any advice for someone learning C++?

[discouraged]

I bought myself a C++ primer book to teach my self. Does anyone have any tips and pointers on a complete newbie?

 

I have downloaded mingw, cygwin, microsoft visual C++ (express edition), and notepad C++.

 

As for now, the book is only teaching how to write the code and an understanding what each code primarily does. Any tips of speeding up the process? Ultimately, I would like to become a software engineer, but I have much to learn. I want to learn how to start creating my own programs/applications and hope I can pick up an internship this winter. Any advice?

[pl3asehelp]

Coding is just one small part of being a software engineer. To get a job, you'll need a degree and going to school will provide you with all the knowledge you need in addition to the coding skills, which are the easy part. I definitely suggest school.

[discouraged]

Coding is just one small part of being a software engineer. To get a job, you'll need a degree and going to school will provide you with all the knowledge you need in addition to the coding skills, which are the easy part. I definitely suggest school.

 

Im already attending school and will be applying this year to transfer to a university. Ive just enrolled in a C++ class and a JAVA class and my major will be computer engineering. Im on differential equations and linear algebra and will be completing all of my physics major prep courses by spring. I believe all I have left are the upper division classes in a university that will include discrete mathematics and upper division computational courses.

 

I created this thread to find things I can do for the mean time before I transfer so I can be better prepared and hope to find internships in the interim to gain as much experience as I can.

[pl3asehelp]

Im already attending school and will be applying this year to transfer to a university. Ive just enrolled in a C++ class and a JAVA class and my major will be computer engineering. Im on differential equations and linear algebra and will be completing all of my physics major prep courses by spring. I believe all I have left are the upper division classes in a university that will include discrete mathematics and upper division computational courses.

 

I created this thread to find things I can do for the mean time before I transfer so I can be better prepared and hope to find internships in the interim to gain as much experience as I can.

 

Self study on any of those topics would be helpful prior to starting your degree program. Coding is something you can learn from a book by yourself, so I'd suggest you make it all the way through your C++ book and if you still have time after that before starting school, get a Java book. link removed is a great Java book that requires no prior programming knowledge. If you master that book, you could take the certification test on your own which would be a great benefit.

 

One thing to think about is what you're interested in doing. C++ is used more in gaming and lower level systems programming these days, where Java is more general purpose and business oriented. I think Java makes it easier to find a job and the jobs will be available in more areas of the country, but if you really love game development then it might make more sense to focus on C++ which could also somewhat limit you to living in the SF bay area or New York.

[discouraged]

Thanks, Ill look into that java book you recommended. So far, from my research, what I intend to do with the degree is to get the qualification and knowledge on the technical aspects of programming in a consulting firm and eventually, after gaining enough experience, become a sales engineer. I already have much sales experience as working in the retail banking industry and love interacting with people. Ive always had a passion for computers, but Ive never pursued it until my realization of hating the banking industry hit me...

 

Currently, Im in the LA area, but I'm not chained to this city. I would love it if I could move to NY, but I'm sure its extremely difficult to do. Would you happen to have knowledge/experience on sales engineer? I hear its a lucrative job with much stress, traveling, and hours of work. Ive read from multiple sources people with families dislike it, but many who are single love it...

[pl3asehelp]

In 15 years as a software professional I've never known anyone who got an engineering degree when their long term goal is sales. All the sales people I've ever known in software came had a sales background from another industry and their educational background is marketing.

[discouraged]

Its not a long term goal, but it is something I am interested in. Im also interested getting a law degree and maybe become a patent lawyer, but nothing is for certain.

 

Ive been told in order to become a sales engineer, a degree in computer science/engineering is required with a minimum of 2 years in experience. I have read that in a consulting firm, there are teams that conduct the sales for the company. It includes the sales reps, sales engineers that works with the sales reps, and the programming people that create the programs for the businesses that the sales reps & sales engineers attracts.

