5 Movies Every Aspiring Programmer Must Watch

1) The Imitation Game (2014)

'Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.'

Set in the WWII period, The Imitation Game portrays the life of Alan Turing and his team's struggle to invent the world's first computer which could decipher the famous German Enigma code, and eventually win the War for the Allies. Historians estimate breaking the enigma shortened the War by 2 years and saved over 14 million lives. However, the mathematical genius encounters a disgrace in the later part of his life when he is faced with homosexuality charges and is sent to prison.

2) Citizenfour (2014)

'We are building the biggest weapon for oppression in the history of mankind.'

Citizenfour is a real-life documentary film concerning Edward Snowden and the infamous NSA spying scandal. After receiving several encrypted messages containing valuable information about the government's massive covert-surveillance programs from an unknown sender (Citizenfour), Laura Poitras travels to Hong Kong with Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald to meet and document their meetings with the stranger, who turns out to be Edward Snowden. After 4 days of meeting and discussion, Snowden's identity is made public. What follows is the trio's attempt to reach out to more people, while maintaining their personal security and their loved ones'.

3) The Fifth Estate (2013)

'Courage is Contagious.'

The Fifth Estate is a thriller film based on the events and controversies that led to the formation of WikiLeaks, one of the most debated internet organizations of this century. Internet activists Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg team up to create a platform that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously leak classified data related to government and corporate crimes. Soon, WikiLeaks starts churning out more and defying information than all the other media giants combined. But when they are presented with the biggest library of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society and what are the costs of exposing them?

4) Jobs (2013)

'Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.'

Jobs is a biographical film inspired by the life of the legendary Steve Jobs. It presents the story of Jobs from a Reed College student in 1974 to the introduction of the Apple iPod in 2001. Although widely criticized for its inaccuracy, Jobs serves as an inspiration to fellow youngsters and elders alike. This movie not just depicts the technical genius in Jobs, but also his creative entrepreneurship and his commitment to his vision of changing the world.

5) The Social Network (2010)

"I'm CEO, b**ch."

Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg creates the biggest sensation of the generation – a social networking site that would turn out to be the modern day Facebook, which now has the status of almost being a synonym to the word 'internet' itself. But the world's youngest billionaire is accused by the Winklevoss twins of stealing their idea and finds himself drifting away in his relationship with his best friend who helped him set up Facebook, while actually connecting a global community of people.