Need some career Advise
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HI Everyone , I'm new here to the Code Project site . Many of you at one time or another ,or multiple times ask yourself about where your headed in your career . Well lately I'm asking this question . I have been a Lan Administrator for 3 years ...I'm suddenly in a position to take on multiple tasks at my Job that involve programming . They are Tivoli(scripting mostly) , SQL ,VB,HTML,Oracle,Perl,Javascript. Now the problem I is that since I don't come from a programming background this stuff is very hard to grasp because I have never seen it before . I really love the idea of programming and would like to switch to more programming full time . I'm 31 years old and I want to get some advise (especially from people that have switched from a Lan administration position to a programming position ) on how I would go about it . I mean the building that I work in is full of programmers and developers.Am I just dreaming here ? Or can someone with my background make the switch ... mind you that I don't have a College degree but I have been to technical school . I have taken Microsoft (MCSE) courses and I'm knowledgable in a Windows enviorment of how things work . My weaknesses seem to be scripting and programming in general . I have started teaching myself perl from a book and C++ from a book which has turned out to be really good even though I'm just scratching the surface (I/O,Data types,Functions,Structs so far ) . So for the long post but I would appreciate some advise good or bad :-D Thanks for reading Chris
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HI Everyone , I'm new here to the Code Project site . Many of you at one time or another ,or multiple times ask yourself about where your headed in your career . Well lately I'm asking this question . I have been a Lan Administrator for 3 years ...I'm suddenly in a position to take on multiple tasks at my Job that involve programming . They are Tivoli(scripting mostly) , SQL ,VB,HTML,Oracle,Perl,Javascript. Now the problem I is that since I don't come from a programming background this stuff is very hard to grasp because I have never seen it before . I really love the idea of programming and would like to switch to more programming full time . I'm 31 years old and I want to get some advise (especially from people that have switched from a Lan administration position to a programming position ) on how I would go about it . I mean the building that I work in is full of programmers and developers.Am I just dreaming here ? Or can someone with my background make the switch ... mind you that I don't have a College degree but I have been to technical school . I have taken Microsoft (MCSE) courses and I'm knowledgable in a Windows enviorment of how things work . My weaknesses seem to be scripting and programming in general . I have started teaching myself perl from a book and C++ from a book which has turned out to be really good even though I'm just scratching the surface (I/O,Data types,Functions,Structs so far ) . So for the long post but I would appreciate some advise good or bad :-D Thanks for reading Chris
Hi I am glad that you are ready to switch to programming. In fact in systems administration nowadays it is really becoming important to do some server side scripting which means programming. I would suggest that you take some real programming courses sanctioned by Exams and project submission. Reading books really help but project submission makes you learn things that you would not otherwise. I have gone through the Programmes set by NCC, a leading certification body worldwide. Visit their website at www.nccedu.com Good luck - Prakash
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HI Everyone , I'm new here to the Code Project site . Many of you at one time or another ,or multiple times ask yourself about where your headed in your career . Well lately I'm asking this question . I have been a Lan Administrator for 3 years ...I'm suddenly in a position to take on multiple tasks at my Job that involve programming . They are Tivoli(scripting mostly) , SQL ,VB,HTML,Oracle,Perl,Javascript. Now the problem I is that since I don't come from a programming background this stuff is very hard to grasp because I have never seen it before . I really love the idea of programming and would like to switch to more programming full time . I'm 31 years old and I want to get some advise (especially from people that have switched from a Lan administration position to a programming position ) on how I would go about it . I mean the building that I work in is full of programmers and developers.Am I just dreaming here ? Or can someone with my background make the switch ... mind you that I don't have a College degree but I have been to technical school . I have taken Microsoft (MCSE) courses and I'm knowledgable in a Windows enviorment of how things work . My weaknesses seem to be scripting and programming in general . I have started teaching myself perl from a book and C++ from a book which has turned out to be really good even though I'm just scratching the surface (I/O,Data types,Functions,Structs so far ) . So for the long post but I would appreciate some advise good or bad :-D Thanks for reading Chris
I come from a hardware background (component level repair of computers and peripherals) and switched to programming full-time about 10 years ago. I am very glad I made the switch. Of all the possibilities you mention, I'd personally get involved with SQL, Oracle, and C++ (if possible). That's where the money and best opportunities are. Scripting is a dead-end, and most programmers don't even consider it programming. VB is okay, but generally doesn't pay as well as C++. Therefore, if you decide to follow my advice, brush up on databases by reading, experimenting (carefully! get advice from a DBA about setting up your own copy), and taking a few courses (if you can). If your company doesn't use C++, you could learn VB now and then learn C++ later. The good news is that once you learn one computer language, learning another is fairly easy. That's because many of the concepts are similar and only the keywords and syntax change. Good luck.
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HI Everyone , I'm new here to the Code Project site . Many of you at one time or another ,or multiple times ask yourself about where your headed in your career . Well lately I'm asking this question . I have been a Lan Administrator for 3 years ...I'm suddenly in a position to take on multiple tasks at my Job that involve programming . They are Tivoli(scripting mostly) , SQL ,VB,HTML,Oracle,Perl,Javascript. Now the problem I is that since I don't come from a programming background this stuff is very hard to grasp because I have never seen it before . I really love the idea of programming and would like to switch to more programming full time . I'm 31 years old and I want to get some advise (especially from people that have switched from a Lan administration position to a programming position ) on how I would go about it . I mean the building that I work in is full of programmers and developers.Am I just dreaming here ? Or can someone with my background make the switch ... mind you that I don't have a College degree but I have been to technical school . I have taken Microsoft (MCSE) courses and I'm knowledgable in a Windows enviorment of how things work . My weaknesses seem to be scripting and programming in general . I have started teaching myself perl from a book and C++ from a book which has turned out to be really good even though I'm just scratching the surface (I/O,Data types,Functions,Structs so far ) . So for the long post but I would appreciate some advise good or bad :-D Thanks for reading Chris
I find myself in the same situation but maybe a bit further down the road. Like yourself I've been a LAN admin for about 5 years and have been encouraged to learn everything I can about SQL ,VB,HTML,Oracle,Perl,Javascript and C++. A year ago I started to lean everything I could about C++,VB and SQL and I'm now looking for jobs to make the switch to full time programmer. I've had a bit of background with programming (ANSI C) so these things have not been so hard to pick up. I would suggest that you take some of the MSDN courses. I've taken a few and they’ve helped me out allot. It also help's to have a small project that you can use to test your skill out before you dive deep into development. After about a year of programming I've come to the conclusion that, unless I were to do this full time, I will never have the level of knowledge needed to program comfortably. The MSDN cd’s have saved me quite a few times and you should plan on getting them if you’re going to be doing any windows programming. Chris Foote