Computer Science Related jobs

I am considering a new career, one that might have good opportunity and since I am not interested in health care, I thought that computer science might be a good area. I have 10 plus years working for corporations, and a handful of years working in education. In May I will have my masters in Organizational Leadership, with no real opportunity to elevate my career in my current position. I thought it might be useful to go back school, for a different skill. Looking at the credits I think that an Associates may be the quickest route although perhaps a masters would be better, but I do not know if I have the foundation just to jump towards a masters. Does anybody have a CCP?

CCP?

Have you been doing any development? Do you enjoy it?

Not sure I'd recommend it solely on the grounds that you're not interested in health care

I have a good job, but I have to remind myself of that a lot. I think I probably should have studied mechanical engineering. I chose CS because it "made sense" and a little dabbling was kind of fun. Spending time on a degree and committing to some time in a field should hopefully be influenced by what you really want to do, within reason.

Bad news, you're about 20 years too late to cash in on computer science. I missed it by at least 7

Not a great field to work in, pay's nothing special considering the level of education required, most of the jobs are about as exciting as being an accountant, and most of the people who do it either started learning when home computers were newfangled things or as kids so you'd have a late start ahead of you.

And then in the US a lot of the Silicon Valley bigwigs are trying to push tech wages down through a combination of flooding the local workforce and outsourcing - efforts like Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us and similar.

I would not want to get into programming unless I have garuntees of working from home or doing some sort of field work that got me out of the office on regular basis. My field is growing increasingly code/programming/application development focused, which means that a little bit app development experience can result in some really big salary increases, unfortunately it still means working in a cube.

I have spent the last 4 years working in a cube, and despite increasing pay and prospects, I still don't like working in a cube. Money won't change that.

Don't get stuck in a cube.

Cyber or Computer Security is probably still a decent place to get into as there are so few that actually do it or do it well.

With the recent and continuing security issues, there will be a demand for quite some time, but yeah otherwise you're a little late to the party bud.

PHeller wrote: Don't get stuck in a cube.

I am already stuck in a cube, just looking for opportunities, the median in the computer science field is well above what I make currently. I have experience in writing SAS code, but I am obviously behind the eight ball, but given the median salary, I would make much more then I am currently.

turboswede wrote: Cyber or Computer Security is probably still a decent place to get into as there are so few that actually do it or do it well.

That's what my BiL thought when he went back to college to get a Masters.

He's been looking for an entry level job for probably close to a year now, and he did get pretty good grades.

Going into "cyber security" is going straight into Expert Mode. You'll be competing with the world's top uber-hackers who were into it since birth for what is actually a rather small pool of jobs, even if it's growing right now. The "cyber security" industry does need regular IT jobs like everybody else...but those are just regular IT jobs.

trigun7469 wrote:

PHeller wrote: Don't get stuck in a cube.

I am already stuck in a cube, just looking for opportunities, the median in the computer science field is well above what I make currently. I have experience in writing SAS code, but I am obviously behind the eight ball, but given the median salary, I would make much more then I am currently.

I've been earning a living as a professional developer for a quarter century now, so I think I might have an insight or two, especially given that I also manage a development team.

First, do you have an aptitude for it? Do you enjoy writing the SAS code and figure out things and consider building on it, or do you see the median wage and forget that especially at companies that tend to hire a lot of entry level developers, forty hours is was you're being asked to put in between Monday and Wednesday? Thursday if you're lucky?

Second, it's a field that requires a lot of extracurricular work to stay current. There's a tendency in this field to reinvent the wheel (often badly) roughly every 5-10 years and while you can probably ride out half a cycle or even a cycle, it'll catch up with you at some point.

If you're looking for a 9-4.59 job, you'll be disappointed and frustrated in most cases. That said, if you're in the coding zone, you might need a reminder that you need to go home, because just found yourself coding for 10 minutes, but the wall clock is missing four hours.

Please note I'm not trying to talk you out of this, but I'm trying to give you an idea of what it's like in the trenches.

