WHo Here Has A COllege Degree? Survey

How many people posting at this site work fulltime in Programming/Developing, and, do you have a 4-year college degree? If so, what is the degree in? What computer languages are you extremely functional in?

This information, I believe, will help alot of people here better understand who is doing what and what their background is, so they can better help themselves in future decisions.

As for me, I have a B.A. in Business and work in CAD that contains some VBA, but, I am not a Programmer/Developer.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO ANSWER thoughs few questions. Thanks.

This should be in the Random Thoughts forum...

and I'm in college at the moment. :)

I just graduated from Staffordshire University UK last week. Its a 3 Years Degree Programme in Bsc(Hons) in Computing.

I have been programming since last 3 years, when i started my B.Sc(Hons) in Computing. I had been programming sequentially in Pascal, Cobol, C, C++, Java, Visual Prolog 5.2, ASP, Lingo, Visual Basic 6, 3D Lingo etc!..

I had an experience of about 1 year in Visual Basic 6. I started learning from www.visualbasicforum.com in July 2001 and still in a process of learning, and i think that learning process will never go away!. I love to learn & learn & learn. Before that, most of the programming i had been doing was either in ASP, C or Visual Prolog. I had also been involve in 3D Stuff, and have developed few 3D Games using 3D Studio Max R3. I had been also doing alot of programmign stuff in Unix, Shell Programming, AWK & SED Scripting etc!.

I am currently working in APIIT (Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology- Malaysia) since last 1 year, as a System Development Executive/Software Engineer, and is involved in developing application in Visual Basic, Visual Prolog and sometimes ASP. My Final Year Project is a "3D Intelligent Information Kiosk", which is a very intresting system and i have used 3D Lingo, Open GL etc for the development. It shows 3D Walk Through with Dynamic Cameras inside the building, which has been programmed in 3D Lingo & Director Shockwave Studio.

I am looking forward to start my Masters in Technology Management or Artificial Intelligence in coming months. I am also a Microsoft Certified Professional as well as Linux Certified System Administrator and Unix Shell Programmer.

:)

(Hey Anis I knew a couple of guys from Stafford uni who were probably your peers, Nick ?? and Wayne Vaughan. You probably don't know them, but I thought I'd mention it. )

I have a PHD in medieval intellectual history, and I work full time as a developer!!!! Work that one out if you can:-\

I've got a BA in English & an MS in computer science (just another language, right?!? :))

I've been programming (& doing a bit of database stuff) professionally for about 5 years now. I'm also an MSP & am working on my MCSD certification (slowly!). (Speaking of which, if anyone has recommendations for good resources to use to study for the solutions/architectures exam, I'd love suggestions!)

Laura

The book I used for the Solution Architectures was MCSD Solution
Architectures by Randy Cornish and others on New Riders Press.
It was the best book at the time (and probably still is) but no
book can really prepare you for this exam. I highly recommend
the Transcender exam (at least the practice one if not the real one.)

Thanks, Thinker!! I'll check out both. I had no problems with the VB exams, but this one has me a bit daunted.

Laura

Originally posted by gallicus
(Hey Anis I knew a couple of guys from Stafford uni who were probably your peers, Nick ?? and Wayne Vaughan. You probably don't know them, but I thought I'd mention it. )

Highly unlikely that anis knows them, seeing as he is in Malaysia :rolleyes:

I'm currently in a UK college, thats age 16 to 18. I'm going to leave in 2 months, and hopefully start a 3 or 4 year degree course at university to study Computing in October.

:)

* orufet waits patiently for eight years to pass so he can answer this question...

You've peaked my morbid curiosity.

I'm a fulltime developer. Have a Computer Science degree. Have programmed professionally in probably 6 or 7 languages, although most of them are so far in the past I could no longer truthfully call myself "extremely functional in" them.

That being said, I'm quite curious as to how this information will "better help" anyone here in their "future decisions"?

I know a lot of highly paid programmers with degrees. I also know as many more that never saw the inside of a college.

Sounds like just another poll to me.

I agree, Reboot. The best programmers I know don't have degrees related to programming. Still, an interesting poll, nonetheless.

Laura

I don't have any degree at all.

Started programming about 18 years ago and learned it all on my own.
Currently have my own software development company.

Interesting possibly. But the question wasn't presented that way.

