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Your Degrees

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  • K KenBonny

    Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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    Simon P Stevens
    wrote on last edited by
    #24

    Experience is everything. Degrees only hint at your ability. We recently hired a non-graduate with ~4 years experience who was far more suitable for the role than all of the similarly experienced people with degrees that we interviewed. A degree might help you get an interview, but if you can show experience on your CV, and demonstrate skill in an interview you don't need a degree. (Experience can be open source projects, or websites as well as jobs) As you're fairly new to your career, things are harder, but persevere and you will find something. Try applying for jobs that list masters degree requirements anyway. Explain what attributes you have that that outweigh your lack of degree. Mine is a just a Bsc in Computer Science, no masters (UK). I've been a developer for 4 years at 2 companies. Getting the first job was tricky, lots of places wanted people with more experience, but once I secured an interview, I got the first job I interviewed for. Getting the second (after 2 years) was easy, I had multiple interviews and offers.

    Simon

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    • K KenBonny

      Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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      C Offline
      CPallini
      wrote on last edited by
      #25

      KenBonny wrote:

      What is your degree?

      Physics, like Mr.Dave. I'm a self-tought developer (hence not a serious professional).

      KenBonny wrote:

      What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career?

      A lof of programming stuff (mostly C & C++).

      KenBonny wrote:

      Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

      I think it's worth to obtain if you like it. :)

      If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
      This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
      [My articles]

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      • I Ian Shlasko

        DavidCrow wrote:

        What this would say to me as an employer is that when things get rough or don't go your way, you leave.

        He said he was hired as a .NET developer... If he was told from the start that it was a .NET position, and they suddenly throw him a curve ball and stick him with something completely different, I think that's justification for looking elsewhere. At best, the employer just didn't know what they wanted. At worst, it was a bait-and-switch.

        Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
        Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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        Member 96
        wrote on last edited by
        #26

        Ian Shlasko wrote:

        I think that's justification for looking elsewhere

        No, it's justification for going to the powers that be and saying "I was hired for .net work and I'm not doing it, I want to do the work I was promised or I'll have to look elsewhere". Only after that is it justification for looking elsewhere.


        Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson

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        • K KenBonny

          Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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          Nemanja Trifunovic
          wrote on last edited by
          #27

          KenBonny wrote:

          What is your degree?

          BS Mechanical Engineering, MS Technical Science.

          KenBonny wrote:

          What do you do / did you do as a programmer?

          Started with engineering/CAD applications, moved to natural language processing and CAT software, currently working on a collaboration system.

          KenBonny wrote:

          How did you get to this point in your career?

          Long story, anyway I started programming professionaly as a research assistant at university and ran my own small business after that.

          KenBonny wrote:

          Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

          Hard to tell. I guess it looks good in a resume and helps pass some HR filters. Anyway, after 15 years in the field noone really even asks me about education anymore.

          utf8-cpp

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          • K KenBonny

            Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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            W Offline
            wolfbinary
            wrote on last edited by
            #28

            I have a BS is CS. ASP.net developer. I waited for the right amount of experience 2.5 to 3years and kept developing my .net and interviewing skills. It may not be what you signed up for, but don't take that as too much of a surprise. Not to be too down, it won't be the first time you'll be lied to or mislead. I'm pretty cynical when it comes to corporate America. I'd hold off on the master's degree until you had some experience to go with it. Unless you plan on teaching right away it won't help you get a job necessarily. Some people like to rag on CS degrees to no real point other than to complain, another thing to get used to. Focus on your skills and try to put together your own sites or tools to help you. Dynamics NAV is pretty specialized and that doesn't hurt in the long term. Try not to get discouraged. Be patient and keep asking yourself what you want out of your career. What kinds of technology do you want to work with or industries look interesting. Besides its always fun, on your own time, to try new things and discover new aspects to a technology you didn't know before.

