Background: >Vietnamese, born outside the US (not American) >family pushed to study in the US for a better life and career >pretty good with computers and quick to learn stuffs, so alright >goal: finish college/university to land a job in the US and to stay there legally >why? 'cause vietnamese thought 'Murica is best and shite (also aunt is in TX, but not a good aunt). Can't back out now.
The best advice I can give you is that advice is plural for advice. The second best piece of advice I can give you is never eat out, you want to get a house as fast as you can. Third bit of advice I have for you is to learn the local police behavior. There are parts of Texas where more than one non- white person in a car will get you pulled over, other parts where only men count. Fourthly be nice and polite, people will walk all over you and that's still better than a fight. Lastly you want to use your money to make more money, becoming a landlord is the easiest way.
Aaron Young
Best advice i can give is not to go to college.
Ayden Long
>first advice got it >second advice got it >third adivce ......alright? >fourth advice duh >fifth advice duh, but being a landlord ain't gonna get me anyway to stay in the States
Isaiah Morris
Go back to Vietnam, this place is a shithole
William Sullivan
guys, not helping. i'm in real deep, can't pull out now.
Daniel Miller
Dont Fucking Go To College
Worst mistake of my life
Xavier Jackson
Money will always find a way.
Dylan Reed
What should you do instead?
Charles Taylor
Well college is my only path now That’s another thing: I ain’t got any money.
Jack Evans
Yet, my boy yet.
Dylan Miller
>Any advices on which I should take? I can learn anything. I'm not sure if you're legally able to take the Cyber Center course. Mainly because you're a foreigner, and of ITAR and export compliance rules. You would need to ask the college. I'd also hesitate to take the course, cause of the ties with the government. If you had to go back to Vietnam or traveled to another country, you may be considered a spy. Then you have the issue of finding a job afterwards. It might be difficult due to the aforementioned. I'm not saying don't take the course, but it's something to consider.
Computer Systems, Networking & Telecommunications does look promising if you can get work within the United States.
Gabriel Thomas
Thanks for the advice. What about computer programming?
Adam White
This is the advice I can provide coming from an IT Manager in the US.
Certifications and Degree's get your foot in the door. Experience gets you hired and keeps you in a job. Experience is king in this industry because so much of the education it is absolute mindshare capture garbage. Getting a bunch of Cisco Certs and starting at a network job traps you in the Cisco culture, Cisco mindshare, and Cisco way. You will never grow and they intentionally set up the cirriculum for you to fail because they don't teach you the needed concepts.
Plan on doing at least a bachleors degree program, consider a masters degree program.
Do not do the program in 4 years, plan on doing it in 6-7 years. The amount you have to absorb, and really understand, will be mind blowingly apparent once you start. If you are going into the operations side of IT, spend 2 extra courses on object oriented programming and if they have it, take an assembler language course. The knowledge will serve you well.
Start out by studying for your Comptia A+ Cert and find either a MSP looking for basic desktop support or a repair shop; you will start out doing password resets. Always be looking for another job. Part-time School, Part-time job, Part-time self-directed study.
You want to be curious early on and stay curious. Invest in a basic lab setup of junk computers\servers\network gear. If you have open labs, spend as much of your free time playing with the equipment as you possibly can stomach. The
20 hours you spend troubleshooting a problem to finish a lab is useful experience.
Every 18 months, move to a new job. If you're going the software development side, chase interesting ideas and companies solving problems you find interesting at first. MSP's with training programs are also useful.
At the end of your education, you keep doing self-directed study, and decide at what kind of job and experience level you want to sit.
If you cannot work while in school, don't go.
Caleb Sanders
Cisco? Also, what do you mean by “if you cannot work while in school”? Legally or...?
Austin Bailey
Have you worked for Cisco? I work in IT for a major company, and its a pain in the ass trying to interpret their software and hardware licensing documents.
Nathaniel Jenkins
I have no idea what cisco is nor how bad it is. Would you mind elaborate?
Asher Hill
Well have you ever heard of a company called google?
Ian Thompson
Yes, but I don’t know how bad Cisco is, according to the anons above
Hunter Mitchell
Bump
Benjamin Gray
Bump again
Logan Turner
Unlike in other countries, American colleges don't make you stick to a single subject all the way through. In fact, between some generally required courses and some "Try a little of everything" requirements, you don't really have to focus on one major until your second or third year. (And when you graduate, only about 1/3 of yiour hours will be in your major)
Part of the reason for that is to encourage you to "shop around" and try different subjects before committing yourself. Even if you do declare a major when you start, almost half of all college students change their majors after shopping around.
The point is that you do not have to decide the rest of your life right now, and if you do make a decision you will have plenty of time to change it. So relax.
Cameron Kelly
You may want to look into cyber security. It's becoming a sought after field.
Asher Ortiz
>Third bit of advice I have for you is to learn the local police behavior. There are parts of Texas where more than one non- white person in a car will get you pulled over, other parts where only men count. What the fuck are you talking about are you even from Texas? Have you been to Houston? Half the city is Vietnamese.
Just because it was a mistake for you doesn't mean it's a mistake for everyone. If he wants to be employable enough that some company will be willing to sponsor a visa for him then he better have a useful degree at the very least.
Honestly I don't know shit about cyber security, but my company is willing to throw lots of money at anyone who claims to know something about it. They've hired a bunch of clueless clowns and offered them pretty good money, so it might not be a bad choice.
Julian Robinson
Thanks for the advice and confirmations anons.
Adrian Evans
bump again, because as much as the anons above are very helpful, I did not receive any answers related to my original post
