Ask a Meaningful Question and HowToAskQuestionsOnJavaRanch
Getting someone to think and try something out is much more useful than just telling them the answer.
Kyle Brown, Author of Persistence in the Enterprise and Enterprise Java Programming with IBM Websphere, 2nd Edition
See my homepage at http://www.kyle-brown.com/ for other WebSphere information.
Originally posted by Tim Davids:
Where do you get all this great knowledge.
Do you have to learn it all at home by yourself.
Or will a masters degree teach you all this j2ee and everything else that employers are looking for. Will a master program take you from now knowing much to being a guru.
Practice, practice, practice. You get it from experience. The experience could be paid (i.e. on your job), or unpaid (doing open source projects, or your own pet projects). I also recommend reading books, journals, trade magazines, and working through tutorials (including those here on the ranch).
Originally posted by Tim Davids:
Most major universities I look at don't seem to be teaching the things employer list as requirement for most web development and java developer position. The seem to be teaching just general basic programming skills.
IMHO, schools aren't even doing that. They are just teaching computer science, which is a good basis for programming skills, but not quite the same.
Originally posted by Tim Davids:
Am I right that I just have to seat around and
push myself to learn this stuff or will getting a masters make all my dreams come true?
I don't want to waste another year or 2 for a master if its not going to do any good and most stuuff I need to learn I'll have to learn on my spear time.
For most degree programs, a masters won't work magic. What it will do is put you above most candidates without a masters degree. Sadly most companies simply assume a masters degree means a better programmer. While there may be some correlation, it's not always true. If I were in your position, I'd learn Java and get a Java job before I committed to a masters program.
Originally posted by Tim Davids:
The second part of my problem is that
most my programmers I know who have turned 30 have become managers and have put coding behind them.
Best case scenerio if I forget what i've been doing and move forward with knew thing is that I'll spend the next 2 years catching up and then may be I'll know as much as the average 22 year old comming out of college hoping for an entry level position. Is it too late for me to start from scrach or will a masters program fix all my problems.
I'd recommend looking to work for big companies (e.g. IBM, Sun). Personally, I don't think most people should be managers before they are 30, but the industry disagrees with me. Bigger companies recognize that promoting to your level of incompetance isn't always the right strategy, and that a 40yo programmer on the line, who has been around the block quite a few times, should be paid just as well as a good manager.
Originally posted by Tim Davids:
Does any one know of a specialy great technical school? A technical school that once you come out of everyone will want you.
Yes, MIT. (Of course, I'm very biased :-)
Understand that MIT will not give you the skills that you are looking for, but it will make companies take notice of your resume. CMU, UC Berekley, Stanford, etc are also good "brand names" in our industry.
--Mark
Ask a Meaningful Question and HowToAskQuestionsOnJavaRanch
Getting someone to think and try something out is much more useful than just telling them the answer.
CNSS/NSA Infosec Professional,<br />Software Engineer
Sam Tilley SCJP, SCWCD
SCJP
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Sam Tilley SCJP, SCWCD
Originally posted by Sam Tilley:
Out of interest (and as a Brit) what are CC's, CS's and BS's???
The secret of how to be miserable is to constantly expect things are going to happen the way that they are "supposed" to happen.
You can have faith, which carries the understanding that you may be disappointed. Then there's being a willfully-blind idiot, which virtually guarantees it.
Sam Tilley SCJP, SCWCD
Sam Tilley SCJP, SCWCD