The fact that you have "a BA in English & an MS in computer science" is interesting, but hardly influences MY career decisions. :)

I would hope not! If it did, I think I'd be worried! ;)

Laura

Originally posted by Squirm
...hopefully start a 3 or 4 year degree course at university to study Computing in October. :)
I knew computer degrees were getting specialized, but I had no
idea how special. Could I study Computing in June? That seems
more interesting than Computing in October.

hahahaha :D :D :D

Originally posted by Squirm


Highly unlikely that anis knows them, seeing as he is in Malaysia :rolleyes:



Can you study remotely at a UK university? Wow I must be out of touch!:eek: Or is Stafford UK in Malaysia? :eek: Is it like the Open university or something?

I have a B.S. in ChE. (Chemical Engineering).

I program mostly for fun.

HERETIC! ;)

Well, I don't have a degree, mainly because, I'm still in High School, and I can't get a degree yet ;) . I intend on getting a Computer degree when I get to an upper level of education, but I'm not sure which one, but as mentioned before, this is an interesting thread.
Ed

I'm same as squirmy up there. Leaving college in a few weeks, but rather than going to uni, i'm gonna go straight into employment. I'm fed up with preparing to work, i wanna work!!

Move to the States and go to work at Thinker, Inc. :)

Then where will Thinker(s) work?

I don't have a degree but I do have a diploma from a technical college (BCIT) which is considered "as good as", in BC at least. I doubt that it would cut any mustard outside of Canada.

I also have a BCIT diploma in Chemical Science (Extractive Metallurgy) as well....

Move to the States and go to work at Thinker, Inc. :)


Yeah, your BSc counts as a Masters out there. :)

I have a BSc in Software Engineering from Hull Uni, UK.

Bah... you Brits call High School 'College' ;)

-4 Year College in Finance
-Full-time programming now
-VB, ASP, SQL

I don't have a degree but I hope to have a Masters in chemistry in a few years.

Shouldn't you finish Jr. High first? ;)

gallicus,
i studied at Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, who is running (3+0) Twinning Program with Staffordshire University, UK. Means, i will get a degee of Staffordshire, while i studied in malaysia, the same courses as in Stafford, and all the Exams Papers & results are moderated & monitored by Staffordshore University as well as the Board of External Examiners from UK Universities..

So, i dunno your friend!.. :)

I have 3 University Certificates which equal one Bachelors.

I think, no, I know that I have learned more since I completed school.

Originally posted by reboot
Shouldn't you finish Jr. High first? ;)

Age and academic level determined by a state ran educational system is not a factor in this interest of mine.

I have a BS in Math and Computer Science and am a programmer by profession not a professional programmer.

yadda yadda yadda... semantics... :)

The only degree I ever got was the 3rd one.:)

I have 3 University Certificates which equal one Bachelors.

I think, no, I know that I have learned more since I completed school.


I agree. While the degree gave a useful grounding in theory, the practical side was dire (mainly because most of the lecturers had never worked in a company). Career academics, pah.

Originally posted by Banjo
I agree. While the degree gave a useful grounding in theory, the practical side was dire (mainly because most of the lecturers had never worked in a company). Career academics, pah.

I agree 100% with you Banjo. I have a four year degree in CS and my experience with most PhDs was that they are socially inept. Most have gifted minds, but the only reason they are professors in the first place is because they have no "social engineering" ability in the workplace. That is pretty sad when you consider that the stereotypical computer scientist wears "birth control glasses" (like my avatar), a pocket protector, and sits behind the keyboard all day refusing to talk to anybody (no offense to anybody who is like that, heck, I am like that sometimes.) I am serious. When I get involved in something, a nuclear explosion could go off and I would not miss a beat.

I have a really good friend who also has a CS degree and works for a software company. He has less than two years experience but is now a section head and is in charge of people who have been working there for 10-15 years. In most corporations, you need to possess the right combination of knowledge and social ability to progress up the "food chain."

Yup, personality and charisma go a long way in the business world (actually, in the world).

But, to get your foot in the door in the first place you need either a diploma or a proven track record (work experience)

Although a degree is not the b all and all it is nice to have something to fall back on if things dont work out where you are currently working.

i have 2 years done of a 4 year computer science degree where i mainly do unix c++ programming and a bit of HTML and ASP.
Moving on to java next year which i hear is very like c++ only more OOP.

I am currently on work expierene from the college where i am required to do vb.
I only started vb about 2 or 3 months ago but it is WAY easier to pick up than c++.

Although c++ can be a pain in the hole sometimes i would still recomend it as a language to learn when starting out programming.

Shane

Originally posted by shanebourke
Although c++ can be a pain in the hole sometimes i would still recomend it as a language to learn when starting out programming.