            That's called seagull management (or sometimes pigeon management)... Fly in, flap your arms and squawk a lot, crap all over everything and fly out again... by _Damian S_

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            • M Member 96

              Ian Shlasko wrote:

              I think that's justification for looking elsewhere

              No, it's justification for going to the powers that be and saying "I was hired for .net work and I'm not doing it, I want to do the work I was promised or I'll have to look elsewhere". Only after that is it justification for looking elsewhere.


              Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson

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              daniilzol
              wrote on last edited by
              #29

              John C wrote:

              No, it's justification for going to the powers that be and saying "I was hired for .net work and I'm not doing it, I want to do the work I was promised or I'll have to look elsewhere". Only after that is it justification for looking elsewhere.

              There is a good chance he is going to be fired if he does that.

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              • J Jim Crafton

                KenBonny wrote:

                Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                Depends on what you want to do. Define "worth"?

                KenBonny wrote:

                What is your degree?

                Classical Music, BM & MM.

                KenBonny wrote:

                Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer.

                Of course it sucks. You just graduated. Everyone starts on the bottom. Welcome to Reality 101. Not to sound overly harsh or nasty, but that's the norm. My first programming job sucked, it was at an insurance company maintaining a 20+ year old compiled IBM BASIC system. It takes time to get good. Time, effort and patience.

                ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow

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                Nemanja Trifunovic
                wrote on last edited by
                #30

                Jim Crafton wrote:

                it was at an insurance company maintaining a 20+ year old compiled IBM BASIC system.

                Sounds like fun :)

                utf8-cpp

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                • K KenBonny

                  Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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                  J Offline
                  J Dunlap
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #31

                  KenBonny wrote:

                  What is your degree?

                  No degree - self-taught.

                  KenBonny wrote:

                  What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career?

                  To start with I basically learned everything I could about programming, Windows, and the internals of how computers work, and wrote a lot of code to do everything from text parsing to a simple HTTP server to hand-drawing ellipses and paths and gradients. Another important reason I got where I am today is the people who helped me get there. My parents taught me how to learn efficiently on my own, and Marc Clifton gave me a start in the software business and helped me learn about the myriad of things that differentiate a professional consultant from a hobbyist coder who just knows the technical aspects of his craft. I am very much indebted to them. And finally, I am where I am because I know how to learn fast, including learning new technologies on the job while still meeting deadlines, and because programming is enough of a passion for me that I am willing to work my butt off at odd hours if necessary, and because I've learned the importance of managing clients' expectations, cutting through the fluff to find out what will really make a difference for them and meet their needs, and insisting on terms that are workable for me. What I do most right now is ASP.NET/C#/SQL Server, with PHP/MySQL on the side. I'd actually like to get into desktop dev again like I used to do, but it seems like web is where the money is at for now. I keep myself up to speed on the desktop dev technologies as much as I can.

                  KenBonny wrote:

                  Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                  In the software business, probably not - unless you want to enter a part of the industry where it counts more than usual, or you truly feel that that is the best way for you to obtain more knowledge. For the rest of the industry, a good bachelor's degree will get you going while giving you a chance to get out into the industry and get real-life experience which IMO counts more than anything else.

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                  • K KenBonny

                    Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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                    S Offline
                    Single Step Debugger
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #32

                    KenBonny wrote:

                    Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                    Definitely, it could affect your salary in the first 5 years of your career. If you ask if the master degree gonna make you a better professional, the answer is no.

                    The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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                    • C Corporal Agarn

                      JazzJackRabbit wrote:

                      How many of you would start looking for a new job if your were suddenly made to support old VB and classic ASP projects?

                      Would you believe a .NET/SQL database position and I now program VBA for Access 2002.

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                      daniilzol
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #33

                      You poor, poor soul... On a more serious note, there is always "maintenance" work to be done, whether it's VB/ASP or Access. It's only a problem if it becomes full time job, because then your skills become outdated and should anything happen you'll have big problems looking for a new job. If you are in the latter position, I would consider looking for a change if I were you (unless you're happy with the COBOL job type security).

