Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggle10
Since this is a poker forum you get the poker answer. It depends. What kind of programming job are you looking for?
Well this is the big question that I haven't been able to answer. Right now my answer is more "I want to have a versatile skill set that will make me very marketable to many different types of employers, and continuously develop my skills so that what I'm good at never becomes obsolete."
Obviously I need to simplify/improve that answer. If you had to divide the category "Programming jobs," into 5 different categories what would they be? For example, Web Development, Front End stuff, Back End stuff, Mobile, something language specific, could be 5 categories. If I can divide the possibilities into categories, I should be able to narrow my focus on general categories that interest me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PJo336
Learn Java EE, it goes well with the background you get in Java syntax in the classes and almost every Java job wants you to know it
Thansk, I'll look into it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daveT
I think every new programmer goes through the candy store faze. I know I was in it. Honestly, I think you should stick with what your professors are teaching you right now. It will definitely help you in your later classes to be excellent at whatever they are teaching you in. If your next class is in Python or something, I would introduce that to myself instead.
Right now, focusing on what some unknown employer wants when you are still so new doesn't sound like an optimal strategy when there are still so many basic concepts to learn. Languages are like religion. Spending time to learn some new language is cool and all, but it has to come from the correct place, which is not to impress other people, but to learn a new tool because the desire burns too strongly to ignore, or you hate working in Java so much that you need to see something else keep your sanity intact. You can't reasonably predict what kind of employer you are likely to face in the future, unless you really are dead-set on working at a Java + MS house.
I wouldn't classify wanting to learn new languages as a desire to impress people; more, as a desire to be very valuable to people. Also, right now I just think it's so cool that I can learn whatever I want given my current fundamentals. That's not to say I will become an expert at everything; that is to say, I can understand random lectures/tutorials and do practice problems in any language. That is a huge improvement from where I was a year ago.
One hard thing is to classify when you're a beginner, an intermediate, or an expert and what separates the jumps in each classification. Obviously I am not an expert in Java yet, but I hope I am move towards having an intermediate skill level. According to my school I am an intermediate, but then when I work on the "intermediate" problems on a site like this
http://www.codechef.com/, it turns out that maybe I'm not quite there.
Overall, classifications of skill level are irrelevant, but they provide a great goal model. And setting goals and going after them is what I thrive on. So, I'd like to be able to say "Ok, you've learned x,y,z concepts but you need to learn a,b,c,d and then you can consider yourself an intermediate." That type of thing helps me focus and reassures me that I'm heading in the right direction.