/itcg/ - IT Career General

#4: Anime Whores Will Never Work in Your Office Edition

Previous thread: At any given time there are usually 3+ threads on Sup Forums about IT careers, steady jobs and freelancer work. They are usually varied and encompass many aspects such as ranting, dickwaving, crying about shit bosses/employees, career advice, "the chinks took our jobs!" and other work-related shitposting. This a general to encompass all that and thus clean up the board a little.

>why not make this thread on /adv/?
Have you met those people? There's not one poster above 100 IQ there.

>how do you define "IT career"?
Any career where technology is at the core.

>so monkeys only then?
Nope, administrators, coordinators, project leaders, techies and anyone else that considers their main field technology are welcome here.

>what if I'm in college?
If you want to have a career in IT, this is the place to ask your questions.

If you want some nice meaty answers, or really good advice, include as many of the following answers in your post as possible:
>what sector do you currently work in and at what level?
>how long and what experience do you have in IT?
>what education do you have if any, and at what level?
>do you have any certification?
>where do you want to be in 10 years?
>what motivates you, or what do you want out of a potential workplace?

If you want to contribute, or you got a good answer and you know your way around photoshop, we'd love to have you shop the general logo onto some cute office-employed anime sluts like pic related for our first-posts.

First for webdev master race.

I thought it was heavily agreed upon that webdevs were the four little houses traded in for a glorious backend developing hotel?

Off sick for the 3rd day from helldesk, stress and anxiety being the main reasons for needing the break

Pentest god race

Sometimes we all need a few RnR days. How are you feeling today user?

No better honestly, I've such a backlog of work to get done on my return that nothing's going to make me feel better until it's all cleared out. I might try work from home today and go in on Sunday so I can get time without the phones ringing

Just take it easy mate. What feels un-overcomable today will feel better a few days after you've gotten back.

I've had several days where life has felt heavier than death and issue after issue keeps coming in like the tide and I just want it to end.

But it always works out in the end. Stay strong helldeskbro.

another failed general. Lul

I'm about to apply for an internship and my friends that got internships there say I should practice drawing flowcharts for the technical interview.
I don't think I've ever drawn a flowchart (DTD or otherwise) in my education, where do i brush up on it

How does one transition from front-end developer to back-end developer exactly?

I don't understand what kind of flowcharts they want. Are they talking business charts, or class-charts or what? Ask your friend for some more info.

Dishwasher here, How do I get into the IT industry with no relevant experience or skills, is it even possible?

It's always possible. Do you have any cash/time for an education?

If not, do you know anything about computers?

If so you could do some volunteer work, and use that to get into a helpdesk position and then climb from there.

If that fails you, you could start doing Code Academy for free, learn some programming and seeing you can't build something.

Depends what you mean I don't have the cash or the time for a university, I've heard of "coding bootcamps" but don't really know much about them.
I know as much as a layman does about computers, I'm not clueless but if you asked me to tell you how a processor, operating system, hard drive, ram, ect worked I couldn't tell you nor could I tell you how an operating system worked or how a computer performed tasks.
So reflecting on that maybe I actually know fuck all really, I doubt its possible to know less, I've got common sense at best, like I have built computers before but that isn't a spectacular feat as I understand it.
A help desk sounds like a good idea at least to get a foot into the door or something, I'l check out code academy, you have any advice on good books to follow up with or read to really learn or know anything about computers?

Learn the skills first, build something with it, add it to your portfolio, go from there.

Or if you want to transition in your current workplace just ask your boss.

They got back to me and said either a database flowchart with multiple tables or an application flowchart.
Googling these things just gets me flowchart templates.

Don't underestimate common sense. Not many people have it.

You sound like you want to try help desk, for that I advice certification. Look into what's locally offered around you.

Certification requires no formal education of any type and doesn't cost much.

Is that something I can do though? Just ask my boss if I'd be able to transfer? I know that he probably wouldn't get mad, and I have a bit of experience in Java (you back-end language). Maybe I'll try user. Thanks!

>Is that something I can do though? Just ask my boss if I'd be able to transfer?
Depends on your boss. You know best.

