It's nice to be so loved (or: the world of IT is insane!)

[tarchon]

I gotta say I don't know where this "bottom rung" programmer stuff comes from - all the developers I know have jobs (unlike the sysads) and make half again what a sysad does.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I gotta say I don't know where this "bottom rung" programmer stuff comes from - all the developers I know have jobs (unlike the sysads) and make half again what a sysad does.

I think (and I could be wrong, this is just something that I was mulling over at work tonight) that DK is referring to people who basically just do pure coding (ie translating specs into program lines) rather than any kind of lifecyle development or software design. In which case, yeah, I can see that getting old pretty quick.

Another thing that occurred to me tonight was that web development is a pretty good example of the sort of thing I'm looking for, as it encompasses several different things (coding, design, database, administration, content writing) to keep it from being repetitive, and is small-scale enough that I would be shoehorned into a single area (such as only doing ER diagrams) such as probably occurs on large-scale projects. So, basically, I just want something that'll keep me interested. I know that the whole "multitasking" thing is a recruiter buzzword cliche, but that does describe how I work on the computer, I'll generally have three or four things going at once and flip back and forth between them as new ideas occur.

At any rate, I just wanted to get that down as I was thinking of it, as a sort of postscript to my long, insane ramblings above. I'm sure those posts displayed how truly confused I am.

 

[tarchon]

I think (and I could be wrong, this is just something that I was mulling over at work tonight) that DK is referring to people who basically just do pure coding (ie translating specs into program lines) rather than any kind of lifecyle development or software design. In which case, yeah, I can see that getting old pretty quick.

IME, the big dividing line is still roughly between systems programmers and apps programmers. Systems has always been a tough area to get a good job in just because there aren't so many non-support positions, like there are only so many OS and compiler vendors in the world. I always found the key to security and good pay was to get as close to the core business as possible. If you're working at Widgets-R-Us, you want to be close to the widgets, because they need you to stay in business. The first IT guy that gets laid off is the one who keeps the PC software up to date, not the one who writes the widget drivers. (Device drivers - that's evergreen, BTW - a lot of those guys make monstrous piles of money,and every new gadget or gizmo you see needs one.) I'd have to say my experience as a programmer was that the absolute worst thing to major in if you wanted to be a programmer was CS, unless you double majored, because the straight CS major is exactly the person who gets stuck translating specs into lines of code. Most applications developers get into it by having some specialty AND programming skills, since you need to know about something about the application in order to get to a higher level of application development. My first job as a C programmer, I'd only been taking C at a community college for about 6 weeks. They really hired me for my language skills. Found it through a headhunter's newspaper ad too.

 

[RangerWickett]

So today I checked in on a job I'd applied for. Woodruff Library at Emory, the same place I worked as a student. There was a job opening. The man who had the job before me gave me a reference. I had basically done the same job before, just with less supervising of students. I'm not even going to get an interview.

I need to curse now.

 

[Torm]

I'm not even going to get an interview.

What the heck?! Sounded like a pretty much done deal.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

That's what it sounded like to me....

I hope you got my message earlier in this thread, Torm.

 

[ssampier]

Social workers make crap for money (I know, my wife is one, and she has her Masters in it). I think to get anywhere with social work, you have to have a Masters, and have you to get your clinical license, and then you can make good money at it having a private practice. If that's not your cup of tea, there are plenty of careers in IT.

It sounds like you could do report writing, or queries. Some companies have people who do nothing but run queries against databases. I would think such jobs might be hard to come by, but you could probably do that, and they probably pay much better than where you're at. I'm not sure I could recommend any specific training or qualifications that you'd need. It might not hurt to contact some of the local recruiters in your area and feel them out. They might know of something. You never know.


edit: A sweat shop is a place that works you to death. 70/80 hour weeks are not uncommon. Sweat shops often hire lots of people right out of college, pay them crap, and burn them out. They can be good for getting a lot of great experience after college, though.

Social work doesn't sound like my cup of tea. I studied organizations as part of my major, so I'm not positive I'd have any idea how to assist individual people in dire situations.

Report writing is something I never considered. Since I have a liberal arts degree I can write fairly decent long-winded papers. Better pay and benefits would be icing on the cake. I'm not positive if I'd want it as a career, however.

I have considered doing something in the database field. Do you have any information would take to slide into entry level DB administration? I'm not an expert, but I know a bit about Access and SQL (some experience with SQL server).