Any web devs/code monkeys/computer folk here?
I've recently graduated high school, wanting to major in computer science. I've made a few websites and have tampered with computers/phones since ninth grade, but I have this awful fear:
When I've graduated and all is done, when I start applying for the big boy jobs like Google, amazon, etc., I'll be either out done by some kid who learned to do everything computer by the age of 10 or some computer genius. I'm not retarded, but I fear the decent companies will dismiss me, despite my obvious passion for computing and software in my high school years.
Can anyone relate? Any tips? Stories? Kind of a nervous wreck right now
>>17318021
Getting a job at a major technology company, you will have a lot of competition. Those aren't the only programming jobs out there though, and you're going to find that the job market as a programmer is like the job market as a whole everywhere: there are a ton of incompetent people out there.
If you're good and reasonably quick at producing results, you'll be able to find a job somewhere.
Tough choice OP. good luck.
>>17318021
You might not enjoy your job at big tech companies since it can be very mundane and formulaic. Make sure you do some sort of research as an undergrad and get an internship. Have a "portfolio", a github repository with all of your worthwhile projects. Do this and you should have no problem getting a job. (Assuming you can actually program)
>>17318021
It's hard but not for the reason you're thinking. I used to code c and play with things like gamemaker since I was 12. That means nothing to them.
There are many, many, many idiots with CS degrees that are still qualified. When I worked at frys a fourth of the DIY pc employees were still in the "windows ultimate is faster than professional" and "my 32gb ram pc is better than your 8gb ram pc" phase. Those employees took the jobs of several actual pc knowing nerds that could be having the time of their life.
A tip a relative with a high paying comp science job told me.
"Have a portfolio filled with complicated sounding programs to try and intimidate your employer." My portfolio had an inefficient media encoder, basic file compression, and a dumb mmo game server I made when I was 14.
>>17318021
If your goal is to work at Amazon or Google and nothing else will do, you're going to be disappointed. Most of the tech world isn't the giant companies you've heard about and most of those giant companies will pay you well but burn you out.
My wife has been a PERL coder for a decade. She's at her dream job (a mix of big new backend projects and the refactoring stuff she loves), has some input on hiring, and her advice to my cousin was this: build a portfolio, put it on github, make sure your projects compile and work, know your code well enough that you can answer any question at any time, make sure any coding test you do for a job will actually compile (you'd be amazed), do projects with languages you didn't learn in school so you have more options, and don't expect to work at a company your relatives will have heard of unless you both dislike sleep and like the idea of competing with thousands of people for a job you won't actually give much of a shit about.
