I lost my goal...need help/direction[Comp. sci degree related]

[davidvoyage]

Hello everybody I'm new here.


Okay, it may take awhile for me to explain everything, but hope you guys can read the whole thing. Thank You. My English isn't that good, because it's my 3rd language.

It all started 6 years ago, when I was in Pre-University. I love computer at that time and I choose Computer Science as my Pre-U program. I did very well, one of the highest grade in my classes, I enjoyed C++ programming, and I enjoyed learning hardware installing course(Like how to install memory, hard disks etc) and I also performs well in other comp. sci courses such as "Introduction to UNIX" (learning commands and using SUN microsystem OS). I also did well in "Math for computer science" course with Linear Algebra and matrices. Everything was fine, I thought I finally find what I want, and I want to do some computer related job in the future.

Then I start University(UofT), and of course, I choose Major in Computer Science. I'm no longer a "highest grade" student like before, but I'm on average and sometime even below average.(People are way smarter than those in my Pre-U). I did programming in JAVA in 1st year, which is "okay", I'm no longer the "best student", but I managed to pass the course with 70% but I START to lose interest in programming. And on my 2nd year(and 3rd year), things start to change, we start to study "theory"...omg. Like those "proof", "INDUCTION PROOF", "FSA", "Complexity(NP, P) and computability(decidable, recognizable). I start to HATE comp. sci now. (I even failed once and re-take a theory course 3 times) No more programming courses, and mostly theory stuff. And I myself didn't do programming for 2 years now, and to tell you the truth, I don't really feel like to do programming anymore.

ONLY 1 course left now(yep, it's theory stuff), I should be able to get my degree in computer science this summer. But honestly, I don't know what should I do after. It seems I've no interest in programming anymore...and I'm pretty lost what I want to do now.

Some of my friends tell me to get some business/accounting related certificates. And some others tell me to get A+ or CCNA certificates.

I'm still not sure what should I do. Any advices guys?

Thank you.

[bugzpodder]

LMAO yeah those theory courses are killers. But I actaully love theory more than programming. I'd hate to spend 4 month writing a software that controlls trains or a graphics engine in openGL. In any case, your friends give you good advices. Do consider following them.

the simple java programming language is far from everything you need in order to land in a good programming job. you need to understand everything like algorithms and complexity, database, distributed computing, OS, scripting, testing, designing... all these make you a good "Developer" rather than a programmer.

i am not sure how much of the above helps, but since you would get your degree soon, you might as well try out a few jobs. you might even land in exotic jobs for all you know.

i sometimes do very bad in school as well. at times i didnt feel like studying, i walked in final exams just after 2 hours of cramming just before the exam. I ended up almost failing one lol.

[davidvoyage]

Thx for your reply

So today, I start to surf the net and see what kind of computer certificate I need. Like A+, Network+ or CCNA are requirement for most computer jobs out there. I wonder if I should start A+ first, or skip to CCNA...

Any people here can recommend me some good certificates/other trainings?

[bugzpodder]

you should go ask professionals.

[wtd]

Ask professionals ++

However, my non-professional-career-counselor suggestion would be to try to find something else to go with programming as a hobby. Maybe you can discover an interest in some form of art.

Then you can become the absolute best programmer who also does _____.