IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[kevm3]

both.

You'll want to learn something like Java, C#, or even C++ for more widespread employment. Python is used a lot of times as a 'glue' type language. The main programs are made in Java and C# and Python might be used for scripting or creating the front-end of programs. It'll be hard finding pure Python employment, but it's a great language to have. I haven't particularly heard about tons of R jobs, so I'm guessing that it's not something that is commonly used in software development.

Start off with Python and then learn Java or C# when you get more comfortable with programming concepts in general.

 

[Sleepy Walker]

You'll want to learn something like Java, C#, or even C++ for more widespread employment. Python is used a lot of times as a 'glue' type language. The main programs are made in Java and C# and Python might be used for scripting or creating the front-end of programs. It'll be hard finding pure Python employment, but it's a great language to have. I haven't particularly heard about tons of R jobs, so I'm guessing that it's not something that is commonly used in software development.

Start off with Python and then learn Java or C# when you get more comfortable with programming concepts in general.

Thank you sir

 

[semtex]

You'll want to learn something like Java, C#, or even C++ for more widespread employment. Python is used a lot of times as a 'glue' type language. The main programs are made in Java and C# and Python might be used for scripting or creating the front-end of programs. It'll be hard finding pure Python employment, but it's a great language to have. I haven't particularly heard about tons of R jobs, so I'm guessing that it's not something that is commonly used in software development.

Start off with Python and then learn Java or C# when you get more comfortable with programming concepts in general.

I'm a C# developer and I love that language

 

[kevm3]

I'm a C# developer and I love that language

C# is one of the few languages that I constantly hear praised. Just about every language I look at has people that hate it, but C# has been mostly positive. Python is another one that is mostly positive, but they have a huge rift in that community between people that are stuck on Python 2 and those who are on to Python 3.

C# and Java are very similar aren't they? In fact, it actually reminds me of a mixture of Java and Javascript. I wouldn't mind playing around with C# later for some game development.

 

[Silver Surfer]

If you want GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT...learn Java...my voicemail is full constantly and I turn people down on a daily basis

 

[FreshFromATL]

You'll want to learn something like Java, C#, or even C++ for more widespread employment. Python is used a lot of times as a 'glue' type language. The main programs are made in Java and C# and Python might be used for scripting or creating the front-end of programs. It'll be hard finding pure Python employment, but it's a great language to have. I haven't particularly heard about tons of R jobs, so I'm guessing that it's not something that is commonly used in software development.

Start off with Python and then learn Java or C# when you get more comfortable with programming concepts in general.

Two things...

R is used by a lot of Data Scientists and some Data Analyst (depending on the industry). It's mostly used for scraping data and creating different analysis but there are other tools that you can use for that these days. Not a bad language to know but like Kev said, there aren't a ton of R jobs out there, it's used in very specific industries/scenarios.

I would probably suggest he start with Java or C# if he trying to get a software developer job because he'll have to know one of those languages anyway. He can always go back and play with Python but if goal is to be in development, might as well jump into the sea and get to learning the concepts/tools that's mostly used in industry. Python isn't gonna give him a full picture of what is truly going on (i.e. he'll learn Python but later realize there's a shyt ton of stuff he still gotta learn to be a decent programmer using Java/C#).

I'm a C# developer and I love that language

How is everything going for you? Haven't heard from you in a while. Happy to hear you got you gig after graduation!

C# is one of the few languages that I constantly hear praised. Just about every language I look at has people that hate it, but C# has been mostly positive. Python is another one that is mostly positive, but they have a huge rift in that community between people that are stuck on Python 2 and those who are on to Python 3.

C# and Java are very similar aren't they? In fact, it actually reminds me of a mixture of Java and Javascript. I wouldn't mind playing around with C# later for some game development.

C# and Java are super similar for the most part as far as concepts and structure. If you're great in one, I don't think it would be too much of an jump to learn the other..

If you want GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT...learn Java...my voicemail is full constantly and I turn people down on a daily basis

Yep. There are TONS of Java gigs out there and people will take a chance on you fresh out of college if you have a handle on the language and different programming concepts.

