I am a programmer, I never have to use visual studio though. Not going to divulge any information. Programming does not need to revolve around visual studio, in fact a large portion of the world program in other stuff like python, R, java, ruby, even old schooler's are still about with pascal (Delphi), cobol, and the amount Visual Basic developers or sql developers is huge. Even when I have to build something in . Net I would go with sharpdevelop. VS is of course the most comprehensive for industry in the languages it supports, but it is not the be all and end all of programming by a long mile.

Maybe I'll try Java instead, with one of the well-known IDEs.

Maybe don't program for UWP? :p

It hasn't even been standardized fully and there's going to be a massive pushback against it on the consumer side.

So what are you using anyway? When I do dumb script things, I used to use Notepad++, but XFCE came with Geany, so I might poke it with a stick.

thanks for the useful information, Darvond

I thought that UWP was the best thing ever but it seems like GTK 2 is the way to go for what I want, lol. I might put Fedora 28 Workstation on this Ryzen system soon...

I'm a Program | coder but don't use Visual studio because its a bitch to set up... fyi teacher aid can be a bitch of a job too mate

yeah, life sucks

Well, you'll be in luck. I'm using F28, so I can probably help you wrap your head around the kinks, if you find any, but I'm a common user, not a programmer.

Same here, I'm no kernel developer ;)

All i can say is you are a bit freaking out on this at just age 27 , you can easily find other fields in IT other than programming . Just to add i am a couple years old than you but i also came to the understanding that programming is what not my liking was towards to (aka after finishing my bachelors + masters in computers) , so looked elsewhere a found a linux server admin job and i love it.

Rather than wasting time learning xyz things try to find a IT job first and then learn accordingly on what will help you grow in that job.

I've been programming for living for the last 15 years. There are many niche jobs in programming. For example low level programming, microcontroller programming, open source software etc. Of course there is a lot of learning involved, even today there are lots of things that I have to look up on stackoverflow or google. But that's the fun of it really, the discovery, the excitement of making something happen. If you don't like that, then programming is not for you.

I think I am the other way around than you, wanting to be a programmer (still do). In my childhood I dabbled with programming, making games of my own with e.g. BASIC, I learned some Pascal (even finished some Pascal summer course) etc. I think Pascal is nowadays an irrelevant and obsolete language, like Fortran or what have you.

Much much later when I entered the IT sector (work, during and after studies), I started out in software and system testing, but kinda wanted to branch out to software development. And indeed I was at first put to courses also at my work (I must have been on a C++ beginner's course 3-5 times in my life, but never really used it for my work or anything, besides finishing those courses), but in the end they felt they so urgently needed software testers so I kinda stayed there, also being a testing project manager, even a software team leader etc.

The only "programming" I really ever really did was some python (and bash) scripting for automating some stuff, and also python for Robot Framework. My main work was some kind of project management, seeing that others did their tasks. I didn't like it that much, and I always kinda wished I was more into programming and software development because there you get to create something yourself, rather than mostly just testing what others have created or try to push the to do their tasks in time. I also joined and finished some web development (both frontend and backend) courses, kinda hoping I could still branch out to SW development or at least have it as an active hobby.

Then I got a new job as a system administrator. While I like that kind of work (taking care of systems and figuring out problems they have), I was pleasantly surprised that I am supposed to do some SW development as well, as part of the job. So now I've been learning a lot about the two most relevant programming languages we use here, also SQL scripting, and improve my meager python skills etc. (we use a bit of python here too, but not that much).

And yes, at the same time I've had to learn a lot about the tools used in SW development here, most of which I recognize by their name but didn't have to deeply use before.

Even though I don't necessarily become an excellent professional SW developer, I am still quite pleased I got a chance to still try my wings on it, and do it for my work. I like solving problems with making a script or program for them, trying to fix some non-working programs etc. etc. I feel like at the moment I am paid for learning programming, which suits me just fine. :) It is now just up to me to show I've got it.

It was a big thing to me that I was given like 8 old fault reports or change requests which I should fix/add in certain routines on a programming language that was new to me, and I was able to learn the syntax of the language and actually fix the problems (or create new features for the routines). Some of them were quite easy (just adding a few lines), but a couple were quite complicated that even the more seasoned SW developers here were not quite sure how they should be fixed, and eventually I was able to come up with a good solution for them.

I also noticed a rather critical bug in the current code while doing another fix (the routine overwrites all older data of a customer if a new entry is added; I wonder if the earlier developer (consultant) tested their creation at all?), and fixed it while I was at it, first checking from the business people that the routine is not supposed to work that way,

Damn, I feel almost like a real programmer now! And I love it. I hope I don't have to go back to mere SW testing or project management anymore.

Coming from someone that has pulled off a couple of complex GUIs in GTK+ 2 using RAD tools (Glade and the sort), I'd honestly recommend wxWidgets or Qt.

Btw, nice to meet you, I'm an opposite you of sorts: a programmer who is trying to learn how to play the electric guitar, but rarely has much time for it. Sometimes I wish I'd picked some line of work that gave me more time for personal stuff, even if it meant a more modest paycheck.

My main point being, getting a job in programming or any other field you want, even a good job, is not going to work miracles on all your problems. It's only going to change their nature. Finding balance between work and everything else is damn hard these days.

How much do you work then? I normally work like from 9-17 (if I am on alert duty, then I am supposed to be reachable and do stuff from my home even on weekends and nights, but that is not that common).

I feel I do have plenty of free time too after work and on weekends, even if I spend most of it to quite useless things like playing TeamFortress 2 or watching TV.

Hah, wait until you have kids, then you'll see how much free time you had before :)