On 04/22/2012 10:16 AM, Chris B. 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.
I think, at this point, that I would like to major in Computer Science.
Does anyone know if there any pitfalls to said major?
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.
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?
I've read all the replies to this so far and I feel there's an angle
that hasn't been covered yet: Just go and learn this stuff on your own!
There's LOADS of *free* course materials online (Stanford, MIT, etc)
that cover whatever you could possibly want to learn.
If your concern is that employers won't consider you without a piece of
paper (degree), forget about it! Experience is far more important. I
don't have a degree and it has never caused me trouble in my (12+ year)
IT career. The hottest keyword you can put in your resume right now is
"Github". So get involved with an open source project or start your
own. Get a Github account and work on something that interests you.
You'll have fun, develop important skills, and demonstrate your
competence at the same time!
For reference, here's what employers really like to see in IT resumes no
matter *what* you're applying for (once you've gotten past the HR
department's keyword filter, that is):
* Anything that demonstrates security skills/experience. Get to know
some popular authentication protocols and learn about encryption then
*actually use them* in some publicly-visible space (e.g. Github, Google
Code, etc). Also, if you want to get a leg up on the competition,
familiarize yourself with a bunch of buzzword-friendly security
policies/regulations and put them in your resume under a generic
"knowledge" section (need to make it past the keyword filters!). I
guarantee you that someone with plenty of code on Github, "HIPAA",
"SOX", and "PCI DSS" on their resume will be considered well ahead of
the guy that just has "BS in CS <insert random non-presitigious
university>".
* Anything that makes it appear like you're a self-starter. Nothing
says, "This guy can get stuff done" than an app in an App Store/Market
or an open source project that solves a real problem.
Certifications also help but only certain ones are "worth it". What is
"worth it" changes all the time so don't waste your time with things
like A+ or Microsoft certs (unless you really want to be an underpaid
Windows or Exchange admin =). CISSP and RHCE really do carry a lot of
weight with recruiters/HR folks.
All that matters is that you get through to the technical interview
where anyone who even remotely seems like they could do the job will
appear like an angel of mercy compared to what typically gets through
the HR department's resume filter: People that look great on paper but
apparently can't answer the most basic of IT-related questions (no
matter what the job!). Perhaps I'm jaded though after interviewing SO
many people that can't even answer basic questions like, "Where do
passwords get stored?" (or even "Well, if you don't know how would you
store them?" "I guess I'd save them in a file somewhere." Ugh).
Good luck!
--
"Those who choose proprietary software will pay for their decision!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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]
