[CrazyTech]

Howdy! You can call me by moniker, CrazyTech, or you're welcome to call me by my real name, which is Denver. I'm just about to graduate from the East Cost USC (U of South Carolina) with a degree in English. (That probably made you stop and wonder why I would be here...) Believe it or not, I started out as a Computer Engineering major. Sadly enough, I let some departmental issues get to me and I got out of the school here. I thought I could learn on my own, which I continue to do.

As I've neared graduation, I started looking for a real job. I've worked remote technical support for several medium and small web hosting firms working on mostly Linux servers. I love my work, but I prefer something a little more local, given the state of the economy. I'm finding the job interview process to be going surprisingly well down here, and that is part of the reason I am here. Once I started visiting local job fairs and handing out resumes, I realized how many programmers are needed in my home state as well as how many of set programming positions wanted folks with Windows experience. (I've worked with Win Server 2k3 for a short period of time.)

One of my potential employers suggested looking at programming with my Linux experience. I'm not an expert Linux programmer, but I've worked on some basic shell scripts, a little PHP, and some MySQL. I know how to administrate a server pretty well with each, I've just never dived deeply enough to actually program. This suggestion kindled my interest, so here I am. I took advantage of the Dreamspark program, and picked up Visual Studio. I complimented this with a book on VB.NET. I know this starts a flame war in some cases, but the language is used in many of the positions around here and I've got a couple friends who use it and like it.

I've pretty much fallen in love with VS and how easy it is. Since I've designed HTML sites (at the age of 12), I'm used to Notepad sessions and CSS fixes. However, I really like VS because you can create the frontend stuff so quickly and then concentrate on the backend code.

So, in a nutshell, I am here to learn. It may be in the cards someday to go back to school and get a CS degree (or CE), but I am content to learn it on my own. That's how I've done it before. So here I am, because I'm a forum junkie.

I will probably lurk initially more than post, but I really like what this place has to offer.

This post has been edited by CrazyTech: 24 March 2009 - 06:33 PM

[NickDMax]

Hello CrazyTech!!!

My name is NickDMax and I am one of the moderators here on Dream.In.Code and I would like to welcome you aboard.

With a degree in English and an interest in programming, have you thought about being a technical writer? From what I understand the pay is pretty good and there is always a need (though I get the feeling that contract work is sporadic since most developers are forced to do it themselves). Anyway, your welcome to try your hand at tutorials!

I hope that you find this board to be as helpful, informative, and addicting as I have. I have a few tips for you that might make your time here more enjoyable:

#1 Try to post your topic in the most appropriate forum. Dream in code is a pretty big place and so it will help you to get the maximum exposure to the experts if you file your topic logically.

#2 Ask specific questions. The more specific the easier it will be for people to answer. This may also avoid a lot of the less helpful responses.

#3 Show us your attempt at the answer. We generally try not to do anyone’s homework for them so we like to see that you have tried to solve the problem before we respond with the answer. We also may be able to help you understand better if we know where you are coming from.

#4 Thank people if their post was helpful. You will see a little link that says “This post was helpful” under each post, if you feel a post was helpful then click on the link. It helps keep people motivated.

#5 Remember to try your hand at answering some posts as well. This is a great way to challenge your own knowledge as well as help you learn. You will find that participating in the discussions is very rewarding.

#6 Browse the various forums about the board and get a feel for their subject matter. This will help you get answer and find interesting discussions. The Caffeine Lounge is a great place to just relax and discuss non-programming topics share news and learn about the other people in the community. The Corner Cubical is a good place to get a feeling for the professional environment. The Student Campus is a nice place to touch base with other student in other schools and commiserate on the woes of the times. There are many other forums all with their own flavor or topics.

I hope that you enjoy your time here on DIC.

Happy Coding!

NickDMax

[CrazyTech]

Thanks for the welcome!

Quote

With a degree in English and an interest in programming, have you thought about being a technical writer? From what I understand the pay is pretty good and there is always a need (though I get the feeling that contract work is sporadic since most developers are forced to do it themselves). Anyway, your welcome to try your hand at tutorials!

Excellent and helpful advice. That's actually something that's been put on the table and I'd probably be doing at least at one of the positions I am currently interviewing for. It's definitely not the most ubiquitous position around my area, but I am also in an area that's just starting to grasp the potential of technology.

[NickDMax]

well don't count consultancy out. If you think about it there is little reason that a technical write has to be local. Of course if you don't like travel then consultancy is not going to be for you.

Also sometimes people need technically minded writers/editor for web content. Its one thing if you have a nice content management system to allow your writers to just publish their work from a word processor -- its another if you are creating individual pages for the content.

So learning something of web design may be helpful -- of course everyone in IT really should at least have a passing familiarity with HTML/CSS.