Shane,

Most definitely. That is what I tell everybody. C/C++ forces you to, as I say, "get in the pit and love someone." From there, you can pick up other languages like Java and Visual Basic.

The first time I ever even touched Visual Basic (which was not until after I had graduated with a CS degree!) I was flabbergasted at how user friendly it was. It is still quite indepth, but if you gain the conceptual understanding of a low level language like C first, then moving "up" the spectrum is easier.

Rezner:

The only PhD in CS I know (well, he hasn't gotten it yet...still has to do his dissertation) is the total opposite of a "typical computer nerd". OK, he doesn't have a girlfriend but....

- He is a redneck
- He was central canadian fiddle champ a few years ago
- He has entered his truck in 4x4 magazines tough truck competition and is scheduled to go to california to compete
- He has designed and built his own suspension, drive train (including a double tranny) and brake subsystems.

His personna is essentially a "good ol' boy" who likes trucks, booze and guns, which he is, but he is also working towards his PhD in CS.....go figure.

Heh, I'm still in Middle School. :-\ :-\

I started to college several times, was asked to leave one or two schools for, ummm various reasons, nothing illegal (perhaps immoral :D,) finally ended up going back later with the intention of getting my BS in CS. Found once I was there that I already knew pretty much everything they had in the low level classes, couldn't take the upper-division classes without doing the low-level pre-req's, so I skipped out on a bunch of those and took primarily history, archeology, and earth sciences, got bored with those and kind of left off with about 80 or so credit hours in my transcript, got yelled at by one of my history professor's for dropping out because I had the history hours for a BA in history.

BTW for what it is worth, if an advisor ever advises you to take some accounting courses to round yourself out, DO IT! That is one major regret I have, never having taken one.

BTW for what it is worth, if an advisor ever advises you to take some accounting courses to round yourself out, DO IT! That is one major regret I have, never having taken one.

I suppose it depends on whether you ever plan to start your own company or be self employed. I really couldn't care less about the intricacies of tax law (it bores me to death), and I really wouldn't want to take such a course unless I really needed it.

That isn't what Don means. For any serious business app
developer, understanding accounting principles is very important.
I learned accounting by writing accounting software, and had I
known when I started what I know now, it would have been much
better software starting with version one.

Oh I see. It still (with any luck) won't affect me. I really try to avoid that sort of app. Although I may not succeed forever, I've managed so far. :)

I guess I should have qualified that, thanks Thinker for clearing that up. To further expand on what Thinker said, months ago when I was writing my first accounting app, he helped me immensely on AIM and IRC, actually if it hadn't been for his incredible help explaining what it all meant I seriously doubt I would have gotten my mind wrapped around the concepts involved. If I had at least taken some intro accounting courses I feel I would have been better prepared for what I had to do.

So all you, still in college or high school forum members out there, do yourself a favor and take at least one or two accounting courses, even if all you want to do is write games. You can almost bet that at some point in time somebody will ask you to do some type of app that uses at least a few accounting principles.

#3 Law Of Programming

If you ignore a problem long enough it will solve itself.

First Corollary -

If the problem cannot be ignored it can be replaced by a more severe problem.

It depends what your speciality is Banjo. It you write gaming applications all day I doubt you will need any sort of accounting knowledge. How ever I recommend that you take a course on it, there's nothing wrong with a bit more knowledge.

The problem with that logic is, there's probably only about 1% (wild guess, but I bet it's not too far off) of the programmers in the world that "write gaming applications all day"... or at all for that matter.

I'm talking about "for pay" of course.

Well im a little behind the ball but heres my 2 cents. Still in high school, so no diploma, but i am actually leaving for a national competition in VB programming. Heading out to chicago. should be fun. ill have to let you know how i do.

While I would normally agree that you can never have too much knowledge, I am going to have to make an exception in this case.

Reboot: I know it was VB_ACK's initial assumption but I don't write games and I do get paid for my work. I also don't mind (too much) doing normal business apps, but accountancy is really dull.

...accountancy is really dull.
Now that is something that just about everyone can agree on.

That is, unless you work in an office where the dress code in the accounting department is "clothing optional" and leftover jello from the lunchroom is saved up and used every month in a no-holds barred contest of nude accountant wrestling....

:D

WOW!, Your office does that too? :D

I have to make alot of empty, useless posts, but I just have to say...

