Should I continue to pursue a career in computers?

[JohnCU]

Well, here I am, 11th grade in highschool and still confused as to what direction to follow. I know that anything I do (career-wise) will deal with computers. But for years now, I've been planning on going to a tech school, getting my web design certificate or whatever, and then going to college, getting my degree in something, and then becoming a senior web designer. but now everyone tells me that this isn't the way to go, and that there isn't any money in web designing. so now what do I do? I don't think that I would be a great programmer, I hate flowcharts, and writing 123123123 lines of code, just seems awful. But I also don't want to be a blue-collar hardware guy who repairs PCs for home users and stff like that. Just want some mad cash.

Lend me some expertise .

 

[Viper GTS]

Just want some mad cash.

That should be your first thing to worry about. Using that to determine a career is stupid, stupid, stupid.

Viper GTS

 

[Azraele]

You have time to make a decision. Go with what you enjoy. A job that that you hate that pays well will not make you happy in the long run. Take different classes, see what you like, and go for it. Just make sure that you have a backup plan in the back of your mind in case your main goal doesn't pan out.

 

[JohnCU]

Well, okay, enjoying the career I choose would be more important than mad cash. But I'd want to make enough to support my family and be able to have all the nice things I can't afford now

 

[Scrapster]

But I'd want to make enough to support my family and be able to have all the nice things I can't afford now

You're going to need mad cash for a family.

 

[Demosthenes]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, junior in HS.. but the reason I don't plan on pursuing programming isn't because I don't want to, but because I'm dismal at math.. I'm having problems with regular Algebra 2 at age 17... I LOVE computers though, they are my life.. but what career (and remember this includes college major, I HAVE to go to college) can I pursue without an emphasis on math?

 

[dafatha00]

ok if you're a junior in high school, ENJOY YOUR LAST FEW YEARS =oP
you have plenty of time to decide what you want to do once you get into college...the average college student does change his/her major 3-4 times anyways...

 

[kenhubbs]

there are thousands of careers you can do and study in college that do not emphasize math. I am a junior in college and a double history/political science major. I have had to only take one math class here in my time, and that is it. I plan to either get my Ph.D and be a college professor or go to law school. the money is there if you want it in anything you do. but trust me study something you are interested in and love. don't do it for the money. i have so many friends that are business or pharmacy majors and hate everything about their college classes because their classes suck. trust me it will work out in the end.

 

[Plantanthera]

The best thing for your to do is to get a summer/partime job or volunteer in the field that you want to pursue, because it will give you an idea of what it would like to do in the long term.

Computer seemed to make money, but to some people the repetitive task of writing IF statement is horrifying.

 

[Deicide]

I'm a senior in HS, and I'm still trying to decide what to do. I'm taking the Cisco networking academy, and I'm teaching myself Microsoft OS's, so I should have my CCNA and Win2k MCSE by next year. I'm intending to get a Bachellor's in IT, with maybe a minor in finance or psychology or something, and do Air Force ROTC.

And I think that theres some good money in web design; I do sites for local businesses on the side for about a grand or so apiece, both normal and E-commerce sites. Its good money for a student like me, and I can set my own hours, plus I'm learning a lot about design and dealing with what people want.

 

[gnognugs]

All jobs suck.
Own your own biz.
Be the boss.

 

[erub]

Well don't go to tech school first, definitely go to college out of high school. You want to be the same age as everybody else there. You can get the MCSE and other stuff later.

 

[Pretender]

Right, because anyone who "chooses the right path" in computers will get "mad cash". Listen to me very carefully. In this industry, as well as any other, there are 2 groups: The winners (a small group), and the losers (the large group). No amount of studying, training, preparing, preying, offering sacrifices to gods, or college-teachings can change this, all you can do is hope, do your best, and try to do something new and original. This applies moreso as the industry gets more saturated with idiot dot-com startups, idiot computer software/hardware companies, etc. If you want "mad dough" (alright, I changed your quote on that one, it's incorrect street grammer to say "mad cash", it's supposed to be "mad dough", just FYI), it's not impossible, just requires more originality. If you want a well-paying-job that can support a family and modest house, then I take back everything said here.

