New programmer looking for professional advice!

Posted 28 January 2011 - 06:06 PM

Hi all, (sorry, the title was meant to say professional)

I'm new to this site and new to programming as well. I've spent some time going through an intro cs book that uses python as the language of choice.

I find the exercises interesting and engaging and I generally have had a favorable experience programming so far. I've gone through some of the basics with python like writing simple programs, basics of GUIs, manipulating strings, etc.

Now, the thing is I'm 25, I have my bacholors in environmental studies and two masters degrees in urban planning and landscape architecture respectively. I know, it would be quite a departure to pursue a career in programming at this point. Currently, I'm working as a geographic information systems intern. I've taken some GIS classes and have a lot of experience with making maps, doing spatial analysis etc. So what I'm thinking is maybe I can learn some solid programming skills and apply these skills in the field of GIS. From what I've seen, .net languages are the norm in this arena. Could you perhaps provide some guidance to me in terms of what languages I should learn or what courses I should take at this point? Also do you think there is a demand in specific field? What about internet rich web mapping applications for smart phones for example? Which languages are important to learn for that sort of stuff?

This post has been edited by sabiqoon: 28 January 2011 - 06:08 PM