Does anyone here have a job in a computer related field (IT, programming, etc.) What helped you the most...

My path was a bit different than most. I did a PhD in an unrelated field, took some graduate CS courses and one of my professors helped me get an internship, which then resulted in a job at a tech company. My undergrad was math and my PhD was math heavy, which helped me get to work on things that are, for me, most interesting. So consider math, but CS is the most obvious degree.

In any case, I would really recommend getting some kind of undergrad degree at a minimum, and consider a Masters. While some people get jobs without a degree, this is mostly good luck. See mentioned.

Depends on the school. In a top school I doubt many would end up doing tech support but at lower tier schools it could happen.

She's not hot, she's a fake blonde.

I'm going to counter-point, but I would get an undergrad, master's is largely worthless unless you want to get into a highly competitive field (e.g. ML/AI, etc). Master's won't do much outside of maybe giving you more push on negotiating pay/benefits.

sounds like you need to check your """""""""white"""""""" privilege.

I work in ML/AI so maybe that is true.

Then yeah, MS in that field is a requirement of sorts.

I just interviewed a kid with a 4 year CS degree currently making $40k in fucking Denver. I'm so glad I didn't invest in one. If a company requires a shiny worthless piece of paper you probably don't want to work there anyway.

I did a PhD in CS but I was super slow in getting it, didn't take advantage of my internship, and then NEETed around for a year afterwards. Ended up not doing well at job interviews, so not getting the job I want, but still got a pretty decent job with researchy components (which I want) in it.

Competency is usually the best characteristic for an entry-level position. A degree is a plus to get the interview but really doesn't stand out much amongst the dozens of other entry-level resumes with CS or related degrees. Interns are okay, but having recent (relevant) side projects are generally a big plus. Those kinds of people are usually more passionate and better employees to work with.

But yeah I recommend doing a couple of internships and doing well in them, and if you can find it, do the bachelor's+Masters in 4-5 years program, which are available in many CS departments, focusing on some speciality like machine learning.

t. virgin

I got a job in my field (VR) before I finished my degree because I had a website that showed off a loooot of my personal projects.
Build shit, build build build.
Help open source
Get your GitHub epeen points up

I had, on display, two VR apps I made, about 7 AR apps, a couple of games/art pieces and links to a few websites

CCENT got me a job at a datacenter. Thinking I probably won't move till I have a CCNA and an AWS cert.

> Graduated from university
> Not CS
> Got burnt out.
> Starting making video games. Had to learn to program in C#.
> Saved up and did a "coding bootcamp".

I make 6 digits and live in the Bay area as a programmer. I write Python all day for something I'm not passionate about but I'm in my mid 30s so I don't burn myself out and go home and work on my own shit (RasPi stuff usually). Occasionally make games.

All the CS kids at my work who are a decade younger than me... I'm the only one on Linux (Debian). They all just use MBPs.

Best advice, start making things. Make lots of things. Even if they're shitty. Figure out git. Figure out what you want to make and make it. C#, JavaScript (React) and Python are my suggestions for noobs.

He just works at a shit company. Probably took the first job out of college with little to no experience.

My first job on the east coast paid $65k + a shit load of benefits, year later I got a 24% bump. Plus, salary isn't everything as profit sharing, 401k and everything factors in.

Have sex

Sex is cool too

I'm from Denver. $40k these days is close to poverty level unless you live in like... Westminster/Thorton/Aurora

>I'm the only one on Linux (Debian). They all just use MBPs.
Gonna be frank, this means nothing. At my company for a time you could choose (if you made a good case) to use a different setup than the bog standard MBP setup.

All this ended up with is weird special snowflake setups that made working weird. Internal tools and practices had to be made with standards for multiple setups instead of just /the one/ setup. It also puts the burden on you if anything doesn't work, otherwise you can just lean on IT to fix it and it's no longer your fault.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have Ubuntu on my laptop with a proper laptop from Dell or a Thinkpad, but if it was on me to maintain it and make sure everything works so I can actually work then no, I'm going to do the easiest route so I don't have to micromanage my workstation.

That's why I said he "probably took the first job out of college". He probably didn't know any better and was under pressure to find a job. I know that crunch, it sucks, but you can leave soon enough to something better.

IT doesn't know anything re: code. They install Symantec and and make sure OneLogin is kosher.

If your computer won't start, they get you a new one. Its not rocket science.

Every engineer is responsible for their setup unless you're lazy and want people to prescribe what you should be using.

IT guys have no idea what the fuck a package manager is.

And I guess the point of "I'm the only one on Linux (Debian). They all just use MBPs." is...

You get what you want out of education. If you want to solve NP-complete shit, it doesn't matter what your system is.

But for a trade that talks about how much of its tools you should know... most CS people have no idea what a good machine is.

I've never seen anyone super care about internships but the certainly can't hurt. If you are trying to get a junior developer position then you have lots of competition out there. Mangers can only phone screen so many people and having something on your resume looks better than just having a degree. So I wouldn't say its a hard and fast thing but doing a summer internship certainly won't hurt.

Gettting a degree is great. It shows that you should understand most of the basic stuff computer science stuff. There is a ton of other stuff you need to lean in order to work on a team though. Basic stuff like working with a ticketing system. Dealing with scrum BS. Etc. These are things you would at least be exposed to if you are working as an intern.

>Every engineer is responsible for their setup unless you're lazy and want people to prescribe what you should be using.

Sure, but some things like VPN, networking, etc I don't want to be responsible for. Nor do I want to be responsible for just getting internal tooling to work. Having just the single hardware/software standard makes sense. Letting people BYOD and pick and choose whatever they want will become complicated in the long run.

>But for a trade that talks about how much of its tools you should know... most CS people have no idea what a good machine is.
To be frank, it doesn't really matter. In the end most jobs you're going to be developing locally, code runs elsewhere, you just needs something that runs well and doesn't get in your way. Your machine is largely irrelevant it just needs to be consistent so the org doesn't have to wrangle in a menagerie of different devices for auditing, security, etc.

I agree. Almost all my work is writing C++ or Python. I much prefer the system admin and dev tooling to be done for me.

I got an entry level job installing a testing PLCs and basically moved into programming PLCs and then standard software development laterally, all within the same company. Now I am a consultant.

No certifications, no degree. I do have three years of university (math) but I was paying my own tuition and the 2008 economic crash buttfucked me, so I had to drop out.

Software developer
University degree to even be considered, and nepotism. If it weren't for those I'd have a shitty 45k job

>profit sharing
How long is the vesting period?

for software engineering experience >>>> degree > bootcamp > projects >>>> certifications.

A degree is both the minimum and all you need

>certifications
Worthless unless you want to be a network technician (i.e. no qualified job)