My plan to get into the computer science field

[AnthonyNParticipant 112]

I’m currently on a min wage position. It’s not a bad job, it’s just that I want to work in the field I graduated in college which is computer science. I’ve been getting plenty of interviews over the past year since I graduated. However, they all keep f~~~ing saying that “We’re looking for someone with more experience.” F~~~ them. I’ll just shove my foot through the door and gain that experience on my own if they’re not willing to pay me for it.

What I plan on doing is taking about a month to learn to be proficient in quite a few programming languages I was taught in college. Once I get that out of the way, I want to start working on a Linux project such as Debian.

Any other ideas on which open source projects I should take up would be extremely helpful.

[narwhalParticipant]

I work with Oracle products, and yes it seems my company won’t hire anyone without experience these days. The exception may be those that work their way up through desktop support, help desk, that kind of thing.

I agree with you that experience is overrated. There are lot of crappy developers out there, while a new guy could bring some life into an organization. It just seems like management doesn’t want to take risks when they don’t have to, and don’t want to lose the salary level position then need field. It looks like the market isn’t great that right now either (although I don’t really watch it).

Have you looked at consulting companies? From what I’ve seen, they are more open to fresh talent. They can send you out at a lower rate then the more experiences guys, have you do the crappier tasks, learn, and then make more money off of you for the next gig. Because there is usually lots of travel involved, their pool of candidates is smaller. I know lots of younger people who went that route, then went directly to management after a few years. Honestly, if I can do it over again, I would go that through.

That said though, I got into IT during the .com boom. The company I hired on with was looking for anyone who could spell oracle, and it wasn’t that hard to quickly distance myself from others.

Also, I don’t know that trying to master multiple languages is the way to go. Being really good at one thing that is in high demand, but low supply will land the better job.

Ok. Then do it.

[AnthonyNParticipant 112]

narwhal wrote:

I work with Oracle products, and yes it seems my company won’t hire anyone without experience these days. The exception may be those that work their way up through desktop support, help desk, that kind of thing.

I agree with you that experience is overrated. There are lot of crappy developers out there, while a new guy could bring some life into an organization. It just seems like management doesn’t want to take risks when they don’t have to, and don’t want to lose the salary level position then need field. It looks like the market isn’t great that right now either (although I don’t really watch it).

Have you looked at consulting companies? From what I’ve seen, they are more open to fresh talent. They can send you out at a lower rate then the more experiences guys, have you do the crappier tasks, learn, and then make more money off of you for the next gig. Because there is usually lots of travel involved, their pool of candidates is smaller. I know lots of younger people who went that route, then went directly to management after a few years. Honestly, if I can do it over again, I would go that through.

That said though, I got into IT during the .com boom. The company I hired on with was looking for anyone who could spell oracle, and it wasn’t that hard to quickly distance myself from others.

Also, I don’t know that trying to master multiple languages is the way to go. Being really good at one thing that is in high demand, but low supply will land the better job.

I haven’t looked into consulting companies yet. I would travel, but right now, I don’t even have a car. However, I’ve been looking into recruiting companies like Robert Half Technology.

I’m also going to start developing Android apps and posting them on GitHub. Hopefully that way, that’ll show my experience.

I’d say try to do your own money making website with your skills. Corporations are a f~~~ed environment. Open source projects are cool, but …Those are unpaid things.

All of this is my advice through a bitter lens. Yes.

I definitely agree with that. Once I’ve developed my skills enough, I hope to start developing apps/open source projects full time.

[AnthonyNParticipant 112]

Ironic you posted this today.

I’m being brought into an enterprise project… at the engineering level.

So we are in a database world.

If you want a nice six figure life… that is wicked stable…
Be come an ETL Engineer. Extract, Transform and Load.
Meaning… SSIS, Informatica DataStage.

Pick one.. I just printed up over 1,000 pages of DataStage and bought a massive bottle of scotch. I’m pausing my web program for a few months to listen to classical music at night and sip a very nice scotch. Glenmorangie, Hiland Single Malt Scotch Wiskey….A magnam huge bottle for about $80.

Ah.. I had to share that.. this bottle is so huge is funny.

Anyway… get into sql, sql server, oracle and get to know the ETL tool base.

You will make about $30k more than a programmer and it is a database world now…

The sr. jobs are very difficult..but with that…comes stability and so on.

These systems only the big co. can run… so it means corporate bank power to pay big wages and benefits.

Turn off the TV.. and go find some pdf and read.

I’m a fan of paper as I an make notes and cross reference.

See my next post…

Thanks I’ll definitely look into that. I have some knowledge of sql but not that much. I’ll learn more about that also.

Regarding the scotch, never tried it because I mainly stick to whisky and vodka. I’ll need to get some next time going out to the liquor store.

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