IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Primetime21]

If you're in a project management role now, you could probably look into some business analyst roles once you move down south. Project managers oversee the entire project, business analyst are worried about the end product and making sure it meets the demands of end users. So you will be constantly communicating back and forth between developers and end users. You don't have to necessarily have strong tech skills as a business analyst but you should definitely have a good overview of different technologies.

Going to do some research on this, thanks for the feedback

 

[JT-Money]

@FreshFromATL @JT-Money

Any advice ya'll might have for me. I graduated last year (majored in information systems), got a gig in this development program with a fortune 500 right after graduation. Basically you spend a year in two different roles at two diff. locations before your "final" placement in the company. So for my first term they sent me up north to PA and my next term really could be anywhere but likely up north as well. Honestly I'm planning on throwing this in the bushes and moving back down south this time next year, looking at NC right now. My problem is, I'm getting some decent experience with this company..in a project mgt. role now, no idea what my next title will be, I've got a degree obviously, but no certs. In terms of looking to relocate, what kind of jobs might I qualify for? Mind you I'm not necessarily looking to make this a career, I've got aspirations beyond IT that I've been working on, on the side but I do need to make sure I stay employed with decent pay until i'm able to make that full transition and def. wouldn't leave here without having something else lined up. If it helps any I'm fairly people oriented and my business acumen far exceeds my technical skills.

I would stick with this company for a little while longer and see what opportunities arise. The economy in North Carolina has been up and down for the last several years but mostly down. Despite all the media reports about a tech boom that's only for people with hard to find skills. Anyone just starting out in this field or who doesn't have tons of experience already has way more competition for every available job. Experience is still king and I wouldn't make a move until I've gotten a few high level projects under my belt. I'll generally switch jobs the minute all the new technology projects or upgrades end. If there is nothing new to learn at a company I'm not sticking around long.

 

[Quiet Magician]

Anyone here a developer?

How did you get started and land that first gig?

 

[kevm3]

I'm about to start getting my feet wet with MySQL. MySQL, Javascript and PHP will keep my plate full for a while

 

[Silkk]

Need to spend more time in here instead of BSing

 

[TRUEST]

I'm about to start getting my feet wet with MySQL. MySQL, Javascript and PHP will keep my plate full for a while

i would say learn php and javascript first. with those two, u can write a program or tool that can be useful to a lot of people...a tool u would obviously sell.
mysql is good to know, but unless u wanna be a database administrator dont waste too much of ur time on that.

for those with a lot of time on their hands, learning a computer programming language is really the best use of ur time. u cant go wrong.

 

[TRUEST]

Anyone here a developer?

How did you get started and land that first gig?

started at 17. bored one summer. picked up a book at my college library. started to read it. dude who wrote the book spoke in simple english with none of that mumbo jumbo a lot of these other books have in them. as a 17 year old that appealed to me. i honed my skills straight out of passion for coding. no schooling, no certs, none of that bs. i got my first gig when companies realized i was very creative. one guy hired me without asking me one technical question. he just saw my resume, and everything i've written, gave me the job.

with developing man, u goto be creative. my thing is, i'm a developer. tell me what the problem is, i will write up something to solve it.

 

[kevm3]

i would say learn php and javascript first. with those two, u can write a program or tool that can be useful to a lot of people...a tool u would obviously sell.
mysql is good to know, but unless u wanna be a database administrator dont waste too much of ur time on that.

for those with a lot of time on their hands, learning a computer programming language is really the best use of ur time. u cant go wrong.

Yeah, I'm currently learning both right now. I'm adding SQL to the lineup in order to be able to interact with databases with PHP.

 

[Quiet Magician]

started at 17. bored one summer. picked up a book at my college library. started to read it. dude who wrote the book spoke in simple english with none of that mumbo jumbo a lot of these other books have in them. as a 17 year old that appealed to me. i honed my skills straight out of passion for coding. no schooling, no certs, none of that bs. i got my first gig when companies realized i was very creative. one guy hired me without asking me one technical question. he just saw my resume, and everything i've written, gave me the job.

with developing man, u goto be creative. my thing is, i'm a developer. tell me what the problem is, i will write up something to solve it.

Wow that sounds awesome. What language did you start off with and what was the book you started off with if you don't mind me asking?