 

[kevm3]

Two things...

R is used by a lot of Data Scientists and some Data Analyst (depending on the industry). It's mostly used for scraping data and creating different analysis but there are other tools that you can use for that these days. Not a bad language to know but like Kev said, there aren't a ton of R jobs out there, it's used in very specific industries/scenarios.

I would probably suggest he start with Java or C# if he trying to get a software developer job because he'll have to know one of those languages anyway. He can always go back and play with Python but if goal is to be in development, might as well jump into the sea and get to learning the concepts/tools that's mostly used in industry. Python isn't gonna give him a full picture of what is truly going on (i.e. he'll learn Python but later realize there's a shyt ton of stuff he still gotta learn to be a decent programmer using Java/C#).




How is everything going for you? Haven't heard from you in a while. Happy to hear you got you gig after graduation!



C# and Java are super similar for the most part as far as concepts and structure. If you're great in one, I don't think it would be too much of an jump to learn the other..



Yep. There are TONS of Java gigs out there and people will take a chance on you fresh out of college if you have a handle on the language and different programming concepts.

I told him to go Python first because if he's just starting, he could easily get choked up on the additional complexity of something like Java and C# over Python. Python will let him be functional a lot more quickly and let him see his results more immediately since he doesn't have to compile anyything. Once he has a basic understanding of the 'general' programming concepts gleaned off of Python, then he could tackle a more complex language like Java. He'll have to definitely know something like Java or C# to have an easier time with employment though since those jobs are much more widespread than Python at the moment though.
If he's more hardcore about it and willing to struggle, then sure, if he started with Java, Python shouldn't be difficult at all to learn afterwards.

Then again, something I don't particularly care about with Python is how you don't have to declare variables. I'd tell him that there will be quite a few more things you have to do in another language if you start with Python.

 

[kevm3]

Two things...

Yep. There are TONS of Java gigs out there and people will take a chance on you fresh out of college if you have a handle on the language and different programming concepts.

How much SQL is necessary to really make inroads on an SQL based job? I'm started to mess around with it as part of learning PHP. I think I'll becoming very familiar with SQL once I really delve into server-side programming.

 

[FreshFromATL]

How much SQL is necessary to really make inroads on an SQL based job? I'm started to mess around with it as part of learning PHP. I think I'll becoming very familiar with SQL once I really delve into server-side programming.

It just depends on what you're doing. If you're a DBA you don't have to be the best SQl coder but you'll have to know and understand the ins and outs of database maintenance, security, data modeling, query tuning, and all of that stuff. If you're a SQL developer then you should be able to write complex scripts, build tables, know about data modeling, and how to develop reports, etc. If you're a Data Analyst or something then you should be able to write SQL as well (but I've seen people in data analyst positions that could barely write SQL, SMH, so it just varies).

I'd say if you understand these things below:

1. The clauses...SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY
2. Inner Join, Left Join, Right Join
3. Sub Queries
4. Stored Procedures
5. Variables
6. Different Functions
7. Views
8. Unions
9. Aggregates (Count, Sum, Min, Max, etc)
10. Data Types (Integer, decimal, varchar, char, date, timestamp, etc.)

Your're golden and somebody will hire you. And from there, it's pretty much based on self-learning and getting better by expanding that knowledge working on different projects at work.

 

[JT-Money]

http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-...eeeSpectrumFullText+(IEEE+Spectrum+Full+Text)

Massive Worldwide Layoff Underway At IBM

Project Chrome, a massive layoff that IBM is pretending is not a massive layoff, is underway. First reported by Robert X. Cringely (a pen name) in Forbes, about 26 percent of the company’s global workforce is being shown the door. At more than 100,000 people, that makes it the largest mass layoff at any U.S. corporation in at least 20 years. Cringely wrote that notices have started going out, and most of the hundred-thousand-plus will likely be gone by the end of February.

