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I'm thinking of going back to college, can I get some advice?

4 points by arcadeparade ↗ HN
I dont think there's a better place on the internet to ask this question!

I'm interested in computer programming but I have little experience in it. My previous degree was in quantity surveying, sort of construction related applied accounting, but here in ireland the construction industry has been wiped out so Im considering a career change. I'm 23.

Im thinking about going back to college, and getting a degree, possibly in computer science, but apart from knowing how to make basic websites in html and messing around with Ruby a little bit I have very little knowledge in programming.

I think what I might be interested in is making my own programs and web applications, although this is just a thought.

So my question to you is, what areas in computer programming are going to be in demand in the coming years, what areas are you interested in personally that you think are good niches to focus a career in, and would you recommend a college degree as the first step in pursuing this career?

And advice is greatly appreciated, and I apologize if any of my questions sound strange. Thanks.

13 comments

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csomar
Why don't you hit the books? College can be a little expensive. Why lose 5 or 4 years of study? why not just try to do something with what you previously learnt using Information Technology?

My Question: What if IT wipe out after 5 years? Will you consider another career change.

Since you are interested in IT, learn it yourself, it's not hard and all the resources are available on the internet. And then try to do something using your previous and your new knowledge.

Note that my advice is Startup-Oriented. If you want to become an employee and working as a developer, then you may consider a career change. However, try to answer the question! (Just imagine the situation)

arcadeparade
>What if IT wipe out after 5 years?

That's a good question. I'm just really stuck on what to do, I have no guidance and I dont want to waste my life.

I like the idea of setting up start companies, but I dont know what the ratio is on those being successful or not.

To answer your question, another career I was thinking of was medicine, that would take even longer that CS and would way be way tougher, but it would be a great career.

The idea of learning CS on my own sounds good, but if I did it on my own I'd feel like I was rowing a boat with one paddle. I might end up wasting time that way too.

csomar
>I have no guidance and I dont want to waste my life

You should learn to guide yourself and take responsibility of the consequences.

>I like the idea of setting up start companies, but I dont know what the ratio is on those being successful or not

Imagine a startup founder who work 5 hours a day and another who work 12 hours a day. The first is lazy, uneducated... and the other is smart, hardworking, do lot of networking... Who has a higher ratio for success??? It's you who change the ratio; sure the luck will play a lot in your journey, but if it doesn't come you can create it.

>I was thinking of was medicine

I study medicine (because my parents want me too and I have no other choices). As someone who study medicine, I'll advice you: DON'T FOLLOW THIS CAREER.

>I'd feel like I was rowing a boat with one paddle

The same problem, you are lacking confidence. You should believe you can do it your own. Try to find another paddle to the boat, can't you?

arcadeparade
>Imagine a startup founder who work 5 hours a day and another who work 12 hours a day. The first is lazy, uneducated... and the other is smart, hardworking, do lot of networking... Who has a higher ratio for success??? It's you who change the ratio; sure the luck will play a lot in your journey, but if it doesn't come you can create it.

Sure, but where do I start? Do I start making Iphone apps, or become a freelance coder, or try to invent the next twitter? Or do all 3 at once? I'm at the start of the learning curve here.

>I study medicine (because my parents want me too and I have no other choices). As someone who study medicine, I'll advice you: DON'T FOLLOW THIS CAREER.

Why dont you like it?

csomar
>Sure, but where do I start? Do I start making Iphone apps, or become a freelance coder, or try to invent the next twitter? Or do all 3 at once? I'm at the start of the learning curve here.

Building a service that sells subscriptions for $9 a month. 1000 users and you already have a good salary. Twitter, Facebook or Google are exceptions. Few startups succeed that way. But a web service, microISV... succeed if you work them the way it should.

>Why dont you like it?

It's a very bad career (terrible). Trust me on this. Lot of informations to put in your head and really nothing exciting about it. It's my opinion; you'll remember it if you happen to choose this career.

arcadeparade
>Building a service that sells subscriptions for $9 a month. 1000 users and you already have a good salary. Twitter, Facebook or Google are exceptions. Few startups succeed that way. But a web service, microISV... succeed if you work them the way it should.

Can you give me some examples of Micro-ISVs? I spent years during my first time in college learning affiliate marketing, (at the same time I learned my degree) which sounds similar, and I became an expert in Adwords, marketing, keywords, niche research etc, but I could only ever break even. It was extremely frustrating to spend so much time at it and eventually having to give up.

On Medicine again, I quite like the idea of helping people, such as in a charity like Doctors Without Borders, but it's just a dream right now. To each his own I guess.

csomar
>Can you give me some examples of Micro-ISVs?

Read this forum, all the information you need are here http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz

>On Medicine again, I quite like the idea of helping people, such as in a charity like Doctors Without Borders, but it's just a dream right now. To each his own I guess.

I like to help people, but are you ready for it? If so, then you can consider this career. Just be careful in this choice.

jquery
>>I study medicine (because my parents want me too and I have no other choices). As someone who study medicine, I'll advice you: DON'T FOLLOW THIS CAREER. >Why dont you like it?

I, too, am curious.

*Edit: Can you please give more detail than you did below?

csomar
It's boring, it's an enormous quantity of useless information. Dealing with patients and working is another story. The reason why people think medicine is a good career is that doctors themselves never talk about the down sides of the job, but always consider it as the most respectful job ever.
Scott_MacGregor
Since you already have a degree, if you are interested in learning PHP, Zend offers training. When you finish the training you can test for certification from ZEND. As far as PHP goes, this is probably much more in-depth than you will get from a university course.

Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.zend.com/en/services/training/

One thing that has helped me in the past is studying existing code and then making modifications to it.

ddemchuk
Why was this downvoted other than the fact that he suggested pursuing a PHP certification? His answer was perfectly relevant and doesn't seem to serve any self interest that I can tell...
marilyn
I returned to university to get a 2nd degree in Computer Science after realizing how poor my job options were with my philosophy degree. The benefit of a 2nd degree, at least in the Canadian system (I'm not sure how it works in Ireland), is that you don't need to fulfil all of the elective credits, so you can complete a second degree in 2 years.

Having been through the degree, I am glad I did it, but I'm not sure it's the best and quickest path to a career as a developer. There was a lot of time spent on learning theory and history of the discipline, that may have been better spent on doing. Programming is definitely best learned by doing.

It is a tough decision to make. Many employers still hold the degree up high as a hiring requirement. You already have one of these.

My advice would be to explore your options. Try out some self-learning. There are many great books and online tutorials out there to learn from. Play around with the field a bit before committing to another degree.