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- Path: keats.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca!not-for-mail
- From: c2a192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca (Kazimir Kylheku)
- Newsgroups: comp.programming,comp.lang.c
- Subject: Re: Help!!! Need advice on career in computers!
- Date: 25 Feb 1996 13:47:03 -0800
- Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
- Message-ID: <4gqlcnINNhj5@keats.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca>
- References: <4gbbga$lta@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: keats.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca
-
- In article <4gbbga$lta@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>,
- Kashan Akins <kshan@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
- >I am 25 and working in a job that doesn't offer much of a future. I
- >haven't had the money to finish college. I would like to learn a
- >marketable skill in computers to help me get my foot in the door with
- >a company that will help me pay for school. I would like some
- >opinions on a path to take. Someone suggested I learn HTML, which I
- >now have a pretty good grasp of. But with the new "almost WYSIWIG"
- >editors and converters anyone will be able to design their own web
- >pages.
- >
- >I see many job opportunities for C\C++ programming of which I
- >understand I should learn C first. Please offer advice and
- >suggestions on materials that would explain this arcane language to a
- >beginner.
-
- This is not easy to answer. First of all, even you memorize the grammar of the
- language, it doesn't mean that you are a program designer. It's not the
- language that you have to learn, but program design.
-
- The job market for programming work is competitive. Unfortunately you need some
- sort of credentials---or strong references. This means getting some sort of
- formal training (regardless of what you may think of its actual value).
-
- Lastly, even if you have all the right education, you could still end up in a
- programming "McJob" (To use a word borrowed from the Generation X author,
- Douglas Adams whose father is my physician).
-
- McJob: A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job
- in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice
- by people who have never held one.
-
- Okay, so a $10/hour Windoze programming job is not _exactly_ service sector,
- but close enough to the definition. It is low-pay, and along with that usually
- comes low-prestige and low-dignity, as well as low-benefit.
-
- This sounds like what you are trying to escape from, and you probably have a
- vision of what it might be like to be sitting behind a keyboard casting weird
- spells while people stuff money down your shirt. The reality is that unless you
- have the credentials, there will be a dozen others like you at any interview.
-
- A good friend of mine who dropped out from 3rd year of a computer science
- undergraduate degree program (in good standing, mind you---not for academic
- reasons) has been unemployed for about a year. And he does know his
- programming, believe me. What he lacks is the degree, and perhaps some job
- getting skills.
-
- I don't want to discourage you from becoming a self-taught computing
- professional. Such people do exist, and are able to carve out a decent living.
- Frequently, they even know more than people with formal training---or so it
- appears. I don't think that you find them very often in good, secure positions
- in major companies. You might find it easier to sell yourself as a system
- administrator or consultant.
-
- About HTML: You should probably forget about the idea of being an exclusive Web
- page designing HTML slinger. For one thing, HTML is trivial. A knowledge of
- HTML is simply not valued in the market. Again, I have only seen McJob type
- advertizements for HTML ``coding''. I know people who have made a business
- around the Web by providing a _complete service_ to a client who wants to
- establish an Internet presence. The skills they have range from the
- inter-personal+business-administration required to run any business, plus they
- have strong skills in setting complete servers, with things like CGI scripts,
- plus they can also set up complete networks with an Internet connection which
- includes e-mail, NNTP feed and so forth. This involves knowing how to install
- routers, set up administer UNIX boxes and networks and client software,
- databases, plus coding Perl and C and so on. By the way, these friends of mine
- all have good positions in a large firm. They were ``snapped up'' upon
- graduating with CS and Eng degrees, so you would think that they don't have to
- be doing any of this.
-
- In any case, if you want to provide a company with a Web site where clients can
- search a catalog of, say products or services offered by the company, mere
- knowledge of HTML codes like won't really get you anywhere.
- --
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