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                      • D daniilzol

                        John C wrote:

                        No, it's justification for going to the powers that be and saying "I was hired for .net work and I'm not doing it, I want to do the work I was promised or I'll have to look elsewhere". Only after that is it justification for looking elsewhere.

                        There is a good chance he is going to be fired if he does that.

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                        M Offline
                        Member 96
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #34

                        JazzJackRabbit wrote:

                        There is a good chance he is going to be fired if he does that.

                        Well perhaps he can word it better, i.e. not threaten to leave but bring it up and ask when he will be doing the work he agreed to. That being said my response to you is "who cares?" - anyone not willing to stand up for their rights deserves everything they get in life and worse because accepting injustice harms all of us.


                        Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson

                        K 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • D daniilzol

                          You poor, poor soul... On a more serious note, there is always "maintenance" work to be done, whether it's VB/ASP or Access. It's only a problem if it becomes full time job, because then your skills become outdated and should anything happen you'll have big problems looking for a new job. If you are in the latter position, I would consider looking for a change if I were you (unless you're happy with the COBOL job type security).

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                          C Offline
                          Corporal Agarn
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #35

                          Luckily the Access programming is a small portion of my job as DBA is the biggest, however I agree with you 100% that you need to keep up as my .NET skills have shrunk to almost nil. However, with SQL 2008 SSIS using VS as the backbone there is hope.

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                          • K KenBonny

                            Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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                            N Offline
                            Not Active
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #36

                            KenBonny wrote:

                            What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career?

                            Study, hard work, experience and putting up with a lot of crap

                            KenBonny wrote:

                            Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                            In your case I would think not. What will help more is experience. As you start to move up the ladder then yes a Masters (depending type) may help to obtain a higher level position.

                            KenBonny wrote:

                            every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree

                            Most positions I've seen only ask for BS. Perhaps you are search too high. You have to start somewhere, just not at the top.


                            I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

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                            • K KenBonny

                              Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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                              M Offline
                              Marc Clifton
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #37

                              I have no degree, my articles give you an idea of what I do, but more specifically, I do contract work and currently have two clients, one in the space industry and the other in the, ahem, adult entertainment industry. Pretty much every contract job that I've had has involved working on re-architecting legacy systems. I got to where I am now by getting really frustrated with the mundane aspects of programming. I'm much more interested in doing the interesting work--architecture, UI design, figuring out difficult problems, working with the client to get them what they really want, etc. It's an ongoing process, but I have to admit I feel like I'm falling behind with things like WPF because none of my clients has any need for it, and I certainly can't justify it in their eyes (yeah, yeah, that was my little rant.) I'm quite interested in F# though, and I hope one day, sigh, to finish the poker game I'm writing in F#. As to obtaining a masters degree, I have the following thoughts: no, unless the degree helps for the field of work you're in. That said, I've solved problems in videometric and network topology analysis that have stumped PhD folks for years. I guess it just takes a fresh pair of eyes, or at least ones that aren't myopic in their "try to shove the problem into the solution domain that I'm an expert in" approach. Marc

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                              • K KenBonny

                                Hello, fellow Projecteers. I've been lurking on here some time now and I think this is the best place to ask my question. I graduated last June and started working a couple of months later. I'm working 4-5 months now as a Dynamics NAV (a.k.a. Navision) developer. Got hired to work out a .NET project, but two weeks into the job my boss says to drop it because it's too expensive for me to work out. He gives me several NAV assignments and wants me to specialize in NAV. Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer. My question to you: What is your degree? What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career? Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

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                                P Offline
                                PIEBALDconsult
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #38

                                KenBonny wrote:

                                What is your degree?

                                BSCS

                                KenBonny wrote:

                                What do you do as a programmer?

                                Database, backend, services, automation, integration, framework...

                                KenBonny wrote:

                                How did you get to this point in your career?

