISeries 810." IBM. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/iseries/810/index.html>.

4.       "News and Insight." HSBC. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.hsbc.com/>.

5.       Rocking, Bhargav. "Responsibilities of System Analyst." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/38622599/Responsibilities-of-System-Analyst>.

6.       "The Role of a Computer Programmer." The Role of a Computer Programmer. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/career-tracks/the-role-of-a-computer-programmer.html>.