ROFLOL!
:D

Originally posted by BillSoo
That is, unless you work in an office where the dress code in the accounting department is "clothing optional" and leftover jello from the lunchroom is saved up and used every month in a no-holds barred contest of nude accountant wrestling....

:D

I gots to get me a job at this company! Especially if the accounting department is all females.

* reboot looks at Rezner's avatar and decides not to comment

:p

Originally posted by reboot
* reboot looks at Rezner's avatar and decides not to comment

:p

What is that supposed to mean? hey... chicks dig glasses.

hahahahahahaha :D

OK...Don't Laugh. I have a Computer Programming Degree from Vatterott College. It only took 60 weeks, but unlike others I went to school with, I have a desire and a drive to do this, so I am a little ahead of them. I work as a programming consultant (A job which I applied and was hired for before ever getting out of school) I was the only one to have a job before graduating. I would honestly say that school shouldn't be a major concern. I have learned more about programming in the past 3 months working and reading this forum, than I ever could have in school.
As long as you know how to do the job, then it shouldn't matter how you gained the knowledge, whether on your own or in school. I have, over the years gained an opinion that (except for specialized degrees) a degree is just a piece of paper.

"You spent $100,000 on an education I could get at the public library for $1.50 in late charges." Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting

Memnoch1207,

For the most part I agree with you. I doesn't matter how much you pay for an education if you don't pay attention. If you want to learn, these days with the internet and all, there's no stopping you. I for one think your salary should be based on your ability to get the job done but in the real world there are those that won't consider hiring you in the first place if you haven't demonstrated an ability persevere, learn and succeed by getting a degree.

Congratulations tubafreax

I'm just getting starrted in my first full-time mostly developing job. Mostly VBA stuff.
I've got an A.S. from awhile back, but I just finished a Application Programing certification program at a local tech school. It reallly helped give me a better understanding of OOP concepts, & some hands on expierence with VB.
Some of us seem to learn better in a straight techniical environment than in one of the broader areas like CS. (that being said, I'd like to go back and get my BSCS at some future point)

Started VB programming in 1995, got Associates Degree in Computer Technology in 2002. In Oregon, in this present economy, a 2 year degree means nothing.

There are graduates with a 4 year degree (BS) in computer science who can't get a job because employers here also expect 3-5 years experience minimum. How do you get expereience if no one will hire you (not even as an intern). What few programming jobs are left in the state are slowly migrating overseas.

Guess I'll be a VB hobby-ist for another decade or two..

I have Master's degrees (one an A.B.D. consolation prize) in two other fields, with exactly one (1) formal computer programming course in an extinct language at that. But I got lots of hands-on, self-taught data processing experience via doing psychology research along the way. It was the *only* marketable skill that I emerged with (job-seeking in the Jimmy Carter years was a downer), and computer programmers were still rare enough in those days that I was able to talk myself into such a position at a local college. I've been a software analyst or engineer ever since. But all this talk makes me feel real *old*. :)

I have a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, but that was back in the days of punched cards, fortran, and teletype terminals. So I'm more or less self taught in VB, starting with VB3. (Though I did once go on a 5 day VB4 course.) Now I spend most of my time writing VB6 software to control instrumentation via GPIB and RS232 for an EMC test house. Controlling hardware in real time adds a whole new level of 'excitement' to VB programming! Paper qualifications get you started, then you start to learn what you really need to know to do the job. And in that regard, the knowledge and information freely available from this forum is beyond price! :)

I have a degree from the University of LIFE.

got a BTEC in Computing and then started to work in the Software Development Industry.

AS in electrical engineering tech, and a BS in computer science. Worked in the control engineering field for 20 years, and made the jump to IT 5 years ago.

Got an AS in Computer Information Systems, then got my first programming job, then another, then another, now finishing my BS this Spring.

no degree - self-taught - started about 20 years ago with good ole BASIC on a Commodore 64 as a hobby - dabbled in C/C++, Pascal, Delphi, and C# - have done full time vb/asp for about 5 years now

Just about to go into my final year at uni doin a 4 year CS BSc. I have to say for computing and stuff its mainly a waste of time and bores the life out of me. However, we have learned some things which are useful. Learning OO was useful and something i dont think i would have found easy without the course. I do like the internship year thing! Very useful. Now I have to think of what im gonna do for my final year project. Hmm. Cant wait to get into the "real world"!

I have no degree in CS, I'm self-taught as are pretty much all Excel-guys/gals. I was a stock analyst for about 10 years using Excel extensively. Now have left that and am learning Excel full-time (experimentation, really, nothing formal). No job yet, and not quite looking... We'll know fairly soon if this was a good move for me or a disaster!

