The is not to scare you guys off programming, but to advice the future programmers to up their game.
first, programming is a very challenging but interesting profession, sadly Nigeria as a country don't value programmers. to proof am correct, how many Nigerian billionaires are programmers? compared to other professions like businessmen, etc the figure is quite negligible.
although it is debatable, I believe a programmer uses more IQ power than a medical doctor or lawyer, but the reverse is the case in terms of their rewards or basic pay.

the two main reasons why programming is a risky field are
1. Too many average programmers, the world we live in today, comprises of lots of programmers most of them are just average programmers. sadly this is because medical doctors, carpenters etc can register with an IT firm and learn Java , C++ etc for 6 months and believe they are competent programmers therefore competing with Computer Sci graduates who have studied for years.

No standard Certification for programmers. unlike fields like medical doctors or lawyers who have to obtain a certain certification to practice their profession, the same can't be said for programmers because virtually anybody can write codes but not everybody can fly a plane or operate a human being.

Nigeria's environment doesn't encourage talented programmers, although is not a nice habit to blame someone or some factors for your downfalls in life but this factor is something the government and private sectors need to consider and improve on. Banks and some companies outsource their software projects to foreign firms or expatriates .

Open Source, almost everything is the programming is world are free (from Java, mysql, etc) most are open sourced for the public, although this is a good thing but this has reduced the value of the average programmer as anybody irrespective of his/her profession can gain access to programmers tools.

Advantages of being a programmer in Nigeria.
Rather than consuming Nairaland's storage space by creating a new topic, i prefer to continue here.

They are lots of projects and problems in Nigeria that your software can solve.
Mark Z, the facebook guy is a billionaire today because he solved a problem,
The truth is Nigeria is a country facing many challenges, and as a programmer when you go to schools and organizations and see how obsolete
they do things( like registration, verification, etc), it won't take long before you get a flash of the next big app that can solve the way things are done. if you doubt me, check , a platform built after the founder discovered the high rate of unemployment of graduates and traditional methods of looking for jobs. you still doubt me? check too.

Open Source, remember in my former post how i said open source could be reducing the value of programmers?
Well, Good news, Open source could also make you the next big thing in the software industry,
Simply because you can build complex applications for free or without spending much. this means at the comfort of
your room, your laptop and IDE, you can move mountains if you work hard.

Internet is now cheaper than ever, Youtube and lots of free e-books.
I don't need to introduce Glo crazy data plans driving other network giants to reduce their data plans, to top it up 4G speed.
this means you can access resources,visit stackoverflow and download materials without causing a hole in your pocket.

so if you call yourself a programmer or you wish to dive into this field, study and work harder than ever, don't leave any stone uncovered because the competition It's real in the real world.

feel free to add yours!!!

Credit: CChubNigeria

Okay

ur opinion though

Your post is kinda misleading, there's a fine line between a programmer, a software developer and a software engineer.

dabigjoe6:
Your post is kinda misleading, there's a fine line between a programmer, a software developer and a software engineer.

Expand on those differences.!

