Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As I'm finding out the hard way, you can't get anywhere in the programming world without knowing SQL. I could apply to 5x as many programming positions if I knew it. It's very tempting to give myself a 1-week crash course and then put SQL on my resume. Very tempting ....
As for self-learning C++/C, it takes a while, and you can't just read C++ Primer; you actually have to work on writing programs yourself. Just like you can't successfully learn Spanish from reading a book on it; you have to actually immerse yourself in the language by writing essays in Spanish, or, better yet, moving to a Spanish-speaking country.
And simply learning the correct syntax and best coding practices for C++ won't be enough to get you a job at Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook or Google. They want you to have a good background in computer science theory. You have to know algorithms, data abstractions, how to minimize CPU and/or RAM usage depending on the situation at hand, etc.
I'd stick with programming if you have the skills. Try to get a professional job and use that as your fallback while you work on what you love, whatever that is many years from now
I also came from an IT family. All 8 siblings are in IT (inspired by dad) and everyone is making very good money. Most of us work for our hobbies. Motorsports is my thing and it keeps me going
Awesome, my plan is to stick with this (as a career) long enough for me to work on my acting, music, and modeling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KnowerOfThings
As I'm finding out the hard way, you can't get anywhere in the programming world without knowing SQL. I could apply to 5x as many programming positions if I knew it. It's very tempting to give myself a 1-week crash course and then put SQL on my resume. Very tempting ....
As for self-learning C++/C, it takes a while, and you can't just read C++ Primer; you actually have to work on writing programs yourself. Just like you can't successfully learn Spanish from reading a book on it; you have to actually immerse yourself in the language by writing essays in Spanish, or, better yet, moving to a Spanish-speaking country.
And simply learning the correct syntax and best coding practices for C++ won't be enough to get you a job at Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook or Google. They want you to have a good background in computer science theory. You have to know algorithms, data abstractions, how to minimize CPU and/or RAM usage depending on the situation at hand, etc.
So, you have a lot to learn. Good luck.
Weirdly enough, I'm currently also learning Spanish lol. But, learning a programming language has put me in overload, I hope I don't burn out. Anyway, solid advice thanks.
Get Oracle DBA certification and/or MS SQL certification or other professional MS certification and you may not need the college degree to get a job (and it will cost less than the degree). However, as it's been pointed out the number of companies that don't look for the college degree is shrinking, and you're not likely to move into management down the line in your career without a degree ... but you could certainly advance to a tech lead. So whether the degree is needed or not depends on your long term career plans. The other essential piece is communication ... If you're not a decent writer and have a difficult time giving a presentation or speaking to a group, these deficiencies will also limit you in your career; you can take writing classes at a community college in your area, and Toastmasters can help you with the speaking part.
You'll also find it an advantage to be familiar with software processes across the software development lifecycle, which means software quality assurance, testing, agile and other development methodologies, proper object oriented development and testing, ITIL and/or COBIT if you're going to work in IT.
Alright, so I'm currently doing courses for MySQL, Java, & HTML 5 (I don't know if HTML 5 is useful). I'm in my senior year of high school with no work experience in programming or data administration. Will these courses help me in my job hunt or am I wasting my time? If not, what other courses should I take, or is this a good combination? I heard C/C++ was useful too, so I might learn it. I'm hoping to get some answers, my other threads didn't do too well.
Also, I don't plan on going to college, because I think it's a huge waste of time and money. Thanks for any help.
They will help you if you can also demonstrate some actual experience. One way to get this is to search for volunteer open source projects and contribute your time fixing bugs. Or come up with an original idea (that is doable and not unrealistic), like a mini wordpress type project and make it yourself. Otherwise finish your degree. It's possible you will do well without it, but your chances increase dramatically with a degree.
C++ is possibly the hardest route to go. You don't make web applications with C++. Generally it is for games or desktop applications. Now days that probably isn't the best to start off with unless you already know what direction you want your career to go. C++ is something you could learn later if you want to delve much deeper into programming internals or systems programming. Fewer jobs with C++, but it is still a giant for certain specific problem domains. As a beginner, you want to start more general. Web/mobile seems to be real big right now so stuff like C#/Java would have the most opportunity. HTML5 in addition to C#/java would be huge as it can complement those languages if you are making web based applications.
Finish your degree. Go to your college career fairs where they have employers sitting at a booth waiting for you and not you fighting to get your resume past the office admin. Plus you get to meet other people in the same boat, and you can inspire each other to persist and succeed. It is easier to get employed with a degree because a college has established connections with employee-seeking managers that you don't.
I would strongly disagree that earning any certification is a viable alternative to earning a degree. While there may be exceptions I would caution that when it comes to employment the "path of least resistance" is far wiser than bucking the system...
It also strikes that perhaps the talents needed for acting/modeling/music are so different than those needed for programming that the mismatch between your aptitudes and that of your target career needs to addresses.
-Apptitudes are not skills: a skill you can develop / learn, whereas an apptitude is kind of innate ability. Some people are "cut out" for certain things.
-Apptitudes are not "interests": some one can have an interest in motorsports, or boating, or fishing,or bicycling and pursue those things as a "hobby" maybe even have so much passion that it motivates them to earn more in there career.
-trying to fit into a career choice where you have no apptitude is poor decision: if you instead find a career where your apptitude is well suited to the skills you need to develop you will do well. Ideally you will either have or develop some passion for a career field that matches your apptitudes and also find some enjoyment at work, too much of one's day / life is spent at work and if it holds no enjoyment the motivation even to "earn for one's hobbies" drags one down.
I'd suggest making an effort to have one's apptitudes tested. About Aptitudes
I would further suggest trying out something that is like "work" even if that means volunteering to set up a website for a club/ local theater group. You don't want to just do a basic "edit and upload" of some static HTML but try to have a website that ties into a mySql db for registration/email updates/paypal fee payment would be a great little intro to how something valuable would grow. Maybe using Ruby. Heck even though LAMP/R is the biggest standard "stack" that web hosting companies provide to folks running web sites doing the same sorts of things with MSFT stack would also be valuable. Even better: code up an iPhone App that does these things. It ain't hard.
If you do this well enough it could help pay for college.
It will also expose you to "real world" experience that often helps more mature individuals ask better questions in college, connect to a wider network of potential co-workers/clients, and help you become either more passionate about some aspect of the work or find your way toward other interests -- back when Steve Jobs and his pal Wozniak were kids working for HP or Atari almost no one had a degree. They went to "geek club" meetings and decided to sell a kit to build your own home computer. That did not really make them any money but it exposed them to other people that would pay them not directly for programming but for other skills. That, along with so terrific time and meeting the right financial people, helped that create marketable Apple ][ computers. Lots of other folks that worked in Silicon Valley never did anything like that. Woz eventually did finish college , even got a teaching certificate and has done a whole mess of goofy stuff. Jobs never finished college but did learn a lot from even "non-major" courses he took in calligraphy / typography and things like psychology, fiction writing and art history. When he was forced out of Apple and founded NeXT Computer he hired lots of very skilled engineers. The computer they built was so costly it competed with the workstations that academic researchers used but never had the success of products from Sun. When he sold the OS back to Apple and worked on taking control of the company he has lessons that rivaled any MBA program. The competitive passion he had combined with his apptitude for understanding how to market high tech products allowed him to lead Apple to the position it currently holds...
Last edited by chet everett; 08-10-2013 at 09:40 AM..
I agree quickie certifications is a racket. I can code better than any DBA even in the biggest corporations i worked in simply because i own the requirements to be delivered and the issues that need to be solved everyday.
....I can code better than any DBA even in the biggest corporations ....
Got ego?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
