1. Be born in India or China
2. Obtain questionable degree in computer science at unaccredited university in your home country
3. Obtain H-1b visa
4. Make manager write down software requirements
5. Blindly follow requirements
6. Do not ask questions. That could be viewed as insubordination.
7. If a requirement is ambiguous make the safest guess possible as to what it means. The guess that results in the least amount of code.
8. If two requirements seem contradictory, follow both if possible, or choose the one that results in the least amount of coding.
9. If the code you generate doesn't work the way the manager wanted plead with him that you followed the requirements to the T so it can't be your fault.
10. Hand off code to one of the few remaining US coders to fix any mistakes.
Coding in many compilable languages is relatively easy. The secret I found when learning is to take things you know and then write code to perform on a computer. I learned way back in the days of Fortran and Cobol.
11. You are not paid to write comments or document anything.
Actually item 10 should read hand off the consultant brought in to fix project
13. Let testers debug your code. When you fix the problem you will look like a hero. Heck put bugs in there on purpose. Never submit perfect code. Ever.