The often cited "programmer shortage" is a multi-faceted shortage - there's both a shortage of (good) programmers willing to work for what some companies are willing to pay (what I tend to refer to as "Indian wages" aka "I can get five warm bodies in India for what you're asking" - no offense intended to the colleagues in India) and a shortage of really good software engineers. The former you can't fix, you just don't want to work for those companies. The latter - well, if you have the aptitude for the work and are willing to put the work in, you'll probably be OK for a long time. Because of a shortage of really good developers, a lot of systems tend to be built with less engineering nous than what went into a Ford Pinto.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the really good paying developer jobs are in extremely high cost areas like the Bay Area, which to a certain extent takes care of the "really good pay". I think I'm making about half of what I could in the Bay Area if I were to pimp myself out to the right employer down there, but what we're paying for a 4 bedroom house with a three car garage and an acre of land out here wouldn't even buy us a one bedroom apartment down there.

When I originally thought about going into the computer science, I thought that I could find a position not as a developer but a analyst who is the middle man between business and IT. So not being a expert as it might be too late in my career, or it my turn out that I am not interested, but having the ability to get into upper level management because I have a understanding of technology or at least a understanding of the terminology.

PHeller wrote: Don't get stuck in a cube.

This could be a big point depending on what your lifestyle is like right now. I don't often leave my cube and almost never leave my office. There are some health challenges involved in that. I have to watch what I eat or I'd go from zero to lardass in under 3 seconds. It's hard on your eyes too, I'm going to need some kind of eye surgery as soon as I reach the age where your eye stops changing (32 IIRC? Hmm better think about when to start saving up).

Embedded development. Few are good at and it pays well.

trigun7469 wrote: I have experience in writing SAS code, but I am obviously behind the eight ball, but given the median salary, I would make much more then I am currently.

In the time it takes to get to median pay--school, getting the job, moving up from entry ranks, how much could you make through progressing your current career path?

I would recommend database work, either as a DBA or an analyst. Everybody has at least one database, and few have a clue how to query it effectively or otherwise make it particularly useful. And even fewer have anyone who can effectively look at the data and tell the suits what it means. Given your background, it sounds like you could be good at it. But basically, if you can really kill with Excel and know enough SQL to get what you're looking for, people are looking for you. Some call it a data analyst, some say business analyst, some say something else, but they're all looking for someone who can hit the database and provide answers.

Mitchell wrote:

trigun7469 wrote: I have experience in writing SAS code, but I am obviously behind the eight ball, but given the median salary, I would make much more then I am currently.

In the time it takes to get to median pay--school, getting the job, moving up from entry ranks, how much could you make through progressing your current career path?

Right now someone either needs to either retire (Very Unlikely) or I need to choose a different career path.

Tim Baxter wrote: I would recommend database work, either as a DBA or an analyst. Everybody has at least one database, and few have a clue how to query it effectively or otherwise make it particularly useful. And even fewer have anyone who can effectively look at the data and tell the suits what it means. Given your background, it sounds like you could be good at it. But basically, if you can really kill with Excel and know enough SQL to get what you're looking for, people are looking for you. Some call it a data analyst, some say business analyst, some say something else, but they're all looking for someone who can hit the database and provide answers.

I was a data analyst before and was put into a bad situation, I need more schooling before I take on that job again.

z31maniac wrote: Development. Few are good at and it pays well.

Fixed that for ya.

I work as a programmer, in theory. In reality about 10% of my time and effort goes into programming these days. Much of the rest of the time is in business analysis and process engineering.

When I get to program its like BoxheadTim said, you loose yourself in it, time doesn't matter and for me at least it's fun. If you don't feel that way about coding its probably not worth it.

The other parts of my job are soul killing, mind numbing drudgery which some days I'd be happy to cut off a hand to avoid. But more and more it is the whole India pay issue. For just the coding they can get my colleagues in India to bang it out for probably 1/5 of my pay. But to be that someone who understands the business, the underlying technological and procedural intricacies AND who can code makes me indispensable and a very ridiculously overpaid high school graduate.

Still if I were a single man without a family to support I'd jump in my crappy RV and roam the country doing odd jobs for beer money instead.

The skill that most people don't have is to build a system that can remain maintainable for longer periods of time. With the usual job tenure not being much longer than 2-3 years and the outsourcing companies' motto often being "aprés moi, la deluge", a lot of the systems that are older than a few years will be held together by duct tape and bog roll.

For companies that have learned that lesson, having someone who's got both business skills and the necessary design acumen and experience will become more and more important as they can't run their business without software anymore.

Oh, and 80% of software sucks. Strive to create the 20%.