Want to get some kind of programming job

[Nozama]

I'm 14 years old and I want to have some job that involves programming when I'm older. What things should I do for this in the near future? At the time I help moderate the articles section of http://www.discreetsys.com, administrator http://www.hackerscode.org and am about to help renovate and repair the website of a construction business.

[Chankama]

Well you are just 14. So make sure you study hard in school for one thing. You need to get into a good university. Do well in computers/math classes. Do programming. Learn C. And then C++.

Essentially learn your languages. After that as you get older, you can learn more and more about proper theory. Data structures, optimization, other relevant fields like security, etc. etc.

At this age, "just learn how to use stuff".

[Nozama]

Thank you for your reply But I'd also like to know of any Colleges I should begin looking into? I already know alot of programming languages like some VBScript, Perl, some C++, PHP, HTML, Javascript. I want to look into C++ since it is probably the most widely used and most customizable language of all. Does anyone know of (or would spend their time finding) any programs out-of-school in Baltimore, Maryland that involve programming or hardware or software development?

[Chankama]

Well. If you want to know where the smartest and brightest go all around the world.. Check out this site.

http://www.acm.org/contest

The site for the International Programming Contest. Universities in the US like MIT and Harvard participate in that too. So it's not just a buncha "crap" universities that just got together to compete with one another ...

Honestly. I have to say that I think you are too young man. You probably won't know what's good or bad just yet. There's a few years ahead of you for you to decide.

But yeah. Be proficient in C/C++. I started doing hardcore C coding when I was 14 years old. After doing that for a year or so, I started doing C++ hardcore. After that I did assembly and some of the other "fluffy" languages like VB and such.

If you have good coding skills and u are good in math, you can pretty much go anywhere u want to in programming. But also, keep the hardware side open. Embedded systems is a good mix .. DSP stuff.. etc.