Did i waste 4 years going to college?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

no seriously, what's an "IT degree".
there's CS and MIS. we didn't have an IT track. is this a new thing or something specific to certain schools?

 

[bobross419]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
no seriously, what's an "IT degree".
there's CS and MIS. we didn't have an IT track. is this a new thing or something specific to certain schools?

Information Technology - Desktop, Network setup/support oriented degree. CS = Computer Science - programming and engineering. MIS - no clue.


http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...ormationtechnology.pdf - IT
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...jorComputerscience.pdf - CS
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...informationsystems.pdf - MIS

Yes there is a programming path in Information Technology, but the above description is the hard and fast of it.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: bobross419

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
no seriously, what's an "IT degree".
there's CS and MIS. we didn't have an IT track. is this a new thing or something specific to certain schools?

Information Technology - Desktop, Network setup/support oriented degree. CS = Computer Science - programming and engineering. MIS - no clue.


http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...ormationtechnology.pdf - IT
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...jorComputerscience.pdf - CS
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...informationsystems.pdf - MIS

Yes there is a programming path in Information Technology, but the above description is the hard and fast of it.

management information system. basically for like business analysts.

an IT degree sounds like one of those "degrees" you get from the chubb institute or "technical" schools.
any accredited universities actually have an IT degree program?

 

[nomrah]

You gotta wow em in the interview, I can't stress this enough. Show them something about you that sticks out, that's unique, or will bring value to their company. Unfortunately, these days a 4 yr degree is not a wow factor anymore, dime a dozen. This is where your internships come in, but sounds like you don't have any of those. Do you have any friends that could get you in? Social networking is definitely key, and there's always the old saying of it's not what you know, it's who you know.

And cheer up, you're a young guy, hell I'm young too (23) what am I saying, a job will come along eventually. Enjoy the freedom while you have it. I kind of wish my job hunt was a bit longer. Commencement was a Sunday and my first day was Monday, and I've been busy ever since.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
The job market is awesome right now. I don't know what you are talking about.


Keep your head up and keep looking. Something will come along.

QFT...

You have to be blowing it on the interviews.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: rudeguy
The job market is awesome right now. I don't know what you are talking about.


Keep your head up and keep looking. Something will come along.

QFT...

You have to be blowing it on the interviews.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or you just haven't been watching any news for the past 3 months.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: rudeguy
The job market is awesome right now. I don't know what you are talking about.


Keep your head up and keep looking. Something will come along.

QFT...

You have to be blowing it on the interviews.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or you just haven't been watching any news for the past 3 months.

Actually, more like 6 months.

but yeah, I cannot tell if they are being sarcastic either.

 

[alkemyst]

IS/IT jobs are hot now. We laid a guy off on monday here (mortgage industry) and he interviewed that afternoon...his start was the following day.

However, that same job was interviewed for by a fresh out of school dude we laid off a month ago...he blew the interview by lying about experience and his knowledge.

The people having a hard time now are those in the retail, mortgage and building industries mostly.

Some factory workers are feeling pressure too.

However IS/IT is not a 'hurting' field right now.

 

[ivan2]

1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

2. don't be afraid to start working as an intern or trainee.

3. when other options fail, grad school.

 

[KentState]

As someone who has managed a programming team, I can say that the lack of experience or even an internship would be a huge turnoff. I would probably put the resume at the bottom of the stack if I saw that. GPA and a degree can only demonstrate so much and from there it's all about how you work with others and what you've experienced.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

QFT, SQL is a deal breaker for most. Many think they know it but as soon as we ask about setting up a JOIN, they lose it.

Anyone can do a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE...most get DELETE right, some miss this question by not specifying the criteria properly we give.

For coding we are looking for pseudocode as we mostly deal with a language no one uses here (Scheme / LISP).

 

[jonks]

College is where you find all kinds of jobs...rim, hand, blow, etc.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: rudeguy
The job market is awesome right now. I don't know what you are talking about.


Keep your head up and keep looking. Something will come along.

QFT...

You have to be blowing it on the interviews.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or you just haven't been watching any news for the past 3 months.

