Got a question about my degree and jobs in Jacksonville.

[grayrunner]

Okay, interesting that I didn't see any specific mention of programming. I just clipped the following job description off the net for a job located in Ponte Vedra Beach, 20 miles south of JAX. Typical of most of the jobs in JAX. I think they are about 50 or so jobs locally with those buzzwords. Of course they are all looking for ideal experience but they also need bodies.

****************************************
Job Description:
Terrific opportunity for a professional individual ready to move ahead in a great career.

Description:
Implementation of new and existing functionality and features of various mission critical .NET applications and support systems. Looking for an experienced and innovative professional with proven experience managing projects including design, development, testing, and deployment. Attention to detail with conservative approach to reducing exposure to failure is a must.

Working knowledge of the following:
-ASP.NET or VB.NET and SQL
-C#
-Javascript, HTML, and XML

***********************************

For a small company your resume might go straight to the manager who
wants the job filled. For big companies you have to make the cut through personnel
and in this market theyr'e just going to look for the buzzwords they don't even understand
and anything else gets tossed. So if you don't have them, you don't go to the next step.

The common thread to all the jobs in comp sci is they want people who can write good
code! From just looking at your courses a manager would have to ask if you have actually ever done any programming, and if so, in what?

As an entry level you have to be prepared to show and tell. So what have you got to show?
What have you coded and in what languages? Don't be intimidated! 'Working knowledge' is code for beginner level. But 'beginner' doesn't mean you don't know how to do it!

What I'm saying is you don't need any degree for these jobs although it would be nice. You can pick up the skills for these languages for free off of the net. You could buy the software and play with it until you get proficient.

The hard fact in comp sci is when you get the job you are all by yourself. You and the terminal. Asking for help or cooperation from other programmers is not done! Social skills are irrelevent and maybe counterproductive. Most great programmers have the personality of rabid rats! (kind of resemble them also) When I got started it was me and a coding pad, writing assembler code on forms for keypunchers to type up and then feed into a card reader. Were I to do it again I'd be a boat builder.

[LilMikey]

To be frank, I don't think your degree will provide a whole lot of help in your job search. It may move you over the top of the list for zero-post-secondary jobs such as support or call center work, maybe QA, that could evolve into development work but an associates with no experience probably won't land a junior programmer position. Most employers will not be interested in the content of your curriculum unless it directly applies to their business.

There are a lot of CS grads that will have a leg up. There are a lot of passionate programmers without degrees but with self-motivated experience that will have a leg up. You probably can't put yourself into the first group but you can definitely be part of the second.

In this area Java seems to be king with some .NET presence.