Free (pointless) certifications vs going on vacation
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.
Heck if your parents are sending you to school and they do these lavish vacations.. Go on vacation and have them pay for you to do the certs somewhere else...
^Yes! I think that's the problem I have with this situation.
I think sites like codeschool, treehouse, etc have certifications or at least something that proves you learned the skill (aside from the fact that you will show them your skills anyway).
Also, Harvard,MIT, Stanford have courses you can take online for the stuff you need to learn for free. You can upgrade to an ID verified certificate, or you can take the class for actual credit.
Perhaps that would impress someone .
In any case, the programming courses ( I did the basic intro course) require projects that you submit to the class, even if you take the free version of the course.. At least that could get your mind going.
Udemy has some dev course as well.
will taking online classes like that actually help me though? I mean, I am getting a computer science degree. I already program a fair amount in order to get the degree. I'm thinking about starting out with Microsoft/.NET certificates and then try to go from there.
Have you given much thought about what area of software development interests you... perhaps that's where you should start. The path I took to get into software development (backend type stuff) is quite different from my buddy who is a UI developer.
Perhaps you can find school work positions closer to what you ultimately want to do. ....
EIther way, its already been said that the job market is very competitive. You need to start thinking about how to set yourself apart from the sea of the unemployed. If you graduate with a degree in good standing.. you will join the thousands that have the same on their resume. Add to that certifications (any) builds a little more content to your resume.... certifications related to the job .. even better. Add to that work experience (any) again builds a little more... work experience that is related to the job.. even better.
Free certifications? passing that up seems really the decision of someone who either has something up their sleeve (Father owns the company) or they simply are not up to date with the current job market situation.
There's also the unknown element that hasn't been mentioned.....
I graduated just before the dot-com bubble went pop. Took 6 years with 2 years of software development via a paid internship with work experience (help desk just like you) when not on internship (Ie.. worked every semester on and off studies). Accepted a full time position with the company and relocated to across the country to jump start my career. I was laid off after 1 year of employment... I was devastated. 2 years of jumping from menial job to next job.. with a few computer startup mixed in. What got me out of that vicious situation? While I was interning to be in software development, I was also responsible for test lab equipment. During that time, the company paid for certifications around the administration of those servers. I didn't need it.. I was in software development path after all. BUT it was those certifications PLUS my help desk experience (Customer 1 on 1 relations) that got me out of that rut and into Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity managing equipment and administrating over the same systems that I was certified in (albeit expired by that time). When a DR is declared (or a mock), I'm the one they call and I initiate the communications to the declaring customer and coordinate their recovery.
I eventually worked my way back into software development... it took years....and remains within the field of data protection/DR. My point being... You never know when seemingly "unrelated" experience becomes very valuable.....
will taking online classes like that actually help me though?
If the online classes get you passed thinking about "language" and 'syntax" by building competency, confidence, and comfort so that you can start thinking about clean design and architecture.. then absolutely!
I reported directly to the CTO. He always said that computer languages are just commodities. Its what you do with it that really matters.
If you aspire to be development manager of sorts, then you are not only concerned about design/architecture but also process.
I graduated just before the dot-com bubble went pop. Took 6 years with 2 years of software development via a paid internship with work experience (help desk just like you) when not on internship (Ie.. worked every semester on and off studies). Accepted a full time position with the company and relocated to across the country to jump start my career. I was laid off after 1 year of employment... I was devastated. 2 years of jumping from menial job to next job..
I graduated and started working during the dot-com bubble. I had no problem remaining employed as a Unix/Linux sysadmin after the bubble. Everyone needs to keep their servers running .... A couple years ago I worked at a startup that went out of business. I was the last person standing - they needed the sysadmin to keep things turned on until the assets were acquired by a different company.
In my 15 years as a sysadmin, I've never had difficulty getting a job when I needed or wanted it. I've taken time off and easily gotten back into it when I wanted. It's a skill that's always in demand and will continue to be so ... Think of it like this: some company is doing poorly and they need to downsize and restructure the business; they lay off a lot of people and eliminate whole departments, but are they going to lay off the operations person who keeps the backend running? No way, that's the last person they're gonna want to touch.
I graduated and started working during the dot-com bubble. I had no problem remaining employed as a Unix/Linux sysadmin after the bubble. Everyone needs to keep their servers running .... A couple years ago I worked at a startup that went out of business. I was the last person standing - they needed the sysadmin to keep things turned on until the assets were acquired by a different company.
In my 15 years as a sysadmin, I've never had difficulty getting a job when I needed or wanted it. I've taken time off and easily gotten back into it when I wanted. It's a skill that's always in demand and will continue to be so ... Think of it like this: some company is doing poorly and they need to downsize and restructure the business; they lay off a lot of people and eliminate whole departments, but are they going to lay off the operations person who keeps the backend running? No way, that's the last person they're gonna want to touch.
Yup.. that is my point.
Similar to the OP, I was on track to go into what I wanted to do; software development. I picked up IT related skills and a couple certifications along the way. It was those skills that help get through the tough times. I'm happy back into software development but I would have been in worse shape had I skipped learning those skills and certs.
Have you given much thought about what area of software development interests you... perhaps that's where you should start. The path I took to get into software development (backend type stuff) is quite different from my buddy who is a UI developer.
Perhaps you can find school work positions closer to what you ultimately want to do. ....
EIther way, its already been said that the job market is very competitive. You need to start thinking about how to set yourself apart from the sea of the unemployed. If you graduate with a degree in good standing.. you will join the thousands that have the same on their resume. Add to that certifications (any) builds a little more content to your resume.... certifications related to the job .. even better. Add to that work experience (any) again builds a little more... work experience that is related to the job.. even better.
Free certifications? passing that up seems really the decision of someone who either has something up their sleeve (Father owns the company) or they simply are not up to date with the current job market situation.
There's also the unknown element that hasn't been mentioned.....
I graduated just before the dot-com bubble went pop. Took 6 years with 2 years of software development via a paid internship with work experience (help desk just like you) when not on internship (Ie.. worked every semester on and off studies). Accepted a full time position with the company and relocated to across the country to jump start my career. I was laid off after 1 year of employment... I was devastated. 2 years of jumping from menial job to next job.. with a few computer startup mixed in. What got me out of that vicious situation? While I was interning to be in software development, I was also responsible for test lab equipment. During that time, the company paid for certifications around the administration of those servers. I didn't need it.. I was in software development path after all. BUT it was those certifications PLUS my help desk experience (Customer 1 on 1 relations) that got me out of that rut and into Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity managing equipment and administrating over the same systems that I was certified in (albeit expired by that time). When a DR is declared (or a mock), I'm the one they call and I initiate the communications to the declaring customer and coordinate their recovery.
I eventually worked my way back into software development... it took years....and remains within the field of data protection/DR. My point being... You never know when seemingly "unrelated" experience becomes very valuable.....
ya, but that's why I also majored in economics. I can get into accounting/CPA or finance should the need arise.
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.