What, because the economy is bad? There are still plenty of jobs out there. I had many job offers right out of college (in the philly area, not the west coast) a year ago, and a year later got a new job significantly better. There are plenty of jobs on the market - if he's getting interviews, obviously those companies have jobs available, so either A) the op is doing very poorly in interviews or B) the op is not as "above average" as he thinks. Not to be a dick, but it's true.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

Ehhh...SQL mastery is overrated. DBA and IST type people do it a lot more than programmers. I've found that a basic knowledge of SQL is enough to get by.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

Ehhh...SQL mastery is overrated. DBA and IST type people do it a lot more than programmers. I've found that a basic knowledge of SQL is enough to get by.

Right, it is overrated, but so are many interview questions.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

Ehhh...SQL mastery is overrated. DBA and IST type people do it a lot more than programmers. I've found that a basic knowledge of SQL is enough to get by.

Right, it is overrated, but so are many interview questions.

Fair enough. I've only ever had one interview that actually asked me a SQL question though - and that was an internship!

 

[NaOH]

It's only a waste if you majored in psych, philosophy, etc

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

Ehhh...SQL mastery is overrated. DBA and IST type people do it a lot more than programmers. I've found that a basic knowledge of SQL is enough to get by.

Right, it is overrated, but so are many interview questions.

I don't think it's overrated at all; what is overrated is thinking that SQL is the end-all of what's needed.

The current market demands a lot more than knowledge of SQL: Domain-driven design, LINQ (for Microsofties), entity frameworks (OR/M). Almost any non-trivial project will require knowledge of SQL, and the vast majority of projects don't have a dedicated DBA.

This is less true for large companies, where you need to go through a bureaucratic change-control process to get a field change in front of the DBAs, but again, the rest of the business world puts the demands on the developers.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Fair enough. I've only ever had one interview that actually asked me a SQL question though - and that was an internship!

really depends on job. I'd expect most programmers will be expected to handle database transactions though.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Deeko

Fair enough. I've only ever had one interview that actually asked me a SQL question though - and that was an internship!

really depends on job. I'd expect most programmers will be expected to handle database transactions though.

Sure, but there's a difference between handling database transactions and being able to recite SQL in an interview. You should be familiar with the concepts, and be able to figure out how to do them as needed for the job...but I don't think most programmers need to write syntactically correct SQL on a whiteboard all that often.

 

[finite automaton]

You messed up bad by not doing any internships.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: ivan2
1. know your stuff, especially SQL, u almost always get asked for SQL (table design, etc), it is one of those things that college kids bad at but everyone knows once they start to work.

QFT, SQL is a deal breaker for most. Many think they know it but as soon as we ask about setting up a JOIN, they lose it.

Anyone can do a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE...most get DELETE right, some miss this question by not specifying the criteria properly we give.

For coding we are looking for pseudocode as we mostly deal with a language no one uses here (Scheme / LISP).

I didn't know scheme was powerful enough to be used in the real world :Q

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: finite automaton

I didn't know scheme was powerful enough to be used in the real world :Q

It's popular with some Loan Origination software and can run on the internet as well...

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Sure, but there's a difference between handling database transactions and being able to recite SQL in an interview. You should be familiar with the concepts, and be able to figure out how to do them as needed for the job...but I don't think most programmers need to write syntactically correct SQL on a whiteboard all that often.

I don't think anyone on an interview is looking for perfect syntax. However; when the candidate can't even get close to setting up a JOIN, you know they don't have the experience they say.

If I was looking at a programmer that wasn't going to be writing almost 100% database transaction code then it wouldn't be so important.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: bobross419

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
no seriously, what's an "IT degree".
there's CS and MIS. we didn't have an IT track. is this a new thing or something specific to certain schools?

Information Technology - Desktop, Network setup/support oriented degree. CS = Computer Science - programming and engineering. MIS - no clue.


http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...ormationtechnology.pdf - IT
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...jorComputerscience.pdf - CS
http://valenciacc.edu/aadegree...informationsystems.pdf - MIS

Yes there is a programming path in Information Technology, but the above description is the hard and fast of it.

management information system. basically for like business analysts.

an IT degree sounds like one of those "degrees" you get from the chubb institute or "technical" schools.
any accredited universities actually have an IT degree program?

Well, no one who goes to a real engineering school studies IT or that crap. Honestly, it's one of those skills you can always pick up in a CC, and if you're spending 4 years to get through that, you better be coming out with a EE degree.