 

If this is wrong, please tell me now so I can continue doing more research on the field to determine which route to take. In the end, I do like computers and learning the C++, at the moment, is very intriguing to me. However, I also like to interact in a group setting/team. Ive always had an outgoing personality and hoped I could combine that with computer knowledge in a career...

 

Eventually, my ultimate goal is to learn how a consulting firm works, both the technical aspects and sales, and maybe start one of my own with a few trusted colleagues. However, if I can't do that, the I would try to get into a management position if I can. Just to reiterate, these are just thoughts/ideas for the moment.

 

A few of my friends and even my father who are in programming firms are all introverted and will stick to writing code forever. My dad has been in the same position for many years now and I DONT want to follow that same path. I would like to keep climbing the "ranks" if possible.

 

Since you've been in the industry for a long time, do you have any insight on what I should look into regarding my interests?

[pl3asehelp]

I question the advice you got that you need to have a CS or engineering degree with 2 years of experience to do sales. I don't even have a CS or engineering degree, I have a business management degree and just took some programming classes.

 

Basically for engineers your career path will go either into management or into some kind of an architect or principal engineer role. Once you've become an architect, you're pretty much done - there's nowhere else to advance to. Maybe that's where your dad is at. If you go into management, the sky is the limit. However, being a good manager is an entirely different skill set from being a good engineer and it's really rare that someone is good at both. Engineers are often promoted to management jobs because they are stellar engineers, but they often make really bad managers, which is why IT can be a really frustrating field to work in. It's almost always that the managers have no idea what's going on and are pretty poor at their job which frustrates everyone, particularly the engineers working for them and the business stakeholders they build a product for.

 

What you described regarding how sales people work with engineers isn't unique to a consulting firm, pretty much any firm that creates and then sells their software has the same basic structure.

 

Not all programming jobs are for solitary introverts and every job I've ever had has involved being on a team and working in groups. The culture of the company you work at is much more important. I work at a start up now and it's really similar to how Facebook was depicted in the movie The Social Network. Kegs of beer in the office, ping pong, etc. Now if you go to work at Allstate insurance or something, you could probably camp out in a cube and rarely talk to anyone for your whole career.

 

Unless a consulting firm is developing their own software, they don't have anything to sell so what the salespeople there do is typically sell the services of their engineers. They go out and try to get a contract with a company that does build software and supply them with labor to do that. These types of sales people are close to HR recruiters and all they need to know about IT are a few buzzwords and acronyms to match up an engineer working at their consulting firm with a requisition from a client that specifies they need an engineer with a specific set of skills.

 

Not sure if I answered your questions, let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

[JC Denton]

Any tips of speeding up the process?

 

If by "speeding up the process" you mean rush through it, I highly recommend you don't do that. I'm learning C++ as well and am mostly self learned (I took a C++ class in school and am going back to school to major in computer systems tech). One thing that I've learned is that you NEVER want to rush through the learning process. Take everything slow. Do not move on to the next topic until you are completely comfortable with the one you are currently on. Another thing I suggest is that you create some random programs. When I frist started out, I created a simple two player numberguess game that I used to play with one of my classmates. Simple things like that really help to improve your skill and confidence. Good luck to you!

[discouraged]

Hey guys! havent been on here in a while, but I just recently saw both of your posts on here JC Denton and pl3asehelp. I actually started to reconsider that sales thing I mentioned earlier... However, I just finished my C++ course and I am picking up a Java book during this winter break. I understand what JCD meant about not "speeding up the process", that was very ignorant thought I made haha The C++ courses I took went very well and I learned much more than I would have by myself. The JAVA book I picked up is meant to just to dip my feet in the water so I'm not surprised by it that much, but so far, Java is a bit simpler to pick up since the the eclipse compiler gives you the option for "quick fixes" and to create setters/getters and members... (very simple indeed).

 

I'm thinking of going into software development, but I have web development in mind as well. If I head into the web development direction, then I gotta learn PHP, CSS, and... i forget the rest of the list...

 

Do you guys recommend to focus on software development or would web development be a better idea? (also, if you could, please explain why?)