Lol, sounds like my job. I''m an architect and 3d CAD trainer but I do mostly IT helpdesk duties. Once I got a call from a woman colleague of mine: "my coffee mug holder isn''t working"... I was thinking wth? coffe-mug holder? That''s not my job. But I still went to see by curiosity. She pointed to the CD-ROM drive: "see? the coffee mug holder won''t open any more!"

Another time my boss calls me to check his computer because all he gets is a black screen. Sure enough, nothing works. I asked him "what is the last thing you did?" He answers: "Well, I dunno, I just typed format c: at the command prompt...".

Believe me I sympathise, NeHe, lol.


Guy who sits in the back (sometimes) drawing plans.

How can you people NOT get programming jobs.. I''m a beginning college student with minimal amount of Java, C/C++, Perl, HTML, Database work with Oracle, some MIPs, some Automated Testing Tools (Winrunner and TSL), Visual Basic, Fortran... and shit.. this is all MINIMAL knowledge I''m in no way a genious at any of them. I have Job Offers all the time, like ''You know what Java is?'' GOOD CAUSE WE NEED YOU!!!.. but then again I guess it helps living in a town with MCI, Oracle, Agilent, FedEx, Intel, SCI, Harris, TONS of government positions (Air force and Army) and about a billion little startups.. Come on down to Colorado Springs, Colorado.. there are Computer jobs galore around here. Right now I write Visual Basic APPs, do work with Java, TSL(Winrunner scripting language, C based scripting language).. They want to put me up to Java Dev. soon though and are willing to train me for 6 weeks in WebObjects. and I have 2-3 more years of college left.

Not everybody here lives in the middle of major IT companies.
As far as I can tell, up here, the IT companies can take their pick of people. There doesn''t seem to be a shortage in this province. I got fooled by that crap too. That''s why I figured I''d be set if I made my hobby a career by going to school. Ummm...they lied. Most of the people who graduated with me aren''t even working in the IT field because they had a hell of a time finding jobs around here.
JizzRoy you make me wanna gag. Your list of skills is pretty long though, even if you only have a basic understanding of them.
I vacationed in Colorado and drove through Colorado Springs. My wife and I decided that we''d live there eventually. Until I found out how hard it was to get into the US from Canada (unless you''re a university student or grad, probably easier to storm the fence). All I got is a stupid technical diploma (2 years) because I can''t afford to go to University.
I have a programming job (Delphi/Database) that I don''t much care for. The company doesn''t feel the need to train me but they expect huge things...and barely stay alive on the wage. I hate the weather here. Can''t do much about it. If I wanted to work in the oilfield/farm/pipelines then I''d be making lots of cash up here. Maybe I can learn how to program combines to harvest the fields themselves...(if you don''t know what a combine is then you''ve never lived here).
You know a company that''ll hire me and help me get into the US and I''ll be there TOMORROW.
NeHe on the other hand, with his skillset, COULD probably get a really nice job programming with an awesome company that would help him out. NeHe, if I were you I''d take these ideas seriously. I realize that you have family here that you want to look out for, but don''t you think your family would much rather you being extremely happy and making a nice living than babysitting people that say things like "Where''s the ''any'' key?".
Anyways, that''s my rant. I''m not really mad at you JizzRoy. Just count your blessings that you''re not a computer geek standing in a crowd of farmers.
Exo

I would love to program for a living, work for a big game company, etc, but around here there are no big companies like that. All the jobs are in the states. I''d hate to move to the states to start a new job, and find out I''m not qualified Maybe stupid logic. I don''t mind my job that much. I''m getting alot of experience pretty much doing everything. Like many of you have said, I do everything from fix the electric pencil sharpener to accounting (something I never thought I''d be doing).
Interesting at times, frustrating some days.

If I had my way, I''d start a company and hire all the talented people out there that I see every single day. Organize everyone into teams with stronger programmers supporting the new programmers, and attempt a few big projects.

There is so much wasted talent in this world. Sure alot of you make your own futures, but there are those people that float through life never having the chance to do what they love. Sad, but true

I agree with Tim. Skill, difficulty etc grows exponentially with the size of the system you''re designing and implementing. These days the pay-off is not for programmers who can code a 1000 lines of OO code. That''s what''s EXPECTED where I work. I work on 60-80 people teams and coding is the LAST thing on my mind.

You won''t even get in the door unless you''re solid in design, communication, facilitation, presentation and that''s weighted 100% more important than coding. If you can''t EXPLAIN a problem as well as you can CODE it, you''re out of luck. That''s not to say the coding standard isn''t extremely high.

The industry doesn''t want guys who''ll sit in a basement and code all day long, even if they''re rocket scientists. If you can''t communicate and motivate a team you''re not going to make it ( at least where I work ).

The big payoff is for the kid who has the DESIGN skills, the INDUSTRY experience, TEAM building skills, TIME management, LEADERSHIP. Sorry if I sound like I''m on my soap-box but I am. I''ve seen so many people approach my company thinking they''re the greatest thing since sliced bread only to be turned away because they couldn''t string two words together.

No offence to anyone on the board. Just my $0.02

http://www.CornflakeZone.com
//-- Modelling and animation in every dimension --//

Oracle and MCI are DYING for people so they get people from India work VISAS and fly them over here. In the little company I had we had a group called Satyam, who worked a small part of Dev. They were all from India on Work Visas. If you''re a foreigner then it can be tough. My girlfriend, who in the last two semesters of getting her Biology degree decided to get a minor in C.S. (Perhaps I influenced her), is from Thailand and can''t work so she is trying to find someone to give her a work VISA. Anyways.. all I''m saying is that companies REALLY want people around her I mean they hire idiots who have taken 1 Semester of Java or some other language and are like

"Visual Cafe?, all I''ve used is JBuilder, I click the lightning bolt, I don''t see the lightning bolt on here." Then they pay these people 38k a year STARTING fresh out of college with a Bacheleors.

If you have the skills but not the paper.. GET CERTIFIED AT LEAST!!.. the tests aren''t that hard and about $150 a shot depending where you take them and what you are getting certified in. All you need is a book to learn about the certification and download a few example tests off the net.

This way you can show that you know something. For your resumes put stuff like *Example Work Available*, so they know you are willing to back up what you have put down. If you picked up a C++ book three years ago.. put "3 Years experience in C++" (Assuming you actually know a good amount of C++)

Another thing is .. Don''t put your age on the resume .. let them assume you are as old as your experience shows (A lot of companies are biased towards people 18-22)


Good luck on your job hunts!