                                By not doing that new-fangled Web crap. Started out doing C and Oracle (Pro*C) on OpenVMS; I was real good at it -- but there are no jobs in that anymore. :sigh:

                                KenBonny wrote:

                                Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                                Only if you want to teach. My wife has a masters... she still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up.

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                                • N Not Active

                                  KenBonny wrote:

                                  What do you do / did you do as a programmer? How did you get to this point in your career?

                                  Study, hard work, experience and putting up with a lot of crap

                                  KenBonny wrote:

                                  Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                                  In your case I would think not. What will help more is experience. As you start to move up the ladder then yes a Masters (depending type) may help to obtain a higher level position.

                                  KenBonny wrote:

                                  every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree

                                  Most positions I've seen only ask for BS. Perhaps you are search too high. You have to start somewhere, just not at the top.


                                  I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Mustafa Ismail Mustafa
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #39

                                  Mark Nischalke wrote:

                                  Most positions I've seen only ask for BS

                                  You must have worked in the Middle East in that case Mark, because the majority of work has BS as a requirement! ;)

                                  If the post was helpful, please vote, eh! Current activities: Book: Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Project: Hospital Automation, final stage Learning: Image analysis, LINQ Now and forever, defiant to the end. What is Multiple Sclerosis[^]?

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                                  • M Member 96

                                    JazzJackRabbit wrote:

                                    There is a good chance he is going to be fired if he does that.

                                    Well perhaps he can word it better, i.e. not threaten to leave but bring it up and ask when he will be doing the work he agreed to. That being said my response to you is "who cares?" - anyone not willing to stand up for their rights deserves everything they get in life and worse because accepting injustice harms all of us.


                                    Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson

                                    K Offline
                                    K Offline
                                    KenBonny
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #40

                                    Very good arguement. I thought about this a lot and I kinda agree with both of you. I'm afraid that if I leave now I'll come over as "rough patch = goodbye employer". On the other hand, on this path, my career is taking a turn to a place I've been trying to avoid: consultancy in a financial area. (I wanna get more technical, not towards selling and modding an existing application.) The thing is, I'm working for a small company. 9 people, counting programmers, technicians, the boss and the secretary. The work is pretty nicely spread, with me catching up more and more. But the boss wants to expand the NAV market. So I can't change to another position. Unless the guy across from me is willing to switch jobs. But I quote him (litterly, this is grafted into my memory because I thought it was pretty rude of him, considering I'm very envious of his job) "I'm glad you took over that crappy job". Crappy job meaning NAV programming.

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                                    • J Jim Crafton

                                      KenBonny wrote:

                                      Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                                      Depends on what you want to do. Define "worth"?

                                      KenBonny wrote:

                                      What is your degree?

                                      Classical Music, BM & MM.

                                      KenBonny wrote:

                                      Personally, I hate NAV. It's old, it's clunky, it won't work without a dozen hacks, the development language (C/AL) is limited and frustrating (I'm used to C# from school and personal projects). Now I'm looking for another job, but every interesting job I encounter asks for a masters degree or experience as a programmer.

                                      Of course it sucks. You just graduated. Everyone starts on the bottom. Welcome to Reality 101. Not to sound overly harsh or nasty, but that's the norm. My first programming job sucked, it was at an insurance company maintaining a 20+ year old compiled IBM BASIC system. It takes time to get good. Time, effort and patience.

                                      ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow

                                      K Offline
                                      K Offline
                                      KenBonny
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #41

                                      Jim Crafton wrote:

                                      Of course it sucks. You just graduated. Everyone starts on the bottom. Welcome to Reality 101. Not to sound overly harsh or nasty, but that's the norm.

                                      I don't want to come over as a know it all, but I knew that. :) That's also the reason I don't just quit and go back to living it up at home and look for another job full time.

                                      Jim Crafton wrote:

                                      It takes time to get good. Time, effort and patience.

