Enough has been written about education that I won't add to it, but don't be cynical of it either. There be marketing expertise behind what's on offer, so the occasional short-course needs to be looked at very carefully, by going through the contents list and determining if you can't find the same information somewhere anyway. And sometimes places like Udemy or O'Reilly can be plain convenient in timesaving against searching, even if it does not offer any impressive certificate. The big warning is that the marketers play/prey upon newcomers responding to the allure of a (false) image of someone sipping a latte in a trendy coffeeshop with high$ e-bike parked nonchalantly nearby etc. etc. that you will join at the close of their course.
Yeah, sure Ma - every day of the week.
Anyway, what I really want to offer is that computing is coming out of infancy as an industry, and the wide open frontiers that once were are now relatively fully serviced by software in some way. All you may end up doing is finding work at catching-up with compatibility to new standards, which is becoming a drag on the CEO's that will pay you. They no longer see you as their charioteer to the wide open unconquered plains, but a necessary evil in what once worked, but somehow no longer does through planned obsolescence, of which you may be a continuance. Not the nice welcoming interview promised by education.
My big advice is to become a people-person, not a tech-head. I'm finding work at the micro level, writing custom-apps for situations in rural industries that are side-loaded to whoever needs it to solve his or her immediate problem. But I don't let my app do all the work, I construct them in such a way that the people themselves increase as a result. even if it is to the point they don't really need them, but find it a convenience from an ISO 9001 series record-keeping point of view. ( There be devilry in that phrase you will find out - I won't talk about indemnities brokers, which are a whole 'nother universe of evil if you get to have to need them).
Qualifications are looked at by some employers - if they're caught up in that same evil - but largely it's referral from one client to another. Can you do the work? Can you perceive the problem from the PERSON who is faced with it's point of view? Referral from your last satisfied customer is better'n any hi-falutin' donger from academia, but that's just me.
I'm the sort of person that lines up behind the only open checkout I'm in at the large hardware chain, even though there's new groovy speedy techno-savvy self-serve checkout. I want to give someone a job. If they're broke, then the money I save from the chain not having to employ them is devalued more than if I just handed it over. There's a b-i-g frontier waiting to be challenged, where tech-heads seduced CEO's with computing power, but falsely so.
This is invaluable. No matter your industry, raising your eq over your iq will always be beneficial to your career (and life). Love this advice.
"Computing is coming out of infancy as an industry"
Also love this quote, we're learning new things every day as an industry. One of the reasons I feel college degree's can be more harmful than helfpful in computer science is because the cirriculum is always behind the current era of technologies in our industry.
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Enough has been written about education that I won't add to it, but don't be cynical of it either. There be marketing expertise behind what's on offer, so the occasional short-course needs to be looked at very carefully, by going through the contents list and determining if you can't find the same information somewhere anyway. And sometimes places like Udemy or O'Reilly can be plain convenient in timesaving against searching, even if it does not offer any impressive certificate. The big warning is that the marketers play/prey upon newcomers responding to the allure of a (false) image of someone sipping a latte in a trendy coffeeshop with high$ e-bike parked nonchalantly nearby etc. etc. that you will join at the close of their course.
Yeah, sure Ma - every day of the week.
Anyway, what I really want to offer is that computing is coming out of infancy as an industry, and the wide open frontiers that once were are now relatively fully serviced by software in some way. All you may end up doing is finding work at catching-up with compatibility to new standards, which is becoming a drag on the CEO's that will pay you. They no longer see you as their charioteer to the wide open unconquered plains, but a necessary evil in what once worked, but somehow no longer does through planned obsolescence, of which you may be a continuance. Not the nice welcoming interview promised by education.
My big advice is to become a people-person, not a tech-head. I'm finding work at the micro level, writing custom-apps for situations in rural industries that are side-loaded to whoever needs it to solve his or her immediate problem. But I don't let my app do all the work, I construct them in such a way that the people themselves increase as a result. even if it is to the point they don't really need them, but find it a convenience from an ISO 9001 series record-keeping point of view. ( There be devilry in that phrase you will find out - I won't talk about indemnities brokers, which are a whole 'nother universe of evil if you get to have to need them).
Qualifications are looked at by some employers - if they're caught up in that same evil - but largely it's referral from one client to another. Can you do the work? Can you perceive the problem from the PERSON who is faced with it's point of view? Referral from your last satisfied customer is better'n any hi-falutin' donger from academia, but that's just me.
I'm the sort of person that lines up behind the only open checkout I'm in at the large hardware chain, even though there's new groovy speedy techno-savvy self-serve checkout. I want to give someone a job. If they're broke, then the money I save from the chain not having to employ them is devalued more than if I just handed it over. There's a b-i-g frontier waiting to be challenged, where tech-heads seduced CEO's with computing power, but falsely so.
Become a people person.
Golden advice:
This is invaluable. No matter your industry, raising your eq over your iq will always be beneficial to your career (and life). Love this advice.
Also love this quote, we're learning new things every day as an industry. One of the reasons I feel college degree's can be more harmful than helfpful in computer science is because the cirriculum is always behind the current era of technologies in our industry.
Thanks for your comment!