Thread: Computer science career

Hey guys,

As some of you might remember I'm in the military. I've been looking long and hard at what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I have developed a list of the skills I want to build to become the person I want to become.

Computer Programing
Electrical Engineering
Buisiness/ Buisiness Management

It is hard for me to do full time college in my job right now, but I know the first option "computer programming" can be a very "DYI" discipline when it comes to learning. Also, programming in the work force ends up being a MUCH MUCH more "experience" based subject. Experience is worth 10x that of a degree. So, in this case, where should I start? I'm not sure exactly what field I want to program in. I know I want knowledge of how to create websites extensively. I have two different websites I've dreamed up I think that could actually help the world in a sort of way.

Other than that I want to be able to combine programming with the field of elecrical engineering. A DIY project I'm going to use to start discovering the basics while I complete my general studies is I'd like to create a hexapod from scratch and program it. It would be a good project I think that I would have to spend time researching and learning allot of basics than less basic princinples as well in order to complete.

Also, because of personal experiences with other people who can program I want to learn as much as possible about security, information security, cyber security etc etc etc. I want to learn to hack, and how to track and fight black hat hackers. I know this will be something I learn after I learn everything else though.

I'm starting some side businesses to fund these ventures. I know making a simple hexapod will cost me between 1 and 2 thousand dollars base.

I should not have deviated. This was put in the computer science section to ask, when it comes to programming: Where should I start and how? I'm almost 24. I'm way behind the learning curve here.

I think my age and experience though can be a plus, when I realize people who have wasted time and money on things that really didn't matter towards their future.

Originally Posted by Shaderwolf

when it comes to programming: Where should I start and how? I'm almost 24. I'm way behind the learning curve here.

This is a difficult question.

I can tell you how I started...
I got a job in a small office as an admin (and I was older than 24). I then wrote software to make my job easier/quicker. I had a supportive manager who then let me write software for other employees. And, by default, I became a programmer.
But if you want to become a web designer, then that route will not be so easy.

On the plus side, all the software to create web pages is available free - as most web pages are just text. (You can write html in notepad if you wanted to.)

Currently I am developing in ASP MVC and Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web (which is used to write ASP MVC) is available free: Download | Microsoft Visual Studio 2012
This might be the easiest route as Visual Studio makes things very easy.

But there are other web page editors:
Best free web design software: 10 programs to get the job done | News | TechRadar

And other server side scripting languages:
Server-side scripting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You will need to learn HTML, CSS, jQuery and a little Javascript, though - regardless of which scripting language you choose.
But none of them are that difficult.

The best way to learn programming is to sit down and play with it. To really do that though, you need some motivating goals, although you'll probably want to do the standard "Hello world" program and other similar things to get used to the most basic basics first.

If you want to deal mostly with websites, PHP and JavaScript are probably worth looking into as languages to learn. (HTML isn't a programming language. It's a mark-up language. There's some overlapping ideas though.) You can run JavaScript with any browser, but PHP is run server-side, so you'll have to have a server to use that (although I think you can find free PHP-enabled servers if you dig around).

Are you the type of person that values a sense of accomplishment in your work? Do you have a problem sitting in a chair for what seems like years on end? What about having massive projects dropped in your lap with no training at all, no help, and a unfair deadline. Most programmers breaking into the field are filled with unwarranted optimism of becoming artists of creation builders of great things... only to have all traces of their once vibrant self slowly extracted from their soul.

Okay that was over the top, but I have seen more "moments of clarity" from programmer friends that have fled the field in search of something more fulfilling.

Also, I forgot to mention.. you essentially spend your time working yourself out of a job unless you held onto as support.