Tech to Programmer

[DTSMAN]

I have been job hunting and have been in IT for 10 years now as a technician. All the jobs I have interest in also have an interest in someone with programming knowledge, even for networking posistions. I went into barnes and noble and didn't know where to start. I have wrote very basic batch files to schedule certain things to happen in windows, but where should I start introducing myself to programming. VB, VB.net, C++, C# etc. One of the current softwares I work with uses foxpro and runs on top of SybaseSQL, and I didn't even see a book on that. If someone could reccomend a book that helps I will be very grateful. Or should I consider night classes for this? Should I learn multiple languages?

 

[MasterRacker]

Even in a pure netowrking environment, you will often end up writing scripts to automate tasks - which is a form of programming. Many job descriptions list programming for one of two reasons - 1. it was written by an HR department that doesn't really know what they're looking for, 2. the position is for a smaller company that requires a jack-of-all-trades.

Eventually, you will definitely need to learn more than one language. Choice of language will be setermined by your environment. In a Unix network you would be working with languages like C++ and Java and maybe Perl, etc. In a Windows environment, you will want to work in the .NET environment with VB.NET and C#. If you learn Java or C# you will also have little problem transitioning the other since they are very similar.

Google on terms like "programming tutorial" and start reading. This way you'll get a feel for the basic concepts and terminology and ave a better feel for what you want to look for. Then look for online classes or night classes through a local college. I've tkaen some classes where you get CDs of recorded lectures, buy the text and upload assignments through FTP. Having both the texxtbook and recordings is almost like being right there in class.

[purple]Jeff
It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day

 

[willir]

The first language is always the toughest. Being in IT for so long, you probably have a fairly good grasp of your skills, and may have an understanding of programming.

However, you may want to take a short diploma course if you have time and money.

Or teach your self. For example, create a little database to help you get your job done, and then add VBA coding to automate tasks and such. Here you will marry your understanding on what you want to do as the customer to how to accomplish the task as the programmer.

Which language? Others have posted the question. Although not conclusive, .Net seems to have promise.

 

[DTSMAN]

Thanks guys. I am going to follow up with ITT here in town and also another place called Accent Training, which is a course by course place for training and certification testing.