Hacker News Reader

Comment by peterwwillis | Hacker News Reader

Software development is a hell of a lot more difficult to do right than all the other non-programming IT jobs.

If you want a job ASAP, learn desktop support, be a network analyst/systems analyst, systems administrator, database admin, quality assurance analyst/engineer/tester, etc.

A lot of jobs out there are just "we needed someone to set up this software for us and push a button once in a while", and they pay well. One guy I worked with had a job similar to mine, and he was supposed to be some kind of engineer, but he kept coming to me asking things like 'how do I sort the lines in a file?' Speaking of which, you should look for contract jobs or government jobs, or government contracting jobs. They require the least expertise and pay the most.

View on HN

I second it. I am personally disturbed by the trend of people like Bill Gates & Will.i.am (I do not recalll both having programmed something) claiming that programming is easy and everyone should do it. I have faced alot of issue where idiot managers think that mastering right-click and double-click is close to mastering programming. I was told in 1999 that MS Frontpage will make web developers & designers obsolete. The last thing we need is people claiming that you can become a software developer in couple of weeks. Software Development(Programming & Testing) is a science that needs a understanding of systems. Coding is a BIT simpler process. I have experience teaching my friend programming in school and collage. May be I am a bad teacher, but I feel its a complex process and couple or weeks is too less of a time. Learning syntax will take just hours but writing readable and extendable code in the most efficient manager is what ensures a steady paycheck. DBA admin is also a rather under-rated job. I too suggest Level 1 & 2 IT support for starters. Testing & QA also seems like a easy to learn process.

Add to that list "Business Intelligence" developer/analyst, although that term is gradually changing into something about analytics and data science, which are demanding degrees in statistics.

The reality is that a lot of "Business Intelligence" work is writing SQL & reports for business types that don't know how to write SQL or don't want to learn.

It means writing a lot of reports, but its a good way to get exposed to a business and yet still be involved with light development. There's room to grow too if you want to learn more about data warehouse design, ETL processes, OLAP cubes, etc etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com