Thread: Who here programs for a living?

Originally posted by ober5861
hey... dipstick... read his post... he's not doing a poll here, he's asking specific questions...

Originally posted by FillYourBrain
lol jdinger. You can't respond to just the title of the post!

hehe...er, sorry. that's what i get for trying to comprehend someone's post after a 13 hour coding-spree with NO coffee OR moutain dew. sorry, for my confusion there, fastmonkey.

>> Is their anything I can do other then I have planed to make
>>me more wanted for employers?

build a digital portfolio. write a small program that accomplishes a set task, when that's done, write another. my boss said that was the most impressive part of my resume' packet. because even though i hadn't had any professional programming experience it showed i had programming experience

>>How do I get experience in a job market that only wants
>>experienced people?

see the end of my above answer. also, try to get some work during the summer or in your free time as an intern.

>>What kind of salary would I be looking at?
I started out at 36k, but then again i live in a small city in Louisiana so considering the cost of living here it's probably comparable to 40k in a larger city (or better).

as far as knowing several languages, that's a MAJOR plus. i spend most of my day at work coding in VB. no one at work uses/knows anything besides VB except me. knowing c/c++ has allowed me to solve some problems that proved difficult for some of the other guys who only VB, so that scored major bonus points with the boss.

good luck, and sorry for misreading your post earlier. i have since had a nice nap and an ice-cold coca-cola.

I graduated in December 2001, the worst possible time. It took me 6 months to find a job. My title is IT developer/system support and I'm making just over $40K. A little on the low side but not too bad for an entry level job during this kind of market (plus it's exactly the job I was looking for). I did notice in the last couple of months the market has been getting better but it's still tough.
My advice is get an internship as soon as possible and join some computing organizations like ACM. Networking (knowing people) is a huge help in getting your first job (that's how I got mine) and if you do an internship you might be able to get hired by that company since you're familiar with things. Joining an organization will help you connect with other IT professionals who can help you find companies that might hire you. The more people you know in the industry the better.
As far as technology goes, C++ and Java are great to have on the resume along with some networking experience and database knowledge. A little bit of web programming wouldn't hurt either. Web services seem to be pretty popular right now (using Java, .NET, etc). You can never know too many different technologies. When you start applying for jobs, don't worry about the requirements (like experience and stuff), those are usually written by the HR deptarment just trying to get the perfect candidate. It's not easy finding the perfect person so often times they'll be flexible too. Plus, there will usually be a bit of time to learn their specific technologies before they make you dive in. That's enough out of me (perhaps too much). Good luck.

OMG PEOPLE POSTE THIS POLL 100000 TIMES CANT YOU DO A FRIGGING SEARCH!?!!!?!?!!!!11

jdinger, you're hilarious...

and, Eibro, who cares how many times this "poll" has been answered. it's an important question and s/he would like to have an in depth answer to it. it's not as if he's asking how to clear the screen. this is something he would like to be able to get an inside track of what it's going to be like for s/he when s/he gets out of school. simple as that, so don't complain!

well, not for a living
i dont need the money (im 16)