How do you get your first job?
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
What's wrong with the traditional methods? Get know, advertise your skills and interests. Where you live is not important any more! Search for internships that you can do online. Search for projects you can participate in online. Email your resume to companies you want to work for. Create a LinkedIn Account or other similar Accounts. Start a Blog to get known. etc.
"Courtesy is the product of a mature, disciplined mind ... ridicule is lack of the same - DPM"
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So it's rude of me to ask why I can't complain but it's not rude for him to tell me to stop complaining in the first place or for you to tell me I'm whining and trippng? I don't know the guy and respect is earned. Seriously, if you don't want to hear my whining, it's as simple as not reading and posting in the thread. People need to vent sometimes and faulting them for it makes you childish.
perhaps you should come out more positive, that way you can impress, you question tells me more about your weakness i think try to show that you are strong and positive in life to land that job, crying like a baby won't land you a job, that's a fact be positive that's my advice wish you luck.:)
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perhaps you should come out more positive, that way you can impress, you question tells me more about your weakness i think try to show that you are strong and positive in life to land that job, crying like a baby won't land you a job, that's a fact be positive that's my advice wish you luck.:)
You still don't get it. I wouldn't have made this thread if I wasn't fealing down in a rut. When I'm positive and gung ho about pressing forward in life, I have no need to post on a forum about it. But when I have a brief moment of self pity and I want ideas about how to get out of my rut, I get chastized by people who have nothing better to do. The fact is, when you complain about someone complaining... you're participating in the same thing you fault them far. That's hypocricy by its very definition. You can't take a single thread someone makes as a sample of how they always feel. The vast majority of the time I'm happy about where I am in life. Telling someone to not complain is very unhealthy for them. It leads to supressing emotions and have dramatic outburst. It's better that I take a day to feel hopeless and move on than keeping it with me, nagging me day in and day out. More people need to think empathetically before posting. Try to understand why someone's posting what they post.
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You still don't get it. I wouldn't have made this thread if I wasn't fealing down in a rut. When I'm positive and gung ho about pressing forward in life, I have no need to post on a forum about it. But when I have a brief moment of self pity and I want ideas about how to get out of my rut, I get chastized by people who have nothing better to do. The fact is, when you complain about someone complaining... you're participating in the same thing you fault them far. That's hypocricy by its very definition. You can't take a single thread someone makes as a sample of how they always feel. The vast majority of the time I'm happy about where I am in life. Telling someone to not complain is very unhealthy for them. It leads to supressing emotions and have dramatic outburst. It's better that I take a day to feel hopeless and move on than keeping it with me, nagging me day in and day out. More people need to think empathetically before posting. Try to understand why someone's posting what they post.
well i think i get you, i'am not complaining about you complaining. Just trying to tell you that there can be potential employers here who will see more of your negative side. You are not marketing yourself properly that's my point. Code project is full of developers who can help you out. Try exposing your weakness to people you are very close to, not potential employers.
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
Stephen Dycus wrote:
How do you get your first programming job?
By applying to internships that were posted on my college. I don't know how your college works but you can try to look if there are companies posting job opportunities there. Even though you have more experience the the usual college student, you've got to start somewhere and that's usually through internships so you can have your first "formal" experience. From there you can work your way up very quickly as you prove your skills. You can use the internship as a sling to better positions on other companies. Of course, living on a small town probably does not help much in this scenario. Or you should try to commute to a close and bigger city. If I were you, I'd transfer your studies to a college in a bigger city, so you can work while studying (it's tough, because you won't have time for a lot of stuff besides working and studying). I've been there, it's rough but it's worth it, it makes you stronger. But you should finish college. It's already tough to land on good jobs with a degree, without a degree, it can be much harder. Although a degree is far from proving how good you are, unfortunately that's how the job market works. You have to work hard, good luck on your journey.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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I'm not "bored" with the amount of work, I'm impatient with the amount of time I have to wait. Classes are fun for me. I wrote my British lit 2 paper in 2 hours (and made 195/200 on it), course work has always come easy for me. I guess in that sense, sometimes I get bored. The work is too slow for me sometimes. But that doesn't mean I give up... I've read a couple books on data structures, OOP Theory, and algorithms. I'm currenly reading: The Art of Computer Programming[^] I almost have a "tremendous game" to show off. The last thing to put into the engine I'm designing is a text system. (Text may seem trivial to implement, but it's not that easy on android. My options are to use Android's slow text overlay or roll my own with OpenGL ES.... I'm doing the later :D) Android has been a great learning experience. I got my first exposure to threading thanks to android. ^^ I taught my VB class one day during my senior year since the teacher saw that I had made a Sonic the Hedgehog game in class... I've been working on large scale personal projects (games) for... 4 years? I'm not a genius, but I have been competent for a while. (Not necessarily competent enough for hire mind you. But my collective experience up to this point does make me feel ready for hire.)
