Being a programmer is the ambition of every 1 out of 10 students. Many students in different fields are adding programming skills to enhance their efficiency. Besides, the world is moving into a digital phase where coding, programming, data science, AI, and more are becoming the most relevant.

In the journey of becoming a programmer, there are lots of ups and down to come across. There are lots of reasons to quit the process and as many reasons to keep going. You need to keep being highly spirited and keep your inspiration and passion-fueled to keep pushing through. One of the ways to get this done is by watching programming movies.

Programming or tech movies are one of the ways you can get inspired to be a programmer, or rather, be a better programmer. These tech movies not only entertain you but also teach you the essence of programming, which is the ultimate drive for your programming quest. Every programmer, including pros and amateurs, will also love to view their profession or operations from the perspective of movies.

Programming movies during your leisure can really help your study and keep you in check. Watching these movies should not be so hard as you have some top-notch tech movies listed here. Let’s quickly run through them.

1. The Social Network

Nothing sinks best into the brain than movies based on true-life stories. One of these movies is the social network that covers the true story of Mark Zukerberg and the growth of Facebook. It features how Facebook grew and the ups and downs it had to face. This is one of the movies a programmer should see.

The movie was directed by David Fincher, a renowned movie director who proved his excellence. The major cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, and Andrew Garfield. The social network was released on October 15, 2010. It is one of the top-rated coding movies for programmers.

The story is about Mark Zuckerberg found himself in trouble on the ground of intellectual property theft. It also includes Gordo, Mark’s friend, writing an algorithm that compares students to farm animals. They used this to start a small game that became so popular they had to shut down the servers. This dramatic coding movie includes the troubles and glories of Mark Zuckerberg, which every programmer will love to see.

Although the programming part did not take a large part of the movie, the programming sequences were superb. This is one movie every programmer should watch for entertainment, programming knowledge, perseverance, and several other values.

2. Imitation Game

The imitation Game is one of the top programming movies you can come across. It is highly engaging as it features lots of coding values for every young and pro programmer. The movie includes scenes that will be a source of inspiration for many programmers. The movie also portrays Alan Turing as one of the founders of Artificial Intelligence, AI.

The movie cast Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Charles Dance, Rory Kinnear, Mathew Goode, and Mark Strong. It was directed by Morten Tyldum and was released on November 28, 2014. It is an educational movie every programmer should see.

The story covers Alan Turing, a mathematician, building a machine we now call the computer. Alan Turing was one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, and the movie shows his contribution to world war 2. It covers how he cracked the German Enigma code with his machine and saved thousands of lives during the second world war.

The movie is a true story of Alan Turing, how he was recruited into Bletchley Park by the British Intelligence Agency MI6. The movie focuses on his achievements as a mathematician with a cinematic touch that captivates every audience. It also portrays his success in decrypting the German Enigma code during the war. It is one of the best coding movies to see.

3. Jobs

This movie is one of the most rated programming movie shows based on a true story. The movie is about Steve Jobs and how he started his life as a college dropout to becoming Apple’s founder. It is one of the movies that fuels the inspiration and passion of programmers.

Joshua Michael Stern directed the movie, and he did a good job making this movie an outstanding one. The movie stares high profile casts like Dermot Mulroney, Ashton Kutcher, and Josh Gad. A movie like this is what suits people that are into computer programming. Jobs was released on January 25, 2013.

The movie encompasses how Apple evolved to be today and Steve Jobs’ contribution to the big game. The movie is a close-to-perfect representation of Steve Jobs and the recreation of the iPod and Apple launches. The movie portrays Steve Jobs’s passion, perseverance, and technical skills in making Apple a success.This movie about Steve Jobs is one of the popular programming movies suitable for programmers and people in general. If you are an Apple and programming enthusiast, be ready to get goosebumps when watching this mouth-gaping movie.

