Hello all! I am drawing near to my conclusion of college. I am majoring in Information Tech. with a concentration in security. We all know that security is a hard job to find, especially at entry level. They all require atleast 5 years + as a programmer, or network/web/database - administrator. So i guess i need to work for a while before even considering it. I love to code, I love networking. But I'm sure I love to code more. I was just wondering where the money is in the industry now a days. We use Java a lot in my college. Should I continue to master it or broaden my languages and be more of a jack of all trades? I know a bit of C/C++(I understand OOP and syntax, just a little blurry with pointers) I understand Ruby(to a degree, and nothing about rails). Should I invest more time into these other languages? Or should I put more time into server side web languages like PHP, ASP, ASP.Net, Python, Rails? Or do you think I should just look for a networking job as more background for my future security job?


Thank you in advance.

This post has been edited by inc0mplete: 3 Aug, 2008 - 07:31 AM

Well Java is certainly in growing demand so keep that up and sharp. I would also recommend that you pick up a .NET language (like C#) and a server-side language (PHP/ASP.NET) minimum. Focus on those and if you have some extra time on your hands then dive into C++ more because that is only going to give you another edge and inside understanding of other languages.

All the jobs I am seeing seem to be coming from ASP.NET using C# or VB.NET as their code language of choice. However what you can't get in ASP.NET is being covered in PHP circles.

Another tip I would like to mention is picking up experience with frameworks. Especially if you are going to do web development. Frameworks like scriptaculous, Cake, and content management systems like Joomla/Drupal which you will need PHP heavily in.

Then you will be set to take on the world. But learn all you can of everything you can. Just remember to master a language or two and don't spread yourself too thin.

"A jack of all trades is a master in none" Keep that in mind.

You know one hears this quite often and it is often a quite true statement but on the other hand it is really not the best bit of logic.

Innovation happens because of diversity. Becoming a "Master" of a particular language or technology is really rather useless. I would rather work with people who have dabbled in many things that someone who just knows one or two.

The truth is, mastering any particular field in the industry means that you have a general knowledge of many many areas. I routinely work in many languages, I routinely pull for experiences in other languages.

I agree that you should not try to become a "Master of all" but definitely, definitely, definitely allow your experience to wander about. Read, and browse. Don't be the guy with "25+ years experience in C++ payroll systems" who does not know what Excel is, or that Java is no longer just a toy language the guys at Sun are kicking about. I can tell you, that guy has been working as an accountant for last year at 1/2 his salary because he can't seem to get another programming job. (true story).

thanks guys! I am having a hard time just rotating languages, maybe i shouldn't learn them all at once. But what I have been doing lately is coding some programming challenges and doing them all in different languages. When the school year starts up again, I will probably do my homework and projects over in other languages. Like if i get a project that uses java. I'll do it and then try to code it again in ruby/python/C etc. I'm just nervous that when I finish, I won't have a job. I mean I hear outsource is a huge burden on American developers and that they only take the "best" from the mainlands.

Good incentive to be the best. I've been on the lookout for work since I have ~ year left and for the most part, there seems to be no lack of employment. I even saw a few positions where they wanted someone (even without a degree) who had a passion or knack for programming (since I guess they could not fill the position).

It would great to get a taste of most of the languages out there. It's always exciting learn new ways and approaches to coding programs. If you've done alot of java programming I would recomend trying out C# in .NET, will give you a good understanding of the .NET framework and or a new language. C# almost seems like it was copied off java it's so similar. It wouldn't take you long to get used to the syntex, you'll also get a good understanding of handeling post backs. Then from there you could move onto, well anything.