Stephen Dycus wrote:
I've read a couple books on data structures, OOP Theory, and algorithms.
So did I before I took those classes in college. Believe me, I thought I knew a lot and I knew nothing as the classes had shown me. Classes are a closer to real world than books are. I love reading books, but they just prepare the foundations for the real world experience. In the end I have to agree with SeattleC++. A degree makes the difference and real world experience is what really counts. If you don't have those, you're going to get smoked at the interview. There are many things that books and good programming skills do not teach us. Internships are a good place to start so you can get started and start to see how the big companies run. From requirement analysis, resource management, architecture, to programming skills, delivery, training, etc. There's too much that is hard to be self taught. But who knows, as Seattle C++ mentioned, you might be a genius with a tremendous game to show off or you simply may get lucky or start your own company. If that's what you believe, don't let anyone hold you off, but you need to be well grounded to realize that you're not that and start working your a** off to build your career up.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
I'm almost 36. These days I can find a new job without much difficulty. But it wasn't always that easy. School had always been a frustrating prison. Nobody really helped a lot; they just wanted me to tough it out. I grew up in small towns and my only access to computers was at school. During study hall in junior high I would beg to use the Apple IIs in the computer lab. Most of the time it didn't happen and other times much of the period was wasted before I could even get permission from the librarian. My local library had a book of BASIC games. I spent a lot time reading the programs and understanding them from the printed page. I also started writing my own programs in a notebook. Later in high school, I printed out all the QuickBASIC sample games on a dot matrix printer and read those listings at home. I got excited about taking the programming courses available in high school. Despite being an advanced mathematics student and winning at several mathematics competitions, I was not allowed to take programming as a freshman. The best I could do was get special permission from one of the teachers/administrators. My friend and I were able to use the computers for a brief time in the mornings and up to about an hour after school when she left for home. When it came time to enroll in Computer Programming as a sophomore they tried to say that Algebra II was a prerequisite and I'd have to wait another year. But I refused to wait any longer and they decided that it would be ok to take it concurrently. As a senior I didn't know what to do next. Because I was burned out on school and tired of being slowed down, I ended up going to a tech school for a computer electronics associate degree. The recruiter was able to capture my imagination by selling me a lie. Sure we did a small bit of BASIC and Motorola assembly, but he allowed me to fantasize about tearing into the internals of MS-DOS 6. I wish my parents had helped guide me better; I wasted money and about two years of my life. Avoid tech schools. I was desperate to go to college where the real learning takes place. But even there I was frustrated by the pace and I was surprised that the students didn't care more now that the education was no longer free. The thought of waiting several more years was a downer and I didn't always picture myself making it to graduation. The Dean of Mathematics let me and a friend into his Modern Algebra classes. People like him tried to help, but mostly they just followed the system. We took a couple of teams to the AC
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
Decide how you want your future to be. Map it out on paper. Since you are focusing on career spend a day or two with how you want your work day to be like. What do you want to be working on? Small or big company? Where do you want to move to? What are your other interests outside of work? A big city would be a fun move for you and get you a lot of life experience. You can join lots of groups in all interest areas. Keep this vision handy so each and every day you have to study and take tests you know you are one step closer to your future self. I suggest to continue working and get that degree no matter the cost! It's a pain in the ass sometimes I know (I have a B.S. and M.S. and I nearly had a nervous breakdown with the M.S. as I am not good with academics but I work really hard, and I stuck it out and graduated.) Once you get that degree it's DONE. A degree takes you places and gets you in the door. Without a degree you are a step behind (regardless of others without a degree have made it). There are exceptions. I recall a web post where someone complained that it will take FOUR YEARS to get a degree. The person replies, How old will you be in four years without the degree? 26. How old will you be in four years WITH the degree? 26. Slow and steady wins the race. You can see and do many more things with cash from solid employment. Keep the goal in mind so you can get through each and every day. Keep your face to the sun and you will not see the shadow. P.S. I forgot to also recommend internships as others stated about. Make this a priority! Internships will gain you valuable experience. Study, take breaks, get the best grades you can, write code that people can download and use so you can build a nice resume over time.