IBM immediately denied Cringely’s report, indicating that a planned $600 million “workforce rebalancing” was going to involve layoffs (or what the company calls “Resource Actions”) of just thousands of people. But Cringely responded that he never said that the workforce reductions would be all called layoffs—instead, multiple tactics are being used, including pushing employees out through low ratings (more on that in a moment). And some managers are indeed admitting to employees that their job has been eliminated as part of Project Chrome, leading employees to coin a new catchphrase: “Getting Chromed.”

The news is coming in from around the world, and is affecting folks in sales, support, engineering—just about every job description. The only IBM’ers spared are those working in semiconductor manufacturing, an operation that is in the process of being acquired by Global Foundries.

 

[Bernie Madoff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Geek

In addition to Portland, a number of other cities have started their own Free Geek organizations.[7]

• Portland, OR ("the Mothership")
• Fayetteville, AR
• Chicago, IL
• Columbus, OH
• Vancouver, BC
• Seattle, WA
• Murfreesboro, TN (Born Again Technologies—no longer recycling)
• Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN
• Toronto, ON
• Providence, RI
• Ferndale, MI (Greater Detroit area)
• Ephrata, PA (South East Pennsylvania)
• Athens, GA (Free I.T. A

Came across this
volunteer for a free computer, but more importantly get hands on experience

 

[JT-Money]

Dude is hustling backwards doing freelance work when he used to get paid 6 figures.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-the-future-of-work-policy-needs-to-catch-up/

By Lydia DePillis February 3

Work wherever you want to, just maybe not for as much pay as you used to get. (Maximkostenko/iStock)
Now that he works for himself as a network technician, Robert Wooldridge is sometimes able to bring his 8-year-old daughter to work with him, as he hops to job sites all around the Washington area. She particularly enjoyed playing in a nearby mall, drawing pictures as he hooked up the monitors for an e-cigarette kiosk.

She’s pretty impressed with her dad, who gets to be his own boss rather than working 9 to 5 in some corporate machine. “She keeps saying stuff like, she imagines that I’m going to grow this huge business, have a private jet,” Wooldridge says. “I’m falling a little short of that.”

Since losing his $102,000-a-year job at a large health-care association last summer, Wooldridge has been a one-man computer service band, running cable and troubleshooting problems for a handful of clients. Freelancing is now a lot easier than it used to be: Rather than pounding the pavement for business, Wooldridge made a profile for himself on a handful of skills-for-hire Web sites. He applied for a few assignments that companies had posted and found a gig on his first day of looking.

Soon, Wooldridge could be more the norm than the exception. More and more, companies are shifting portions of their work to independent contractors, managing large pools of people available as needed for anything from tech support to landscaping. This relieves them of having to pay employees a fixed amount every month — not to mention health insurance, Social Security taxes or workers’ compensation.

It’s difficult to know how many companies are going in this direction, or how quickly. The number of self-employed people as a percentage of the workforce has remained fairly constant for decades, at about 10 percent; much of the contracting out that has occurred is to firms that have employees, rather than sole proprietors.

 

[acri1]

There's talk of changing my job title to Network Engineer.

Won't get a pay raise if that happens but it'll look mad tight on my resume if I ever decide to look for employment elsewhere.

 

[kevm3]

It just depends on what you're doing. If you're a DBA you don't have to be the best SQl coder but you'll have to know and understand the ins and outs of database maintenance, security, data modeling, query tuning, and all of that stuff. If you're a SQL developer then you should be able to write complex scripts, build tables, know about data modeling, and how to develop reports, etc. If you're a Data Analyst or something then you should be able to write SQL as well (but I've seen people in data analyst positions that could barely write SQL, SMH, so it just varies).

I'd say if you understand these things below:

1. The clauses...SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY
2. Inner Join, Left Join, Right Join
3. Sub Queries
4. Stored Procedures
5. Variables
6. Different Functions
7. Views
8. Unions
9. Aggregates (Count, Sum, Min, Max, etc)
10. Data Types (Integer, decimal, varchar, char, date, timestamp, etc.)

Your're golden and somebody will hire you. And from there, it's pretty much based on self-learning and getting better by expanding that knowledge working on different projects at work.

Appreciate the knowledge. SQL will definitely come in useful

 

[*L*E*G*A*C*Y*]

subs. trying to get into this myself.