[oldspice]

Im about 3/4 of the way thru college and am starting to get a little nervous. I am off for summer and am wondering what I should study this summer. I am getting the info systems cs degree instead of programming but it is basically the same thing except it does not require the hard math classes.

Should I study up for the ms database administrator certification or should I just try to build some real world skills with assembly and vb, and c++, .NET versions, etc.(I have the basic entry level skills school taught me) When I look at the jobs in the want ads the ones that really pay the best are programming jobs. I love to program, but it sounds like everyone wants a contractor and not an employee for programming based on what I have seen in help wanted ads and read in this forum.

I am just trying to stay active this summer and would like some advice.
My ideas:
1: get an ms certification(dba or similar)

2: study high or low level languages in further detail(maybe design a summer project).

Thanks for your help!

[adamvjackson]

Ambitious? I'd say try and do both... Better chance of getting a better job straight out of college that way.

[DS3Circuit]

Any reason you dont wish to pursue MCSD ? .... its the coding professional MS certification.

I would also recommend getting an internship ... experience looks good on any resume

[oldspice]

Yes, I am looking at the MCSD very seriously. It looks like if I can manage to get the MCSD and the MCDBA I would be in the best position. I still might not be very productive but I would have dabbled in a broad range of stuff. I just want to maximize my 4 year degree. I don't want to pursue an area that is accessible by any kid off the street without a degree. I am working too hard, working full time and going to school, to not enter an area that will be the most fulfilling and rewarding.

I still don't understand how a student really gets a start. The thing that gets me is that even though I may have built semi complex ecommerce sites in the past I would still have to brush up on the languages I used to reproduce those same sites. I mean all the syntax has vanished from my brain after a few months of not using the stuff. Unless you work with the same languages everyday there is no way to memorize everything. I know the questions to ask but some of the job postings I see ask you to be proficient and experienced in 14 different languages. That does not seem possible to know the syntax for everything and be fluent in all of them. Kind of like knowing 14 different countries language.

Are these job postings joking, or are there some of you out there who can write expert code in 10 different languages without a reference manual? The only thing I have mastered is html because theres not much to it. I know all the bogus simple stuff they teach in college about C++, assembly, cobol, and some php and mysql, but by no means am I an expert.

I am rambling now. I know I will be looking for an internship shortly but I just want some advice from anybody. I love web applications, but is there more demand for windows apps. I dont know and I need to in order to plan my career.

Thanks

[DS3Circuit]

Jack of all trades and master of ONE, I believe would be the best way to put it. I believe what your future employers are seeking is a person who can be a concrete foundation to a particular part of their IT division and yet be a supporting role to others.

For example, my primary function at this job is Active Directory Administration though I rarely see that duty much anymore. Tasks such as migration of end users, macintoshes, WLAN integration come across my desk more. To relate this to you, if you emphasize in Visual Basic and yet have enough of an understanding of C, Pascal, ASP, etc your employer will assign those duties onto you. Nobody wants just someone who can handle one task and be completely oblivious to all other aspects of IT.

Onto the other parts that seem to concern you .... certifications need to be backed up, so I hope you have lots of experience with SQL and RDMS for your MCDBA.

Again, I stress internships (experience is key) .... future employers love to see you are a team player and can contribute to group projects.

Another thing .... getting your Masters may help you in the long run. I would talk to your career planning department in your college before you get to "bent outta shape"

I'm sure others will want to throw in more ideas and opinions. I realize there are many variables in this equation so if you disagree with anything that I have stated, feel free to comment.

[oldspice]

Thanks for all the advice! I like the "live it" part in AlecStaars post. I think that sums it up nicely.

[DS3Circuit]

Congratulations on the new job APK !!

I hope the environment and benefits are as great as you say they are.

Apologies for not being around much as of late .... Blackberry Server and RIMs been driving me nuts ....

I myself enjoyed the whole "live it" part as well ... I have been living this IT life to the point where a walk in closet has become a test server room in my house LOL ...... perhaps living it too much? :p

[oldspice]

Oh man! This forum is about to ruin another life. I already spend too little time with my family as it is. If they want to talk to me they have to either email me or start every sentence with a word like "computer" in order to get my attention as it is. The more I read everywhere the more I am realizing that the ones who really succeed are the fanatics who are ready to eat your lunch. I got my bib on baby! Whens LUNCH! Cause I have brought a very large apetite

[oldspice]

Thanks AlecStaar! I always enjoy your contributions to this board. I hope you get those wheels you want and much more

[oldspice]

Quote:

Believe me, this is me in this thread when I was YOUR age, & I don't think I had as much 'on the ball', judging from your gung-ho attitude:

I am not young, unfortunately. Instead of going to college when I was young I decided to do it MY way and now at age 37 I have a little over half my credits for my bachelors degree in cs info systems and a ton of amateur programming and computer skills.

I started back at school a couple of years ago going online through my local university while I was working full-time. I have mostly been taking cs classes though and it was actually this website and windows 2000 that actually drove me to make the jump back into school. My bad back and 15 years of truck driving played a part too. When I used Windows 2000 for the first time I was shocked at what a nice product it was and it renewed some faith back in microsoft.

I ramble though. I only add this in case there are others out there who manage to browse this message some day. There is hope for older people and I will continue to post to this forum as the years roll by giving inspiration to all who will receive it.

And maybe a couple of photos of prized acquisitions like AlecStarr as well

[oldspice]

Quote:

(roots were in 80's timesharing mainframes & midranges on Unix & Vax VMS systems)

Radio Shack TSR80 was my first.
Remember Start Trek on the VAX?

Quote:

where the artist is the scientist is the artist as the programmer

This describes me exactly.

I am an artist at heart yet gifted with skills in mathematics and logic. One side of me says create(program) and the other says go for the bread and butter(networks). What should I do? I am compulsive and would be a dangerous programmer, yet for my own sanity maybe I should stick with networking at my age and just coast out the rest of my life. But would the world be cheated or would I let myself down if I did not take a shot at programming and miss the opportunity to create some binary masterpieces?

I am going to plunge into VB.NET and SQL since this is the consensus I have raised so far from all my research and will expand that into C#. I have too much work to do to look too far ahead. I will just try to get certified in programming(MCSD). I wonder if I can get this by the end of summer?

I will let you know

[oldspice]

Quote:

We're all selling our time, & thus, our lives (which ARE limited).

I would rather just buy an rv camper and wander with my family town to town across the us and canada enjoying the outdoors and meeting the people that make up this wacky world.

Maybe I still can do this if I can get in, make a quick buck, save smart, and get out with my sanity and personality in tack with many years left for fun and sun.

Quote:

Yup, MS stuff... "No one ever got fired for buying IBM", an old saying. It holds true with MS stuff now.

What can I say? When I look at all the help wanted ads they all require MS products. I would rather build with open source tools like php, mysql, and linux but the future is unclear. In the US it does not seem as though MS is going anywhere soon. I think open source is much cheaper for the client but they have been marketed and are scared too.

The sheeple do as the market directs them. I guess I am one too since I have chose the path of MS to insure job opportunities in my future.

This has become a world of cut and paste code and bloated IDE's. I fear the day will come when nobody knows what is going on behind the IDE. That is when the cycle starts again and some "statistician" will determine that X amount of dollars are being wasted on non-productivity while employees wait for bloated code to spit out meager results. Then history will repeat itself and the good ol' fashioned programmer who writes in assembly and c will be on demand again.

But, hey, I guess as good sheeple we ride the wave to wherever it may take us

Sorry about this rambling rave and twisted post.