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I'm almost 36. These days I can find a new job without much difficulty. But it wasn't always that easy. School had always been a frustrating prison. Nobody really helped a lot; they just wanted me to tough it out. I grew up in small towns and my only access to computers was at school. During study hall in junior high I would beg to use the Apple IIs in the computer lab. Most of the time it didn't happen and other times much of the period was wasted before I could even get permission from the librarian. My local library had a book of BASIC games. I spent a lot time reading the programs and understanding them from the printed page. I also started writing my own programs in a notebook. Later in high school, I printed out all the QuickBASIC sample games on a dot matrix printer and read those listings at home. I got excited about taking the programming courses available in high school. Despite being an advanced mathematics student and winning at several mathematics competitions, I was not allowed to take programming as a freshman. The best I could do was get special permission from one of the teachers/administrators. My friend and I were able to use the computers for a brief time in the mornings and up to about an hour after school when she left for home. When it came time to enroll in Computer Programming as a sophomore they tried to say that Algebra II was a prerequisite and I'd have to wait another year. But I refused to wait any longer and they decided that it would be ok to take it concurrently. As a senior I didn't know what to do next. Because I was burned out on school and tired of being slowed down, I ended up going to a tech school for a computer electronics associate degree. The recruiter was able to capture my imagination by selling me a lie. Sure we did a small bit of BASIC and Motorola assembly, but he allowed me to fantasize about tearing into the internals of MS-DOS 6. I wish my parents had helped guide me better; I wasted money and about two years of my life. Avoid tech schools. I was desperate to go to college where the real learning takes place. But even there I was frustrated by the pace and I was surprised that the students didn't care more now that the education was no longer free. The thought of waiting several more years was a downer and I didn't always picture myself making it to graduation. The Dean of Mathematics let me and a friend into his Modern Algebra classes. People like him tried to help, but mostly they just followed the system. We took a couple of teams to the AC
Wow, what an eerily similar story... I started off making Dark Basic games(yeah, yeah laugh it up... it was my first language :P). My school refused to let me take programming til my senior year because I hadn't taken Digital Communications (essentially a typing class mixed with learning the MS Office Suite -.-) so I joined the MagnIT program to take a programming course at my community college during my Junior year instead (suck it, prereqs :P). I wasted a year after high school taking irrelevant courses at my community college because my adviser told me to (he wanted me to get an e-commerce certificate... it's sort of useful but really not my goal) but I wised up and got into UNC Charlotte instead. While there I succumbed to the pressures of trying to pay bills and go to college so I wound up dropping out. I tried to keep the apartment for a year but eventually my paycheck didn't match my costs and I was evicted. Now I'm back in school shooting for a degree. Thank you for sharing your story. (also, I didn't read any of that as arrogant) ^^
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Decide how you want your future to be. Map it out on paper. Since you are focusing on career spend a day or two with how you want your work day to be like. What do you want to be working on? Small or big company? Where do you want to move to? What are your other interests outside of work? A big city would be a fun move for you and get you a lot of life experience. You can join lots of groups in all interest areas. Keep this vision handy so each and every day you have to study and take tests you know you are one step closer to your future self. I suggest to continue working and get that degree no matter the cost! It's a pain in the ass sometimes I know (I have a B.S. and M.S. and I nearly had a nervous breakdown with the M.S. as I am not good with academics but I work really hard, and I stuck it out and graduated.) Once you get that degree it's DONE. A degree takes you places and gets you in the door. Without a degree you are a step behind (regardless of others without a degree have made it). There are exceptions. I recall a web post where someone complained that it will take FOUR YEARS to get a degree. The person replies, How old will you be in four years without the degree? 26. How old will you be in four years WITH the degree? 26. Slow and steady wins the race. You can see and do many more things with cash from solid employment. Keep the goal in mind so you can get through each and every day. Keep your face to the sun and you will not see the shadow. P.S. I forgot to also recommend internships as others stated about. Make this a priority! Internships will gain you valuable experience. Study, take breaks, get the best grades you can, write code that people can download and use so you can build a nice resume over time.