 

[Ornery]

"...a career in computers"

You might want to change your view of what computers are. They are not a career, they are a tool. Mastering a tool is not a big deal. You've noticed how easy they've gotten to use over the years. Pretty soon they will be no more mysterious than a telephone, VCR or microwave oven. Just one more electronic device found in several rooms of your home. Even businesses will just drop a unit on a desktop, plug it into a network and go. The guys installing the network will probably not require much more knowledge than the guys that install cable and phone lines now. Not a simple task, but not a "mad cash" career either.

Even writing programs is getting easier. "Rolling your own" databases etc. will probably be automated to the point that a secretary could do it for a small business. She'll have to do that, because her boss will be using voice recognition software instead of her transcriptions.

I'm trying to steer my boys toward some kind of government based job. Perhaps teaching. You might try teaching how to use computers. That might last a few years. I doubt they'll become household appliances overnight, but soon. You could shift to other teaching areas over time.

 

[StageLeft]

Two things i'm gonna clear up right now:

1) Web Design is tough to get into and do well at: When i say web design I mean the guy who designs the actual layout of the sites. I have a friend struggling in it now. If you're in web development, ie, doing the actual building of the site, dealing with the back-end, and all of the tiers, then its a good area.

2) PROGRAMMING DOES NOT REQUIRE MUCH MATH: Yes, if you're going to be working on C++ engineering software you better be good with your math but a vast number of IT workers working on business applications, web development, etc. do not have much or any math beyond whatever we all get when we go to highschool/university.

ornery your view of the future of computing indicates you have limited experience with it. Its like saying that engineers will not have anything particularly hard to do in the future because it will be automated. There will ALWAYS be a strong demand for knowledgable computer technicians in the software and hardware fields.

 

[Descartes]

I was going to say the same thing to Ornery, but Skoorb did it for me.

We've had CASE tools for how long now? There are already tools out there that neophytes can use to "roll your own databases, etc.", but why is there still such a demand? Who's going to write the tools that let you, "roll your own databases, etc."? The ability to simply drop in a workstation and go, is a result of the software written for these "plug and play" environments. I don't think we'll have the high demand for lower end programmers like we do now, but the demand will always be there for the higher-level software engineers.

Skoorb also touched on the math issue. If you're building enterprise applications, you're not going to be whipping out your TI-82 anytime soon to get through the project.

 

[Namuna]

<< But I'd want to make enough to support my family and be able to have all the nice things I can't afford now >>


Let me clue you in on a something now, so it doesn't hit you in face in a few years when you've been in the workforce for awhile...

Money is a DRUG!
The more you make, the more you SPEND, the more you spend the more you NEED! I recall getting my first Salary position, I went from making $8 an hour at CompUSA to $25k/yr Salary...WOW! I was on top of the world! I thought about all the stuff I was going to be able to buy.

Now, 8 years later, I'm making 'considerably' more and yet I'm TOTALLY cash poor!...Why? Because I got caught up in the whole materialistic circle jerk. It's a repeating pattern that I'll bet ALOT of people here can relate to. You get excited about something, pay crazy money for it (on Credit Card), 3 months later you're bored with it and looking for the next thing to excite you...The pattern repeats.

Dismal,
Don't get caught up in that repeating pattern. Yes, money is important...But it's not THE MOST important! Set your sites on something you LIKE. If you don't know what that is, TAKE SOME TIME to decide! There are PLENTY of people in their 30s, 40s and older that STILL don't know what they want to do with their lives...You've got time!!!

 

[JohnCU]

Thanks for the input, some very good points were brought out. I think I will go to a good college here in SC, such as Clemson, and just get my degree in Computer Egineering. And then from there, like everyone has pointed out, go to one of those other schools (MCSE, IT?) and whatever I like, I'll go for it I'm supposed to be getting a job this summer doing computer repair/networking at a Univeristy, so maybe i'll get some good info there. Thanks again.

 

[Ornery]

&quot;...ALWAYS be a strong demand for knowledgeable computer technicians in the software and hardware fields...&quot;

And what will their salary be then, compared to what it is now? What do you think happened to all the &quot;mainframe guys&quot; of the seventies? Be prepared to keep learning and jumping to another skill or see your pay fall as you become outdated. That goes for the teaching stuff too, but I think it would be easier in that profession.

