No programing jobs?

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So, I started working at Hardee's, and one of the managers asked me if I was planning on going to college. I told him yes, and that I wanted a degree in computer science. He said it was a waste of time and money because there are no jobs right now, and I'll be stuck working at a fast food restaurant the rest of my life. Is he right?

Oh, and a girl I work with said that I might as well just look for jobs in construction or something with physical labor.
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It's hard to know without knowing where you live.
Aside from that, I think you're working with a bunch of jerks.
I live in the St. Louis area.

And yeah, some of the people are jerks, but I can't find a job anywhere else.
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The biggest problem I've found is almost every computer science job demands at least 2 years of experience, which is always tough for students who have just graduated.

I got lucky because I maintain my own personal LAMP server, and contribute code frequently to Open Source projects so I used that as experience.
St. Louis eh? I live in the saint charles area :P
tortillahead wrote:
said it was a waste of time and money because there are no jobs right now, and I'll be stuck working at a fast food restaurant the rest of my life. Is he right?


tortillahead wrote:
Oh, and a girl I work with said that I might as well just look for jobs in construction or something with physical labor.


Both of them are idiots. There are plenty of jobs out there, granted not as many due to the economy. What type of Comp Science work do you want to do? The first thing you need to remember is to look outside of your city as well. There is an entire country... and world out there with excellent opportunities and it will do you good to move around. Don't give up if you see few jobs, because there are certain areas that are IT hot spots, LA, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Orlando, etc... and certain that are not.

Get yourself that Bachelors at a legit university and you should be able to get an internship toward completion. That's one door in. There are also campus recruiting for large companies. Many software companies also hire entry level grads for implementation jobs that on average pay $50,000, but require travel. Implementation positions are typically the hot way in. Great money, benefits, all expenses paid and you get to see the world. Do that for a year or two to get your 2 years or so if your not a programmer.

Lastly, go contractor. One reason people are not seeing many jobs our there in IT is because most companies are no longer higher FTE. There has been a huge shift to contracting for a number of reasons. These types of jobs are typically not available through campus recruiting and internet job sites. Link up with an agency such as Robert Half Technology, etc...

My last bit of advice... don't take your current job for granted... it's not a loss of experience. It may suck... but think of it this way. Learn everything you can at Hardees about quick service operations from business ops and paper work to the point of sale. Do this while you work on your degree... because you can leverage that experience and work for a point of sale company as a developer, implementor etc... and make big bucks from the start. For example you would be a sure hire at Radiant Systems or Micros Systems, to name a few (both of which I've worked for... I prefer Micros). You can also work in IT for a Quick Service or Table Service restaurant company at the Corporate office. So you see there are tons of opportunities out there, you just have to put in some effort!

Good luck!!
Get yourself that Bachelors at a legit university


Well, would a community college count as a "legit" school? (I know it wouldn't be big enough for a university...)

I was thinking about going to the St. Louis Community College for two years, then continuing the education somewhere else, like Mizzou.

And as for the job at Hardee's, I'm just happy to have a job. I might get paid only minimum wage, but when you live with your mom, it's not that bad.
A community college is perfectly fine!
CC are just as good as Harvord, all the University has to be is acredited. As far as jobs go, St Louis isn't rich in development jobs, but if you are willing to move once you get your degree, look at larger cities, the larger the city the higher number of jobs are on market. Look up jobs at monster.com or theladders.com or something to get demographics for job market. Once you get your degree, start out contracting if you can't find a solid full time job programming, you can pretty much find programming contract jobs anywhere.
Don't got to mizzou dude, if you can manage go to Rolla. Mizzou is a party school...Rolla is a GREAT school for science and technology. I'm going to MSU this fall...but only cause I couldnt get into Rolla.
Well, I was thinking of moving to Oregon since my dad lives there, and I rarely see him.

And as for Mizzou being a party school, that won't really matter to me, just as long as the classes are what I want/need.
Kay, just trying to look out for a fellow coder. If an employer is looking at some one from a party school, and some one from a school like S&T or MIT, they are going to pick the S&T like educated student. But lol, non of my business where you go to school, I'm no college advisor :P
seraphimsan wrote:
If an employer is looking at some one from a party school, and some one from a school like S&T or MIT, they are going to pick the S&T like educated student.


Not necessarily. I've hired a community college grad over one from MIT before and you'll find that typically employers don't care where you graduated, they just want to see that you have. The only time you run into such a situation is when the hiring manager is a graduate from a top tier university. They tend to be snobby about who they hire.

Go where you think you'll learn the most... besides your education is what you make out of it and not solely based on the school you attend.
Meh, I'm just a student going on what I've heard from those around me. I may very well be, and more then likely am, wrong.
What is meant by "party school"?
A school with a reputation for high tolerance of drugs and alcohol. This usually leads to many tokers and 'party-ers' going there despite the cost simply cause it will be easy to through a party involving illegal activities.

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And this can result in a poor education and as I had heard problems with getting heired after college. But as I said I'm now doubting the second half of that statement.
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Well, thanks for looking out for me, lol.
But to be honest, I tend to get involved with a lot of these "illegal activities".
Doing HTML while high is actually very relaxing to me.
So "tortilla" is actually a metaphor..?
Haha, yeah I guess you could say that.
Hey! I once tried to program while I was drunk! :)


I ended up with a program that outputted: "My life sucks." and.. that was it.


Alchoholic beverages brings out the best of me I'd say.
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