Third Year College Choices

Deliverance XXV

Hi all.

I wouldn't mind hearing some of your opinions/suggestions.

I'm going into third year (BSC in IT) after the summer and looking forward to it. There has been some changes though, in that the first semester will be a flexible semester.
There will be no actual lectures but there are some work experience/IT reports/online study options available.

As I work in a non-IT environment (40+- hours/week) the IT work experience option is out. I have three options for courses though:

• Adobe Courses (Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver)
• Java (Beginner & Intermediate) By Sun/Oracle
• .net (Web and Windows Applications) By Microsoft

I don't want to do the Adobe courses as they'd be nothing new and would be taking the easy way out. The Java courses would be good and I enjoy that whole area but I would like to try something new.
The .net appeals to me but I know nothing about it. Would I be putting myself under far too much pressure to complete two .net courses in one semester as there seems to be a lot of content?

The courses are free to me and the exams are about 100 bucks but if I want the certification I'd have to pay for it (Invaluable, though?)

I would like to suggest SQL or PHP too as they are taking suggestions but I can't find any official examinations or are they out there - What's recognised in terms of qualifications in these sectors?
I'd like to go down the PHP route or DB Admin/SQL route and to do it through college would be hitting two birds with one stone.

Thanks for reading and any input

selfdiy

I think if you get yourself a solid foundation in Java or .NET, the other stuff like operating system, DB's and the scripting languages will be easy enough to pick up along the way.

I think when you finish collage if you have strong understanding of oo and maybe a few design patterns thrown in it would be a good start for any career in development.

fergalr

• Java (Beginner & Intermediate) By Sun/Oracle

Not having any context, I would say do this one.
It's the one most likely to teach you useful fundamentals.

Deliverance XXV

Cheers guys.

I am already have two years of Java under my belt so I'm not too sure about spending more time going over something I've already been taught opposed to learning something new.

What about suggesting Zend PHP Certification? Are these industry recognised?
http://www.zend.com/services/certification/php-5-certification/

Or maybe looking at things from a DBA angle:

• Oracle Certified Associate, MySQL 5.0/5.1/5.5 with

• Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Developer or

• Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator

The thing with the .net option is would I really have covered it all in one semester with moderate motivation in online study?

bswan

Dont know what photoshop is doing as a career path in a solid IT course its more media/graphic design. take the .net java route. good job prospects + they are fairly transferable in terms of knowledge