 

[RecklaZ]

I'm also in High school and love computers but have no clue what to do in the future that deals with computer. I was thinking mabey networking? Anyways i'm good with math and i'm defenitly gonna go to college. Just dont know what to do for carrer..... Tips?

 

[tomcat]

Well looks like there are a lot of us here. I'm a senior in high school. I also do some webdesign and things, but its not a whole lot of money.. my company is at bluehue.com I applied for IT/IS programs at colleges, so thats probably what I'll do for at least some time. I'm not really sure that IT is what I want, I tend to like visual things, graphic/webdesign, video production etc. But again I love computers and need to make some money, hopefully to ultimately run my own company.

 

[StageLeft]

Ornery In truth I would say that the average teacher has a more bleak future than the average &quot;computer guy&quot;. Both need to constantly train; really any job worth having I think requires constant learning.

However, there is nothing coming out trying to kill of computer jobs - some things are automated, but as was mentioned somebody has to create these and others have to run them. You could say that running a 5 server network is easy and &quot;automated&quot; because the software is doing the running, but can you admin it? Me neither. The industrial revolution did not kill jobs as many tasks were automated - instead it created them. There are more computer jobs now than ever in the past. As long as somebody continues to learn they can always shift around. The primary difference between a computer and a normal tool - as you refer to it is (which it is of course) - is that the defining aspect of a computer is its ability to do many different things. Nobody can truly 'master' a computer as they can a chainsaw. Society's increasing reliance on computers will continue to bring it new jobs.

Back to the way I said that teaching's future was not as good as it could be...yes we'll always need teachers, but if you go to sites like click2learn.com and any of the multitude of competitors you see that software developers are trying to bring teaching to new levels. Why hire one teacher to teach 30-40 kids in a classroom when instead you can hire a top notch teacher to teach 2000 kids through distance education on their computers? Thats where the future is going for many things. Interaction can never be replaced but in environments like university where we have no real interaction with a teacher anyway its more efficient to use distance education and it will happen for all of us. Then all you need is the teacher to design or administor the course, and he/she can do it for an unlimited number of kids. That would mean job cuts.

 

[Descartes]

Ornery: You reference the mainframe programmers of the 70's as an example of vocational obsolescence... and I agree. Anyone who doesn't diversify their &quot;knowledge portfolio&quot;, will be phased out of the industry. Would doctors studying 60's medicine be working today if they didn't learn new medical practices as they evolved? Of course not. This applies across the board, in all professions. I spend literally every single day learning new things, finding ways to diversify my knowledge, and build better software. If suddenly the OO paradigm became the &quot;old way&quot;, I would have no problem making a transition to the &quot;new way.&quot; There are those that are _still_ focusing entirely on structural design techniques, and they haven't been phased out even since OO has become ubiquitous. If I threw all my eggs in one basket, then I wouldn't be doing my job... to analyze requirements and provide a solution that's based on solid design practices. As the old biological axiom goes:

&quot;Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny&quot;

 

[Ornery]

Absolutely correct about the teaching except for one thing. The jobs are protected by a union. Best of both worlds! Good pay, easy to keep &quot;up to date&quot; and you can't lose your friggin job no matter what!

I think Dismal threw me when he said, &quot;I hate flowcharts, and writing 123123123 lines of code, just seems awful.&quot; I figured he wanted to get into the &quot;nuts and bolts&quot; end of it instead. There may be money in that now, but not for long. Not IMO anyway.

 

[Shantanu]

I agree with what Ornery says.

You say you like computers, but who doesn't like computers in this day and age? I like Pecan pie, but I don't want to make a career out of it (OK, lame analogy...)

Anyways, I think that you need a little more experience. Take a variety of courses. Don't be set on computers just yet. See if you can find another field that you like. You're right about web designing not being as profitable as it once was (not to mention the saturation in that market due to the dot.com collapse), and if you're not really big on math, programming probably won't be your thing either.

Computers are a tool. Pretty much any white collar job these days will require extensive use of a computer. So if you want to work with computers, that'll probably happen anyways. Try to find your &quot;niche&quot;, some field that your into, and then work from there.