Wow, this was great advice. This is something I could see working for me. I'll certainly try it out. Getting a programming job is my immediate goal but I certainly have more milestone-like dreams that I could physically map out for motivation. Thank you very much. ^^
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
I just kept applying for jobs and also its important to make contacts that could have some work in the future. I was a systems administrator who was also doing some programming work for my first IT job and now I’m a full time developer. Keep your head up there is plenty of work for programmers and especially good programmers.
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
Buckle down and finish school. That's my advice. That being said, I got my first job with pure personality. I didn't know anyone in industry. I hadn't done any internships. I didn't have great grades. I graduated in Dec '02. It was an awful time to try to find work. I attended some job fairs at the college. I was very passionate about my interest in improving my development skills. I was also passionate about computer security in particular. There was a computer security firm at the job fair and I talked to them at length and I attempted to portray myself as very eager to learn and very very interested in what they were doing. Both of these things were true, but being somewhat introverted, I had to go out of my way to get that point across :) I learned a couple years later, that they'd decided to hire me during that job fair based purely on my passion and personalty. As long as I didn't f up the interview I'd be in, and although I failed parts of the interview (including the coding part, because I didn't know Java at the time), I still got the job. I felt very lucky, and looking back, I realize I was indeed very lucky. However, I do think that passion and personality go a long way. Best of luck, and finish school man. -Marshall
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
I got my first job by starting up my own company with a friend from University. In other words: I made it myself.
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Stephen Dycus wrote:
Why is your full time wage hire than mine?$7.25 at 40 hours a week (full time) 4 weeks a month == $1160
(7.25 x 40 x 52) / 12
Stephen Dycus wrote:
Fixing computers is not related to selling car speakers. It's like if you were hired as a programmer and they made you the secretary instead
Yes, and this will happen in your career. I can't count the times I've heard, or uttered, the phrase "I wasn't hired to do this." Usually followed by an expletive. If you have to pay your bills you suck it up and do the job and chalk it up to experience. At one job, I was suddenly assigned to produce some marketing materials. At another job, I was put in charge of maintaining some equipment barely related to my job. Sometimes this leads to finding out you like doing something else. I had a technical writer who ended up writing for the usability team. She started helping with some testing, found she liked it and was very good at it, worked a while in usability at a very well known company and is now a product manager at that company. I'll bet if you ask the question here on CP, you'd find every developer at one time got assign some crap task way outside their field.
I'm not avoiding replying due to any anger towards you, I just don't know where else to take the conversation. Just didn't want you thinking I got fed up with you or anything, you were very cordial when conveying your point. ^^
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I'm not avoiding replying due to any anger towards you, I just don't know where else to take the conversation. Just didn't want you thinking I got fed up with you or anything, you were very cordial when conveying your point. ^^
Ah, it just ran its course. I do hope the best for you. I think you have some good experience on your resume and a passion that is good, even if it can be frustrating.
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
Forget what everyone is telling you.. Work harder? Seriously? M8, I dont think you're a whiner. Your young and trying to make choices now that effect the rest of your life. The same thing software developers do everyday while they are writing their code. Work harder. Don't bother. Degree? Who cares. Grab the next copy of the rich list for whatever country you are in. Go through the top 20, top 100. Then list how many of those people have degrees, how many of them have worked hard.. Then list how many people dont have degrees and havent worked hard but have been smart enough to take advantage of the work of others. I think you will find list 2 bigger than list 1. At the end of the day, you have to decide whats important to you. What floats your boat? What is your measure of success? Money? Family? Pride? If you want a job in Seattle, take the risk, save the money and go. Without risk there is no reward. Am I a troll? lol.. Probably. I'm a software developer with some free trolling time on my hands. I have not finished high school, I dont have a degree. I have been developing for some years. I never worked hard and now as a result of having never worked hard, I have been rewarded well and dont have to work at all, so I code when i feel like it and troll in between. I was watching the 3 amigos when I was a kid (i hear you say, what is he crapping on about now).. The Mexican (i think he was Mexican, no offence intended) guy says, "if you want the woman, you just take the woman". I wouldn't suggest you go picking out the women you want and taking them, but apply that to the rest of your life. If you want it, take it.. nobody is going to hand it to you. Forget the guarantees, there are none in life. Grab hold of ya nuts and get out there.. If you fall down, who cares, we all do.. Get up and go again.. Dont live in your head wondering what if... just do it. Troll rant over..
