career change / slow migration to change

[DJG]

Hello to all and to all a hello.
I am looking for everyones opinions and knowledge. So please fill free to feed me your opinions and knowledge.
First off I have a degree as a network Engineer and a degree in MIS. I of coarse have my MCSE and MY CNA Net + and etc. I have been involed in networking / hardware and software support for over 12 years now, everything from wireing networks to design and implimentation. After all these years I am getting a little burned out one the networking side of things, I still enjoy it and helping others lean it but I have also lost long term and perm jobs due to outsourcing.
I also enjoy the idea of programming which I have not touched programming since college and that was VB 6. However I am now 30, married and with 2 kids one 8 and the other 14 months. and would like to change to a more stable career to benefit the family and myself and learn VB.net, ADO.net, ASP.net and so forth. I have noticed many excellent positions for Programmers and developers which seem to be a more stable choice for long and lasting careers.
1. Does anyone here have any opions on changing paths at this point in my life or anyones life ??
2. What do you see has the best way to learn. IE( Quickcerts.com ) Where you by the MCSD track
videos that seem to be taught in a class like environment... Or learn on your own. ??
3. Also What is it like trying to interview and qualify for these positions Entry level and more advanced ?
4. Or would you say to just stay where I am and hope for the best ( a raise, a move to new location or
just forget it too old to do such a thing. hmmmm, okay no , this is not a choice. hehehe
I do not want to lose anybody so my questions will stop here for now.
Please I ask everyone and anyone to read and answer these questions for me everyone is welcome. I want to hear what everyone thinks and knows.
I greatly appreciate your time.

DJ

 

[kulrom]

I will try to be as simple as possible ( i beleive you don't mind).
1st off let me point out that i have earned MCAD Certification/Degree (my ex company paid for all costs including training and exams 70-305,70-315, 70-310) but i can say that i've learn almost nothing durring the training days and that's why my opinion is that the best way to learn something is to learn by yourself.
Of course, it depends on how accurate you are. You do make things better by being careful when you study the things you are interested mostly about and get specialize in certain area/s. With other word you have choose to learn exactly what you want and also when you want. You know what i mean

About timing. Well, i'd say that it's never late
I am talking based on my personal experiance as i've started to learn VB.NET just 1 year ago (before i was C/C++/C# programmer) and i am also 30

Regards

Edit: hey wellcome to the forum

 

[DJG]

Thanks for the reply

Thanks for the reply Kulrom,


I do understand what you are saying. One of the problems that I have had is just choosing the right books. Some just does not have enough quality projects to practice with or workbooks would be nice as well.

For some reason I do not have any issues with learning new technology . well thus far. I seem to absorb it like a sponge. Especially with the programming I can understand it 110% the only problem I have here is not being able to remember certain lines of code when I need them, but I guess that will come in time. I have a friend that is a developer for a gaming company out west. I think that would be something enjoyable but then again anything enjoyable for most is fun until they have to start being paid for it then for some reason it is less desirable.

Once again thank you for your post and sorry for rambling.

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

so far i've been programming for 3 years now and only for fun (no i dont get paid for it, i actually work at Subway)

all i can really say is that just about everything i know is from playing around with code in the IDE and reading this forum

apparently this method is working for me too, i've made moderator here lol

 

[TechGnome]

DJG - don't worry too hard about trying to memorize how certain lines of code are done. I heard a quote a number of years ago: A good programmer knows something about everything by memory. The best programmers will know when and where to look things up.

Certifications are not a good way to learn things. And as for day to day stuff, doesn't mean jack either. Certs are a good way to separate two candidates who are otherwise equal in all aspects.

Books, well, the best kind are ones that lead a double life as tutorials and reference. They are hard to comeby. I have a couple of the Mastering.... serise, but they sit on the shelf more often than not. They were good for the initial learning, occasionaly get picked up for reference, but are otherwise useless (fortunately I picked them up on bargan sale on Amazon).

Personaly, I'd say option #4 shouldn't be an option. Don't wait for something to happen. Make it happen. Be proactive. That's something we look for in candidates here.... and we've passed over a lot of candidates beause they simply just let things happen rather than being proactive about it in some manner.

If you want stability, make sure you aren't working for a coding sweat shop. Those are the first ones to be outsourced. Look for a successful, growing company, with healthy financials and a strong track record. Be sure to get a tour of the environment too, make sure it's something you will be comfortable in it.

-tg

 

[ayozzhero]

I am 30 too and I learned VB .Net by myself and helps from other members in the forum, and still learning. Previously, I used VB 6 and migration was hard for me in the beginning since I was carrying an extra unnecessary baggage from VB 6.

I am not a graduate of any IT discipline. However I seriously think that you cannot master VB .Net simply by reading or attending courses. The way I learned was to start doing a project. Just make sure that it is not an urgent project. Probably you can do something for fun, just like JuggaloBrotha's because there is where the actual learning starts. This way is not the easiest. You have to keep searching and researching

Self-learning as a minor drawback too. Since your virtual course outline is solely determined by the project you do, you might learn the hard part first and easy ones later or vice versa. And... I am not good in programming terms and terminology. Therefore, reading others posts do increase my knowledge as well.

Depending on where you live, if certification is important for your career, you can work on it too.

Lastly... welcome to the forum

 

[kulrom]

Sorry DJG, i have forgoten about the books. Well, of course you would need couple B&W books at beginning (reading only eBooks is not good idea if i may) and i can recommend all Sybex's books about .NET and also Apress's edition books. O'reilly books are not that good (that's my experience at least) and i am not buying from them

Regards

 

[Luc]

I am still following my vb courses and to be honnest i learn really nothing in those classes. Either everyone of my class is so slow or i'm just to far ahead. I think if you want to be a real good programmer then you learn most of the things yourself. I have a verry good teacher but in my honnest opinion he goes way to slow in class.

 

[kulrom]

Maybe you should ask your teacher to allow you to get quicker and more advance classes. He probably follows some ussual/standard training (program).
Maybe you should consult other people who also follow the course ... maybe they are also unsatisfied of his advancing so, you can protest all together

 

[Luc]

Nono its really not the teachers faulth, he's going as fast as he can its just that the rest of my class is slow. I already showed a few things and he gave me some nice videos to watch.

 

[kulrom]

that's great ... you have really good teacher i wish i had one of that kind (but i hadn't )

 

[Luc]

Yeah i cant complain with my shool, if i have problems of anny sort i can ask my teachers, problem is that there are some people in my class that tend to memorize things to get high grades, but that doesnt go well with programming. You just gotta go with the flow