Programmer
When I talk about a programmer, I mean someone who can code. They know at least one programming language and know it well enough that they can make things happen by typing the code into their computer.
Some programmers graduate from a university with a computer science degree and know how to code. They would qualify. Others pick up a book and teach themselves to code on their own. They would qualify too.
Developer
When I talk about a developer, I use the term to mean something more than programmer. A programmer asks me, “what should I code?” or “how do you want me to do it?” In those cases, I’m making the bigger decisions and the programmer is implementing things.
Developers have enough experience to have seen problems before and to know what worked and what didn’t. With developers I normally describe a destination, and they design the route they’ll take. I give them more freedom because they have deeper experience.
So for me, the difference between a programmer and a developer is one of degree. One is more resourceful than the other. Moving from one to the other requires time, effort, and experience.
Programmers can accelerate this by doing more in shorter amounts of time, but they won’t get there by doing the same thing 20 times over. Additionally, I make no assumption about how they develop their experience (college or on the job), nor do I make any about the number of languages they know. One is fine.
Software Engineer
Software engineers are a different dynamic altogether,
for me. It’s because of the “engineering” part of the term,
for me.
To remind you, I don’t care how software engineers gain their knowledge. I’m not suggesting they must have a degree. But I am suggesting that they can’t just pick up a language, hack their way around a bit and expect me to call them a software engineer – regardless of what they call themselves.
Engineering is a discipline. It requires that you know a set of knowledge. I would say education but people will punt to schooling, and I’m not saying that. I am saying you can’t just learn a language. There’s a history to the discipline.
Engineering requires a level of abstract thinking. I’m not just talking about creating a plan before you write code. I’m talking about creating mental models of how the parts of a system will work. Models that help you refine your designs.
Engineering requires an ability to communicate with others. I don’t care if it’s in user stories or diagrams, engineers need to be able to communicate with other engineers to design solutions and to debate the merits of different approaches – often calling for complex depictions of abstract dynamics.
Can you be a self-taught software engineer? Yes. I think you can. But it’s not fast or easy.
Software engineers may focus on a single discipline (like design, testing, or performance tuning) or more, but those disciplines often are apart from programming languages. That translates to being able to move a software engineer from one platform to another and see them pick it up in no time.


cc http://chrislema.com/programmer-developer-engineer/

TeejayMaya:
The is not to scare you guys off programming, but to advice the future programmers to up their game.
first, programming is a very challenging but interesting profession, sadly Nigeria as a country don't value programmers. to proof am correct, how many Nigerian billionaires are programmers? compared to other professions like businessmen, etc the figure is quite negligible.
although it is debatable, I believe a programmer uses more IQ power than a medical doctor or lawyer, but the reverse is the case in terms of their rewards or basic pay.

the two main reasons why programming is a risky field are
1. Too many average programmers, the world we live in today, comprises of lots of programmers most of them are just average programmers. sadly this is because medical doctors, carpenters etc can register with an IT firm and learn Java , C++ etc for 6 months and believe they are competent programmers therefore competing with Computer Sci graduates who have studied for years.

No standard Certification for programmers. unlike fields like medical doctors or lawyers who have to obtain a certain certification to practice their profession, the same can't be said for programmers because virtually anybody can write codes but not everybody can fly a plane or operate a human being.

Nigeria's environment doesn't encourage talented programmers, although is not a nice habit to blame someone or some factors for your downfalls in life but this factor is something the government and private sectors need to consider and improve on. Banks and some companies outsource their software projects to foreign firms or expatriates .

Open Source, almost everything is the programming is world are free (from Java, mysql, etc) most are open sourced for the public, although this is a good thing but this has reduced the value of the average programmer as anybody irrespective of his/her profession can gain access to programmers tools.

Advantages of being a programmer in Nigeria.
Rather than consuming Nairaland's storage space by creating a new topic, i prefer to continue here.

They are lots of projects and problems in Nigeria that your software can solve.
Mark Z, the facebook guy is a billionaire today because he solved a problem,
The truth is Nigeria is a country facing many challenges, and as a programmer when you go to schools and organizations and see how obsolete
they do things( like registration, verification, etc), it won't take long before you get a flash of the next big app that can solve the way things are done. if you doubt me, check , a platform built after the founder discovered the high rate of unemployment of graduates and traditional methods of looking for jobs. you still doubt me? check too.

Open Source, remember in my former post how i said open source could be reducing the value of programmers?
Well, Good news, Open source could also make you the next big thing in the software industry,
Simply because you can build complex applications for free or without spending much. this means at the comfort of
your room, your laptop and IDE, you can move mountains if you work hard.

Internet is now cheaper than ever, Youtube and lots of free e-books.
I don't need to introduce Glo crazy data plans driving other network giants to reduce their data plans, to top it up 4G speed.
this means you can access resources,visit stackoverflow and download materials without causing a hole in your pocket.

so if you call yourself a programmer or you wish to dive into this field, study and work harder than ever, don't leave any stone uncovered because the competition It's real in the real world.

feel free to add yours!!!

Credit: CChubNigeria

Programming is not meant for CS graduate alone.