College dropouts, what you doing now?

[Krazy]

Lol really? How you get the job? A+? What u moving on to now?

I only did help desk for a short time and it was a contract, so I didn’t get to do too much, what made it suck so much?

I’m asking a lot of questions because I wanted to have a career in IT.

Tbh I'm not the best person to ask in regards to getting into IT, I'll be 100% honest I'm winging it through life at the moment lol

To me help desk feels like a glorified call center majority of the time, it's not all bad there are times I do enjoy it. But the past few months I've wanted out, I'm only here for 12 months and that's coming to an end very soon and I can't wait.
Although I’d say it’s mainly down to the team I work with, too much office politics and poor work/life balance. Workload is way too heavy especially as were short staffed as well.

It’s just not something I could see myself doing long term especially not 4 years like some of my team. Help desk is a stepping stone, advice I’d say is get the experience and move on.

I'm going back to study and complete my final year hopefully.

I dont have any certificates, I literally got it based off the degree I’m studying for. I’m in the UK I’m not sure about the US but we can do an optional year in industry as part of our course.

 

[FishNGrits]

Trade gang

I’m still learning as a helper but Monday through Friday work week with benefits and big earning potential once you learn your craft. I’m also out of work by 3:30. I hoop right after work and enjoy the day.

 

[JLova]

It's hard to get your foot in the door because you have to prove to these companies that you know ur stuff, at the end of the day, in this field it's all about what you can do. Tech companies are starting to realize that degrees do not not equal skils, but they almost always ask for a degree when applying unless you have a portfolio to showcase all your work.



I knew nothing about coding, I started from scratch and worked my way up. There's enough material out there to teach urself, u don't need school or coding bootcamps to become a coder. All you u need is the right mind set and at least 4 hours a day.

This is the sad reality. We hire kids that look good on paper but can’t do the work. Of course there are many who can but you’d be surprised...good gpa, good school but can’t write code for shyt, then you have some kid from college (which is Canadian equivalent of community college) balling the fukk out and moving up the ranks cuz they can flat out code.

Hard to get in the door, but if you’re in and can do the work you’re good.

Make sure you actually learn if you’re going to get a 4 year degree and Do-op is a must.

With all that said, certain schools/programs, you will get a job before you even graduate and even if you struggle you will get benefit of the doubt. College kid Is not competing with those schools that Facebook and google are picking from.

If you graduated with compsci degree from Waterloo, no college kid is competing with you. Companies will be calling you offering you 6 figures to start.

 

[Originalman]

OP I am out here slanging this work and posting on the Coli.

 

[Turk]

Lost on the road of life trying to get this writing career popping

 

[RadaMillz]

This is the sad reality. We hire kids that look good on paper but can’t do the work. Of course there are many who can but you’d be surprised...good gpa, good school but can’t write code for shyt, then you have some kid from college (which is Canadian equivalent of community college) balling the fukk out and moving up the ranks cuz they can flat out code.

Hard to get in the door, but if you’re in and can do the work you’re good.

Make sure you actually learn if you’re going to get a 4 year degree and Do-op is a must.

With all that said, certain schools/programs, you will get a job before you even graduate and even if you struggle you will get benefit of the doubt. College kid Is not competing with those schools that Facebook and google are picking from.

If you graduated with compsci degree from Waterloo, no college kid is competing with you. Companies will be calling you offering you 6 figures to start.

110%

College degrees are all theory based and no real life projects, when they throw u in a busy the team, they don't want to babysit nor have the time to debug every problem u run in to. The graduate has to basically start from zero once they get hired, mean while joe who is a pizza delivery man and who codes 30 hours a week contributing to open source, will walk circles around anything they throw at him. It's no brainer who the company would prefer. This is why facebook, amazon, instagram and all these big tech companies are getting rid of the 4 year degree requirements.

 

[Silkk]

IT Security

#Certgang

 

[RadaMillz]

Could never imagine making an app on my own. Sounds hard af! But you can really get good at this and get a career in 6 months?

Is there math involved? I’m useless with math lol.

