What do you like/dislike most about your job?
Likes : I like the pay (if you're fortunate to be in a company that has no issues paying decent salaries) and the IT environment. You get to learn alot depending on the programming tasks you do, thus building experiences. Plus, you get to do what you like most : coding!
Dislikes : The pay (depending on which company you're in, they could be shooting for the ultra low end so the higher ups can have more pocket change). Boring programing tasks and projects. Some of these projects (especially the government ones) are so frickin boring that it almost appears pointless. What makes it worst is that other coders and PMs are so into it...while you're busy thinking about hitting the bars and clubs later that night.
Also, programming is not a very physically active job - even though some programmers manage to develop all sorts of joints, back, neck, hands...etc problems. The nature of the job also encourages consumption of soda and other unhealthy snacks. You WILL gain weight and develop all these weird issues if you don't spend some time in the gym....God forbid if theres a fast food restaurant on the bottom floor of your building...
What is your average day like?Stressfull? Not stressfull?
Heh, my average day is going into the office. Chatting with the other coders about games..etc. Reading email. Surfing the web. Scanning eBay. Scanning forums. If I feel like it, do some coding tasks. Go to lunch. Come back, surf the web some more. Squeeze in whatever you can to complete that tasks. Surf the web some more. Chat some more. Bill for all the "hard work" I did that day. Go home. Get paid every 2 weeks.
Granted thats if I don't have any pressing deadlines or anything required immediately. Otherwise its straight to coding (put the earphones on get on for the highspeed ride down coding lane) nonstop and the whole world arounds you shut down - unless your working on a team whereas you'll have to interact with them.
As far as stressful, its not. Its rather boring actually. And programming becomes boring when you HAVE to do it, not when you WANT to do it. But when sudden deadlines or requirement requests appear out of nowhere, then it *may* get really annoying. I personally like it better under pressure because I'm at my best when I am anyways. Also, occasionaly you may end up working insane hours (18+) and on weekends.....
Where do you see the profession going in the next 10 years with the rise in outsourcing to other countries,etc..? In other words do you think the job market will be expanding or shrinking?
It'll expand, too many factors will prevent it from shrinking. I'm not too worried about the outsourcing thing either. Due to the fact that a lot of these work that are outsource are sometimes beyond the understanding of some of the coders in these other countries. A few of our clients have outsource our original contracts to India only to result in disaster and comming back to us. Just because its cheaper to go overseas, doesn't mean its better.