Career in computers

[DevilMayCry42]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as hannibal here, I was wondering about forensic computing, or even some other non programming stuff in the gaming industry...

[staffsMike]

The gaming industry is a tough nut to crack. There is a lot of competition for very few jobs as far as I have seen.

Forensic computing again is quite a niche market from what I've heard from the people on that very course at uni. Limited jobs and stiff competetion.

Far be it from me to disaude you but you have to be bloomin serious and very dedicated to get anywhere in either business, where a DBA's with a few years expierence are highly sought after.

The day to day stuff is very tedious but as I said it's how you react to the problems which make you a stand out in that sort of job

[Rosaline]

Whist there are many IT jobs that mean you don't have to be able to program, the truth is that being able to is a real boon for many of the jobs. It can get you out of tight corners, and let you solve many problems far more easily.

Whilst I have tried to be supportive so far, I'm knee-deep in complex code at the moment, hoping that this A* search works correctly and that the sprites will all behave realistically.

Serious forensic computing work is helped by being able to write rudimentary scripts. Games development, outside of the art requirements, beta testing and customer support, is still strongly programming based. Many people have worked really hard to gain skills, and now apply these programming abilities to make them better DBAs or system admins.

If you want into serious IT away from the management side, and you don't want to have to be able to write rudimentary programs, it is possible but it will be a long, hard journey. IT is all too often promoted as an 'easy' route to money and something that people who are 'good with computers' can all do. But to be quite frank, I'm with this guy. This is no easy climb, there is no magic ticket, and no one is perfect. Those of us in the industry put in serious amounts of work to get where we are, and whatever your skill set, we welcome you but don't look for the easy or for things you simply don't have the skills to do (as that just worsens existing problems further).

(sorry, I really AM knee-deep in code, working hard, and talk of wanting to avoid it yet work in IT, especially IT roles that should require it, bites hard right now)

[staffsMike]

I'm with this guy.

That was fun. He knows a bit than I do but at least I understood what he was talking about haha

If he's been to university to study he should know far more methodologies than that though, at least.. 15 lol

[MadduckUK]

Comedian: 'Ere, what do you do mate?
Me: *sigh* I'm a code monkey.
C: Eh?
M: I'm a software engineer.
C: Oh, computers 'n that? You mean you work in IT.
M: *sob sob*
C: Yeah must be pretty boring.

he IS pretty boring

[Pazza]

Give this a go...

Learn COBOL and DB2/SQL. Much easier than PC based languages and much more demand for good people with good business knowledge - get to grips how the credit card industry works (business level) and you can earn much more than a PC programmer. COBOL is a simple to understand, structured business language and has been around for years and will be around for many more years to come.

Keep PC stuff as a hobby - this way you can afford to fund gadget buying.

If it's PC stuff you want to stick with, get a job to assist PC Doctors so you can play around with them (PC's that is) and justify it lol !

[++hannibal++]

Whist there are many IT jobs that mean you don't have to be able to program, the truth is that being able to is a real boon for many of the jobs. It can get you out of tight corners, and let you solve many problems far more easily.

Whilst I have tried to be supportive so far, I'm knee-deep in complex code at the moment, hoping that this A* search works correctly and that the sprites will all behave realistically.

Serious forensic computing work is helped by being able to write rudimentary scripts. Games development, outside of the art requirements, beta testing and customer support, is still strongly programming based. Many people have worked really hard to gain skills, and now apply these programming abilities to make them better DBAs or system admins.

If you want into serious IT away from the management side, and you don't want to have to be able to write rudimentary programs, it is possible but it will be a long, hard journey. IT is all too often promoted as an 'easy' route to money and something that people who are 'good with computers' can all do. But to be quite frank, I'm with This is no easy climb, there is no magic ticket, and no one is perfect. Those of us in the industry put in serious amounts of work to get where we are, and whatever your skill set, we welcome you but don't look for the easy or for things you simply don't have the skills to do (as that just worsens existing problems further).

(sorry, I really AM knee-deep in code, working hard, and talk of wanting to avoid it yet work in IT, especially IT roles that should require it, bites hard right now)

It isn't that I'm looking for an easy role or path. I will work hard in whatever I choose to do, I just want to choose something that inspires me and allows me to work to my best ability. And programming just doesn't seem to fill that criteria. I'm not saying that I won't ever do it if it is needed, but making it my primary or even secondary function would be IT suicide.

From what (little) research I have done though, it seems that most dba's are programmers. This is quite upsetting as after looking through some sql tutorials it seems more suited to what I would like.

[ShenBlade]

Narrow it down to what sort of things you would like to do in IT and making choices will be easier:

1) Problem solving
2) Interaction with People
3) Designing IT architecture
4) Support
5) Specialist in a particular software
6) Jack of all trades
7) IT sales
8) Graphic design

The IT worlds a big place, just pick a spot where you think would suit you fine and if you dont like it, you can always move onto something else

[++hannibal++]

Narrow it down to what sort of things you would like to do in IT and making choices will be easier:

1) Problem solving
2) Interaction with People
3) Designing IT architecture
4) Support
5) Specialist in a particular software
6) Jack of all trades
7) IT sales
8) Graphic design

The IT worlds a big place, just pick a spot where you think would suit you fine and if you dont like it, you can always move onto something else

I really like problem solving and working things like that out. I quite enjoy general technicianing, fixing and things like that. The problem is that after doing that for a while you reach a glass ceiling very quickly. I want to advance, and it seems anyone can be a tech, so they are also easily replaced. That's why I was thinking DBA. Or at least it made sense when I first thought of it..

[DevilMayCry42]

Problem solving and Interaction with people....
Gah, it may be better to go with physics and just keep PCs as a hobby, like Pazza said

[mrbios]

hannibal sounds like you want to be doing what im doing really, get yourself a job IT teching at a school then move up from there

I started off here as mr run around replace keyboards and mice when there broken, but now i look after 3 server racks and ANY changes to the network have to go through me (still the same **** pay but ive learnt ALOT) in the time ive been here we've literally replaced the entire network (most cabling been redone, all the servers replaced, all the switches replaced with managed ones, each building has its own subnet, and now im just learning virtualisation)

You get to learn a large variety of different areas of the IT trade working in a school because theres demand from every area, which is good as it helps you learn as well as determin what you enjoy most in order to progress into your next job

[grand_witch]

Sounds like you need something less specfic covering a number of areas rather than focusing on one thing. I was simialr to you.

I ended up as a systems analyst at a city law firm specialising in the Dm system. I get to

Programming
Networking
Server work
Clustering
Project Managemnt
SQL
And much more

This gives me a chance to do everything and keep me interested.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Whats the best way in getting into system analysis? im currently a programmer but i dont see myself doing this all my career as its starting to get a bit boring. i would love a dynamic job where one day im designing a few programs, next minute im fixing up a network, then another day i do some programming.