eznet

As for #1, I don't really like power (specifically the responsibility over others that it brings) and money is secondary to enjoying what I do. This also relates to #6, which is the beach - so I am thinking I have messed up altogether, and should have studied beach-bumology instead of CS :)

I have considered, and am still considering #4. I like school and I like learning and so it seems like a fit... only problem is, school is freaking expensive, so we will see.

I am also considering #7, as I have some contacts in that world having supervised a small military contract refuel facility servicing Ft. Rucker Army Aviation Training Facility for the previous 4 years of my life (I guess it is suitable at this juncture to mention that I am 27 and that I have worked full time since I was 18 - I have done school off and on along the ways). I also had to deal directly with Sikorski Support and Lockheed Martin, as their operations were in the same town and were related, and so I met people along the way.

As far as #9 is concerned, I solicited advice; I didn't promise to believe it ;) Seriously though, this is kind of a spitball session for me where I am hoping to get a considerable amount of BS, hopefully encrusted with slivers of gold (perhaps from goldscholger?).

Thank you for the tips and the entertaining read - #2 & #3 are things I never thought about and are things that I will be considering from now on!

-Matt

Thanks jmtulloss, I have played with SQLite a little and thought that might be a good course of action for my learning.

Thanks for the support :)

-Matt

On the list, thanks! This is what I am looking for - there are certain things that I am pretty sure that I need to know better, but with my lack of applicable experience, I don't know which of my notions are correct and which ones will lead me down an unproductive path.

I too have been amazed at how little databases have been taught in my CS studies. For example, this previous term I was required to take a VB.net course. In this class, integrating a database and an application was mentioned in chapter 12 of a 12 chapter book (the shortest chapter of the book, at that)! My meager exposure to databases in my databases class was hardly sufficient to provide me with what was truly required to bring together databases with application development - sure, I knew how to query and how to join tables in SQL, but I had no real clue to how this pertained to my previous C++ or Java classes.

Thanks for the insight thinkcomp!

-Matt

"The reason your question has been asked & answered so many times is that it is too broad. "

I believe this to be an inherent byproduct of the asker's current phase in their own personal development. When we ask, we are curious and unsure of where to go next. I know the question is broad, as too are the answers, but again, this comes from the fact that we are asking the 'seasoned' members of a community for insight - insight gained from experience that we simply do not yet have ourselves. Although I know there is no definitive 'ANSWER' for this question, I do believe there to be beneficial and constructive input on the topic that may still be made - hence, why I asked.

As to your suspicions pertaining to my lack of finding a passion in all of this, I think you may possibly be correct. Don't get me wrong; I love computers, languages, semantics and technology in general. One of my favorite pass-times when playing with a new language is to implement some of the algorithms and concepts from my advanced algorithm design and discrete mathematics classes - its just fun to me. Despite the entertainment found from doing exercises such as these, I have yet to find 'that special thing' that drives me to working until 3 a.m.

I think that (for me) you might be correct; I was discussing this very same "money job" topic with my wife before reading your response. It just seems logical, considering my current knowledge (or lack thereof), to find a tech oriented company to work from, hopefully encounter some mentor-types along the way and learn what to do from there.

Thanks aristus7,

-Matt

Thanks for the feedback tjr; especially so in regards to the 'version management' suggestion. I have felt that this is likely someplace I need additional knowledge and experience. I have accessed Subversion repositories, but in truth, have never maintained my own nor would I know what to do in a instance where it was actually required.

Learning version management is on the list to learn now :)

Thanks again, -Matt

Nothing new... I wrote up Charter Communications about a year ago for doing the same thing... I guess its no better (or worse) when Google does it... Must admit.. it pissed me off the first time I got the Charter/Yahoo page when entering a search command in my address bar... used to be the case that with Firefox you could enter a term in and the displayed page was the "I'm feeling lucky" Google result... after this hi-jacking started that functionality went out the window... shame.. I liked it... I am guessing since Charter is already hi-jacking my 404s, the Google jacking won't affect me anyways :)

Here is my original write up of the creeps... http://blog.eznet.frih.net/?p=62

Here is Charters hi-jack http://www11.charter.net/search?qo=asdasd.asd&rn=3RjeJZ7...

Their site doesn't render properly @ 1280X800 either. Also, the rendering is inconsistent - if I refresh the site, it will render with "Building a success web application is rocket science" over "our products"... hit refresh and it renders correctly... hmmm... Also, you would think that for 30 grand you'd get to pick the language of your choice?