[weezymagic]

[PLEASE MOVE IF IN WRONG SECTION]

Hey guys, im currently 19 yrs old. i graduated HS in 08. went to community college for about 2 weeks and dropped out. i know, dumb move. After working in a kitchen (line cook) for sometime, I have decided that i will not be happy with the money or work if i stay in the restaurant business for the rest of my life. I have decided to go back to community college to get a bachelors in computer science: Software Dev. I figure that i may transfer to UMSL after my 2 years but i know i atleast want the bachelor's degree. They only offer VB, Java, and C++. I know, or rather remember, a little bit of each language. I think that C++ would be a more diverse language to know for the job field but i wanted OCN's opinion as well.

I know that C++ is probably the hardest of the three languages but i have always been good at learning the basics of the language and implement them accordingly. If it is vital to your opinion, i live in Saint Louis and will probably want to stay in Saint Louis with my career.

Thanks guys,
-Weezy

 

[chatch15117]

Learn C++.NET with MSSQL training. Jobs that require Microsoft training/certs pay a bit more

.

I'm a freshman in college with a considerable amount of programming experience. A month ago, I decided I want some spending money. 3 days later I landed a job programming C#/ASP.NET sharepoint services.

 

[weezymagic]

just to reiterate, you say learn c++, .net, and mysql.

also, does anyone know a good place to look for a job or internship? i dont start school until fall but id like to know if i want an internship or job, what specs i would have to possess to obtain the position.

 

[Faster_is_better]

Actually he said MSSQL (microsoft SQL), MySQL is a bit different. When you start school, they Should be able to help you with internships around the area and possibly job placement. Also you could try looking at some sites focusing on the career your looking at. I can't think of any specific ones like that atm, but you could even try like careerbuilder.com or similar

 

[chatch15117]

There was an internship fair here at UCF... That's how I got the job offers.

http://www.cecs.ucf.edu/eventinfo?EventID=87

Does your college have job fairs or anything like this?

 

[B-80]

If you ever want to be a legitimate software engineer, you need to learn lower level languages like C and C++. You'll get almost nowhere with VB and Java exclusively, although they are nice tools to have. If you are serious about software development then you want to go to community college for c++ and transfer to a 4-year school for a computer science or comp eng degree. If you just want a job in the computer field that puts your skills to use and pays relatively well, then I'd say get a few CompTIA certifications and work on getting a job in the IT field(you can make 6 figures without college).

Your next computer related option is to go to CC for some sort of engineering primer and then transfer for a electrical Engineering degree and try to get a job doing work on components at a company like intel or nVidia. Then finally there are many other specialty computer fields such as robotics and at my school we have a major dedicated to microprocessors and stuff like that. Basically, unless you want to work in the IT field, or just freelance, then you almost need to get a degree from a 4-year college. Sucks, I know, but it's how the world works these days, it's all about that one piece of paper.

 

[ByteMyASCII]

Another option is to learn web programming skills such as XHTML, JScript, PHP etc and make sure you get a good fundamental background in SQL. Learning these languages will make you employable with the large number of companies using web based applications whether internally or externally.

 

[nicros]

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-80 If you ever want to be a legitimate software engineer, you need to learn lower level languages like C and C++.

I don't quite agree with this. While there is still a huge market for C and C++, there are a couple other things to consider.

First the market for high level programming jobs is exploding. C# and Java in particular. And these are quite legitimate careers as software engineers- go stop off at monster.com or some other job board. These are highly skilled and highly paid positions.

Second, engineering is most definitely NOT just about the language. Its about the tools and concepts around that language. Going java? Learn Eclipse. Learn RCP. Learn Spring and Hibernate. These are ubiquitous. Going C#? Learn WPF. Learn WCF. Learn MVVM and Visual Studio 2008 (or 10). Learn design patterns, learn anti-architecture patterns to know what not to do.

If you can program in C#, know some WPF and can explain what a weak event pattern is, you don't need to know a low level language.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[mth91]

i like that plan, although i personally think c++ is the easiest of the languages because it's not object oriented like java.

 

[captthunderpnts]

Also consider getting your toes wet with Assembly, Fortran and COBOL. All three languages are widely used in the defense contracting sector to this day. Learn them, and newer languages won't be hard to pick up on. You could relate it to learning Latin and being able to pick up bits and pieces of other Romantic languages, you know?

 

[r31ncarnat3d]

Doesn't matter what you want to learn, the courses/professors don't care.

A bit sleepy right now, so my post might be a bit incoherent/rude, so I apologize in advance.

Look up whatever school you want to transfer to, and check out their major requirements. Look at the CS courses required, and look them up in the course catalog to see what languages the school's program focuses on.

 

[nicros]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mth91 i like that plan, although i personally think c++ is the easiest of the languages because it's not object oriented like java.

Eh? C++ is most certainly object oriented. It CAN be non-object oriented but I've never seen anyone (except old school C programmers) use it that way.

 

[weezymagic]

Thank you so much for all of the opinions and comments. I do plan to transfer to UMSL if i can get money for it. im kinda banking on doing 3.6+ at CC so i can hopefully get a small amount of money from the gov.

After reading all the comments and doing some thinking, i have halfdecided on learning c++ for start. I will check out UMSL's classes more in depth soon. I will also check on monster or careerbuilder for future reference.

Again, this is why i love OCN. There are always people to help you out when you need it. And thank you again for all the comments.

 

[weezymagic]

Hey guys, I'm going to start learning C++, whats a good book to start with? i do have a borders and barnes and noble close to me so if i can find it there, it would be a plus