Computer Science Canada

career advice
Author:  x-ecutioner [ Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:21 am ]
Post subject:  career advice
well if i was to describe myself:
I am highly creative and hardworking, I enjoy any creative work for the most part. I have been using photoshop since grade 6 (I am in grade 10 at the moment); thus, I am really good at the graphic arts. I learnt HTML in grade 4 and my goal back then was to make a search engine and defeat the corporate rule of google lmfao and start my own corporate rule:D. Its because of the creativity aspect that i enjoy programming. recently, i took computer science, finished the course with a 95, and im trying to determine if this career is for me. i looked forward to that class all of the time.

maybe im just babbling, but i dont know if i can picture myself programming as a living. i know i like creative work. I am very very very funny and I was valedictorian twice (grade 5 and grade 8); my whole grade knows me. I can write stories, poems, make up characters, jokes, situations with ease. I am good at writing pieces such as essays but i dont have the discipline to follow through with it. As for creative writing work, I don't think it would suit me. Currently i just dont know if computer science is for me. I was tihnking artificial intelligence would be good for me seeing as it does interest me (as it did in grade 4Razz) but the way i look at it, unless you are like einstein and dont live a normal life and spend your whole life theorizing that kind of jazz you cant be very successful in the field.

the problems i have with computer science:
1. anyone can program a computer these days. And i dont really dig computer engineering or electrical engineering enough to seperate from competition
2. isnt the industry being outsourced? i dont wanna move to india...

i dont mind math either, i just need a lot of time to focus on it. My best strength is algebra, i totally kick ass @ alegbra. is calculus basically alegbra?

i just need some advice or direction

is programming for the creative? are there any highly creative forms of computer science?
any ideas would really help me out thanks so much.
Author:  btiffin [ Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: career advice
Yes, programming is for the creative.
Yes, there are highly creative forms of computer science.

Web site design can be a small business, and it doesn't have to be 9 to 5. Web sites cover the gamut of domain experience. Small business, medium business, corporate. Every field is now on the web. People selling soap, farm equipment, carpentry services, dating services, dating services for carpenters, to multi billion dollar CANDU nuclear reactors and plain old entertainment and shared knowledge. And the up and coming Grid will accelerate that trend.

Many telecommuting opportunities abound for bright and well spoken individuals. By that I mean, post to a few boards, get to be known and see what gets offered. From my personal experience, this means volunteering at first, poking your nose in and getting to know some of the movers and shakers in the field. For me that is two almost diametrically opposed programming environments. REBOL and COBOL. Both have offered up work for hire and entrepreneurial opportunities.

BUT: a large portion of corporate programming is "plumbing". Non creative data processing. Start at point A and get to point B in a reliable, predictable fashion. 9 to 5. It still requires skill and effective problem solving, but it can seem quite "routine" after a while. Nothing wrong with that, the remuneration and treatment is usually above average, but it does require a level of discipline that many programmer types can find restrictive (to their own chagrin).

Being a programmer and student of programming languages at heart, I'd recommend the Computer Field to anyone with the inkling; (and some level of skill; unskilled coders are to be mocked and shunned, after being given initial training periods to see if they can learn to cut mustard of course) Wink

Cheers
Author:  [Gandalf] [ Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: career advice
x-ecutioner @ 2009-02-15, 1:21 am wrote:
is programming for the creative? are there any highly creative forms of computer science?

In my opinion, yes there is room for creativity in programming, however you have to look for it.

x-ecutioner @ 2009-02-15, 1:21 am wrote:
My best strength is algebra, i totally kick ass @ alegbra. is calculus basically alegbra?

No, calculus is calculus and algebra is algebra. Smile There's also theoretical vs. more applied focuses of both. However, the way you probably meant it... grade 12 calculus is basically just solving equations and such, yeah.
Author:  jbking [ Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: career advice
Anyone can program a computer these days? I don't think so. Coding Horror's FizzBuzz is an example of where many do have problems with what others view as simple programming. The question I'd have is whether you have the discipline to follow through with it as it can be like writing an essay in terms of having tedious parts to do. That's my main question for you though I think that will apply to any job you get unless you are a Canadian Senator.