Is it possible to become a Sysadmin without college education?

yes absolutely but you'll need to go up the hellish support route of 1st line support/2nd line support/third line or field technician/NOC/sys admin

Most sysadmin and sysengineers I've met didn't have a college degree.

Really? I thought xth line support was comfy. Well shit. Guess I've got a lot of work to do.

It's not comfy because most places will overwork their helpdesk instead of overstaffing it

Had internship at big 4 tech consulting firm. Got full time offer to return as a developer.

I hate coding, I hate programming. I want to be a business analyst or project assistant /manager.
I've voiced my concern with the recruiter and just got a canned "we'll try to accommodate you when you return." I start in July and have no idea what project I'll be on or what I'll be doing.

Any suggestions?

Try treat is as an opportunity, if you absolutely hate the idea of working in dev then just call it off otherwise you will want some technical experience before you get involved in management. Don't become one of >those
managers

...

About to take the 220-901 CompTIA A+ Exam in two weeks. Is it difficult?

I'd like to believe anyone with minor exposure to Sup Forums or any hobby with computers can easily pass the A+

Yes. You might not start your first IT position as a sys admin but it's possible and easy to achieve. Find a desktop support position that interacts with servers (My first job let me cover some ground with Windows Server and SCCM) and in the meantime, work at sys admin certs. If your company isn't stupid or have mandated security restrictions like DoD, reach out to a sys admin and let them know you aspire to be one of them and ask if it's ok if they can give you junior level sys admin tasks

>database flowchart with multiple tables
freshen up your knowledge about database normalization (up to 3NF should be enough) + joins
create a few models (by hand, MySQL Workbench, Access, whatever) and you should be fine

Any SREs here? Accepted a new grad SRE/SWE role because of awesome company, opportunity to learn, and huge paycheck.

Curious to see if anyone has gone from dev to sre or vice versa.

They're fucking stupid easy.

Cert is literally not worth taking though. Puts you on par with geek squad rofl

you change hard drives
nice

automate the change of hard drives, homie

how do i make my shitty personal projects sound appealing on my resume? they're all i got going for me.

What is the best job board for software engineering jobs?

the physical boards at meetups. while you're there, you can make friends with people who are hiring or who work at companies that are hiring. you might not even need the board at all.

Definitely agree with meetups, hackathons, open houses for tech companies.

I was thinking of getting a Linux admin certification in my spare time since I still have a lot of it since I only work part-time. the problem is I never learned proper spelling in school (hamburger special ed) and I struggle to spell words close enough for spell check to recognize them. I can read just fine and I can recognize that I'm misspelling everything but I have no idea how to misspell them close enough for people to read. this is only readable because I'm using Speech-to-Text software, which I use for emails, sms, forum posts and anything I want to be legible to others as soon as it's written. This has also kept me away from any kind of real time chat like IRC.

Can I still have an autism job managing Linux servers? It's the only practical thing in my life that I love.

It's useful if you're looking for an entry level job but not past that.

>the problem is I never learned proper spelling in school (hamburger special ed) and I struggle to spell words close enough for spell check to recognize them.
Have you considered that a heavily text-oriented field like Linux sysadmin may not be right for you? Transposing two characters can lead to catastrophic data loss.

Is there any buffalo/penguin job I could do where my half literacy wouldn't get in the way?

Take shitposting to another level
>Unironically created image downloading software for a Ugandan Cave Drawing board in Python

Chances are if it sounds cringe to you, the recruiter will at least read it

I do tech support, solo person, for a company of like 20ish computers at best.
Some are chromebooks and I don't have admin access for GSuite because retarded reasons (local based company is ran by parent company who doesn't trust local company)

So, wtf am I to do for certs? I did want to go the MS route but wondering if I definitely need anything other than a laptop since that's all I have - it's good enough to run a VM or two, at best, though.

would love to do this, but I dont live in the country where I want to work.

You need to get a better job, experience is important too and you are likely getting sweet fuck all there

I've been there since may of last year. I'm staying there until I can get some certs since I have none.

