Posted: 12/10/2012 7:48:11 AM EDT
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Hey all, I wanted to thank everyone for all their help so far in my search to rebuild myself into a better career. Some folks have gone above and beyond sharing with me various tools and documentation to help me learn and prepare for certifications.
My question is what does the hive think as a better long term career: programming or networking? I ask this as I am signing up for my first networking course this week and I wanted to get some folks feedback. I am still going to take the class as until I get my hands dirty with something, simulators notwithstanding, I don't really know how well it suits me long term. I look at it as my SQL/DBA training back in '99. I finished the class, got my certificate, and realized I really didn't want to be a DBA. Oh well, I learned several good lessons in that class. I took a PMP class and had the same reaction. Nice to know and I'm glad I understand what PMP's go through, but I don't think it's for me (unless PMP's get paid by the word, then ka-ching). I have been scripting and programming for over 15 years. Mostly in Winbatch (Winbatch.com) but along with little bits of VB, SQL, WMI, HTML, Powershell, .bat, and whatever else was needed to do the job. I also have a little bit Java and Python but that's very limited as in < a year. My fault was ignoring to continuing my training and letting my skill set age. Working too much and trying to balance a family were my excuses. Now after being laid off since January and still not working no mater what I apply for, I know I have to update myself. Side note: I can't go back into my pharma industry for another year due to a NC but I can still work in IT in other industries. I have been self studying networking (cisco mostly) now for a few months and I think I will spend a little bit of money for a class to 1) see how well I can apply what I've learned on my own, and 2) see how much I like the in class labs, etc. I don't think taking the networking class and spending the money is a mistake. My bigger fear is not being able to leverage my 15+ years of IT experience into a new career and starting back over again at entry or intern level wages when I have three kids and a wife to support. Or worse, starting over and then getting downsized again in short order because all the entry level networking jobs just got off-shored or everything is now on Amazon's environment. My hope was to get more training on networking and see if it really clicks enough with me to make an educated leap. If it does then, I save more money to get a home lab, prep and take comptia, and cicso cert tests and hopefully land somewhere in an organization with some room to grow. Works towards CCNP, and then I think I would probably go into the security side as that and computer forensics have always been interesting to me. But then again, robots and precision automation is cool to me as well. Or should I just nut up, get more Python and Java under my belt and go knock down a cube wall somewhere and hope I don't get redundant by some team of inexpensive Khyber Pass programmers. My mistake might have been accepting a promotion into the professional/account management side of the house that on one hand I think was great experience, but on the other I think marked me for easy layoffs to cut costs. But I can't change any of that, just have to try to do better next time. Thoughts?? P.S. I am currently going to school for a AS in Computer Science but that is still a bit away. After I finish the AS:CompSci, I will transfer hopefully to GATech to get my BS from them, and then, maybe, see where I want to go (MBA???). |
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In my work 99% of the programming is done by little India POS's. This is in the SAP area where we use ABAP.
But the simple fact it, it very easy to write a design spec, and then send it over seas for some little dot head to screw it up several times before you get a workable solution. But ha they have a cheap billing rate, and that's all the bean counters care about. At lease with networking it tends to be more hands on, that is untill they move your whole server farm over seas. But they will still need some local people at least to manage it. If I were you I work look at something in the area of data base management. SQL is fine, but If you can get learn Oracle admin, now you would have some job security. Then there is always SAP, but it's hard to get the training unless your company already uses it. In any case good luck. |
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One thing a friend suggested I think about is while I may be able to bust my ass and update my programming skills and start bringing home some bucks at a higher rate than what I could be bringing home in the same time frame, say 1-5 years, in switching careers into networking, the thing is that who knows what's really going to happen in either field in that time. While there will still be networking and programming, will I fall back into the same trap again?
He says I need to think about what's the next step after becoming a current programmer, or a new network engineer. Management, again? Or stay as an individual contributor..... |
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Programming is still viable, my company employees a lot of them. Are there still a ton of great paying jobs like there used to be? No.. But if you are good at it there will always be jobs out there.
