Advice sought

littlemac1980 · 23-09-2014 11:35am #1

Hi, a number of years ago I completed a BSc. in Information Technology in college - I had switched to this course in 3rd year from a BEng. in Computer Engineering, as I preferred programming and software orientated subjects, and grew to dislike the intense electronic focus that took over the final years of the Comp Eng course.

Odd as it may now seem, the Comp Eng course - which for the first 2 years had a very good emphasis on Modular Programming and software engineering - it covered C, C++ and assembly code, but then neglected any web based programming and would not have covered Java, HTML or CSS etc.

So I changed course and ultimately completed a Masters which focused on algorhythmic music creation and audio production using computer programming techniques.

Anyway, long story short - I managed to get a minor amount of experience programming A/V systems using a dedicated type of software, but no real experience in the type of programming we had focused on in College.

Unlike at present - when I finished my Masters it was about 2005 and there were very few meaningful relevant opportunities available, with most recruiters focused on IT positions that supported the ongoing building boom and inflated finacial services and secondary services sectors, i.e. mainly low level database entry and admin stuff.

So I decided to return to college and study Law and did that successfully for a number of years and recently qualified as a solicitor.

Now I’d like to possibly travel for a couple years (which has always been one of my personal goals) and would like to hopefully get my programming skills up to date and relevant in a modern context. Essentially I’d like ot have as many options available as possibly, and I want to be able to apply for jobs in the Technology area perhaps in Canada or mainland Europe.

Does anyone have any advice on how I might best resurrect my programming skills/software skills and develop them in a way that is relevant to the modern technological employment market.

Any links to useful practical focused websites with examples to work through etc.

Any recent publications which might update my knowledge base.

Any other useful info or advice.

I understand I have no real past employment experience and this will obvioulsy make it difficult to find job, but I’d like to at least have the requisite knowledge to give my self some fighting chance.

I also know there are stickies on this forum with extensive links to resources etc. and I intend to go through those once I have a chance, I'm just hoping that someone here, maybe having had a similar background and returned to computers may be able to assist me with advice of how best to proceed.

I’d greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks.

Mr. CooL ICE · 23-09-2014 2:06pm

Just wondering, where did you study comp eng? I did mine in UL and my main criticism of the course was how little coverage or emphasis there was on OOP. At the time, the whole thing seemed outdated. I don't know what programming you would have done during your masters, but if you are lacking in OOP knowledge, get on that straight away.

I've never done any web stuff, so can't comment. I didn't work in development for a few years after graduation but since I dabbled in Java for my FYP, I learned some Android stuff and have been working in mobile dev since then. If the idea of mobile development appeals to you, it's a good start to get back on track IMO.

littlemac1980 · 23-09-2014 2:39pm

Cool - thanks for the advice - I'll check out some mobile stuff, it's precisely that type of advice I'm looking for.

I did the course in UL and started in 1998 - I found the first two years weren't too bad and there was a fair amount of OOP - but certainly not as much as I'd hoped.

The focus shifted heavily to active circuit design and advanced digital systems in 3rd year, with the addition of extensive and largely unnecessary complex engineering mathematics.

I could be very critical of the course in general, I'll try not to do that, but perhaps UL's course strategy (I hope) has changed a bit since then - back then their science courses were frustratingly outdated wrt to the potentially progressive elements of the courses.

I'd agree there were some elements which were very outdated. For instance we did an entire 2 modules on designing circuits for Low Pass Filter, Band Pass Filters LFO's etc. This was 2001 I'm talking about, not 1988. I felt many of the modules delivered in the course were simply offered to facilitate long term academics and professors rather that to educate the students.

Mr. CooL ICE · 23-09-2014 3:16pm

littlemac1980 wrote: »

I'd agree there were some elements which were very outdated. For instance we did an entire 2 modules on designing circuits for Low Pass Filter, Band Pass Filters LFO's etc. This was 2001 I'm talking about, not 1988. I felt many of the modules delivered in the course were simply offered to facilitate long term academics and professors rather that to educate the students.

That was a negative effect of the tie-in with the electronic course. Don't get me started on the radio modulation for 3rd year :rolleyes:

I graduated in 2008 and if you did OOP in 1st and 2nd year, then it means the course went backwards by the time I did it. Did Pascal and a C intro during 1st year, with advanced C and C++ basics in 2nd. The C++ lecturer was more interested in talking about the inter-university robot world cup than actually explaining what OOP was. Our entire year did badly in projects because we ended up writing our code as C-style procedural programs using C++ syntax.

It's completely off-topic so I'll shut up now. I should have done computer science instead.

Advice sought

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