The only thing I think I have zero interest in is the physical set up of network cables.
It's gotten to the point it's just "wires through the celling and no sort of management or diagram or anything".
Just how common is that?

Any good info into seo or ssm?

Computer Engineering or CS?
Why?

Hello Sup Forums,

Self taught programmer here who studied science in college. I have no problem solving the types of interview questions these companies typically ask however my resume not being looked at due to not having experience. What are some ways I could get into the field?

You don't. Computer scientists like to pretend they rule the world however they are just nerds playing god on the internet. They do not want to admit that it is something literally anyone can do.

Not everyone can do it as there are some people out there who are against logic. These people have to dishonestly rely on others to do their work for them. They can however use your lack of experience as leverage to make you accept a lower salary.

CE if you like hardware.
CS if you like software.
Both have equal job opportunity (pretty much).

Which do you prefer?

I've started freelancing for fun about a year and half ago. I've been coding on and off since I was 12 (now 30), but I had never done it commercially. I thought it'd be a good way to get better skills and some extra income because I just had a kid. So I started getting jobs through acquaintances or online platforms.

I've mostly worked on Javascript and Python projects, doing either some basic web dev or more advanced NLP and machine learning projects. I used to do C and Java back when I started coding and used R in college.

Friend of mine is an engineer and built a small start-up last year. 6 people, all fresh from top engineering schools, so good brains but little experience. and a couple interns. The company basically does IT consulting/web dev. I've worked for him very regularly for the past 6 months and he's offered me a position as CTO.

Salary would be 60k EUR (~75k USD) plus potential EOY bonus and I'm wondering if I should take it. I have a job at the time, the pay is lower but workload is light and it is something I enjoy doing.

Keep in mind, I have no CS degree and no formal programming training. I code decently but don't always follow best practices (don't bother with unit testing on small projects for instance).

I feel like it wouldn't be wise to take the job as:
- I wouldn't be teaching junior coders what they should be learning
- If the company ever goes under (it's a young and small company after all), I'm afraid it will be hard to get another tech job since I only have a business degree. (Keep in mind, this is Europe and degrees trump experience all the time)
- I find it suspicious I'd get offered such a high position when I have little corporate coding exp

Any advice?

Is taking a degree in networking/cybersecurity worth anything? Thinking about taking one of those along with Cisco certs.

I have a background as a facilities engineer and a 8 year career as a DoD contractor doing exactly that. I really want to move into cyber security with an emphasis on protecting power plants because I know how to sabotage the shit out of anything power generation related.
What certs would I need to be considered for a job?
I was thinking Linux+ (I have experience working in scientific computing with both Debian and Solaris, but I have no official certification), Security+, and CISA in that order. Is that too much? Is it not enough? What else can I do short of going back to college?

I mostly just want to not have to go overseas anymore. The rest of the world sucks and I like it here...

Based on what you've written you seem to be in a very good situation. The reality is that you get to work with a friend, and smart people, in a field you love, for good money.

The fact that you can get this kind of job without any formal CS education is a huge boon that will server your resume well if you ever chose to leave.

It's always, ALWAYS, better to work for small companies IMO. Not only because of the lighter workload, but because they offer great opportunity/experience in the right hands.

Your friend clearly likes you user, and he sees potential in you. Take the job.

Degree + Cisco cert is literally the best combination you can possibly start with if you want into cybersec.

Fuck off with cancerous shit.
Get out.

Suicide booth attendant.

Quantifying your impact is the best way, e.g.
>Created a mobile-friendly workshop schedule app used by 1000+ attendees.
If you can't do that, talk about a technically challenging piece, e.g.
>Created an event-driven single-threaded game loop supporting networked multiplayer and asynchronous callbacks.

