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How old is your average computer programmer?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 1:54 pm
by rathlon
Just wondering? I just hit 25 this month and only have 2 classes towards my degree completed. Am I wasting my time shooting to be a programmer? Considering I'll be 30 years old before I have my degree. Should I be shooting more towards EE or CE? Thoughts...
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 3:04 pm
by Stoker
I'm thirty, have no relevant degree, nor any Batchelors or higher.. I don't think age matters much, experience matters the most, so use your spare time and projects to create useful snippets and programs of opensource code and place it on sourceforge or other similar place, and perhaps contribute to other projects and get known in their communities, at least for Web development I believe that would weigh a lot more than "being younger with a fresh degree".
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 6:04 pm
by phice
I'm 16.
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:08 pm
by mydimension
it really depends on how much you are willing to keep up with the pace of technology in your field. my dad went to school for electrical enginering and as never used it in a job situation yet. he is now 50 working for a medical company as a DBA. he has also held positions like software enginer, systems analyst and others. the reason he is able to pull down these jobs is because he is willing to learn what needs to learn.
be adaptable and you should be fine. stay on top of you field and you'll be even better.
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:52 am
by jason
I just turned 23 on Jan. 19

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:55 am
by evilcoder
I'm 17 at the moment.
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:45 pm
by Johnm
I am 33 and going to graduate from college in May.
Get the degree.
John M
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 2:33 pm
by evilcoder
Yeh, but that degree (if you have inter-personal skills) means nothing. I got offered a full time position in a web design/ programming company in Australia, but i couldn't take it because i'm still at school.
I applied to see if i could get outsourced work, but he said he would employ me as a resident programmer in ASP.
I think knowing what you want, and taking initiative will ultimately land you the job you're looking for. (Mainly good advice in the computer world, not relevant outside though

)
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 3:35 pm
by Johnm
I disagree. With the job market in the related fields you would be more likely to get a job and a higher pay rate over a person with similar experience. You are likely going to be promoted over someone without a degree as well.
I see your point, but aside from what the degree is in just having one tells potential employers that you are educated at-least to certain level. University Program courses are designed around the idea of getting a well rounded education and through this employers know that you will have many necessary skills like mathematics, inter-personal communication skills, writing skills, along with an understanding of the sciences, history, and in general, an understanding of how the world works. Granted, not everyone that comes out of a college has these skills but they are more likely to have them than those who haven't been to college.
I have spent the last five years working a full time job, going to college, along with being a husband and a father. I quit a great paying job as a supervisor in a factory when I was 27 to go back to school because all the jobs above my position required a degree. There was no where to go.
Forgive my babbling but join the 20 - 25% (Yea, that's it) of the world that have a formal education.
It is worth it.
John M
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 3:50 am
by sane993
I'm 15 and got offered a full-time job as a php'er the other day. So age doesn't matter IMO but then again I'm not an employer. Jason, do you have any qualifications or is it just you reputation you get your jobs on?
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 4:09 am
by twigletmac
Experience counts a lot when it comes to working with computers so the more you can gather of that the better. However, in my experience and echoing Johnm, those people with degrees are more likely to get hired, promoted and earn more money than those without degrees and the same amount of experience. But then it'll depend on what type of work you are looking to do and the companies that you want to work for.
Mac
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 1:30 pm
by JPlush76
its all about experience in this field.
I never went to college and I've been working in the IT field for 8 years (26years old now).
No one has ever asked me about school, just about experience. You just have to learn as much as possible and wow them with your knowledge.
The post above is correct though, on paper if two people have the same skills the one with the degree will get the job. However you can turn that around if you're good in interviews. Personality is more important that a degree in this field I've found.
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 12:54 pm
by m3mn0n
i'm 18
and i agree, experience is everything. Age means nothing.
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:56 pm
by AndrewBacca
im 19 im at uni studing software engineering but ive been programing since I was about 6 on my C64!!! lol the good old days
yeah I agree as well its wot you know, not how old you are
Andrew
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 2:56 pm
by evilcoder
hehe who started about the age? we were discussing experience vs education. hehe
Anyways, its good to see what people think about the issue, also i think an important factor is also market competition. I'm going to UNI to study education in sociology and psychology, so computers aren't really going to play a major role in my later life. But aside from the rambling i'm trying to say that i will have no problems getting a job as a teacher with the lowest degree because there are shortages in teachers here. So IT is the most sort after occupation and in most western countries ESP. America the competition is huge, and experience which once got you the job may not soon.