Re: help getting started..Please read

Take a quick course, prefereably in Java IMHO. Although if the Microsoft marketing machine does its usual fine job, there will also be plenty of demand for c#.

You might find Visual Basic easier & powerful but it is then harder to move to Java/C++/c# - whereas after these languages VB is easy to pick up. This is because there are concepts & constructs in Java etc that arent in VB.

By a quick course I mean 8-12 weeks night school. Do the excercises, find more books, do all the excercises - find a computing undergraduate & get their workbooks & do their excercises too. Go to the bookstore & get one of the java books, I am about to start teaching my (young teenage) son using "Java 2 IN NO TIME" by Dirk Louis & Peter Muller (u with an umlaut) ISBN 0-130-94941-8 from Prentice-Hall

See how you get on. Get a job any way you can to gain practical experience & move regularly (dont get stuck) & follow the latest technology (and dont be afraid to stay at nightschool to keep up to date). You will find there are then courses by the vendors (IBM, etc which are expensive, save time, but you HAVE to put it into practice not jsut go on the course). You might try a systems integrator or consutancy - they often have good training programs & during certain parts of an economic cycle will hire prodigious numbers - additionally they value people with previous industry experience & so you may be able to trade up salary because of you previous career (often business or industry knowledge added to technical knowledge is THE most attractive qualification for a company or consultancy.

If you like being your own boss then contracting is closer but actually you will be treated like a piece of furniture in some companies - however you will generally earn more cash & have more ability to get up & move on. These days the only difference between contract & payroll staff (note I dont call them permanent) is that the contractors take more home with better defined responsibilities & they know when their contract ends!

Now for confession - I learned early, by myself to begin with, then with some help from a programmer friend, going on to Computer Science. SO I cant say I actualy followed this advice myself. Especially as I stayed in the same company for 15 years after that! I hate being on my own & finding my next job so contracting never appealed. However I did find consulting as a senior very interesting & rewarding.

Good luck. It is not a mystery or all that difficult. You should "get it" during that first course. It IS easier to "get it" under instruction rather than completely on your own.
Regards,

              David Penney
              CTO-Europe
              http://www.metamatrix.com

"Marc Blum" <marc_at_marcblum.de> wrote in message news:3ca1d73f.12193833_at_news.online.de...
> Hi,
>
> try to get "real-life" experience. Program something that someone
> other really needs and uses. One little CD- or Video-Database for your
> neighbour will give you much more experience than 10 schoolbook
> examples. The point is to get confronted with requierments, and it's
> your job to implement them, to build a working program which
> satiesfies your "customer". Languages come second.
>
> just my 2 cents
>
> On Tue, 26 Mar 2002 18:01:06 GMT, "shawn gregory"
> <sgregor6_at_tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>
> >Im very interested in programming, but have no real background or
knowledge
> >other than what I have learned on my own, not much yet. I ve posted one
> >other time here about my interest in learning to be an Oracle developer
and
> >recieved good advice on being carefull with the tech " school"
certification
> >route as a way to get the education. Im convinced of my desire to do
this,
> >but unsure as to the best way to go about it. Im doing this backwards, as
I
> >am 34 and have had my own business since getting out of high school. Ive
> >always liked being in charge of my time and carreer, and I probably would
> >like to do the same with programming at some point. But, besides being
> >proffitable, I really have this bug that I just have to figure this
> >programming stuff out, even though I am not sure if I can.
> >Given the fact that I want to be a programmer, probably in the area of
> >database design, what would be the best route to get the training, (
Real
> >knowledge ), and the experience for me to pursue this, with possibly
> >freelancing as an end goal? College, tech school, online learning, etc.
> >Does my age matter in the real world as far as starting now? Do I have to
be
> >Spock to do this? Any particular area of programming financially or
> >creatively better? Were you as overwhelmed when you first started looking
at
> >code as I am? How long did it take you to GET IT?
> > I would love to hear from everyone who has an opinion. I thank you.
> >Shawn
> >
> >
> >
>
> regards
> Marc Blum
> mailto:marc_at_marcblum.de
> http://www.marcblum.de
>
Received on Sun Apr 07 2002 - 09:12:55 CDT