Changing careers

[mookie]

CS varies a lot from place to place. If you're not sure about the math, go onto the department website of the schools you're thinking of and see if you can find out what the requirements will be for a BS. Whatever your normal thoughts about math, it's backwards. Calc is the easiest you will find, then probably diff equations, then algebra. Beyond that you'll probably not need to take for CS anywhere.

[NOFX]

yes mookie is right, CS will vary from college to college... But whatever school your looking into, Im sure you can go to the CS department website and download a PDF that shows all the courses you need to complete for the major.

 

something I didnt do, but lucked out on is check out the CS dept. at different schools. They redid the whole program at the begining of my 3rd year and it was 10000x times better. You could get a CS degree with a concentration in Networks, Databases, Software Engineering or straight computer science.

 

My school was awesome the ONLY required math classes for me when I started were Calc 1 and discrete math for my major. I know they changed it, but my whole requirements got grandfathered in. Im pretty sure there are a few more math classes to take now.

 

But dont let a few classes you dont like get in the way, I hated calc and is the reason I almost didnt get my degree.. After dropping the class, withdrawing from it and failing a few times. I finally decided to pass, actually put a little bit of work into the class and I passed it on my 5th attempt. Now that I look back, Id kick myself in the arse if switched majors just because of one class.

[Magruter]

I've worked in a cubicle, and yes go rent office space. It holds true... One place i worked, my boss was a moron, the guy i was working with was an idiot, and there was ALWAYS some random guy that stop by and talk to me for more than 30 minutes at a time... Wish Cubes had doors.

[NOFX]

http://www.gamrs.co/forums/in...showtopic=10218

 

I had trouble myself man, I just found this and could tell I was pretty stressed out and definitely didn't want to write any code at all. What I actually ended up doing that semester was putting all my effort into calculus, get C's in two classes and I took the F in the hard programming class so I could use the retake.

 

something happened to me the year after that, I saw the light and everything seemed so easy. I retook that programming class I failed and got a B this time around.

 

I guess it would depend who you work for, but I can say that I'm glad I decided to learn how to program even against my will. Plus I should have a minor in Geology, so I can tell you a thing or two about some rocks and the history of the earth

[TheGeek]

Thanks guys! This is the exact help I needed. I feel the same way with math and programing.

 

Oh, and another question. How important is your grades for hiring? Do businesses generally just look at your GPA and judge you on that? I have found out that I get low grades (B's and C's) but I keep what I know a whole lot longer then the people I know that get A's. So I'm wondering if my b's and c's will affect my job hunt.

 

I'm hoping its the "who you know, not what you know" basis. Then I'm in good shape for the future.

[Magruter]

Grades have little weight. If you have good grades include them in your resume, if you have bad grades just leave them out.

[TheGeek]

So what do they look at? My references? my degrees? my qualifications?

[Magruter]

Yes, Yes, Yes.. Be sure to include courses relevant to your position. Maybe a couple professor recommendations, etc..

[TheGeek]

Yes, Yes, Yes.. Be sure to include courses relevant to your position. Maybe a couple professor recommendations, etc..

 

hmmm okay. Then a career counselor at the college that I am going to would really help me.

[YoMamma]

I'm hoping its the "who you know, not what you know" basis. Then I'm in good shape for the future.

 

Who you know IS EVERYTHING when looking for a job.

I forget the exact percentage, but some 70% or so people get jobs by networking.

[TheGeek]

I'm hoping its the "who you know, not what you know" basis. Then I'm in good shape for the future.

 

Who you know IS EVERYTHING when looking for a job.

I forget the exact percentage, but some 70% or so people get jobs by networking.

 

so networking is huge? I thought that programing was the largest

[ScubaDan]

The networking YoMamma is referring to is social networking, i.e. your friends dad works for a company who is looking for someone with your skill set and he gets you an interview.

[stutters]

The networking YoMamma is referring to is social networking, i.e. your friends dad works for a company who is looking for someone with your skill set and he gets you an interview.

and contrary to common belief, having 1000+ myspace friends does not count towards your "social networking" merit badge. infact, there's a growing trend among human resource departments to do backgrounds checks using myspace.

[NOFX]

Ok.. heres my take on the after school business...

My grades == crap. 2.2 GPA. And who you know is HUGE. Get to know as many people in the field as you can. I unfortunately knew noone and thought I wasnt going to get a job. So I had to go at this all on my own.. It takes a few practices runs, but it was easy for me after a while. I found out employers care about what kind of person you are, if they want to work with you and if they think you show the motivation/potential.

 

ex: I landed my job, by going around building to building handing out resume's and trying to talk to the receptionist up front. I got called back for the interview where I work now. Just by the fact that I told them I came down here to hand out resumes, I wanted to get out of southwest VA, and that I drove another 5+ hours just for the interview and willing to move here, tells the employer alot more than the anti-social kid who has a 3.7GPA and can write the same function in VB, C++, Java and Perl.

 

it took months and months to finally get my resume looking good, but I squeezed so many projects I had done in school on it and it allowed me to talk about all sorts of things I understood. From networks->hardware->administration->programming. My interview was over 2 hours long.