Bachelor's Degree in IT/CS or short computer courses? What programming languages shld. I study?

Question

I have a non-IT degree, and am thinking of studying computers. I'm thinking of taking short courses but don't know if that would pay off in the end. I'd also like to know the best programming languages to study in terms of versatility and demand.

Answer 1

Planning on relocating to India are we?



Seriously, the boom-boom IT days are pretty much over. A huge number of IT jobs have flowed to India, China and elsewhere. More IT jobs will be lost to overseas cheap or psuedo-slave labor markets. Is there still a market for coders in the US? Yes. Is it more difficult to find that kind of work? Yes.



If you go for a full Computer Science degree, you will not have a choice in which programming languages you learn. Also, a CS degree requires some heavy duty math courses as well.



Having said all that. Languages I would learn today if need presented: Visual Basic, C++, and XML, maybe JAVA. You are better off focusing on languages like XML and JAVA that are for the web if you are thinking about taking on some of these on your own. However, at the end of the day, employers are most impressed by the CS degree and will take those candidates over trade schools like Chubb Institute or self taught people.

Answer 2

I hear this question a lot. I have a BS in Computer Science (CS) and have no certifications but earn well into 6 figures (13 years in the field currently a software engineer/architect focusing on SQL Server & .NET).



Programming and Information Systems are subsets of CS. CS deals more with problem solving, algorithms (step by step solutions), data structures, theory, mathematics, physics, computer architecture, etc. things on a much more theoretic/abstract level. You also learn proper application and database architecture, crucial to providing overall solutions.



Programming on the other hand really boils down to languages used for a particular application (solution). They gets translated into via designs and algorithms. Example, I had never used Active Server Pages (ASP) or Visual Basic (VB) before and wrote a full blown enterprise application using these technologies and the only thing that slowed me down was learning the language syntax.



Bottom line, a degree is invaluable, learning languages and information systems are secondary. I believe a Computer Science degree is the best credential you can obtain.



Good luck!

Answer 3

They are all tied together.

Learn one and you become capable in all of them.

You will also begin to feel the demand to learn something about all of them.



Regarding demand and relevance.

Learn ASP.NET (Visual Studio 2005) which is actually a framework.

The language itself is a combination of languages.

The easy answer is Visual Basic - or c#......

Many people will disagree but the fact is visual basic is the Microsoft Animal and they own the commercial server market.

Also being proficient in ASP.net means you can develop applications for both the desktop and the internet.

There are no other languages which offer this versatility and the market dominance AND such a beginner friendly SDK as visual studio. (That last statement means the learning curve aint so bad). The biggest drawback to learning this language is that it contributes to success of MICRO$OFT which many folks dont like. Be that as it may the demand is uber high and their compiler is the bomb diggity.

And to repeat - learn one language, you will basically "get" them all. It's all just, if - than - else - for - variables - arrays - strings - integers - objects - methods - properties.

Learn those 11 things and you can wax on w/ any programmer in any language.

Answer 4

Don't think with in one day you will be a great programmer. learn programming is a step by step processes. so if u don't know anything abt programming first learn MSDOS... adopt with it 3 or 4 days ... after that 2 and 4 days u learn ms-ofs ... just basic idea ..



then u directly enter to the world of programming ... i think first u learn C programming language ... it is basic for all programming language ... try with small program first ... try 2 think why it is happen and how much i can improve it... by this way u learn C within 4-6 months ( at least basic ) ... after that u need to select in which language u want to work ...



web programming is booming now ... its market is growing day after day and it has good future ...



for web programming 1>.Net 2>java/jsp 3> php



any one you can select ...buy books and buy computer and just study as soon as u will be a solid programmer ... if u need guide u can go to different computer inst (say in india NIIT, CMC, APTECH) etc r there ...



Good Luck