Picking a diploma for tech school

[Trik'Stari]

So, I am going back to school this fall and I'm going to meet with my advisor tomorrow, and I can't decide what program I'd like to take.

 

My ultimate goal is of course (like alot of us) to work in video games, however I know this is HIGHLY unlikely (or so I've been told) coming right out of the gate.

 

So my plan is, get a job in computers, something steady and solid that's always going to be there that pays decently well, then go back to school later and learn programming and what not and do my video game designing in my spare time. The question I'm asking is, what to pick?

 

I wouldn't mind service/repair work, I would prefer something along the lines of being that guy they keep in the back ("I work in back I see no smiles.....") for fixing stuff. System building would be cool as well (although probably a lot less in demand).

 

So any suggestions? Working from home would be a bonus. I just don't know what all is out there, and what the appropriate degree's are. I was considering something in security since I figure that pays well (like virus removal and what not) and is huge in demand. Oh and I'll be attending ECPI fyi

[Builder]

Software engineering.

 

You won't necessarily learn as many languages or as much about the actual science as in computer science, but you will learn best practices, how to write maintainable code, how to use Git/source control, etc.

 

Also I'd advise you to reconsider about game programming because most people working for the big publishers and studios come out of it wishing they'd done something else.

[Trik'Stari]

@Builder thanks for the advice. My plan is to get something more mainstream for a "career" and have game design as a hobby, I don't actually plan on working at or with one of the big dev companies, although certainly would if I could.

 

So would software engineering be could for a "tech support" style job?

[Builder]

@Builder thanks for the advice. My plan is to get something more mainstream for a "career" and have game design as a hobby, I don't actually plan on working at or with one of the big dev companies, although certainly would if I could.

 

So would software engineering be could for a "tech support" style job?

Not exactly. Software engineering is more of what they'd want in a corporation style environment, i.e. building and maintaining large systems. Computer scientists do more work on the side of "how can we make better tools for software engineering" and "how can we get computers to solve or solve better problems that haven't been solvable before." You do that in software engineering as well, though like I said, it's focused more on good engineering practice, like commenting your code well, maintaining it, committing revisions, etc.

 

If the software engineer is the persona assembling a car, the computer scientist is creating the materials and designing the parts. The software engineer has to understand how everything works and how it functions together, but he also has to be careful to make sure he torques his bolts enough and records what he's completed and how he's completed it. This isn't a fantastic analogy, it's just kind of the way I think of it.

 

I recommend reading these Wikipedia articles:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science

[Trik'Stari]

And this is, in your opinion, a good solid stable career path?

 

My family has always moved around a lot, especially when I was younger. So I'm looking for something stable as hell. Don't ever wanna have to uproot again once I get out west and get a house and some land etc.

[Wesley219]

And this is, in your opinion, a good solid stable career path?

 

My family has always moved around a lot, especially when I was younger. So I'm looking for something stable as hell. Don't ever wanna have to uproot again once I get out west and get a house and some land etc.

YES! If you know what your doing I'm sure you can get a job quickly!

[Trik'Stari]

YES! If you know what your doing I'm sure you can get a job quickly!

Awesome.

[Builder]

Awesome.

Especially with software engineering companies will understand you know what you're doing with serious tight-collar corporate stuff like Java and such whereas they tend to see that comp sci majors may be better off in their theoretical departments.

 

Corporate software development is about as stable a job as it can get. They always need you because you will know their system best.

[Trik'Stari]

Especially with software engineering companies will understand you know what you're doing with serious tight-collar corporate stuff like Java and such whereas they tend to see that comp sci majors may be better off in their theoretical departments.

 

Corporate software development is about as stable a job as it can get. They always need you because you will know their system best.

Good to know. really appreciate the advice guys. Issume the computer science major's job ends up being more fun, but far more difficult and whatnot.

[Nuluvius]

I also recommend Software Engineering, it is a comfortable career with a great many perks and benefits. Plus it will provide a great foundation and easy access into Computer Science routes. If you want me elaborate more on the reality of what it is like to work in the industry I'd be more than happy to, just let me know

[Builder]

Good to know. really appreciate the advice guys. Issume the computer science major's job ends up being more fun, but far more difficult and whatnot.

Not necessarily more fun, but I'd say perhaps less structured and more theoretical. It depends on what kind of a person you are.

[Heisenbleurgh]

And this is, in your opinion, a good solid stable career path?

 

My family has always moved around a lot, especially when I was younger. So I'm looking for something stable as hell. Don't ever wanna have to uproot again once I get out west and get a house and some land etc.

If you're really good at it you can also get a lot of software development work as a free lancer, working from your home.

[Nuluvius]

If you're really good at it you can also get a lot of software development work as a free lancer, working from your home.

 

This is very true, for example I have my main office hours job and I also stuff freelance into every other available hour (evenings and weekends). I get phone calls at least three/four times a week with offers.

[ZiggyManSaad]

I did the same thing. I got my act together though and am now going to school. System Integration and Networking. The way I see it, everything in the future is going to be connected to a network and that's a good field to go into.

 

On your topic though, software engineering is a good choice. If you can get a Java course in there, you'll be golden.

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

Personally, I'm going to college for a 3 year advanced college diploma in Computer Systems Technology (CTY), followed by a 1 year graduate certificate for Information Security Management (ISM). Ideally, after all that, and working for a bit, I want to return to my earlier university to finish up my degree in Networking and IT Security (Net/ITS).

 

Basically CTY trains us on Windows OS, Linux distros (typically used on servers), Windows Active Directory, Databases, and Cisco CCNA and CCNP for Route and Switch (networking) and Hardware. It's a bit of everything to allow us to be low level IT System Administrators (without the certifications), of if we go through and get our Cisco Certs after doing the training, CCNP allows us to be fully fledged network administrators (specifically for route and switch). ISM after all this training, allows us to be fully fledged Windows or Linux system administrators. My uni degree that I dropped out of goes even further to CCIE for route and switch, and more IT security with things like a course on cryptography.

The college route, will let me be a systems admin when all is said and done, which I'd love to be, and along with some self-taught training I've been doing on the side, I'll be able to be a certified PC repair technician (via a couple CompTIA certs: A+, Healthcare IT Tech), however I've been an certified one for about 5 years (doing basic repairs for the most part). If I go back and finish my degree, having CCIE puts me at the level of an ISP network administrator, which ultimately is my goal. I'd also like to expand my administrative abilities with a few MS certs: MCSA: Win 8, MCSE: Desktop Infra., MCSE: Server Infra.). I've yet to decide if I want to go hardcore on the Linux route.

I'm more into the administration side of things, and really love networking, but it's not an easy subject and requires a lot of training. The PC side, for doing repairs is more something I'd like to be able to do as supplementary income later in life, or to help pay off my college debt and such. It's going to take 4 years minimum to become a basic admin, and if I want to complete my dream and become a fully fledged admin, I'm looking at a decade, at least, most likely closer to 15 or 20 years. It's just a lot of training in general, a lot of certification exams (which typically have to be re-done every 3 years), and a lot of money to pay for them all. It's a pipe dream, but I'm putting the effort in to try and get there.

UPDATE: I added links to a lot of things, so you could get a better idea. Mainly linking course codes to the institutions where I'm doing/did training so you can see the course load and what's taken, as well as links to the certifications I listed in case you're unaware of what they are.