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Career Change

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Career Change

ChrisUK said:
Don't complain, Any excuse to use linux :).

I just love the freedom and that with a bit of work can be made to do anything you want within reason.
Click to expand...

I'm not, I love investigating and it's like a whole new world.

Using the terminal over GUI is win.

jip0, what are your thoughts on WYSIWG editors like dreamweaver? My dad raves about them but I prefer coding tbh.
 
Magic Johnson said:
I'm not, I love investigating and it's like a whole new world.

Using the terminal over GUI is win.

jip0, what are your thoughts on WYSIWG editors like dreamweaver? My dad raves about them but I prefer coding tbh.
Click to expand...

personally i like dreamweaver it is useful and has some very good tools but i never rely on it, I always have the code split view or just code view its usually easier just to change a value of something direct then go through the properties of the element etc.

It can be very dangerous to use if you dont have any experience with HTML ,CSS etc usually in the form of putting tons of useless code in and stuff
 
I think it's important to decide what you want to be doing, design or development. You're talking about SQL and learning c# which is more back end (in web context). I'm quite skilled at using php, and can hack a page together and make use of CSS etc - but I wouldn't call myself a web designer. I'd say developer. I can make the trick bits happen in the background that the designer wanted to see implemented.

I know my limits, I cannot design decent looking sites - so I don't try. I stick with backend stuff.

(fyi, I develop mobile business applications for Android/WinMo 6.5 and their supporting backend office infrastructure. I am using mainly c# .NET (and .NET CF) at the moment - if you're stuck with anything c#'y, feel free to drop me a pm)
 
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arc if you dont mind me asking how hard is it to get in to that industry? and what do they look for when recruiting?

sorry if you asked this all the time :eek:
 
I'm not sure how helpful I can be on that subject, but i'll try;

I have a degree in Network Computing, which is basically Computer Science with a Cisco CCNA/CCNP module run at core. In my final year I wanted to move away from the the Cisco side of things (didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would) and so more toward programming. My final year project was a location tracking system and 'buddy locator' (think Google Latitude). This was deliberately chosen as I wanted to to work with mobile/embedded devices. It worked well, and actually won 2nd place at my uni's graduate exhibition.

I mention these things as they are (imo) what got me this job. I went straight from uni into it, and have been here ~18months now. So my experience of getting into the industry has been 'easy' - but then set my mind on doing this kind of work a while before I'd even finished uni.

It's hard to say what they look and if it really differs from what any other industry would. I got this job with zero relevant work experience, and am sure that having an existing (relevant) working example of my worked help tremendously.

I was initially employed to port an existing app to c#; this was despite having very little c# experience. All I had done previously was a web service for part of my final year project - but again, this worked and was good to be able to refer to (it was quite cool, it allowed an old Nokia phone to send SMSs from a webform).

Bit waffly, but hope that helps!
 
arc said:
I'm not sure how helpful I can be on that subject, but i'll try;

I have a degree in Network Computing, which is basically Computer Science with a Cisco CCNA/CCNP module run at core. In my final year I wanted to move away from the the Cisco side of things (didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would) and so more toward programming. My final year project was a location tracking system and 'buddy locator' (think Google Latitude). This was deliberately chosen as I wanted to to work with mobile/embedded devices. It worked well, and actually won 2nd place at my uni's graduate exhibition.

I mention these things as they are (imo) what got me this job. I went straight from uni into it, and have been here ~18months now. So my experience of getting into the industry has been 'easy' - but then set my mind on doing this kind of work a while before I'd even finished uni.

It's hard to say what they look and if it really differs from what any other industry would. I got this job with zero relevant work experience, and am sure that having an existing (relevant) working example of my worked help tremendously.

I was initially employed to port an existing app to c#; this was despite having very little c# experience. All I had done previously was a web service for part of my final year project - but again, this worked and was good to be able to refer to (it was quite cool, it allowed an old Nokia phone to send SMSs from a webform).