4. Pirates of Silicon Valley

Pirates of silicon valley is one of the tech movies every programmer would love to watch. The movie revolves around the making of the personal computer through giants like Apple and Microsoft. The movie shows high-class methodology and ideology in the development of these computers.

The movie was released on June 20, 1999, including movie stars like Anthony Michael Hall and Noah Wyle. It is one of the best movies that helps improve the programming skills of every programmer. The movie also has a high rating on movie shows and streaming platforms. Pirates of silicon valley was directed by a high-class professional, Martyn Burke.

The movie revolves around Steve Jobs and Bill Gates trying to create a new digital era with the development of the personal computer. It shows the skills and talents of both techies, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, in creating top-line computers. The movie includes the methodologies of the two CEOs and their great tussles before they finally announced their alliance.

Pirates of silicon valley include movie extremely engaging content and classical programming value. This is one of the programming movies every programming enthusiast should watch. The movie sheds light on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates’s ideology and methodology, which should be a great reference for coders.

5. Source Code

Source code is one of the top programming movies that exist. As the name implies, the movie involves the use of codes and programming skills. It is a science fiction movie that includes enough knowledge and value for programmers. The sci-fi movie focuses on time travel where the source code is a time loop program.

The source code watch movie was released on April 1, 2011. It was directed by Duncan Jones, a popular and experienced movie director. The classic movie features special casts like Jeffrey Wright, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, and Michelle Monaghan.

Jake Gyllenhaal, the protagonist, finds himself in different situations each time, and events occur before being transported back to the source code. He uses his coding skills to transfer his consciousness into other people’s bodies on this special mission. With his programming skills, he was able to attend to a suicide bomber on a Chicago train.

This movie includes the list of best movies with the show of programming skills. The inspirational movie is so enthralling and captivating to both programmers and non-programmers. As a programmer, you should include source code into your programming movies lists.

6. Ex Machina

The movie encompasses artificial intelligence and how we can use it to make the world a better place. The movie is one of all these programming movies that includes entertainment with coding operations. It is one of the best programming movies for every young and old programmer as it sheds light on the good developing software and the danger in not using it right.

Ex Machina was released on January 1, 2015, as a psychological thriller that surveys human-robot relationships. It was directed by Alex Garland and earned points from both critics and lovers. The major casts in the movie include Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac, and Domhnall Gleeson.

It all started when Caleb Smith earned a one-week stay at Nathan Bateman’s house. Nathan Bateman is the CEO of Blue Book, a search engine company that Caleb works for. He meets an android with AI capabilities named Ava and evaluates Ava’s actions and thoughts. As emotions begin, the line between machine and man begins to fade.

The movie inspires young programmers on coding and programming and tells the adverse effect of the misuse of programming. Every young programmer should watch this movie and learn from the value it gives.

7. Hackers

If you are a computer science student interested in computer hacking, then this movie is for you. The movie entails young high school students using their programming skills for corporate extortion. This top-notch movie is highly recommended for programmers and testers.

The main character in the movie is Jonny Lee Miller, who played the role of Dade Murphy. Other casts include Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens, Lorraine Bracco, Mathew Lillard, and Renoly Santiago. The movie was directed by Iain Softley, an experienced movie director. The movie was released on September 15, 1995.

It started when Dade Murphy created a highly destructive virus when he was 11. He was banned from using the computer until he turned 18. Dade and his high school friends now discovered an even more destructive virus called the plague. This virus creates oil spills and blames it on kids. Dade and his friends, now in the middle of the situation, make the movie more thrilling.

Hackers are one of the best tech movies to watch. When the movie was produced, programming was not very rampant, making the movie not very relevant. But in recent days, the movie has become one of the best programming movies to recommend to programmers.

8. The Fifth Estate

The fifth estate is a tech movie based on Wikileaks and its operations. If you know about Wikileaks, you might be well interested in checking out this amazing movie. It entails the use of programming skills to get information and give them out to the public. This movie covers a huge part of the operations of Wikileaks and how they came about.

