Career in programming without a computer science degree?

Converting my college degree into a programming career

• Two years ago, I completed a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Then followed a long and arduous job hunt, where I tried -- unsuccessfully -- to get an entry-level job as a programmer. After a year or so of this, I decided to go back to school and am currently working on my Master's degree. Grad school has been great, but it has recently occurred to me that unless I take some initiative, I'll be in the same situation -- that of being unable to find the job I want -- when I graduate in a year or so. Any computer professionals reading this know how irrelevant a college degree is to a programming career. I wish I had known this when I was an undergraduate! Unfortunately, I was a bit lazy and figured I would just learn "on the job." I'm much more motivated now. My aim is to learn as much as I can while I'm in school, so that I'll have a better chance of attaining my goal -- becoming a UNIX programmer -- when I graduate. My question is, what specific steps can I take to attain my goal? I assume the answer to this involves a combination of book-learnin' and practical programming experience; and while I have gotten some advice on the former (although more book recommendations would be very welcome!!), I have no idea how to achieve the latter. Exercises that you find in books are usually trivial and don't offer the learning opportunity that struggling for hours with technical problems does. I've thought about joining an open-source project, but my skills are probably too rudimentary for that. My current plan is to flesh out my knowledge of UNIX fundamentals, then proceed to shell scripting, and finally learn more about UNIX programming. Then maybe I'll know enough to do open-source. I've also looked into getting a summer internship, and have sent out my resume to 30 or so companies. I'm not betting on getting one, though. I have about the skillset you'd expect from a college graduate (C/C++, Java, OOP, SQL, etc. -- all at a basic to intermediate level). Any ideas, book recommendations, similar experiences, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

• Answer:

  Hello, Here is an answer from my personal experience, I graduated 3 years ago (at the height of the bubble) and was able to get a job without any hassle. But I do not attribute my success strictly to the bubble economy. I did many things to ensure that I had a job when I graduated. You have already mentioned many things that you should do to make yourself employable. The first thing you should do is get an internship or a co-op with a company. Your school probably has a co-op office where they will help you find a job, by advising you on your resume, and giving you information about companies that they have a relationship with. So if you feel that you many not get an internship on your own, you should certainly check out the co-op office. Another thing I did which really helped me get a grasp of C++ was tutor, most universities have a student tutoring program. At my school if a student achieved a high grade in a class then they could go down to the tutoring office and sign up to tutor other students for that class. When I did it I got paid $10/hour to goto a room on campus one night a week and answer questions about programming assignments they were working on. I tutored freshman intro C++ class one semester and then the next semester I tutored a the next level C++ class. During this time I learned alot about more advanced topics in C++, I found that I studied C++ more as a tutor than as a student. Things that I was just familiar with previously, became common knowledge during this year of tutoring. It is also a great resume builder, because if an employer sees that you actually tutored others in an advanced C++ class they will think "hmmm I can hire this entry level guy, and I won't even have to teach him what polymorphism is!" To find out more about this just search your university web site for "tutor" or "tutoring program" or something like that. You also mentioned joining an open source project but said "my skills are probably too rudimentary for that". That is total non-sense! ANYONE can write open-source software. You don't have to be RMS to do open source, you can start your own project. Its simple, all you need is a computer a compiler, and preferably a high speed Internet connection... and you are off! Starting your own open source project is easy, and it allows you to do whatever you want! So what I would advise is the following: Get a domain name, doesn't have to be a .com, just find a cheap one (lots of good cheap ones are available in the .info domain), then find somewhere to host your web site. For something like this you shouldn't have to spend more than $100, probably closer to $70 for both the domain name and the hosting. Once you have the web site up use it as a portal for your open source project (and make it look kinda nice, get advice from your peers on the look and feel of your web site, it doesn't have to be too complex, just don't do all of the cheesy stuff commonly associated with personal web-pages (i.e. don't make the background an image of your favorite girl from baywatch). Then start writing programs. They don't have to be mammoth programs, they can be anything. But make them interesting to you and make them programs that you can learn from, for example if you are interested in graphics, then start with simple OpenGL programs, and learn all about programming with OpenGL. If you are interested in GUI stuff, then get kdevelop and start figuring out how to use it to write nice GUIs, if you want to be a script kiddie, then start hacking away in perl, or bash. :) Whatever you do make sure that it is A) interesting and B) a learning experience. Put them all up on your web site, and add the URL of the web site to your resume (call it your "Online Open Source Portfolio" or something cheesy/catchy like that). This will demonstrate that you know your way around computers on many different levels, and will put you ahead of other candidates who do not have such a web site. Note: This online portfolio idea worked very well for me when the bubble burst and I was laid off, I was out of work for about 6 weeks this spring. I went on one interview, and I got the job. Many other people were interviewed, but I was the only one with an online portfolio, and everyone who interviewed me said it was "really cool" or a "great idea". I feel like it really put me ahead of the pack. So I strongly advise it no matter what you do! Hope this helps, if you have any questions, or need anything else, feel free to ask. Thanks --jld