These have all worked for me:
hired.com
alist.co
triplebyte.com

How do you study / get a Cisco cert

>reee

Sex: M
Age: 32
Location: Oz
>Current work
Catering, delivery driver.
>experience in IT
None.
>education
Bachelor of Computer Sciences circa 2010, however I felt like I only learned how to code babby's first program in C++, Java, and motherfucking Pascal.
>certification
Nope, I didn't realize how helpful they would be during studies, & can't commit to any option since.
>in 10 years
Somewhere cool/cold, either making enough money to live comfortably without being a complete wageslave, or designing an OS.
>what motivates you, or what do you want out of a potential workplace?
My main motivation is to become independent. I would like to be able to schedule my own time & not have to work more than 25 hours a week. Being that guy/guru/wizard people come to for problem-solving would also be nice as I'm good at figuring out how to make a system/algorithm within the constraints of code.

I'm trying to find what I should study to apply for software engineering work in Amsterdam.

Well I don't know about Amsterdam specifically, but your degree is already pretty solid. Are you planning for a masters?

Do you have any languages you prefer or would you like to build a career around Java/C++? Both are two sought-after languages!

I have no clue which field to pursue. I can't afford college so I'm stuck learning shit on my own. Would I be better off putting my time into IT, software development, or web development? Which field would allow me to quickly be employable if I start as a complete beginner? Any input is greatly appreciated.

Based on my recruiting experience, it's easier to put self-taught webdevs to work, if only because it's much easier to make an interesting looking portfolio as a front-end guy.

Look into HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP and start tinkering with some very basic website design. Start with just black text on a white screen, and then move up steadily.

For learning I recommend Code Academy for basic syntax and then moving picking up a few YouTube tutorials to teach you how to do cool things down the line. After that, sky's the limit.

Continue from >64528118
I just got a surprised phone interview. They ask 2 simple questions about simple array vs linked list and binary search time and I still messed up somehow. Am I fucked?

...

What were their questions and what did you answer? We can blackbox the damage based on that.

... Let's say that I totally bombed it. God I hate those learn-by-heart data structures & algorithms questions. Am I supposed to memorize them all for interviews?

Well no, probably not. They can't expect you to know everything on your feet. A good chunk of programming is looking information up and deciding what information is best for your current problem. Most people don't have all the answers in their heads.

That being said, you should be able to tell the difference between a linked list and an array standing up. That's pretty basic stuff.

Binary search time might be harder though and sounds more specialized, meaning that they probably just expected something vague here.

Who knows though, it might have gone better than you expected?

You should know stuff like binary search time by heart not because you memorized it, but because it is the only answer that would make sense. For binary search, you divide the search space in half each time. It is clearly not constant time, nor is it linear, so it is probably something in between. Given the recursive nature of the problem, it is likely logarithmic.
Interviews like are supposed to test your problem solving intuition, not your rote memorization.

I don't feel I know enough about either of them to make an informed decision. I know that a lot of stuff that interests me (vidya, robots) tend to be coded in C#, so probably interested in learning that. I guess I wouldn't mind expanding on C++ and Java.
My problem isn't just that I'm not certain what to study though, I also don't know where to study. I don't know which institutions to trust considering how I feel I hardly learned anything practical for work in uni.

>(vidya, robots) tend to be coded in C#
Literally pardon?

There are very few games I can think of (maybe Unity games use it?) that thrive on C#. Robotics I can't openly speak for, but I'm pretty sure they don't use anything as basic as C# for anything interesting.

C++ is a far more valuable skill than C# will ever be.

>Bachelor of Computer Sciences circa 2010, however I felt like I only learned how to code babby's first program
is this normal among graduates?
I dropped out after my first year
even I have done at least 2 projects I put over 50 hours into, it wasn't for school though
do schools ever make you do a big project?

Don't know about all schools, but mine has mandatory lower division courses for intro to programming taught in C/C++, then a 2nd year intro to software development. There's a lot of programming heavy upper division courses too, I think you could maybe setup your upper division courses to be all theoretical but I think it might be hard if not impossible to fill out the curriculum doing so. I think the only two classes upper division courses I had that had zero programming was a graduate level computational complexity course and an algorithims design course which the teacher just taught us about about of computational complexity of certain algos.

I've tried programming before and it's engaging and fun.
Never tried hardware except for building a pc. I am curious about what I can do with a pi but I never get myself to like any projects so much to buy one.
Quite honestly, I just love computers. I love dealing with problems that arise within them and solving them.

