Information Technology

[Nilesjones]

Hey guys, I'm looking to go back to school and what I want to major in is Information Technology. I need help here though. Are there any IT's that play BF2 or come to Cain's Lair? I would love to get some feed back as to what I should start as an introductory class. I want to do this right, work from the bottom up instead of going to a tech school and getting trained for only one specific field if that makes any sense.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys

[mapes]

I can't really speak about college classes since I never went to college. However the computer field has opened up in ways where before you were pigeon holed into either HW design, programmer, IT or acck web designer. Now it's considerably more spread out. I for example have some very basic shell and interpretive scripting. However my strength is in networks and network decoding. That was learned by doing. Get a linux box setup and start messing around with stuff. What interests you? Go to your nearest mega book store and browse some books see what your interested in. You could also look into internships.

[Nilesjones]

Not really what I'm interested in that matters to me to be honest. Technology will always interest me of course, but what I'm really trying to focus on is what I'm going to be good at. I don't know what I'm good at so that's what I'm going to be focused on.

The one thing that interests me is obviously games, but my passion is held on games not just as an interest of playing them, but watching as they evolve. That's what really interests me.

[baconoclock]

I have a degree in CIS (Computer information systems) and a BSBA (Bachelor of sciences in Business Administration).I have been a software engineer as well as a systems engineer. If you want to go the IT route prepared to learn a bit of everything because IT is pretty diverse. It helps if you know what specific area you want to focus on and we can assist from there.

[harpy]

Hey guys, I'm looking to go back to school and what I want to major in is Information Technology. I need help here though. Are there any IT's that play BF2 or come to Cain's Lair? I would love to get some feed back as to what I should start as an introductory class. I want to do this right, work from the bottom up instead of going to a tech school and getting trained for only one specific field if that makes any sense.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys

How much spare time do you have?

If you have a natural inclination towards building / reverse engineering things, I highly recommend a degree in computer science. It's more involved than some other degrees, but a good CS degree will give you a firm understanding of how to architect larger systems. (You need to like math if you pursue CS; You'll probably end up with a minor in it).

The reason I ask about spare time, is you can determine, now if computer science / it / techno-whatever is for you. Compilers and language tutorials abound the internet. All you need is determination and time.

For a beginner, I recommend the Python programming language. It's simple, elegant and comes with libraries to do everything. Start here - www.python.org.

Once you've downloaded the interpreter and `got a feel` for it, then check out 'dive into python' (google it). Work your way through this book.

After you've finished this book, write programs. Write lots of programs. Read programs. Ask questions. I write python programs for a living, so if you need help, do not hesitate to PM me.

Hope this helps. Also, unemployment amongst high-tech is 3.3% .

http://t.co/zrua2b0

But really, don't do something for money. You could end up miserable.

Do something you love, money will come with passion.

[Sirex]

I work IT for the nhs here, good job, varied, never 2 days the same.

As mapes says, its not you are x only do x.
I do lots of stuff across the it spectum,
from installing hw to software, training, design and creation of apps and stuff, maintince...

Thats just a little...

Im more logic, programming, solver type, i see a problem and can usually see the SQL or code to solve it quickly.
I can read long pages of code and not lose track of any vars.
If i have a prorgamming lang and an issue i find away.
Due to that hardware is where i stumble, i manage cos i try and learn what i can.
Thou recently ive been working in the network feild, its interesting always has been,
But to me that area can confuse me when it comes to low level like mapes there.
So im more your coder/solver and logic thinker type.

And i cant say for uni/college as well i got 1 year in college, but my experience and willingness to learn and keep up with changes in the it feild got me my post.

Its gone from looking for paper and letters to looking for pur ability, skill and potential.

Oh in my job, lots on one feild makes you blind and stale.
Little or more on lots gets you doors and praise.

You learn more in work than in college, they cant put you in real world situations, only ideal conditions which confuses you in the big world.

[Cain]

How much spare time do you have?

If you have a natural inclination towards building / reverse engineering things, I highly recommend a degree in computer science. It's more involved than some other degrees, but a good CS degree will give you a firm understanding of how to architect larger systems. (You need to like math if you pursue CS; You'll probably end up with a minor in it).

The reason I ask about spare time, is you can determine, now if computer science / it / techno-whatever is for you. Compilers and language tutorials abound the internet. All you need is determination and time.

For a beginner, I recommend the Python programming language. It's simple, elegant and comes with libraries to do everything. Start here - www.python.org.

Once you've downloaded the interpreter and `got a feel` for it, then check out 'dive into python' (google it). Work your way through this book.

After you've finished this book, write programs. Write lots of programs. Read programs. Ask questions. I write python programs for a living, so if you need help, do not hesitate to PM me.

Hope this helps. Also, unemployment amongst high-tech is 3.3% .

http://t.co/zrua2b0

But really, don't do something for money. You could end up miserable.

Do something you love, money will come with passion.

They have colleges in Miss ?!?,?,

[harpy]

They have colleges in Miss ?!?,?,

No, there is only one.

[goldenfooler]

nobody in the north goes to college

[mapes]

It's good to see that everyone here agrees. You need to find something that hooks ya and you think is way cool. Then you'll actually be into reading a bunch of dry RFC's or code examples. As an example for the life of me I could never ever get into programming. If I had more experience in python, ruby, perl or even ack TCL I could easily command a way higher salary. As in QA there is a huge need for automation engineers( can do the work of many, can simulate 10K people logging on to the BF2BC servers etc...) I could never do it. About a year ago I got into shell scripting. Man there is super cool stuff you can do just with shell scripting and even having more experience in that has helped me learn to decode other interpretive programming languages. So you gotta find what hooks ya.

I would suggest setting up a VMware ESXi server (it's free) then you can install whatever you want on it and try it out. Also the nice thing with ESXi is you can take snapshost of the guest OS and if you break something you can revert it. I'm primarily a unix hacker. I will admit some bias towards that operating system. So I would say install a Linux or BSD system and just starting breaking things. The reason why I like it is I'm forced to learn. Theres is no multiple guess radio button that some of the windows settings have. You actually have to figure out whats happening at a lower level

[harpy]

I would suggest setting up a VMware ESXi server (it's free) then you can install whatever you want on it and try it out.

Another option is virtualbox. If you use virtual box, you can download preloaded linux / bsd images from this url: http://virtualboxes.org/images/

Good luck!
harpy

[mapes]

Another option is virtualbox. If you use virtual box, you can download preloaded linux / bsd images from this url: http://virtualboxes.org/images/

Good luck!
harpy

Virtual box or even Xen would be good. You can download open source images for most of them. For VMware it's the appliance market place