Article’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

In every article in this series, we set out to accomplish one or more objectives (the “O” in OKRs), and the success of these objectives will be measured by or determined by some key results (the “KRs” in OKRs). The key results are the specific concepts or ideas you will learn and the steps you will take to accomplish the objective(s).

In this article, we set out to accomplish the following objectives, all of which you will realize when you read the article and complete the exercises at the end:

• Understand why you need a goal and a purpose before you make any plans and commitments for a career in programming.
• Understand how your goal and purpose will help you succeed in your programming education and your career.
• Find your goal and purpose, and use them to make definitive plans for your programming career, including your selection of the ideal career path, courses, and coding school.

We discuss the key results at the end of the article.

Your goal—that is, why you want to become a programmer—determines which specific programming career path you should choose, which type of coding school you should attend, and which courses you should take. And your purpose (whether a desire for a reliable and handsome salary, wealth,

Today, software engineer is the most sought-after career for college graduates (most-applied-for job title for recent graduates) and the most highly paid one, as well. Indeed, “software engineers make over $92,300 within the first few years of their careers … You can expect this role to be among the most sought-after job titles for years to come, especially since the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] predicts that employment in this job is projected to grow 24 percent from 2016 to 2026.”1 (CNBC.com)

Although in most cases such statistics focus on software engineering (that is, the popular programming jobs that require a programmer to write code to build software), programming, as a profession and as a hobby and as a mechanism for transmogrification, exists in so many industries and encompasses such a wide variety of programming and nonprogramming activities and careers that nearly every discussion about programming careers fails to convey the breathtaking awe and at once the terrifying and reassuring God-like presence of coding in our world and our life.

The rest of this article continues after the series’ table of contents below.

1. Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Become a Programmer, What You Can Do With Your Programming Skills, and Why Programming Is One of the Best Career Paths
2. Your Goal and Purpose for Learning Programming Will Determine Which Programming Career Path to Pursue and Whether You Will Succeed
3. A Significant Number of Students Quit their Programming Education,

Are you thinking about changing your career to become a programmer or software engineer? Are you already a developer and want to modernize and upgrade your programming skills and earn a bigger salary and a more exciting programming job?

If you do, I have written this comprehensive roadmap for you; it comprises a series of 20 articles, and they cover everything from the different kinds of programming careers and what each entails and the average salary for each, to the advantages and disadvantages of the different programming educational institutions (boot camps, accelerated programming academies, MOOCs, etc.), to interviewing and getting a programming job. Indeed, I cover everything, yes, everything, you want to know and should know about becoming a programmer or improving your programming skills for a better programming career.

I am hopeful these articles—all listed in the table of contents below—will allow you to make a fully informed decision before you make the monumental commitment to start your training for a programming career.

1. Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Become a Programmer, What You Can Do With Your Programming Skills, and Why Programming Is One of the Best Career Paths
2. Your Goal and Purpose for Learning Programming Will Determine Which Programming Career Path to Pursue and Whether You Will Succeed
3. A Significant Number of Students Quit their Programming Education,