You would be surprised what you can do, I never thought I could do this but here I am.

btw basic math is fine (+, -, *, \), I have not been in a situation yet that required complicated math. In JS you will learn about math methods that do everything for you, if you can use a calculator, you can become a coder.

 

[JadeB]

Do you plan on going back? What’s your plan?

Might go back to school if all else fails but I'm in an internship where you will be put in jobs catered to your desired career so maybe it'll work out from there. I might get an entry-level career in marketing so I may hit the jackpot.

 

[JLova]

110%

College degrees are all theory based and no real life projects, when they throw u in a busy the team, they don't want to babysit nor have the time to debug every problem u run in to. The graduate has to basically start from zero once they get hired, mean while joe who is a pizza delivery man and who codes 30 hours a week contributing to open source, will walk circles around anything they throw at him. It's no brainer who the company would prefer. This is why facebook, amazo instagram and all these big tech companies are getting rid of the 4 year degree requirements.n,

Is that true? I mean, I get it, but this is surprising. We hire Comp Sci grads primarily but are open to College. If you're coming from College, though...you're getting a Jr role at best and will have to show and prove. We'll also offer less money. If companies are loosening the requirments it's probably because they don't want to pay the money a comp sci graduate would command. Plus, there's no telling how much money you will spend/lose during the training period.

We just hired a girl. Highly educated and has picked things up very quickly. That's the benefit of hitting on someone with the education. When you hit, you do well. Still feel like most companies are willing to take a chance on the graduated over the career coder if the salary is the same. Only way career coder gets a better shot is if he's willing to take less.

 

[JLova]

You would be surprised what you can do, I never thought I could do this but here I am.

btw basic math is fine (+, -, *, \), I have not been in a situation yet that required complicated math. In JS you will learn about math methods that do everything for you, if you can use a calculator, you can become a coder.

You really don't need math. I'm still waiting to use all the shyt I learned in discrete math, linear algebra, etc... Plus, companies don't give a fukk about math. We care about thought process and if you have a basic understanding..also the languages you know are important. You don't have to know all of em, but if you know _____ then you can easily learn _____. How trainable are you? Just speaking from a development perspective. Sys admin and all that other shyt have diff requirements.

 

[UpAndComing]

When I dropped out, I was a Gasoline Truck Driver making that good money


But I couldn't see myself in the future as a 50 yr old truck driver, so now I'm back in school

 

[Akae Beka]

I help and work with special needs adults, providing shelter and assistance with theirs ADLs. This is bringing me almost 13k every month(after taxes) Ive helped a few good people get into what Im doing and apparently my name is good in the community. Doesnt really require a degree but there's other qualifications that must be met and may take up to a year. Been doing this the past 5 years. Student loans has been forgiven. By all means, it isnt a easy job but nothing in life comes easy. Went to school for liberal arts and then changed it to criminal justice but dropped out in 08.

 

[Duke Dixon]

I dropped out, went back, and now I'm at a job related to my degree. My degree is in Mechanical Engineering if anyone is interested.

It took me about 5 months to finally land a job. The are I live in isn't good, and I can't relocate right now.

I do want to make my own app. What languages should I look into? I know HTML, some Java, and am used to using MATLAB. I'm not completely new to coding but it's not something I do often.

Whatever you guys do make sure it's something you enjoy and offers you a chance to advance.

 

[Freedman]

I dropped out, went back, and now I'm at a job related to my degree. My degree is in Mechanical Engineering if anyone is interested.

It took me about 5 months to finally land a job. The are I live in isn't good, and I can't relocate right now.

I do want to make my own app. What languages should I look into? I know HTML, some Java, and am used to using MATLAB. I'm not completely new to coding but it's not something I do often.

Whatever you guys do make sure it's something you enjoy and offers you a chance to advance.

Java is currently the main language for Android development. You can probably find free resources on YouTube and paid stuff on like Udemy, Coursera, etc to walk you through the development process.


Here is a YouTube playlist from a Stanford Professor who recorded his Android lectures one semester

Spoiler

Stanford CS 193A: Android App Development, Spring 2016 - YouTube