Outsourced is different than offshored to some extent, where the I'll agree with the latter and take issue with the former. Outsourcing means that a company will hire another company to do the IT work which doesn't mean that folks from India will be hired though some companies work a combination of onshore and offshore so that some of the work is done wherever the company is headquartered. Offshoring is the moving of jobs to another continent and while that was a trend that was hot, there have been a number of failures and some companies are going back to having onshore people help them as the cultural and communication problems can be substantial.

Programming is for the creative to some extent. Finding out how to write the instructions for a computer to do various tasks can be a very hard thing to do in some cases. However, sometimes it is just the basic grunt work of doing a lot of typing or automating simple tasks that some may find annoyingly simple yet get paid good money because not just anyone will do the work.

There are many parts of Computer Science that can require creativity. Finding new algorithms, creating new programming languages, creating new tools and methods for developing software, creating new hardware like what will be the next big CPU or GPU change like what multi-core and hybrid graphics have brought, and that is without getting into things like security and database design elements.

I think for what you may have to prepare yourself is that work required a discipline that you may not want to develop though unless you are in that top 1% you will have to have it in some form or other.

My views on Calculus and Algebra is that they are rather different parts of Mathematics:

Calculus -> In higher grades this is differential equations and analysis courses generally like Real Analysis or Complex Analysis depending on which number system you are using. Initially this is a few topics like limits, derivatives, integrals, sequences and series, etc. Big O notation is from this branch of Mathematics and is applied often to algorithms in analysis.

Algebra -> This becomes abstract algebra and linear algebra in higher grades. Abstract covers things like Groups, Rings and Fields while linear involves a lot of Matrix stuff.

Course there are other parts to Mathematics like Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Optimization, Number Theory, Geometry, etc.
Author:  x-ecutioner [ Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:18 am ]
Post subject:  RE:career advice
thank you all for your responses
i wouldnt know if i have the discipline to follow through with it. my current projects i have doen have not been as demanding. as for the fizzbuzz i totally nailed it, got the exact same solution on the site, here was my interpreation in turing:
code:

for i: 1 .. 100
    if i mod 5 = 0 and i mod 3 = 0  then
        put "fizz buzz"
    elsif i mod 5 = 0 then
        put "buzz"
    elsif i mod 3 = 0 then
        put "fizz"
    else
        put i
    end if
end for

it was identical to the vb solution huzzah! lmfao. but thats besides the point that was more for bragging lmfao. What i really wan tto know is consider the job layoffs that yahoo and other companies are doing, as a computer science enthusiast that worries me. Like where did all those employees go? And i mean i have tried speaking to my parents but they have met many people in real life who have even attended Waterloo for computer science and are now selling cars. They just dont want me to take part in a field that they think is not in demand. How is artifical intelligence as a career? Is there demand based on your personal experience?
Author:  jbking [ Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: career advice
I could see artificial intelligence as being so-so for a career, mainly because I'm not sure where are the areas that use this heavily. I could see some use of it in video games and maybe in a few other fields where the idea of a machine that can think for itself like an expert system is being used.

My own personal opinion of taking a career in a field that uses Computer Science is that it takes a certain temperament and personality that I'm not sure how many people really have both the ability and desire to do it. I'd say that I see a few ways to go with Computer Science:

1) Academia -> This is where you either become a professor or a master researcher. The idea here would be to work off of grants to do the research at a university level. Maplesoft would be a company that partners with universities on some software development.

2) Information Systems/Information Technology -> Here you could consider any medium to large company that has to have various systems that require some development for customizing off-the-shelf software. This can be a lot of plumbing or grunt work but it can have its moments. Here you could be working for London Life or Royal Bank or any number of non-tech companies that still use lots of .

3) Tech field -> Here you'd have companies like Microsoft and Google, but also Research in Motion and Open Text. There are also companies that work as consultants like Non-linear Creations or Sierra Systems that do system integration work at various companies where they are brought in as "experts" on some software package that has to be customized for a company. That software package is usually something big like Enterprise Resource Planning or Customer Relationship Management. Granted there are also companies like Nortel here that may end up being wiped out but then there should be other companies that may come up and swallow those that get the boot from companies like Nortel.

I think there will be more work coming back on-shore as some off-shored projects backfire and companies learn the hard way that you may want to deal with someone closer to home to get something done well rather than send the work halfway around the world where communication can be a tricky issue.

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