© LogicaCMG All rights reserved Programming in the real world By Marc Atkins BSc(Hons) MSc MBCS 8 th December 2006

for internal use only Career Progression MSc graduation November 2002 Technical support until May 2003 ENTL group of lightershade, nPlusOne and Lumison May 2003 – February 2006 Leading Engineer logicaCMG February 2006-

for internal use only Coding in a small company Coding is expensive ~ £100 ph Billed in 15 minute slots Re-use of code essential to build a code library which reduces cost of project and therefore likelihood of winning future work. Expect to bill 5 hours of code per day No point writing bells and whistles as clients will only pay for what they asked for – code needs to match the spec. Coding standards are important to allow ease of re-use and readability.

for internal use only Edinburgh Campaign

for internal use only Coding in logicaCMG Much more diverse range of roles to choose from. Version control much more important (essential) More thorough documentation Each part of the lifecycle treated more or less equally Bigger budgets, bigger clients, bigger risk. Coding standards enforced with regular code reviews Everything is checked and reviewed – even test scripts and test evidence More insulated from what is going on around you

for internal use only Getting a job in the real world Getting first job as a programmer is difficult: –Get a job in IT related field –Keep up to date with current technologies –Try to get involved in other technologies in the work place to use as experience Dont price yourself out the market. Salaries rise quickly – (if you are good enough) Get your CV out into the world –Websites ( / –Speculative letters –Networking events such as BCS –Graduate recruitment…………