mbradley
08-09-2000, 06:30 AM
Where I am now: 2 year community college degree in Digital Electronics (which
included a couple of quarters of programming courses), 5 or 6 years experience
doing pc support, some network administration, two Microsoft Approved Curriculum
5 day courses (Mastering Visual Basic Development and an Accelerated SQL
course which was a combo of Administering SQL Server 7.0 and Implementing
Databases on SQL Server 7.0), and a little more than 6 months experience
developing database applications using MS Access and VBA.
Where I want to be: I'd like to become a really _good_ programmer with enough
knowledge and skill to write server side components as well as the Web and/or
client part of a package. I have a strong interest in DSP (I use and would
like to write software for creating electronic music) and would like to be
able to understand and contribute to various open source projects (including
ideally enough knowledge to understand and modify source code included with
linux distributions).
Current opportunities: If I decide I really need to, I could swing a year
of full time school this coming school year (but probably not again for a
long time after that). A local liberal arts college offers some computer
science programs that are actually pretty comprehensive. One program emphasizes
fundamentals and Computer Science theory via the study of discrete mathematics,
digital logic and circuits, and data structures and algorithm design using
the programming languages Haskell, C, and Java. I'm interested in the broad
and deep foundation that this program offers but it is full time for 3 quarters
and intense, so I probably wouldn't be able to continue at my current job
(where I'm doing the Acess/VBA database development).
Another program offered there focuses on developing Web applications using
Linux, Apache, Perl, PHP, and mySQL. This program is half time and the schedule
would allow me to continue working at least part time at my current job.
I'm also interested in the technologies emphasized in this program and see
more possibility for immediate and lucrative employment upon it's completion
given today's demand for web developers.
I could also just look for a "junior programmer" position with my current
experience in the hopes that I could hire on somewhere where I could gain
experience and mentoring from more knowledgeable programmers.
My questions to the forum: Is it worth the sacrifice (lost earnings, strain
on family, etc.) to do the full time "fundamentals oriented" program. If
I do the part time program and move into web development, or hire on somewhere
as a "junior programmer" with my current skills, is it probable that I'll
have opportunities to pick up those fundamentals in a production environment?
Or is school the only place that stuff is talked about and practiced?
I'd appreciate hearing people's opinions on these matters.
Thanks,
mbradley@olywa.NOSPAM.net
included a couple of quarters of programming courses), 5 or 6 years experience
doing pc support, some network administration, two Microsoft Approved Curriculum
5 day courses (Mastering Visual Basic Development and an Accelerated SQL
course which was a combo of Administering SQL Server 7.0 and Implementing
Databases on SQL Server 7.0), and a little more than 6 months experience
developing database applications using MS Access and VBA.
Where I want to be: I'd like to become a really _good_ programmer with enough
knowledge and skill to write server side components as well as the Web and/or
client part of a package. I have a strong interest in DSP (I use and would
like to write software for creating electronic music) and would like to be
able to understand and contribute to various open source projects (including
ideally enough knowledge to understand and modify source code included with
linux distributions).
Current opportunities: If I decide I really need to, I could swing a year
of full time school this coming school year (but probably not again for a
long time after that). A local liberal arts college offers some computer
science programs that are actually pretty comprehensive. One program emphasizes
fundamentals and Computer Science theory via the study of discrete mathematics,
digital logic and circuits, and data structures and algorithm design using
the programming languages Haskell, C, and Java. I'm interested in the broad
and deep foundation that this program offers but it is full time for 3 quarters
and intense, so I probably wouldn't be able to continue at my current job
(where I'm doing the Acess/VBA database development).
Another program offered there focuses on developing Web applications using
Linux, Apache, Perl, PHP, and mySQL. This program is half time and the schedule
would allow me to continue working at least part time at my current job.
I'm also interested in the technologies emphasized in this program and see
more possibility for immediate and lucrative employment upon it's completion
given today's demand for web developers.
I could also just look for a "junior programmer" position with my current
experience in the hopes that I could hire on somewhere where I could gain
experience and mentoring from more knowledgeable programmers.
My questions to the forum: Is it worth the sacrifice (lost earnings, strain
on family, etc.) to do the full time "fundamentals oriented" program. If
I do the part time program and move into web development, or hire on somewhere
as a "junior programmer" with my current skills, is it probable that I'll
have opportunities to pick up those fundamentals in a production environment?
Or is school the only place that stuff is talked about and practiced?
I'd appreciate hearing people's opinions on these matters.
Thanks,
mbradley@olywa.NOSPAM.net