A career change into IT? 1

[cinq]

With the explosion of IT there is now an increase in the number of different courses being offered to start a career in the IT field.
Are the courses offered by these institutions really any good or would a person just be wasting his money?
Comments from any of you techies would be greatly appreciated?
Cinq

 

[ackka]

Their are alot of really cool fields that you can go into. Internet,programming, networking,managment etc.. It is really good to just go with something you are interested and learn that way. The computer field has gotten so large lately you can prety much pick any area of interest. If you are just learning about computers i would suggest Internet Programming, start of with classes on HTML,javascript, then move to java,asp,servelts etc.. My college for example is making an entire major IT or internet technology. They simply teach programming,mechanics,structure of the internet. It is a very sought after major. I would not start out after Microsoft certifications stuff if you just want a intro to computers, those courses get very exspensive, very fast...

good luck



ackka
tmoses@iname.com

http://home.cyberarmy.com/ackka

"Do No Harm, Leave No Tracks"

ICMP Summer 2000, 2600 Article

 

[joeblough]

Yeah and the Microsoft field is getting pretty crowded- FAST! You will notice that all the schools dangle MCSE's out there like it's all for the taking- BUT the truth is that is where THEIR cash cow is- Microsoft TRAINING. I agree with ackka in suggesting programing with emphasis on web developement... IF that is what your interested in cause no money in the world can pay for a job you enjoy.

 

[cfowler]

It is my humble opinion only that, as with all decisions in life, you should go with what you enjoy. It's always a good idea to get into the IT profession in a general sense and then choose a specific later on. I agree, partially, with the MCSE statements. However, there is some good to becoming an MCSE, especially if you would like to travel. The USA pay a very handsome scale for MCSE's right now. In fact, they have for a while. However, with the recent improvements in Internet connectivity, to the general public, websites are becoming more demanding in their selection of criteria and it's a booming industry at the moment.

Myself, I am currently a Hardware Service Technician. I am lucky in the sense that I have access to a great many aspects of the IT industry. I am afforded projects involving programming, programming websites / pages, hardware, software install / config, one could almost name it and the opportunity exists to explore the possibility. However, if I had chosen to become a Systems Analyst, I would not have been afforded the luxury for sampling such a variety of aspects within the IT profession.

Just a thought. I once faced the same problem and to somewhat of a degree, I still cannot decide. However, I can definitely say this "I am the happiest I have ever been in any position ever afforded me. " I made the correct choice and I still have that luxury of decision later on. One can always branch out to a related field and it is relatively easy to relate one field to another.

My humble opinion,

CF

 

[WYPFIWYG]

I agree with Cfowler.. But you should know who you are! Meaning: are you the kind of person who likes to sit in front of an comuter all day, and punching codes, or are you the person who like to have human contact..??


My humble opinion is to start with the basics and move on from there. Customer Support is one of the most basic places to start, but also a good place to learn all the basics around a computer working ground ): computers, users, communication, Hardware, software, stress, planing, psychology and much more...

good luck! But have fun!

 

[daveboiler]

i have a degree in electrical engineering technology from purdue and have been a network administrator for a local company for the last 5 years. i am about to make a career change and a dramatic one. i will be taking some lotus development classes and want to do some app development in that arena. i also do some tech writing at home. bit twiddling and sitting in front of a computer all day at home is enticing. i'm nervous about it, but can't wait to get my feet wet.

 

[iza]

daveboiler i hope it's going well for you now !! i'm on the way to take a career change as well, but much smallest as yours : i was coding datawarehousing stuffs but not really really really complex (gui, queries to the rdbms and so on), i'm now on the way to do ai and that's what i wanted to )) just can't wait !!!!

 

[cmoulee]

I agree with you all that it is the IT industry where you can make much money. One thing which is alarming is that people from different areas like say construction engineers, bank managers quit their jobs and learn some software products to come to IT industry. Actually many such career switch over are a failure.

I always believe that whenever a person has creativity, he can flourish in this industry.

 

[iza]

cmoulee you're right, it's a failure both for the person who did change and is not as happy in his new job as he could have been in his previous one; and for us who are supposed to work with them - they sometimes miss really basic things you'd never ever tough it'd needed any explanation !

