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Careers in computers?

Xt51

Xt51

Android Enthusiast
OK. first off I don't know if this is the right side of the forums to post this..so sorry if It is the wrong place. Admins can move it to the right part of the forums if needed!

Now on to this. I wanted to get any tips or any info that i can at least try to figure out what i want to be and/or go to college to study for. To start off i'm a heavy tech geek:p so yes it has to do with computers/technology. Except I hate math and i know how it is an absolute requirement in every tech job that you need math skills. I can handle sitting in front of a desk for most of the time. And I'm very good at communicating. I am bilingual and am learning the basics of Microsoft office.
If any tips or help can be given so that i can at least know where to go with my life. All those willing to help i would appreciate it ALOT!
Thanks!:D
 
One thing you might want to do is look through the previous threads for topics that include stuff like "IT Jobs". There have been several similar requests here since I showed up, and plenty of good advice that you may find useful. (The Search box didn't find them, BTW.)

You say that you're heavy into computers and technology. That puts you in good company since pretty much every Millennial shares that interest with you, and will be competing against you for a finite number of IT jobs. Good luck! You're going to need it, because the numbers are against you already.

If you're really that bad (or behind) at math, the best advice I can give you is to work hard, take remedial courses, work with a tutor and anything else you can do to improve your math skills so you're at least proficient at algebra. You'll need that much just to do the light bookkeeping that any person in business needs to be able to do. You might want to start studying business administration, because that's the essence of using computers in the workplace. It will also give you the skills you need to operate in a business environment doing more than pushing a broom. The more math skills you pick up, the better work you will get, even if you never actually use those skills ever again.

I don't want to crush your dream or anything. But you need to understand that stuff you like as a consumer isn't necessarily what you're going to get paid money to do.
 
 
Just how bad are you at math?

I agree with pretty much everything Speed Deamon has to say (as usual), however I'd add that math you need is generally not high level.

I have a bit of a block when it comes to math (I blame the fact my mother was a math teacher :)), but so long as you can actually do the basics (say enough for basic bookkeeping as Speed Deamon suggests), in real life if there's any complicated math involved in a project, it will all have been spec'd by the user so it's pretty much cut & paste.

And you can almost guarantee that every user will do the exact same thing in different ways, anyway. Particularly if they're accountants.
 
FYI computer science (BSCS) and computer engineering (BSEE) majors often have some pretty stiff math requirements for prerequisite courses. While they're primarily there to make getting an engineering degree hard, and aren't really necessary to do the job, it's a rite of passage that must be gone through to get a "serious" computer degree.

The "lite" degrees that typically have "technology" in their names, including all of the Associate's (2-year) degrees and Bachelor of Arts (BA) (as opposed to the Bachelor of Science, BS) might not have the heavy math prerequisites, but the jobs that those letters can get aren't as exciting or high-paying as the engineering degrees.

As usual, the more work put into getting the letters, the better the choice of jobs to choose from.

When I entered my BSEE program, I was behind in math because of spending my senior year in a rural Texas town where they didn't offer any college prep math courses like Pre-Calculus. So I had to waste a whole semester "learning" algebra. I already knew it well enough to ace the course without studying, but it was a real setback because all of my freshman classes used calculus in the coursework, and I was locked out of taking a calculus course until I completed the unnecessary-but-required remedial course. Those are the kinds of games they play. It's all about learning conformism, and nothing about the actual profession. But it's an obstacle that must be gone through before you can advance.
 
While there are a "finite" of people interested in this area, some areas have shown a decrease in numbers. I know where I live, programmers in general are not the easiest to come by. Not a lot of people are attending school to learn programming like just a few years ago. And a big majority of the schools that offered programming courses have dropped them due to lack of interest.

I wasn't the best at math when I went to college since I didn't have it for over a year.. And actually I haven't really needed to know how to solve any complex math equations while working in the IT field. Google is a big help for when anyone gets stuck on something, I use it quite often
 
pbf98 said:
While there are a "finite" of people interested in this area, some areas have shown a decrease in numbers. I know where I live, programmers in general are not the easiest to come by. Not a lot of people are attending school to learn programming like just a few years ago. And a big majority of the schools that offered programming courses have dropped them due to lack of interest
Click to expand...

Can't say I'm surprised: IT is going the way of ship building. East :)

And any current short term skills shortage will just accelerate that (probably inevitable) trend.

IT's been good to me, but I would never recommend it to someone who lives in the West and is just starting out.
 
Like any other career that gets "hot" for a period of time and sees shortages and high salaries, the schools use that to sell incoming students on high-paying careers. When the reality sets in that they have to start in the trenches for scale, then there's bound to be a bit of disillusionment.

Personally, I think young people coming into the IT field have been more effectively self-taught than the education they get from institutions.
 
Speed Daemon said:
FYI computer science (BSCS) and computer engineering (BSEE) majors often have some pretty stiff math and physics requirements for prerequisite courses. While they're primarily there to make getting an engineering degree hard, and aren't really necessary to do the job, it's a rite of passage that must be gone through to get a "serious" computer degree.
Click to expand...

FTFY :)

To the OP: Good luck! I will warn you that Calculus and Physics tend to be difficult (actually that depends on the person but you said you're not a fan of math)
 
Sanme in the UK, When I started my BSc. Computer Security &Forensics course, I had to do a Foundation year which included som basic maths. This consisted of what I'd done in school at age 10/11 plus some basic statistics; up to Standard Deviation, calculated by hand. As I could remember it all from school, I became an unofficial extra tutor for that part of the course.
 
The people who say math is important are only half right. I'm a 3rd year computer science major and it took me 3 semesters to get past college algebra; granted this was because my college has a horrible math department and I've done fine in my math classes since that one.

However I never thought my lack of math classes hindered my ability to write computer programs. The biggest problem is implementing algorithms but everything else hasn't been too hard. The biggest thing is being able to think logically and break things down. I'd recommend looking int learning Python, Java, or C++ if you are interested in programming.

For general IT work, such as working at a helpdesk, you don't need math skills past the basics you learn in high school. I've worked at my universities helpdesk for the past 2 years now and all I do is troubleshoot software and hardware. I've never once had to use any complicated math to complete a task at work.
 
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