Bit waffly, but hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

it does help a lot, i know i need to get of my arse and make something useful instead of silly little XNA games

I am currently doing a project with/for the uni which will be good for an example of work i guess
 
arc said:
I think it's important to decide what you want to be doing, design or development. You're talking about SQL and learning c# which is more back end (in web context). I'm quite skilled at using php, and can hack a page together and make use of CSS etc - but I wouldn't call myself a web designer. I'd say developer. I can make the trick bits happen in the background that the designer wanted to see implemented.

I know my limits, I cannot design decent looking sites - so I don't try. I stick with backend stuff.

(fyi, I develop mobile business applications for Android/WinMo 6.5 and their supporting backend office infrastructure. I am using mainly c# .NET (and .NET CF) at the moment - if you're stuck with anything c#'y, feel free to drop me a pm)
Click to expand...

I love backend stuff, I'd much rather do the engine than the pretty face. I quite like design too though, although that would definitely be more of a hobby than in any professional role.

Thanks again for the offer! I love the IT community on this forum.

If you can recommend any c# books I'd be grateful (not HeadFirst, struggling to learn with that, it's not really my style).
 
Magic Johnson said:
I love backend stuff, I'd much rather do the engine than the pretty face. I quite like design too though, although that would definitely be more of a hobby than in any professional role.

Thanks again for the offer! I love the IT community on this forum.

If you can recommend any c# books I'd be grateful (not HeadFirst, struggling to learn with that, it's not really my style).
Click to expand...

Not really sure with regards to c# books, I learnt it by diving straight in maintaining production code / adding features. I had an advantage though as I learnt the fundamentals of software development at uni and for that we used Java; which is syntactically similar to c#.

I'm learning Obj-c at the moment, and have just looked up if there is anything from the same author/publisher on c#/.NET - but there isn, sorry.
 
Yeah many people say c# was knicked from Java.

I got sick of HeadFirst and their 'wacky' way of learning. Going for a more professional book now, managed to convince work they don't need to spend £7-8k putting me through a crash course, buy me the friggin' books and I'll learn it mesen!

Being thrown in at the deep end would be the best way to learn I suppose! Try finding a company that will hire someone without a portfolio though.
 
LOL so hi, I think I've went from Windoze, to *nix, to SQL, to C#, to web design, to Christ knows what else, but finally...FINALLY after not really having the motivation or interest to PROPERLY pursue those (especially programming), I have found my calling.

NETWORKING. Man I love it. I find it so fascinating. I've completely given up on c# and web, just didn't enjoy it, I still like SQL but work is very protective with their DBs so don't get allowed near them. Still enjoy my sysadmin stuff but could not be assed pursuing MCITP. I'm happy to just go along, learn when I need to. Its frustrating studying something then finding out its total horsecrap in the real world. That is the by and large of Windows documentation. Might be enough to tell you best practice or point you in the right direction but mostly its down to intuition, common sense and breaking it down.

So yes, I'm doing an online course now, although waiting for the new exam material to come out in October on ICND1 and 2 v2. I have 12 months to do it, it cost about £700 for the material, plus I've 'aquired' CBT nuggets videos and Wendell Odoms study guide.

I spent nearly 3 hours at work the other day hopping from wiki page to wiki page off on a total tangeant reading about stuff, I think I went through every app layer protocol LOL.

So yes, after 4 years in IT being slightly confused and being a jack of all, I've found where I want to master.

You really need to want it though, man it is tough but if it interests you hell it makes it so much easier.

Cheers!
 
Jesus let me just say that this is a lot more in depth than I thought it would be for an entry level exam!!! 100-101 is a beast! I got Wendell's library for both exams plus an online course of videos and labs (which renews in October for the new stuff).

I was going through CBTNuggets of the 2010 exam and it was **** easy lol, thought I could get CCENT then really push for CCNA but tbh it ain't nothing like the old one!!!
 
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