 

[timezone]

To all:

As for my background, I have been in the florist business all my life. Have done every thing from Retail to wholesale and importing. I also have been responsible for marketing and advertising from paper to radio - TV. I have a keen since to market things. I am also very creative. As for sitting in front of a PC all day yes I can do that and enjoy it. I would like to start with Web design - E-commerce. Then take Java, C++, Perl, and OV. I believe I would very much enjoy putting great web sits together and later would like to write programs. What is hard is can all this still is done at the age of 46. At this time I am teaching my self Web design with Sam's teach yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 days (right) . I also start school for Web Design - E-commerce on Jan 22. I can sit in front of this PC for 10-12 even 14 hours a day and not get sick of it. I just hope I have not run out of time to change ( you know Old Man Time is on my side ) or is he . I thank you all for your responses. Keep them coming. It helps to just read them and listen to other they may have been in the same boat as I am. Thanks

 

[Alt255]

46 isn't too late to teach old dogs new tricks. At the age of 46 (after spending almost 24 years sitting at a computer console) my company moved me to the Engineering department.

Sure, I miss the creativity and the ability to fudge a few solutions (I hate it when one inch must be exactly 1.0000 inches) but I can live with it under the certain knowledge that

[tab]1) I will never be an engineer.
[tab]2) I will be a programmer until the day I die.

Timezone, the real difference between our situations is that you are planning to do something you want to do. In any case, don't feel embarrassed if you find yourself knocking out a few attractive floral arrangements between jobs. Part of you will always be a florist. (I'm not ashamed to write applications that make my new job easier and my coworkers appreciate the fact that I can provide solutions using tools they can barely imagine.)

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
​

 

[mgeyer]

I believe that it is important to think about the environment you want to work in, then see what skills they ned (from want ads, for starters), make your own little spreadsheet tally, and go get the entry level skills for it. I think a college or university with the right courses, a dedicated (in reality) faculty who are NOT mostly "adjuncts", meaning they are full faculty members with offices and telephones, is the best approach, not crash courses, some fly by night tech school or distance learning for the novice. Give yourself all the human support and time to do it right and build a solid foundation of understanding to carry you through all the twists, turns, glitches and rude shocks of working in the profession, which is a high pressure one.

In today's marketplace, there has been and will continue to be a big layoff in the e-commerce sector, making for a very difficult and unstable and crowded competition to get and keep a job. This, too, will pass, but right now that's the reality. Real businesses use the internet and corporate intranets, too, and some knowledge of HTML, javascript (and web page generator software) or the variations and further developments of these (DHTML, XML, etc.) are necessary to one's employability and future. I think, though, that solid C++ and design and project management courses, for the big team projects, are what I would focus on as the best bet for stable employment, plus as many database courses as possible and some grounding in PC architecture and networking, what's going on under the hood so to speak.

Having been through the transition away from mainframes and being downsized out of the field because I was an MVS internals specialist for which there was no more market, I'd say pay attention to the economic trends within the computer industry. A good news source of that information, all in one vast site, is

http://www.hoovers.com,

which you can browse most of without commiting any dollars to full mebership. Right now telecommunications in the USA (not the rest of the world) is losing a lot of money from having put too much into R & D, the PC market has both supply problems and saturation problems in the USA, and the new frontiers are many, mostly coming from further miniaturization: wearable computers, limited operating systems to give users more control, remote control or whatever, over gadets, and the whole mixed up "interracial" marriage of different communications technologies: voice, fax, wireless, cable, etc. etc.

It's not all a pot of gold. Not too surprisingly, the manufacture of software is in process of moving to countries where highly skilled labor costs a lot less, like India. So being with some real company that is in anotherline of business as their resident customization, fix it, or network support purson is a better bet for the medium and long run than inventing the newest wheel for sale or joining a start-up e-business with stock options and temporary high pay until they don't get their next venture capital "fix" to go on with, and your stock options are worthless, quite literally. Technology is spreading its tentacles globally and most concentratedly in America, so in the long run a recession, if it comes to that, will be a temporary stall, a blip in the movement. But one does not get paid in the long run, rather biweekly or whatever.

Finally, patience and skill at writing and debugging code, good learning skills for constant change, a very good logical mind, and so forth are requirements of the field, but understanding your customer's actual problem and plans to use your software are more important to getting it right. Thus, communication in both direction, a good personality, slow fuse, ability to put techie stuff in plain English, a dash of real humility as a service person mixed with confidence that if you understand the need you can write code for it, and the ability to write memos about what you plan to do, and what you are doing now (progress and problems), and document what you have done are equally important to succeeding in the field, if you ever want to do more than follow someone else's specs, be they well thought out or not, and let them communicate for you. You do not want t operate inside a techie bubble, closed to the real world of your company.

End of sermon.