My advice, pick the one that makes the most sense to you. Programming is something I struggle with but networking just clicks. If both make sense to you do the one that you enjoy the most. You can make damn good money at either one and the more you enjoy what you do the higher probability of making more. You won't mind putting in extra hours etc and that can go a long way. If neither one comes easily to you, pick something else. |
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Quoted:
"programming" is no longer a viable career field in the US. Information Assurance is a good career field from what I can tell, and that's what I chose for my MS. What makes you say programming is not viable? I regularly get job offers and I'm not even looking for work. |
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Quoted:
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"programming" is no longer a viable career field in the US. Information Assurance is a good career field from what I can tell, and that's what I chose for my MS. What makes you say programming is not viable? I regularly get job offers and I'm not even looking for work. We actually have trouble finding programmers. People either walk in with very little experience, little to no education, and expect $75,000, or they have some experience and education, MIGHT be worth $75,000, but want $150,000. I see programmers who suck jump from job to job, and complain about how bad the industry is, and I see good programmers that turn down good offers on a regular basis. But, regardless of what salary they want, we generally have to interview 40 people with cranial-rectal insertion, 40 people who are mediocre, and another 20 who are so-so in order to find one programmer that really has his stuff together. Our company tried outsourcing, it was a joke, and we ditched it after just a few months. Anyway, OP, which is better? Neither. It just depends on what you prefer. Are VLANs, switches, routers, and wires your thing, or do you like data structures and algorithms? If you don't know, learn and try a little of each, and see. |
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I found a little money and am now enrolled in a 12 week CompTIA Net+ class from my local tech college. This will help me to get my hands dirty and see if networking clicks for me or not. I've taken a few classes from them for other things and the teachers have always been great and helpful.
1st lesson, having to work on the OSI 7 layer model right now and be able to describe each layer in my own words. I have some external material to review from the teacher before I post my assignment answers but I got a 75 on the lesson test so hopefully something is sticking. =) Programming to me always seemed like it was a tool to solve a problem but I came at programming from a scripting side to automate tasks. While I have written some rather large programs for things probably better suited in other languages, I wrote 95-100% by hand, tested, packaged, and deployed out to 10k users by myself with no other help. One of the reasons I programmed is because I hated to see folks stuck with a problem that could easily be solved by getting two processes to talk to each other. So I would go write something to solve the issue. While I have done some mega projects, alot of times it was always easier to just write what needed to be written, test it, and fix that problem before it cost too much money/time. My "employability/relevance" problem with programming is that I need to learn a "modern" language so I took a java class and have been working through Python and Ruby tutorials. While I might be able to talk my way into a entry level Java support role or something all my functional experience is with a different niche language that really only server admins tend to use (and no real dedicated jobs to speak of). As far as native vs HTML5, I really hope HTML5 gets better because it would be better for the web and future but the reality is that native still rules the day.....for now. What I am hoping is that I will learn more about the daily in's and out's of working on networks and then see if one of the specialities "speak" to me. Security looks interesting but I fear that most people only decide to pay for security AFTER they've already been hacked. One thing that always jumps out to me when I talk to my friends about this is that programming generates revenue while IT/Network/Security is typically a cost that sometimes can make revenue, but not always. And in the age of cutting costs I fear that IT wil always get cut first before the devs. Thoughts? |
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First IMO, your wasting your money one the Net+ class. There isn't anything in that you can't read and teach yourself.
Second, as far as being concerned about IT being cut, there will always be those places that cut IT but at the same time there will always be those places that keep them too. If your real concerned then work for a place where IT is their business. Your treated better since it's what makes them money. I work for a SaaS company on the hosting side. VMware and other server stuff. While there is always the fear that they will end up hosting our stuff in another companies "cloud" it's not something I worry about too much. I can always find another job. I see plenty of jobs available in the Houston area so I know I can always find something else. Third, I have some CCNA/networking resources that might help you determine if it's what you want to do. If you're interested shoot me a PM and I'll set you up with a dropbox link. Might not be til Sunday since I'm about to head out of town for the weekend. Also google and install GNS3 to play around with some routers when you get a chance. ETA: You might already be using this but it's cool tool to get to know a few programming languages. http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0 |
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If you want to be a programmer, you need to start working on projects on your own time outside of classes. Create your own or contribute to open source. I've seen too many CS grads who can't code for shit because all they did was follow the curriculum.
Now take the kid gloves off and learn C++. 
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Quoted:
If you want to be a programmer, you need to start working on projects on your own time outside of classes. Create your own or contribute to open source. I've seen too many CS grads who can't code for shit because all they did was follow the curriculum. Now take the kid gloves off and learn C++. Is this a good resource to learn C++? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
"programming" is no longer a viable career field in the US. Information Assurance is a good career field from what I can tell, and that's what I chose for my MS. What makes you say programming is not viable? I regularly get job offers and I'm not even looking for work. Are they real job offers that don't require you to move to India and work for pennies? The vast majority of "programming" that used to be done here isn't done in the US anymore. If you're in a niche industry and have a specific set of skills and a security clearance, that may not be true for you -- but for most people it seems to be. |