Any computer programmers here?

[p dandy]

I learned Scheme/Lisp first. Don't know the intuition behind that but that's what Berkeley likes to start students off with. Going from Scheme (a functional language) to Java (imperative, i believe) was extremely difficult for me. I was always good at finding the algorithm but putting it into Java took some time. Eventually I caught up with Java and accordingly, learning C became much easier. C is a very fun language; I love pointers. After I graduate, I'm thinking of pursuing career in databases; plus I might be able to have my uncle vouch for me to Oracle.

i actually wanted to be a dentist but my mom forced me to choose CS because I liked to play computer games. She also used scare tactics such as saying that "there's a dentist at every corner, you won't find a job." Well, look at the computer industry now. Kinda ironic. Going to Berkeley wasn't my decision either. If you nag me enough, I'll do it to shut you up. That's why I signed the statement of intent.

 

[RedWolf]

You could always start your own programming company.

Might be a good idea except for the fact that Indian companies will do your work for a third of the price.

Besides - nothing you learn in school will be very usefull in the real world. Most companies know that when taking on a junior they won't get any really usefull work out of them for say a year as they learn and grow.

In fact as a junior you depend on the fact that your company is going to "take you under their wing" and help train you etc.

But if you can't get those opportunities then you have one useless education.

 

[oldStatesman]

Might be a good idea except for the fact that Indian companies will do your work for a third of the price.

Besides - nothing you learn in school will be very usefull in the real world. Most companies know that when taking on a junior they won't get any really usefull work out of them for say a year as they learn and grow.

In fact as a junior you depend on the fact that your company is going to "take you under their wing" and help train you etc.

But if you can't get those opportunities then you have one useless education.

Not useless...our economy in the states is said to be wonderful ... Wal Mart is always hiring here ...

I sympathize with p dandy...I retrained 10 years ago to be a Network Engineer...to get out of the seasonal nature of the construction business...now the IT field is the same way...the new Global Economy Model embraced by Corporate Bean Counters guarantee's that somewhere someone else will work for much less than you. (My last company (a Fortune 100 firm) outsourced it's work to India...but they said it was only for at most 5 years...by then Brazil will be cheaper...their long range plan involves changing vendor countries every 5 to 7 years as the former 3rd world countries come up to speed ...)The only thing you can do is try and be the best at what you do...and I would encourage you to cross train as a Network/Hardware/OS/Web person in addition to programming. The more skills you have the more marketable you will be.

 

[Scrimshaw]

Not useless...our economy in the states is said to be wonderful ... Wal Mart is always hiring here ...

I sympathize with p dandy...I retrained 10 years ago to be a Network Engineer...to get out of the seasonal nature of the construction business...now the IT field is the same way...the new Global Economy Model embraced by Corporate Bean Counters guarantee's that somewhere someone else will work for much less than you. (My last company (a Fortune 100 firm) outsourced it's work to India...but they said it was only for at most 5 years...by then Brazil will be cheaper...their long range plan involves changing vendor countries every 5 to 7 years as the former 3rd world countries come up to speed ...)The only thing you can do is try and be the best at what you do...and I would encourage you to cross train as a Network/Hardware/OS/Web person in addition to programming. The more skills you have the more marketable you will be.

There is one other thing you can do...get out of the industry. That's my plan but I need to decide where and pick a career that won't fall apart like this one did. I should start an OT thread..."What should I do for a living instead of IT?"

I highly reccomend OldStatesmen's plan if you plan to make a serious go of an IT career. People with too tight of a focus can easily have their job vanish completely. Right now for example I'm more of a web guy. But outsourcing web work could become more popular or the next big web development software might make it so easy that I'm worth minimum wage. Niether is likely too soon but both are possible and would put me on the streets. If I had other skills (which I do), I'd have another IT branch to move into.

 

[RedWolf]

I generally have to agree with RedWolf about employment prospects. I work in a "vertical" environment, with some very stringent requirements, and we still manage to farm out some basic stuff to interns every summer. (A vertical environment is one where everything is "in-house".

This of course is the irony to the It industry. Corporations right now depend so heavily a steady supply of "interns" or "co-op students" or whatever for their in-house IT needs. The problem of course is that many of the interns/students will never find meaningful employment in the industry when they graduate.

The internships just encourage these students - convince them that they have a future in the profession. However if kids ever wake up, realize it and stop taking the computer science courses the coproations may once again have to hire real fulltime IT employees. So it's in their best interests to keep offering summer students decent wages.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

VB isn't a bad language to keep on hand for one reason: VBA

As long as most office environments still use ms office, vba is a great way to impress your boss. I worked for a movie theatre once that would give a more than double wage for the time you spent working on 'special projects' for the company. Since I was fluent in VBA(visual basic for applications) I was able to get ALL of the special project pay for creating company forms and applications(databases, inventory, payroll). It's a very useful language to know if you work with office a lot.

On the other hand I prefer java for work that is not platform dependent, and C++ for most windows based work. Python wins if we're dealing w/linux.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Python is really good in my opinion - not overly complex, yet still powerful.

I'm doing a two-year high-school course on software design - worst waste of time ever. We haven't learnt any skills at all and it starts from the painful basics. We're supposed to be learning VB, but it is a waste of time. About the only thing I learnt was some ways to approach writing code.

While the area I have the most skills in is IT, I think that if I'm going to get anywhere, I'll need to take a different approach. Obviously straight-out programming is not the way, unless I plan on living in India or a boat off the coast of LA.

 

[stormbind]

I wrote a carefully planned and informative neutral post, and was disconnected from the Internet when I tried to post this... post now forever lost!

What this highlights is what a rubbish piece of amateur coding vBulletin really is