Programming - viable to change carreers?

I'm currently an network engineer for a large telecom company. My experience is designing and implementing various customer network utilizing Cisco equipment. We all know how that industry is going down the tubes.....

I'm currently going back to school to get my B.S. in C.S. and then probably on to a masters. I know there is quite a bit of outsourcing happening in this field, but I would like to know from the rest of you if it might not be a wise decision to try to get into the programming field. I used to love programming in my youth and I've always meant to make it a hobby, but as you grow older, the free time starts to dwindle. But, if I go to school for it, I should learn a great deal - I guess that kind of goes without saying :)

If you say no, are there any areas in the programming field that you see expanding in the U.S.? Any areas you see not being outsourced?

Lastly, do you feel the U.S. government should do something to make it less attractive for companies to outsource? I do! I plan on writing my Congressman soon!!! I suggest you do the same, if you haven't already.

Regards,
3DPhreak

Most schools have tracks that you can specialize in. For instance, I want to be a programmer after college so I chose the Software Engineering track rather than Database or Networking. Does your school have anything like that?

You need to learn as much as you can, and learn it well. Your college will only "teach" you one or two programming languages, but to be valuable you need to learn more (and learn them well ;-) Have at-home projects and keep advancing your skills as a programmer. What a Professor teaches you in Java/C++ class will not be enough to get hired as a programmer.

Linux support is also increasing. Get an old computer and put a distro of linux on there. Learn linux. Eventually learn qt and gtk.

You need to make yourself wanted.

Also, please vote for John Kerry if you want the tax break for outsourcing to go bye bye. =)

-spoon_

Oh no not the outsourcing arguement again.

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Lastly, do you feel the U.S. government should do something to make it less attractive for companies to outsource? I do! I plan on writing my Congressman soon!!! I suggest you do the same, if you haven't already.

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The problem is that a Conservative United States Government tends to be biased towards financial breaks for large corporations, and the idea is that it will create more jobs and the wealth will "Trickle Down" to the rest of the population. In short, as long as there is a Conservative Government in the United States, outsourcing will be looked upon as a good way to actually boost the economy.

I'm not saying I agree, I'm just stating a reality.

Somebody gave me a bad reputation for the post I made above, and I cannot go back and edit the post. Seeing as how I didn't mean to offend anyone, I just wanted to come back and say that I didn't mean to say 'Conservative Government is bad' (I voted for Regan), I was just saying that no matter how bad outsourcing seems to us, a Conservative Government typically tends to think it can help the economy.

Haha, reputation is a joke. Ignore it. I got a bad rep for exposing someone's plagiarism. 'Nuff said.

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Originally Posted by golfinguy4

Haha, reputation is a joke. Ignore it. I got a bad rep for exposing someone's plagiarism. 'Nuff said.

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You got bad rep because your an ass (actually wasnt me, honestly).

Outsorcing isnt going anywhere. Companies will always be cheap about things, get over with it and quit basing your life on it.

Ooh, someone's upset that he was busted. Just out of curiousity, how does exposing your plagiarism make me an ass?

I've had no problems (except from ober :) ) with the rep system :)

I never claimed the post as mine, and after it was questioned i cited what forum and what user i got it from. I didnt even post until after i PM'd that author and asked his permission. It was the way you did it that makes you an ass.

Its not your fault, you were born a jackass.

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Originally Posted by RoD

I never claimed the post as mine, and after it was questioned i cited what forum and what user i got it from.

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Find any english teacher. Not citing your sources is plagiarism, even if you did get permission. You are passing off someone else's work as your own when you don't cite. By definition, that is plagiarism. Nice try though.

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Originally Posted by RoD

I didnt even post until after i PM'd that author and asked his permission.

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I'm sure you did. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by RoD

Its not your fault, you were born a jackass.

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Very intelligent of you. I love your scholarly, erudite comments.

... and to bring the thread back onto track....
my advice, if you're worried about your position disappearing, switch to a trade where it doesn't happen so often. Or just go work for one of the 3rd party companies that your work is outsourced to. Whatever you do is a gamble, imho, but, hey, that's the fun of life. Can't you switch to programming within your current company? I guess not, but if you could, I expect you'd be better off financially than you would if you went to a new company as a junior programmer.