Sorry, I realize now that I'm talking outta my ass. I really liked Nitronic Rush and I dunno where I read that C# was preferred for vidya. As for robots, I noticed a lot of robotics/automation coding job notices had it as a requirement, but it sounds like I was off the mark there as well.
So you suggest C++ and/or Java... Anything else? I'm quite ok with having some decisions made for me at this point, I don't even know what kind of job I'm aiming for after all.
Thanks kindly for your responses btw.

Don't worry user, it's a career thread. No one's expecting you to know everything. That being said, I'd recommend picking up something very different.

Go for a front-end language. Like learn JavaScript and pick up a little HTML. The reality of the situation is that the future is on the web, and web-languages like can't hurt your odds in the long run. It might even net you a fullstack dev-job.

Honestly, if you're pretty good in C++ and Java you're essentially ready for the job-marked in terms of coding languages. Try to dedicate some more time to picking up concepts. Commonly used algorithms like merge-sort and bubble-sort, as well as general recursion. That kinda' stuff gets interviewers rock-hard and knowing how to show it off will help a ton.

I've been applying for fast food
no luck so far

That sounds beneath you user. Why not try to get a job in IT?

because I'm 21 and have almost nothing but my word to back up any skills I have

So then make a few projects, start a github, make a few projects. If you don't know how, read a book, watch a tutorial or take up some interactive freebie course.

what kind of projects would I even put on github?

Thanks anons.
>I'd recommend picking up something very different.
A fork in the path! I forgot that HTML was a language. I did study that as well, & was hoping to get cushy developing websites from home, but the freelance market seemed to get saturated quickly, & I guess I should have pursued it further to get the practical skills needed.

>if you're pretty good in C++ and Java
I thought I was weak as fuck but
>merge-sort and bubble-sort, as well as general recursion
That was child's play for me back in uni.

Maybe I have a misconception regarding what skills I need to start a career in programming. I really haven't done anything aside from the practical classes in uni, but is that enough to net me a job? And are we talking a job job, or an unpaid internship?

Make a FireFox Quantum extension that does what Save Image to Folder did? Just suggesting.

Doesn't have to be particularly daring stuff. Like I made a Twitter-importer. All it does is use the public Twitter-API to import the 100 newest tweets, and then let the user filter them out based on message or sender. Put it in a simple GUI with a list and a couple of columns and host it.

My current employer was very impressed by that and it took me a few days+++ to get it all glued together.

You could probably get a job-job, as in 50k a year (depending on where you live) job. If you can demonstrate a few concepts live on a blackboard during an interview, you're essentially golden.

Ay caramba.
But what about the fact that I haven't seen how these programs I made in class are used in work? I mean sure I've coded these concepts on strings but, am I expected to learn that on the job? I guess I just don't know what a software development environment is like at all, & how what I learned in uni connects to products used commercially.

You are looking to be picked up with 0 experience. No potential employer is going to expect work-related experience from a candidate applying with 0 experience.

Send out a few CVs. Get some interview-experience under your belt, and you'll be employed in no time.

Thanks user, I'm starting to feel the hype. I'll get on it.

user, as you can see in my case, it seems that it was just my misperception, & that I did in fact learn the skills necessary to work. My issue may have been just a lack of confidence, or being uninformed as to what employers look for.

I'd assume that any decent CS program has a nontrivial capstone project in the final year of their curriculum. Or, at the very least, they would have upper division courses that place heavy emphasis on projects. Any of these should be worthy enough to be mentioned in a resume and interview.

>In VA
>want experience so I can get foot in door
> Most IT entry level jobs here require experience
> no exp, no cert
>just in college now majoring in IT

Wot do? Idk where to look for internships

Apply even if they say they want experience. Most job notices in this sector will mention experience hoping to fish out a golden goose, but unless they say it's an absolute must, they're flexible on the matter.
Speak to them directly to let them know you're not expecting the kind of renumeration an experienced employee would get, & when you're declined (get used to this), don't assume that it's because you have no experience.

Should I shave my full luxurious beard & trim my long tresses of hair?