Thread: [ethic-like rant] I feel like such a loser

What type of work do you typically do when you graduate? What kinds of co-op programs do you do while in school?

Please kill me or make me feel better or something. I'm afraid of the work of CE, and plus I still want to keep up the software skills (I know CE does a lot of software but it is still more electronics and programmable logic and digital circuits and stuff).

Why even go to school? You can buy all the books on Amazon.com.
And this is nothing like me. You're obsessed with me. You're kind
of scaring me.

I know! What the hell!

I need to just forge a piece of paper that says I went to college, and I'll learn all of the skills on my own.

This is exactly like you minus the disease part. I'm obsessed with everyone. I'm scaring myself.

I have a friend who goes to Wentworth. The last time I talked to him, he was a junior, and still didn't know how to write a linked list.

Wentworth doesn't have a great computer science department. Anyways, I took a corporate education course in computer programming. It was at Boston University (which is relatively close to wit). Anyways, the course goes deep into programming (covering the very basics- to coding large real world projects).

Anyways, the course goes much more in depth in computer programming than most college's undergrad computer science programs do. In fact one of the students in my class was a c.s. grad at University of Penn, and he didn't know programming much better than most of the other students in the class did.

If you want to know more, you can go to the website:
www.butrain.com
But the site doesn't give good insight for the course. You can always take this course to get more in depth knowledge of programming, if you want to focus on just programming.

Anyways, I don't encourage you to drop out of college (or not go) just because you don't like the computer science program. Programming is something you can do during your own time, and refreshing yourself on material you already know in class will always help you. I used to spend hours coding in the library during my free time. You can only learn so much about programming by learning just the theories, you also have to spend a lot of time coding yourself.

Anyways, now that I'm going back to college, I'm not even going to take a computer related major. I'm going to get a business degree instead.

>[ethic-like rant] I feel like such a loser

First, I've never felt like a loser. If someone thinks I'm a loser,
screw them; they suck, anyway. I always feel like a winner. I don't
loathe myself, and I don't feel sorry for myself. If you haven't
been able to tell by now, my ego is huge. The bad things that
happen to me aren't the result of me not being good enough,
they're the result of everybody else being an asshead.

I'm never depressed, just frustrated.

Ooh, like today. I just got back from the unemployment office.
I was getting a copy of my certified typing test (the last place I
applied didn't give it back to me. Jerks.). After a 45 minute drive,
in a black car, in 98 degree weather, with long sleeves, they tell
me that their stupid computers aren't working and to come back
later. See, everybody is against me. It's a little game they're playing.
It's very frustrating.

Terrance I thought boston university was competitive. I screwed myself over in school by not doing good enough. I have to take senior year but senior year might as well not exist because all is said and done by now. My average grade thusfar is an 87, and I've taken a couple of honors classes but I have no extra curricular activities and my sat was 1070 and I don't think I can do better.

and i wasn't saying you are a loser ethic, I'm just saying that the rant was much like your rants, and you just ranted, so eat me.

Originally posted by Silvercord
Terrance I thought boston university was competitive. I screwed myself over in school by not doing good enough. I have to take senior year but senior year might as well not exist because all is said and done by now. My average grade thusfar is an 87, and I've taken a couple of honors classes but I have no extra curricular activities and my sat was 1070 and I don't think I can do better.

and i wasn't saying you are a loser ethic, I'm just saying that the rant was much like your rants, and you just ranted, so eat me.

Boston University is very competitive, but I took courses at their corporate education center(right next door). I don't think you even need a high school diploma to take courses at their co-op center.

Anyways, do you live in Massachusetts?

Remember if you do take the course at the BU co-op center, take the C++/C# program under Jim Devlin. Ask for Devlin or another one of his assistants.

By the way, this program is one of the most highly recognized programs in the country for programming. One individual went to a computer fair, and was told that the best programmers coming into the industry were all coming out of this particular program(by several major tech companies that he talked to).

a few downsides-
The courses you take here are currently non-accredited. Plus it's a total of 700 hours (plus many hours spent during your own time coding up the projects). So it comes to a total of around 1000 hours of work, and all that's done in a 7 month period. Everything is very crammed, but it prepares you very well for the real world.

Typical students coming out of the program get jobs as programmers which are beyond entry level. Right now the economy is tight though, and it's difficult to get a job in the tech industry.

One student came out of this program, and then went to get his master's degree in c.s., and knew more about programming than most of his teachers. So you definately get a lot out of taking this course.

Anyways, if you're more concerned about learning how to program, than getting a degree, than you might want to check out this program. That's what I did.

But I still suggest that you'd be better off going to college instead (which is what I'm doing myself, right now). It's a much wiser investment to get a degree first.

I have learned more here than any class i have ever taken. Dont feel bad man, its every school. Look how many CS students hang out here!

I won't be considering IT as a career these days, surely not with bad grades. It's apparent that IT drifts overseas for reduced costs in forthcoming years. In longer term it means unemployment for US IT undergraduates, though, India citizens or even me in my country may profit. Eventually you would pay a lot for unemployment.

Have you been thinking about other careers? How about accounting (in demand now)?

Right now I'm looking at majoring in Mathematics with a minor in computer science at the University of Maine.

Originally posted by joshdick
This thread scares me. I plan on majoring in mathematics and computer science at Drexel University in the fall. I don't want to think that I'm gonna be spending tens of thousands of dollars yet no one's even gonna teach me how to write a linked list. Someone please tell me how great Drexel is.

Don't worry about my comment on Wentworth students not knowing how to code a linked list till their sophmore-junior year.

Anyways, most colleges cover linked lists freshman year, and my guess is that Drexel will too. And like I said before, classes usually cover more of the theoretical aspects of programming. It's really the amount of time you spend on your own (or in co-ops or doing projects) that will determine how good of a programmer you'll become.

If you can put an extra 200-300 hours worth of programming time into your schedule a year(coding real programs, not just algorithms) you'll be a very good programmer coming out of college, regardless to where you go.

And I wouldn't worry about the future of employment in IT related jobs. Programming is expected to be one of the most in demand jobs through 2010 and beyond.