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I'm declared Accounting right now, but I really enjoy web design/programming. The only options I really have if I wanted to major in something web-related would either be Computer Science or Telecommunications. Looking at the different programs, though, it doesn't seem like there is much in the way for web development.
I like the Accounting from a business standpoint, but I'd like to learn more about the other aspects. I'm a Junior right now, so it's kind of late for me for me to change, but I'm just looking for a little input.
Loans for above: $45,000
Total Cost: $145,000
Computer courses: two AS/400 courses at local community college
Loans for Above: 0
Total Cost: $200
This, my young apprentices, is called Irony.
If you actually do what I said you'll understand why I said it.
Everyone whom I have ever met that employed the book AND did the written exercises acknowledged that the book (actually the person using it) changed their life.
Take a chance. Leap of faith. Just do it.
For the life of me, given the importance of career choices, it just boggles my mind how casual we all are about working our way through the decision making process. No rigor at all to the methodology.
At least sit down in a bookstore and start to examine the book. However, there's no magic in reading the book. You have to do the work.
That's the way it tends to be in life.
Loved the subjects. Loved learning. Hated the classroom and teachers more interested in trivial pursuit than true comprehension.
Never finished.
Started programming after reading Goedel, Escher, Bach. Bought a C-64 for this reason.
Logic - Philosophy -> it's a natural fit.
First several programs looked like they were written by Kant or Sartre. Very convoluted (that is a nice way of saying "spaghetti code").
Bottom line - self taught.
WBF
I dropped out of college for a job offer I couldn't refuse.
Similar to an athlete dropping out for the professional salary?
I did the same, for me it was 20 years between the BS and real BS!
What Colour is Your Parachute
If ever outsourcing, downsizing, corporate America needed a way to keep the automaton drones at bay, this book fits the bill.
My absolute favorite "self-help/business" book was dr. Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go.
Much more useful and to the point.
Having said that, I think the most important thing about studying is that it teaches you to learn. Of everything I know, probably only about 40% has come from formal education and the other 70% (just kidding- 60%!) has come from my own desire to learn and willingness to find things out for myself.
I've still not got any idea what I'd like to do with my life, but I suppose that's half the fun of living, isn't it?
[edited by: maccas at 2:32 pm (utc) on Mar. 29, 2006]
Ha, I thought I was the only one that considered the Cheese book to be drivel. I got through the first few chapters and tossed it. Start with a dumb, simplistic idea and flog it to death in chapter after chapter... this kind of book results. A few million people apparently disagree. Perhaps it says something about people who buy business books.
Oh, back to the OP: Chemical Engineering (BS), Management (MBA)
Proceeded to get a diploma and certificate in Executive Office Administration. Whoopdidoo.
Did distance ed to get a Web Design certificate - came within two courses of being finished and moved from Ontario to Manitoba. Now I have to start from scratch.
Ugh.
With a few exceptions, I really think getting the actual piece of paper (diploma) matters more than which major you chose.
Of course, I would not have been able to advance very far in the IT world had I not had the IT work experience plus the CS classes that I did take.
On the other hand, I have never used Pascal or 8088 Assemby Language (2 CS classes that were required for graduation with a CS major) in the work environment. I suspect I would have gotten just as little out of some of the other required classes as well.
I started college in 1989 with Computer Science. I changed to Physics in 90 and did horribly for a few years. I started back in 2003 with Comp Sci. I've been going part time since and need 14 more and should finish this fall.
Frankly, it hasn't taught me much but should open some doors that like that piece of paper. After I lay off a year I'll probably get a masters to open a few more doors.
After a dozen years of the Life and Death rollercoaster, I decided that SEO sounded like just the ticket.
Still can't watch a medical show on TV without making fun of the fake ventilator...
Ended up finishing it a few years later because I figured out that it didn't matter much these days what your degree was in. You just needed to have a degree so that people would look at your resume.
I have never used my English degree for anything other than a foot in the door on my resume. And now I don't even need it for that.
I came to do that rather than go on the dole, the course was chosen like open page, check first UNI which was Anglia, one of the first course Business Admin.
And so began a life of the random walk.
Maybe wasnt the best choice given that I ended up on antidepressants.
Looking back now I cant see why I worried about all the debt laughable compared with today.
My absolute favorite "self-help/business" book was dr. Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go.
That's my favorite, too!
It seems like most people started off in a different field, then migrated toward the web. I especially like the Music Ed and Respiratory Therapy posts :)
just worked hard and played hard since I graduated high school, I guess I was about 16 then
Major in Common Sense at the street and corporate levels. ;)
Just as comfortable in The Hood as I am in an Armani suit and Corporate Boardroom. :)
Have been a programmer since I was 18, now working my way up the ladder.
Barry
MSW Masters of Social Work
Equals minimum computer knowledge but I am learning…
School of Hard Knocks (Masters)
Then an MBA from one of the top ten schools.
The only options I really have if I wanted to major in something web-related would either be Computer Science or Telecommunications. Looking at the different programs, though, it doesn't seem like there is much in the way for web development.
My advice would be, don't bother. Good compsci degrees (at least here in the UK) tend to be focussed on the more hardcore, academic aspects of computer science. You'd be amazed how rarely lambda calculus and the Entscheidungsproblem come up in web development (or maybe you wouldn't). So anyway, a compsci degree is great if you want to be a real computer scientist - like maybe do highly technical work on search algorithms at Google - but not really relevant for web work, which is (in compsci terms) quite light and fluffy.
Being self-taught in IT isn't a bad thing - some people think (and I'd agree with them) that it means you have a better, more intuitive understanding of the subject area, as well as better motivation. It isn't something I'd look down on if I was hiring. I'd see it as a good thing, although the person would obviously have to know their stuff.
The Jargon file has this to say:
EducationNearly all hackers [this is 'hacker' in the person-who-plays-with-computers sense, not the 'black hat' sense. ae] past their teens are either college-degreed or self-educated to an equivalent level. The self-taught hacker is often considered (at least by other hackers) to be better-motivated, and may be more respected, than his school-shaped counterpart. Academic areas from which people often gravitate into hackerdom include (besides the obvious computer science and electrical engineering) physics, mathematics, linguistics, and philosophy.
So what should you do?
* If you're really into the IT itself and the theory behind it, then a compsci degree could suit you.
If not:
* Teach yourself as much as you can
* I'd say consider a business degree. These days you really need commercial accumen for web-type work, if you want to add value (i.e. you want to be more than just a coder).
hth, a.
PS If I were hiring people to work on a web project, then someone who'd self-taught themselves to a good level would win out over someone with a degree in web development or similar from a bad university, all other things being equal.