-- Mike

For anyone who's still interested after all the degrees in the previous posts :) : I'm doing a 4-year study to become a software engineer. So basically, pretty much all I do is designing and analysing information systems. Off course I have to know how to implement the systems, but the main task is the designing of the system. I'm programming for about 5 years now, but only the last 2 years are serious and structured. Sequentially I learned working with Turbo Pascal, Delphi and C. All the Visual Basic I do is just for fun.

Anyways, hopefully, I can call myself a software engineer in about 2 years :)

Bachelor of Science (what's the correct abbreviation) in chemistry. So working in a lab as a chemist, but have to do some programming every once in a while.

There's a surefire way to tell if someone has had acedemic training or not. Check their CV. If they list Pascal, Modula-2 or Delpi then you can almost guarantee that they have a degree of some sort :D

I have no degree in CS, I'm self-taught as are pretty much all Excel-guys/gals

Indeed Mike... :)
Quit school very, very early...(started working at age 15)

not me i'm a janitor that is currently in college though working my way to a full time carreer in prog

I have about 2 years college under my belt, working towards a Bachelors in Computer Science, but left school for my current job. I plan to continue once I get settled in.

I don't have a degree for the simple reason that I'm not out of high school yet! Anyways, I plan to either persue Computer Science as a major or in History. :)

How about the history of Computer Science? I'd like to know some things about that ;)

Dunno if they have that... but it would be nice for some extra hours!

I got my Batchelor of Computer Science last year, this year I'm doing Honours (which for us is like Masters, but compressed into a single year). After this year I may go onto do a PhD in Comp. Sci, depending on how I feel.

I'm another without a degree - I first learned BASIC in High School (back in 1974 - finished all the assignments for the semester in a couple weeks) and have been programming in a variety of languages ever since. In fact, some of my MUMPS code that I wrote in 1978 is still in active use all over the country!

Principally I am an electronic design engineer with over 15 years in the professional video products arena - and mostly have done embedded assembly programming. I have been using VB since version 1 (and the DOS version - was clunky but actually useful).

Since I'm currently spending more time doing programming than hardware design the thought of taking a few classes has been running through my head, but I doubt I'll ever get a degree though you never know.

I have Master Degree in CS and i'm working in a Textile Industry as a Full time Programmer.
Here i'm using Oracle 8i and Developer 6i for development.
and i'm unsing Visual Basic 6.0 only for small programms that ae not for my Firm.

After this year I may go onto do a PhD in Comp. Sci, depending on how I feel.

Not another Dr. Jim!!! ;) :) :chuckle:

Hey, if it keeps me from getting a full time job for another few years, it will be worth it ;)

I justgot out of high school, so, no degree. i am joining up with the marines and getting inot Data Systems ;) hopefully that experience, and College paid for by the GI bill, will get me a job in the field.

I am another without a degree. Was in retail for 15 years...a ladies shoe buyer of all things :huh: for Nordstrom department stores. Was an apprentice plumber for a while. Started working for a Healthcare company and began developing tools in vba and vb to make my job easier. Did some trouble shooting on a vendor app that our company uses, when the development team that supports the app saw what i was doing they offered me a job in our IT department. Been a full time programmer for a couple of years now, self teaching (with a lot of help from this forum :D ) as needed. Learned vb,MUMPS,SQL and Java on my own (at least enough to know how to break things). Have decided to pursue my BS in CS...that way I can look my coworkers in the eye.

I don’t really consider myself a "programmer", more of a trouble shooter who believes everything can be automated or simplified!!!


dz

Only in these Forums do threads seem to keep coming up out of the grave! :chuckle:

I have 29 degree's. Masonic Degree's that is.

Let's see:
Graduated High School.
Then Worked for 6 years in construction
Then Worked for 10 years in US Air Force as a fighter jet avionics technician
Then Worked for 4 years as computer technician
Then moved to programmer 2.5 years ago.
Will be doing the coding thing for life more than likely.

Though my highest (paper level) of education is "high school", My true level of education is far beyond that as I have induldged myself in learning from whatever source I could over the last decade and a half (without taking any college classes).

I've been at my current job for 6.5 years now. My boss (when I was a tech) knows I don't "just have" a high school education, which is why he let me join the development team. If I were on the outside, I would not have been given the opportunity. I know that for sure.

Someone please lower this thread "back into" the grave now. :whoops:

:D