 

[ryda518]

Is there a website where it shows the problem solving examples when it comes to programming

I'm about to finish the Javascript course of codcademy and i'm thinking to myself "I wonder how I can use everything i'm learning"

 

[TRUEST]

Wow that sounds awesome. What language did you start off with and what was the book you started off with if you don't mind me asking?

u have to start off by getting a solid understanding of the UNIX operating system, which is what i use. there's an infinite number of information online for free on this. use them. and visit ur local barnes and nobles. go by the computer books section and read anything that appeals to u.

i really cant tell u to do this or do that. u have to have a passion for something by finding what u like. i didn't know i was going to like programming. i was just reading books on UNIX and the more i read the more ideas begin to pour into my head. and those ideas were brought to life with programming. my initial passion was system administration. but i eventually realized i only liked it because of the title "system administrator". there's very very little room to be creative as a system admin, whereas as a programmer u have an infinite amount of opportunities to amaze ur boss....or be ur own boss!

so if i were to advise u on anything, i'd say research the programming languages that are out there. find the one thats the most easiest for u to understand. go hard at it and master it. one thing i've learned is, companies will hire u very quickly if u know how to program well. it doesn't really matter what language u program in, as long as u can use it to efficiently accomplish a needed function. the "efficiency" part is where u need to be proficient in whatever language u choose.

if i had to throw out any languages for u to learn, it'd have to be:

awk, bash, php. php is the most marketable. with it, u can develop major applications.

 

[FreshFromATL]

u have to start off by getting a solid understanding of the UNIX operating system, which is what i use. there's an infinite number of information online for free on this. use them. and visit ur local barnes and nobles. go by the computer books section and read anything that appeals to u.

i really cant tell u to do this or do that. u have to have a passion for something by finding what u like. i didn't know i was going to like programming. i was just reading books on UNIX and the more i read the more ideas begin to pour into my head. and those ideas were brought to life with programming. my initial passion was system administration. but i eventually realized i only liked it because of the title "system administrator". there's very very little room to be creative as a system admin, whereas as a programmer u have an infinite amount of opportunities to amaze ur boss....or be ur own boss!

so if i were to advise u on anything, i'd say research the programming languages that are out there. find the one thats the most easiest for u to understand. go hard at it and master it. one thing i've learned is, companies will hire u very quickly if u know how to program well. it doesn't really matter what language u program in, as long as u can use it to efficiently accomplish a needed function. the "efficiency" part is where u need to be proficient in whatever language u choose.

if i had to throw out any languages for u to learn, it'd have to be:

awk, bash, php. php is the most marketable. with it, u can develop major applications.

That's not true. Only reason he would need to know anything about UNIX is if he was writing code on or for that platform. If he is gonna be a windows-based developer, Windows is the platform he should be familiar with (he may never write code for a *nix-based system). If he is going to learn to program, he should start with the language he will be using, whether it is Java, C#, Javascript, Python, ASP.net, SQL, or whatever. Learning Awk or Bash (two shell-scripting languages) isn't the way to go for a beginner programmer.

 

[kevm3]

Is there a website where it shows the problem solving examples when it comes to programming

I'm about to finish the Javascript course of codcademy and i'm thinking to myself "I wonder how I can use everything i'm learning"

With Javascript, in order to do anything with it, you will be interacting with the document object model(DOM) to manipulate HTML elements. The document object model is essentially the webpage being turned into an object that you can use javascript to interact with. For example if you have a div with an id of content div, you
must first select the div and then you choose how you want to manipulate it. One of the methods to select an item is document.getElementById.

document.getElementById("contentdiv").innerHTML = "blablabla";

in order to really learn about the DOM and how javascript interacts with it, it's best to get a book.

 

[ryda518]

With Javascript, in order to do anything with it, you will be interacting with the document object model(DOM) to manipulate HTML elements. The document object model is essentially the webpage being turned into an object that you can use javascript to interact with. For example if you have a div with an id of content div, you
must first select the div and then you choose how you want to manipulate it. One of the methods to select an item is document.getElementById.

document.getElementById("contentdiv").innerHTML = "blablabla";

in order to really learn about the DOM and how javascript interacts with it, it's best to get a book.

I actually am reading a book and what you explained is on the third chapter which talks about that. Makes sense.

 

[TRUEST]

That's not true. Only reason he would need to know anything about UNIX is if he was writing code on or for that platform. If he is gonna be a windows-based developer, Windows is the platform he should be familiar with (he may never write code for a *nix-based system). If he is going to learn to program, he should start with the language he will be using, whether it is Java, C#, Javascript, Python, ASP.net, SQL, or whatever. Learning Awk or Bash (two shell-scripting languages) isn't the way to go for a beginner programmer.

not true. for a guy like him who knows nothing about programming, java, c++ and all that other stuff you mentioned would scare him off for good, except maybe python. and yes, UNIX is the best platform him to start off on. i personally hate windows as i'm not the clicking around kinda guy. it irritates me. with UNIX u have more freedom and a fuccckton of FREE tools to help u do whatever u wanna do. with unix u can automate the hell out of everything u do. with windows, u'd have to be next level genius. if dude wants to go with windows, oh well.