Programmers, known within the industry as developers, are the builders, inventors and problem-solvers of the digital age. Our lives are all but dependent on computers, and developers are the brains behind the workings of every type of computer imaginable – from your desktop PC and smartphone to the systems sending spacecraft into orbit or the programme that tells your washing machine to rinse and spin. And yet, despite being one of the few lucrative careers that require little to no formal tertiary training, development careers have been reserved mainly for the upper-middle classes who grew up tinkering with computers at home.
