Breaking into programming jobs

[ChlorineKid]

Hi all,

What advice would you code gurus give to someone who wants to get into a programming career? I am currently a network analyst/admin but am finding it not intellectually challenging enough(as well as **** stressful). Also am sick of the strange hours. Lots of the work can only be done when no-one is logged on of course!

I enjoy mucking about with VB and have been looking at C++ as well lately. Is acquiring the MCSD a good idea to gain credibility? Or developing a kind of portfolio of apps? I have been doing as much "programming" in my current position as I can e.g Windows scripting host programming using vbscript to automate network admin tasks.

Any advice?

ChlorineKid

[Feng Yuan]

It really depends on the environment you're in.

If your company provides education assistance, go for that and get a B.Sc in computer software. If you can switch your job or responsiblity a little bit to do more interesting programming, go for it.

If you have to do that on your own, it's quite hard to decide. I don't even have a MCSD (Microsoft certificate ?). Language is not so hard to learn. But do that sometimes to learn the CS stuff like data structure, algorithm design and analysis, compiler, operating system, discrete mathematics.

Good luck

*** Appreciate good/interesting Windows graphics programming questions ***

[Masaaki]

Hi, Codegurus.

I am disagreed with Feng idea at some level mainly because
we don't need to be a super-programmer or to make Microsoft.

To be sure, to get the degree of CS is a better stuff to find a
programmer job, but all guys majored in CS are not always a excellent
programmer.

All I can say is that the programmer had better be related to
E-commerce stuff. As long as some company strictly uses Microsoft
environment, we can focus on ASP and so on, However, Sun Java,
not J++ is a better choice to expand more job opporunity to find a job.

Last, also, the programmer job is a frustrated one if the programmer
had a trouble to find bugs and can't fix them, we will be fired?

HTH.
-Masaaki Onishi-

[Randy H. Johnson]

Hi, I'm new to this site and still new to programming (been in school part time since Spring '97). Everybody knows the old cliche "You need experience to get a job and a job to get the experience". I am making a career change to this area and have found college classes frustrating for a couple reasons.

1. We cover just enough material to get our feet wet on a subject but not enough to become proficient at it.

2. Employers don't consider what you've studied in school to amount to any experience.

I've been looking for part-time work (you know, something to do between 12 and 6 AM) to gain experience until I can finish this degree in 2 or 3 years. Another concern I have is my age. I'm 42 (be 43 in April), and need to get into the field relatively soon.

I have a question to append to this post--where do most people who are doing this for a living start out? I'm not talking about money here, but types of employers and job descriptions.

[Masaaki]

Hi.

I don't understand your question very well, but to find a computer programmer job is not easier than we expect.

However, there might be some way to do this.

1) Graduate the good GPA of the CS or CIS of the famous school
since many companies go to offer the job at the famous school.
The student doesn't need the working experience in this case.

Except 1), the student needs the actual working experience
to get the computer job.

I'm just working a part time programmer and after my gradution,
I have to find a full time job.
But, recently, I notice that many companies need VC + ASP programmer.
As a result, we need some web development language like ASP, Java and so on.

Anyway, we had better check the job web site to know what people
the software company is looking for.

Good luck.
-Masaaki Onishi-

[SeattleBound]

Without the degree, and without already being a programmer, the key to getting a job is to forge your own persona of being a programmer where YOU'RE AT NOW. Write something, anything, if you happen to be at a job that involves computers, and you already have on at your desk. Make up something that your company would use and write it. You can shape the description of your resume around that one project, and it makes a difference when the recruiters/employers see the resume. Or write it at home, and just "say" the company used it. Bottomline, be prepared at the interview to technically back up what you wrote.