Hi Chris, As a general statement, my belief is that you should never, ever be a computer programmer for the money. Too much hassle, and the mercenaries aren't good enough to face today's competition.
It's my belief that if you really love computer programming, you MUST do it because it's a compulsion, in spite of the foreign competition, the age discrimination (you don't worry about that til you're 45), and the shoddy way a lot of employers treat their programmers. From 1984-1998 I was just such a compulsive programmer, working 8 to 10 hours a day coding at work, and coming home and spending a couple hours a night coding my own stuff. Best job I ever had... On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:16:50 -0400 "Chris B." <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm a little lost on this subject and I was hoping for some > guidance. I'm a highschool sophmore in Clay County and have started > to consider options for my tertiary education. Thinking ahead is a good thing! > I think, at this point, that I would like to major in > Computer Science. Does anyone know if there any pitfalls to said > major? Yes, and as I enumerate the pitfalls, keep in mind that for a person of the right mindset, computer science can also be the most rewarding possible job and career: 1) Foreign competition: H1-B and offshoring 2) Not enough respect, for your time and your person, from employers. 3) Age discrimination (kicks in when you're about 45) 4) Long hours, difficult and high pressure work. On #2, learn to deal with it, all the while seeking out employers who respect their employees. On #4, if you really like it, you'll love the long hours. In my opinion, you need a non-IT "plan B" for two eventualities: 1) You hit 45 and it's just not worth it any more to put up with age discrimination, 2) You get married and/or have kids and now you can't afford all the work and learning time. So pay attention in your business classes, and take a lot of them. Also, which University/College would you reccommend? From my > understanding, UF has a great reputation for having great resources in > their labs and on campus. That being said, they do not provide as many > financial opportunities as other schools will to those enrolled the > AICE program at FIHS. UNF will be more affordable, but I am not > aware of any possible isuues with their educational programs. Every computer science/IT person I've ever met, who graduated from UCF, was a genius. They truly understand algorithms, data structures, and how to write efficient code. UCF programming teams are always beating the daylights out of supposedly much smarter schools. I have immense respect for the technical education you get at UCF. > What are you thoughts on this? I will most likely be sending > applcations to both next year. Should I consider any other schools in > Florida for Computer Science? UCF. One more thing. I recommend you start learning the Lua programming language right away. It's like a Comp-Sci course in a box. All those theoretical techniques and data structures that I never learned because I learned programming in a community college are either in Lua, or easily created by the application programmer in Lua. Also, learning Lua will give you an idea if you like programming. Python is another good language. Its advantages are readability and lots of good libraries, so you can quickly build GUI and web stuff. However, for learning the ins and outs of data structures and programming techniques, I'd pick Lua. This is something you can do the summer after your Sophomore year, so when Junior year begins you know whether you want to do CS or not. Also, I would imagine that learning CS without doing practical coding would be a problem. Doing Lua this summer will round you out and make you more competent both before and after college. HTH SteveT --------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive http://marc.info/?l=jaxlug-list&r=1&w=2 RSS Feed http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml Unsubscribe [email protected]
