Computer Sci Career

[Dinosaur]

Computer Sci is interesting and quite fun to ponder over,,

but there's a time when you must start thinking about a job and maybe a career.

what are you guys going to do after graduation since there's a slow down in the economy?

tell me your experience after graduation or those who are old enough to start thinking about this stuff..

Rock on.

[Tony]

You could just stay in school forever. Masters, PhD, then become a Prof. Outside world is over-rated.

[nike52]

i guess get hired as a programmer, that's the job i want

there's
- project management (manage programmers - alot of outsourcing going on, they need managers who know mandarin or indian- less compsci more business skills)
- business analyst (they gather the requirements that the business wants for their software and communicates that to the programmers, less about compsci and more business skills)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_finance (check this out)

as a programmer you can also work developing business applications, finance industry - they need alot of custom software to analyze the stock market or economy,
database management, or be a freelancer - who can work from home and get jobs from sites like rentacoder.com although i think you have to be very good
before you can do that as a career

you could also do what tony suggested stay in school, although i don't know how that works, can you tell us more about it tony ?
i'm guessing you probably have to be very smart, have super passion for compsci, and not that much money

[Tony]

as a University Professor you get to do such awesome things like teach undergrad students, do your research, and publish things you write.

Many professors (UW at least), earn in excess of $100K. + research grants. + royalties (if one was to publish books).

Though I think that if you pursue compsci for any reason other than passion... lets say just for the sake of a career -- then you're not going to be very good at it and/or will hate your job.

[nike52]

ooo very cool thx tony

i do have passion, don't think i'm smart enough to be a professor though

[wtd]

Being a teacher isn't all about having a ton of knowledge.

[Aziz]

Though it does help. Take this coming from someone who had teachers who didn't have knowledge about what they were teaching, and still weren't very good at teaching it.

[apomb]

Aziz @ Tue May 20, 2008 7:47 am wrote:

Though it does help. Take this coming from someone who had teachers who didn't have knowledge about what they were teaching, and still weren't very good at teaching it.

He means you have to be passionate about what you are teaching, and most likely in your case, the teacher had neither passion nor knowledge, therefore would not impart any of either on the students.

In keeping with the topic of the thread, however, i will say that after graduating from a computer science program, I have achieved my goal of becoming a programmer/developer for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. However, I am continuing my education by completing an electronics engineering degree from Niagara College/Lakehead U hopefully. if not some other University.

I have passion for computer programming/development but i could not see myself doing this as a career. Even though the money is good, i find myself yearning to work in a more hands on, physical environment, and not in a cubicle with occasional server-room visits.

If you enjoy coding, and sitting in a cubicle is not a burden, then i say go ahead and try out a career in computer programming. If not, well, try your hand at it. You can always use the experience.

[Dinosaur]

wow, lottery and gaming sounds awesome congratulations,

so will that be an after-degree program? why electronics engineering specifically? is it really hands on?

ps. my finance professor did his undergrad in electronics engineering, he told me he didn't enjoy it too much lol.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Dinosaur @ Mon May 19, 2008 2:13 pm wrote:

what are you guys going to do after graduation since there's a slow down in the economy?

From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008-2009 report:

Quote:

Computer scientists and database administrators are projected to be one of the fastest growing occupations over the next decade. Strong employment growth combined with a limited supply of qualified workers will result in excellent employment prospects for this occupation and a high demand for their skills.

Employment change. The computer scientists and database administrators occupation is expected to grow 37 percent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than average for all occupations.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos042.htm

--PR

[apomb]

Dinosaur @ Wed May 21, 2008 4:20 am wrote:

wow, lottery and gaming sounds awesome congratulations,

so will that be an after-degree program? why electronics engineering specifically? is it really hands on?

ps. my finance professor did his undergrad in electronics engineering, he told me he didn't enjoy it too much lol.

It all depends on the person.

I enjoy working with electronics more generally, _not_ computers specifically... so for me, its a more interesting field.

[Tony]

apomb @ Wed May 21, 2008 12:38 am wrote:

not in a cubicle with occasional server-room visits

startups is where it's at. I wouldn't do a cubicle dev job.

[apomb]

Tony @ Wed May 21, 2008 11:14 am wrote:

apomb @ Wed May 21, 2008 12:38 am wrote:

not in a cubicle with occasional server-room visits

startups is where it's at. I wouldn't do a cubicle dev job.

Yeah, from the sounds of what you do, it sounds really involved and interesting. Problem with living in a small town is that there arent many startups around. but yeah, i know what you mean.

[btiffin]

Dinosaur @ Mon May 19, 2008 2:13 pm wrote:

Computer Sci is interesting and quite fun to ponder over,,

but there's a time when you must start thinking about a job and maybe a career.

what are you guys going to do after graduation since there's a slow down in the economy?

tell me your experience after graduation or those who are old enough to start thinking about this stuff..

Rock on.

One thing about slowing economies; the men and women with deep pockets try and automate. So it turns out programming and comp-sci in general does well during downturns. (We'll exclude the whole post y2k "you spent all my money on what!?!?" dot-com bust - but that was not really a down turn, as more a "you computer guys suck" snub, which also hastened the realization that most of the early dot com startups were not fiscally sound in the first place - imho).

I was at Waterloo co-op, way back in the 80's, got a gig with the feds, and now Ottawa is my hometown. I turned down an offer to a federal employee post to start a consulting biz; 14 years on the same polyFORTH contract for the phone company. Then I had enough of it and went off and hung dry wall for a few years. Now I'm back into the comp biz. Lots to do. If you get good at something, post into that community, keep your name out there, work will probably find you. This time around I've chosen REBOL, (hmm, REBOL chose me?) and it's paying the bills. Our small community makes it easy to "get noticed", and I've never actually physically met any of the people I contract through now.

Cheers

[jernst]

Tony @ Mon May 19, 2008 2:35 pm wrote:

You could just stay in school forever. Masters, PhD, then become a Prof. Outside world is over-rated.

Thats my plan