The movie was directed by Bill Condon, who read several books on Wikileaks to come with such an amazing plot. Benedict Cumberbatch, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, Daniel Bruhl, and Alicia Vikander. The movie was released on 2013 September 5, where it gained much recognition.

The movie reveals the incidents that caused the inception of Wikileaks and how it expanded to become a big thing. It explores the relationship between the techie activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. It also sheds light on the rise of the whistle-blower website and how they could leak classified information without having anonymous whistle-blowers identified.

Programmers and coders need to watch these movies to understand some concepts about programming. And also for sure, to get yourself entertained. This movie is one of the best tech movies to watch.

9. Tron

This movie is one of the best tech movies for programmers and testers. The sci-fi movie portrays a programmer and his programming skills and abilities in the computer world. The movie is as entertaining as every other movie, with a spike of programming as an addition.

The major casts in the movie are Bruce Boxleitner, Jeff Bridges, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, and David Warner. It was directed by Steven Lisberger, a prominent movie director. The movie became out to the public on July 9, 1982.

In this movie, a programmer finds himself in the world of computers. He found himself inside the computer’s mainframe and needed to interact with the software to find he was back into the normal world. He now needs and relies on his programming skills to get out of the computer maze.This great movie tells a lot about programming making it one of the best tech movies ever released. Watching Tron can keep your passion burning and inspired.

10. Office Space

This movie talks about software companies and software developers at work. The story is about workers of a software company getting tired and frustrated with their jobs. This movie falls on the list of many programmers’ favorite movies list.

The movie was released on February 19, 1999. The movie has a high rating on IMDB and several other movie platforms. Mike Judge is also a prominent and well-experienced movie director who proves his excellence in the movie. The cast in the movie includes Jennifer Anniston, Ron Livingston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, and lots more.

Office space portrays the software world where the software employees are not motivated and don’t like their jobs. One of the employees is Peter Gibbons, who has a girlfriend named Anne. She encouraged him to go for therapy, which he did after the therapy marked the rest of the movie.

The movie accurately portrayed the life of a programmer. Although the film did not come out as successful as the director wanted, it won the hearts of several programmers in various software companies. If you are a programmer, you should not hesitate to see this movie.

11. War Games

War games is an action movie spiced with programming and coding. This movie is captivating as you will find yourself watching the whole movie without skipping any part. It is a good movie for young programmers and coders.

The movie was directed by John Badham and was released on June 3, 1983. The casts in the movie include John Wood, Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, and Ally Sheedy. The war game is a well-plotted movie with programming bits that are high enthralling.

The movie revolves around David Lightman, who is a hacker. He finds himself unknowingly having access to the War Operation Plan Response. This supercomputer was programmed to predict possible results of the nuclear war. The computer belongs to the US military. The movie entails David trying to get himself out of his troubles.

As a software engineer, you might want to have a look at this movie. It contains a perfect simulation of real-life programming. You can get lost in the movie as you watch it to the end.

12. Antitrust

This can be regarded as the best movie I have seen. It includes the show of top programming skills and methods with a cinematic touch. If you are into software engineering or science, or programming as a whole, then this movie is especially for you.

The movie was released to the public in the early 20th century, January 12, 2001. The movie director, Peter Howitt, is also a prominent and experienced one in his field. The movie also gained high ratings from movie platforms and people who fell in love with it.

The movie focuses on a large company with numerous programmers. A young programmer got a job in the company and sensed something was not right. The programmer uses his abilities to bring those issues into the light. The young software engineer uses his talents well in the movie.

The movie is as interesting as its intense showcase of programming skills. You can learn a lot from this movie as a programmer. As a software engineer, this movie also helps you understand the right use of programming or coding skills.

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Morshed
Software Engineer

Morshed Alam

I'm the creator of Savvy Programmer, a blog for programmers to level up their skills and advance their career. Through this blog, I'll be your guide in your programming journey no matter how far into it you are!

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