I know a lot of people on here work in computer/IT related fields and was hoping I could get some advice. I've been working as an x-ray tech for five years and just finished my bachelors degree at UT. I got my degree in sociology, it isn't a field I ever planned to work in but I wanted to have the degree just because I think it will help me in the long run. I love my job and am in no rush to leave it, but I want to have the freedom to leave this job and possibly work from home in the future. I've always been interested in doing something with computers so I've looked into taking classes to learn web design or something in that field, do any of y'all have advice on a segment in this field that is the best to learn?
If you're looking for a Job in IT. get your certificates. Im graduating next year with a degree in computer science and most jobs out there will hire someone with certs and experience over someone with a degree. I started getting certs last year and i'm starting an internship in a couple of weeks. You can broad your options of what you want to do by just doing those two things. IT is a big field and you have many options. Programming and coding pay EXTREMELY well because a lot of people don't like to do it, and its fairly difficult. I just learned java last semester and that gave me a great idea of what i DONT want to do, and thats programming and coding. So if you're good at what you do, i highly suggest you stick to programming and coding. It's an in-demand field and pays really well.
Sounds like you're all over the place. X-ray tech. Degree in sociology. And now IT. IT can be a very broad field and also a very deep field. If you want to make good money I suggest you go deep (twss) but that requires dedication and you really should like doing it. So don't do it just because you think you can work from home. Really make sure you want to do it. And if you're lucky you might find a job that allows you to work from home. You're going to have to the experience to show them you're knowledgeable enough and trustworthy enough to work on your own without supervision.
:grin: Haha, yes I am admittedly all over the place . My current job is a night position and it affords me a lot of free time to do other things. That is part of the reason I would like to learn a skill I could do remotely and make even more money, or eventually transition into that full-time if I liked it enough.
Certs are more for hardware support or application specific knowledge. You'll never got a piece of paper that says you've mastered a programming language. Your best bet in programming languages is C# .NET or PHP along with Javascript knowledge.
This. If you want to be a programmer, MAKE something. People don't care about degrees or certifications, they care about results. Build up a portfolio of applications in whatever language you have an interest in, and STICK with learning and mastering one language first. Decide on your language now, and get to learning. There are COUNTLESS tutorials and online courses to get started today. Once you get the concepts of programming down, learning new languages is MUCH easier because they are all built on the same concepts. http://www.codecademy.com is free and a good starting point. http://www.codeschool.com has some free and is good as well. http://www.lynda.com video learning series sites with nearly every langauge (can torrent) http://www.learnvisualstudio.net great for learning Microsoft related languages (premium) http://channel9.msdn.com countless videos for learning Microsoft languages (free) Finally, here is a list of PROFESSIONAL and FREE learning series from Bob Tabor of LearnVisualStudio.net that Microsoft has sponsored. To get started and learn costs nothing, so no excuses really. Bob Tabor is a fantastic teacher, I've done about 5 of his series so far. Javascript Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners HTML5 & CSS3 Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners C# Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners Visual Basic Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners List of all of Bob Tabor's Videos I've been in IT for 12 years on the systems administration side, and while I love it if I had to do it all over again I probably would have learned to program instead. Why? Because of the success of independent publishers. Thanks to the app stores across all the devices, dudes that program in the spare time can become overnight millionaires. Hell, people become millionaires making WordPress themes for sites like ThemeForest. Programming IS the future. We have smart appliances now, smart cars, everything with a plug will eventually have code that runs it. It is a GROWTH industry and something you can learn in your spare time.
What about learning the language, building the portfolio and adding a info sys management degree to all of that?
My company has a few entry level IT positions. You can start out at a help desk type of position, and work your way up as you gain certifications. http://www.dyonyx.com/careers.aspx - Applications Support - Service Desk Level I - Service Desk Level II - Senior Consultant <br><br>
Oh. I forgot to mention a FANTASTIC first video series to watch. Stanford (and MIT and other colleges) put entire courses on YouTube. Standford's "Introduction to Computer Science: Programming Methodology" is a great video series. It is an entire semester of this 101 class. This is the first class every Stanford Computer Science major has to take. Here's the link to the YouTube Playlist. The instructor to the course is awesome, and you'll learn basic Java programming throughout the course. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KkMDCCdjyW8?list=PLD8EFAA6D3255F796" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Since you have a degree, I'd skip actually taking classes unless you want to (or if that's the only way you can learn). You have the silly piece of paper that proves you have it in you to complete something... now just start learning and building.
