Getting a Coding Job For Dummies®

Chapter 1

Seeing the Big Picture

In This Chapter

Seeing the history of coding and where it’s headed

Understanding different types of coding jobs and salaries

Learning about companies that hire coders

If you just focus on the smallest details, you never get the big picture right.

—Leroy Hood

Today, many moments in your daily life are affected by code. Code runs the mobile phone alarm that wakes you up in the morning, the word processing and spreadsheet software you use at work or in school to create letters or projections, the games you play on a phone or console, and the web browser you run to check your email and read the news. Many tasks in our lives have remained the same — there will always be people who need help waking up in the morning — but technology is increasingly influencing the way we complete these tasks.

Because you’re reading this book, you understand coding’s pervasiveness, but you may wonder about the industry’s size and future. Is getting a coding job like becoming a horse and buggy driver just as Ford was starting to sell the Model T?

In this chapter, you learn where coding came from, how fast it has grown, and what the future might hold for those who can code. ...