Programming Experience measures when?

[TheBuzzer]

I am wondering what does people put for programming experience time frame?

Do they put the total years of which they programmed for companies or do they put years where they learned and mess with programming like in college, high school, etc.

I am asking this because lot of jobs always require 2-3 years of programming experience for a minimum and I worked for a company doing programming less than a year which isn't even a software development company.

I feel like i am getting screwed because I am the only programmer here doing their whole workflow program while getting paid 40k and no chance of getting any pay raise here because they claim i am already one of the highest paid employee.
I work overtime a lot because they keep changing their requirments on me and they just want stuff done now.

At first I started writing stuff in php and later went to java (GWT) for making the frontend ui while the backend still php.

After a while I realized php is causing some problems mostly because of the loose language where 0, empty string, and null could equal the same thing. So I rewrote the backend to jsp.

I want them to figure out a layout first before assigning me to code it but they just tell me to code first and change later. I never learned much UI coding in college so this part is annoying me like hell because they keep changing and changing.

My job position is IT so i am also responsible to fix computer problems.

So I am a single programmer doing all this stuff:
The database to store all the data (using mysql)
Front end of the program (using gwt)
backend of the program (using jsp/java - glassfish)
dymantic pdf (using java - itext)
setup comps/fix comps

So am I getting screwed or are most programming jobs like this?

[Salem]

> So am I getting screwed or are most programming jobs like this?
Yes and Yes (possibly).

Nobody has a clue what they want, so requirements change all the time. Also, requirements change because the rest of the world keeps moving as well.

As for the time frame, I'd say it all counts.

> I am the only programmer here doing their whole workflow program while getting paid 40k
So find another job and resign, and see how much they scramble to keep you. Whether you actually intend to leave, or merely get a bargaining chip is up to you. The next time you're coming up for a review, get a hair cut and take a few mornings or afternoons off, as if you're attending lots of interviews!

Managements job is to find the best people it can and pay them as little as they think they can get away with. Yours is to always be aware of what your true worth is by testing the market at regular intervals.

[TheBuzzer]

how about on resume. what does programming experience measure.

like does high school c++ count or does only work experience count

[Narue]

Employers typically assume practical experience, such as the time you've worked professionally or on significant projects (ie. open source). If you add a year for the time you spent in your room writing variations of "hello world", that would be padding your resume.

[loctan]

I think some of it also depends upon your level of experience. Someone fresh out of college likely has little or no professional experience (I would recommend open source if I had a time machine). So putting languages you have had classes in is acceptable. But, me personally, after being out of school for a year world and a professional, I wouldn't put the VHDL work I did as an undergraduate. I couldn't do any meaningful work in it without relearning everything.

So I think it would kind of depend on your situation.

Oh, and my advice, whatever languages/things you put on a resume, be absolutely prepared to discuss them for a 30 minute interview session. I naively put a project I worked on as a sophomore when I was looking for a job as a senior. I didn't think a whole lot about it, but one guy I interviewed with drilled me about it. Wanting in depth details about our design decisions, etc. And he was absolutely in the right to do so. Heck, I put it on the resume. But I was woefully unprepared to give in depth details and sounded really dumb. So don't be like me.

[iDeveloper]

Anything counts. If you work on anything on your own time, it could be a great addition to your resume. In fact, some employers actually ask you to bring code samples of your these projects and literally go through the code with you pointing out possible flaws, memory leaks and asking for potential solutions. (That is, if you're a college graduate.) But yes, like the person above me mentioned, you need to be knowledgeable about everything you put on your resume. Employers will drill you about the stuff you put on there.