                                      This raises another question: How do you know you're good? You've been coding stuff that works for 10 years now, ok. But who tells you your code is good? I was thinking that more education would give me better skills (cause my code would literally be reviewed and my flaws would be pointed out to me, thus learning from my mistakes).

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                                      • K KenBonny

                                        Very good arguement. I thought about this a lot and I kinda agree with both of you. I'm afraid that if I leave now I'll come over as "rough patch = goodbye employer". On the other hand, on this path, my career is taking a turn to a place I've been trying to avoid: consultancy in a financial area. (I wanna get more technical, not towards selling and modding an existing application.) The thing is, I'm working for a small company. 9 people, counting programmers, technicians, the boss and the secretary. The work is pretty nicely spread, with me catching up more and more. But the boss wants to expand the NAV market. So I can't change to another position. Unless the guy across from me is willing to switch jobs. But I quote him (litterly, this is grafted into my memory because I thought it was pretty rude of him, considering I'm very envious of his job) "I'm glad you took over that crappy job". Crappy job meaning NAV programming.

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                                        Member 96
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #42

                                        Well I have no idea what "nav" programming is however if your shop only has 9 people most of whom are not programmers that actually makes it a much more desirable place to work as a newbie because you will get a chance to learn a *lot* more than you ever would at a bigger shop. Employers in general love to get people that are more well rounded and know more aspects of the business and it's a priceless education for you. I firmly believe a developer that knows absolutely nothing about all aspects of the software business including sales, marketing, management, accounting, customer service etc will go through their career being utterly defenseless like a puppy in traffic. Sounds actually like an ideal first place to work to me. As for crappy job, you're a beginner, if you think you're going to get anything less than a crappy job that no one else wants to do for the foreseeable future you're dreaming. :) Consider that it takes at least a decade to get halfway useful at anything. This rule applies to any human endeavor as equally as it does to becoming a useful programmer.


                                        Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson

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                                        • J Joe Woodbury

                                          KenBonny wrote:

                                          What is your degree?

                                          BA in Film

                                          KenBonny wrote:

                                          How did you get to this point in your career?

                                          Self taught, learned Windows inside and out. Perseverance. I maintain that nobody can truly be a senior developer with less than seven years solid experience. I also accepted low paying jobs at first. Really low paying. Too many graduates are spoiled into thinking they can start right out with a bang. Some do; we have a guy working for us right now who's still going to school. To be fair, he worked all sorts of crummy jobs at this company before moving onto the team I'm on.

                                          KenBonny wrote:

                                          Do you think it's worth to obtain a masters degree?

                                          (For a CS masters degree in US definition) If you want to go into management, it may pay off. Otherwise, no. The time spent on the degree would be better spent teaching yourself and/or taking specific classes in technologies. As a developer, it will take years to recoup your costs of a post-graduate degree. On the other hand, if you really want to go into management, get an MBA. Not because it's worth anything by itself (it's one of the most useless degrees ever invented) but it impresses higher ups, especially ones with MBAs. One more thing: be very careful about bailing now. The single biggest method to eliminate candidates without a ton of experience is how long they've stayed at a job. If you end up with a few jobs of a few months each, you WILL be unemployable. I've had the misfortune of working for several companies that went under. This has hurt me in getting jobs and in negotiating salaries. (Note to any college students here: My advice is simple--upon graduation find a job at the biggest damn company you find, no matter how loathsome. Forget salary completely and stick with them at least three years and get at least ONE good management reference. While there, take advantage of every continuing education benefit the company offers. Do remember, though, that what this will do is get you in the door for an interview, that's it. You better have actually learned how to do engineering, designing, programming, testing or whatever it is you want to do.)

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                                          KenBonny
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #43

                                          Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                          (For a CS masters degree in US definition)

                                          For a CS masters degree of EU definition, I'm from Europe. I've been looking up information about the courses and I see a whole lot of technical classes ("Modeling and Transformation in Software Development" and "Software Testing", to name two). Yes, you can learn these on the job, but how thorough are you getting them?

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