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
Here's a short description of my situation. I hope it will inspire you or give you perspective. I am a internal auditor, got a BCom degree and 10 years experience in the field. In two months I will be transferred to the programming department as a junior web developer. My passion is programming but I never got serious about it until about two years ago. I decided to do whatever it takes to get into the market and I accepted that I would have to start at the bottom. I decided not to enroll for a BSc degree as I am recetly married and have a wife and kids to love, so time and funds are short. I enrolled at a training facility that presents short, focused courses in the evenings. My next course is a MCPD Web Developer preparation course. My plan is to learn the basics and what I need to cope in my job, and then focus on the certifications. I had to sell one of my motorcycles to pay for the course, the rest I save by not taking coastal holidays nor buying shiny stuff. I constantly read to expand my view. Recently I read a book about design patterns. Currently I am busy with T-SQL. I get up at 4:30 to study an hour before work, then an hour after the kids are in bed. I realise it will take time to get my skills up, but I could have been here five years ago if I made the decision then and didn't fall into a rut. I am now 34 years young :) As for one's view on life, Dr. Paul's book, Mind OS helped a lot. I recommend that while you are still young and life is relatively uncomplicated to sort out any character issues, practice integrity, deal with laziness and know and love yourself. It will make a huge difference in everything you do. So how did I get the job? I trained and enhanced my skills slowly. My employer saw my non-programming talents such as attention to detail, assessing systems in a practical and methodical manner, hard-working, analytical skills whilst I was involved in SDLC testing. Don't give up. Don't lose momentum. Find out what qualifications prospective employers require and work towards it, even if it takes time. Consider working at a prospective employer part-time for free. It will give you experience and you will start to get noticed.
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I've been programming since I was in middle school nine years (almost 10) ago. I've known since then that this was the career for me. The only problem is, I can't find my first job. It doesn't help that I'm in a small town with no programming jobs. I'm slowly working towards a degree but due to two bad years, I feel I'm falling behind. I'm 22... I should have graduated by now but I haven't even earned my associates degree. I don't know if I can make it through 3 more years of college. It's very tempting to save up some money and just move to a big city with lots of jobs (like Seattle) but I'd have no guarantee that I'd get a job. I'm so bored with my life. I want to earn a living programming. How do you get your first programming job? <.>
To answer your original question (and avoid the flame war :P ). I got my first (real coding) job through a combination of natural ability and dumb luck :P I had a chance to work at a company that were willing to take a chance on me, so I ditched my degree and jumped. I've learnt more in the last 5 years through experience than I ever did throughout my education. I suppose having the pressure of being fired is more incentive than someone threatening detention :P It's a sad state of affairs but as most companies can't identify real talent they have to rely on pieces of paper to do that for them. P.S. In hind sight I wish I had the degree so I wouldn't have to prove myself to other people/companies all the time. Although it is nice to see the surprised look on their faces when I'm compared to a graduate :P
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Two Bad Years: I got stressed out trying to keep an apartment my first year at a university so I flunked out (aced Java at least lol). Then the next year I wasted a year of my life working two part time jobs trying to keep the apartment but eventually was evicted. Don't really understand why you quoted the rest... I don't have an associates degree but I have far more experience than the guys that do. (like the one's I tutor at my current community college). I've almost finished my android 2D engine while the students here are still struggling on OOP concepts. : / I *don't* know if I can make it three more years. I suppose the two years earning my bachelors degree will be fun. I'd love to take an algorithms class or an ASM class. But I'm not looking forward to finishing up my fluff classes to get to that point. I AM bored with my life. I feel stuck. I don't have a job, I live with my mom, and frankly I feel pathetic. I'm ready to grow up and move on to the next stage of my life... Question still stands.
Stephen Dycus wrote:
I've almost finished my android 2D engine while the students here are still struggling on OOP concepts.
