We then tried to negotiate my professional fee for doing the project.  Incidentally, I had already made and installed a program similar to what the graduating student wanted in the site I host.  The negotiation however fell apart when the student failed to call when she was supposed to and on subsequent dates.  I thought that her project was cancelled and thought nothing more about the whole business.

Then I received a text message from the student asking if we can still continue with her project.  I declined and instead referred them to a fellow programmer.  I later found out that their negotiation fell apart too.

Getting a project from a student is not a new thing for me; in fact, it was one of the odd jobs I did during my days in a known computer university.  Designing homepages was the most common project I did for my clients (mostly students) back then and since some of them didn't grasp what their instructors taught, they tended to look for somebody that knew how to do what their instructors taught and they were very much willing to pay that person for doing projects related to it.

We all know that projects are given by instructors for students to hone their skills and apply whatever they learned from that instructor.  Here, students just hire someone else to do it for them.  In the process, the students don't learn a thing and are forced to shell out money, possibly taken from their parents' stash.  As the programmer hired to do the project, I don't gain a thing except for the fee that the students give me.  I can't even put that project in my portfolio.

When I was still a student, I accepted programming projects from students so that I could have additional allowance.  I was too addicted with the Internet back then and my regular allowance was not enough to support my vice.  I was so addicted I could sit in front of a PC for at least 12 long hours and I would even forget taking meals. 

These days, while I still accept programming projects from students, the things that I have to do for them are a little different.  Unlike before when I was still a student accepting projects from other students, I now have to teach my student-clients how a specific program works and I have to explain to them what the most vital parts of the programs do.  

Programming is not a one day thing; you will need to hone your skills over time to learn the ins and outs of it.  You also have to settle with learning (and mastering) one or two programming languages at a time because you can't be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.  But it is good to have background knowledge on all possible programming languages that you can be learned.  It is also important to continue reading about developments on the programming language(s) you choose to specialize in.

I think I already said before that whatever your professor or instructor teaches you is not enough; it is up to you if you want to continue to develop from there.  Sure, you will need your own PC to achieve that but you can also practice by writing codes on a piece of paper and then typing it using a text editor in order to test it when you visit a computer shop.

To all the aspiring programmers that are still in school or are still studying, I suggest that if you have a project work it out yourself.  Research on the Internet as to how you can possibly get the project done, and if you really can't find any information about it, then I suggest that you ask for somebody that can help you out--but don't let him do the coding.  Do it yourself and I am very sure that you'll be happy with the outcome.

Of course, it's tough the first time around but once you get used to it you will proudly say that you can do any project that may come your way.  Of course, most projects require extensive research, but what the heck, you've gone through it once or twice and I know you can do it for the nth time.