I think *that* is the most telling bit of info you've provided so far. My guess is that you have trouble going through with college because it doesn't (seem to) help you get any better, but you feel a need to finish it so you get a degree, and thus a better chance for a job. Now I cannot possibly judge if your college really is going to help or hinder you with your future career. Also I'm based in Western Europe and not really familiar with the US education system. But my guess (and advice) is that you should talk to your tutors/teachers and ask them for advice. Even if they can't directly answer your question they might be able to point you to someone who can. It's entirely possible that it turns out you must get through this, but at the very least, after talking to someone in the know, you may have a better understanding of why this is necessary, and what to look out for. But it's also possible they can point you to another line of education that is better suited to your needs and wishes. Of course, if nothing helps, you can try and look for work. There are plenty of companies who don't care all that much about formal education as long as you're young, enthusiastic (about programming) and probably cheap (compared to those with a degree). You'll have to look a bit farther for that, though: I understand that while in germany it isn't so hard to get a job within a range of 50km around your hometown, distances can be much farther in the US. Best advice I can give is to look in one specific big town for several job occasions and try to get interview dates all on the same or consecutive days, so you can make just one big 'interview tour' rather than many seperate ones. What I did for my first jobs was 1. check on current job offerings, even if they're not quite what i was looking for, 2. check on big companies within an area, even if they don't currently offer any jobs publicly (some may consider hirings even if they didn't advertise an opening), 3. phoned these companies to find out if they may be interested in me and if I should send them my CV (or whatever they wanted) 4. sent whatever papers to the companies that showed interest and waited for invites to an interview 5. went to whoever invited me to an interview On my first job, I phoned 16 companies, sent papers to 8, got invites to 4, and, finally, job o
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Stephen Dycus wrote:
I've almost finished my android 2D engine while the students here are still struggling on OOP concepts.
I think *that* is the most telling bit of info you've provided so far. My guess is that you have trouble going through with college because it doesn't (seem to) help you get any better, but you feel a need to finish it so you get a degree, and thus a better chance for a job. Now I cannot possibly judge if your college really is going to help or hinder you with your future career. Also I'm based in Western Europe and not really familiar with the US education system. But my guess (and advice) is that you should talk to your tutors/teachers and ask them for advice. Even if they can't directly answer your question they might be able to point you to someone who can. It's entirely possible that it turns out you must get through this, but at the very least, after talking to someone in the know, you may have a better understanding of why this is necessary, and what to look out for. But it's also possible they can point you to another line of education that is better suited to your needs and wishes. Of course, if nothing helps, you can try and look for work. There are plenty of companies who don't care all that much about formal education as long as you're young, enthusiastic (about programming) and probably cheap (compared to those with a degree). You'll have to look a bit farther for that, though: I understand that while in germany it isn't so hard to get a job within a range of 50km around your hometown, distances can be much farther in the US. Best advice I can give is to look in one specific big town for several job occasions and try to get interview dates all on the same or consecutive days, so you can make just one big 'interview tour' rather than many seperate ones. What I did for my first jobs was 1. check on current job offerings, even if they're not quite what i was looking for, 2. check on big companies within an area, even if they don't currently offer any jobs publicly (some may consider hirings even if they didn't advertise an opening), 3. phoned these companies to find out if they may be interested in me and if I should send them my CV (or whatever they wanted) 4. sent whatever papers to the companies that showed interest and waited for invites to an interview 5. went to whoever invited me to an interview On my first job, I phoned 16 companies, sent papers to 8, got invites to 4, and, finally, job o
Stefan_Lang wrote:
My guess is that you have trouble going through with college because it doesn't (seem to) help you get any better, but you feel a need to finish it so you get a degree, and thus a better chance for a job.
I'd say that's a fair assessment. But only when it comes to computer science. I fully understand how the fluff classes can open your mind to new ways of thinking. I often enjoy them even. (I'm definitely looking forward to calc based physics next semester.) But the computer Science department here at my community college isn't all that great.(In the US a community college is like a University but much cheaper, $900 vs $5-20k, and, in my state at least, only offers a 2 year degree.) I often get told by the students I tudor that I should be the one teaching their class. (This isn't me being arrogant, just showing you the quality of their teaching.) I see my friend's graduating with their associates degrees while I still have a year to go. They know nothing when it comes to programming. They can't pseudocode a simple class on paper and they don't have any drive to program outside of class. But a company is going to give them a chance because of their peice of paper while I'm miles ahead of them in experience and passion. I guess I worry about how well my abilities are to show that to people. I can talk freely on the internet but in person I'm pretty introverted.
Stefan_Lang wrote:
check on big companies within an area, even if they don't currently offer any jobs publicly (some may consider hirings even if they didn't advertise an opening),
I could do that, but one question... who needs programmers? Some of them are obvious but some are not. I recently sent in a resume to a furniture company for a VBA/Excel job. I would never have thought to apply there had there not been a job posting.