Studying Computing Part Time

damiendublin

Over the last two years, I've taught myself VBA and then VB.NET. I've just finished writing my first proper programme in VB.NET, for which I've written about 6000 lines of code.

The National College of Ireland is advertising a part time BSc in Computing and this really interests me because I have no computing qualification but I seem to have a knack for it.

The course is heavily focused on Java, which is fine because I understand it is very popular right now. I presume professional developers know more than just one language, so my question for professional developers is how many languages would an employer expect a developer to know?

As I said, I have a good knowledge of VB.NET. From an employment point of view, should I also learn other languages outside of college also (such as C++ or C# or Python or Perl or PHP).

Which languages would you recommend that I know. And if a college course deals primarily with one language, how do/did professional developers learn others. Take a short course or just from a book?

Sorry for so many questions and thanks for your help,
Damien.

Procasinator

It really depends on a job, but often you will see job listings looking for a compiled language and a scripting language (using simplistic terminology). Such as having at least one of:

Java, C++, C#

AND

PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, Bash


If I was you, I'd probably consider looking into C# as you'll pick it up quickly (as you are already experienced in .NET), and consider learning a more dynamic interpretative language.

Having both classes of languages would give an indication that you can do large scale development AND write quick scripts to accomplish small tasks. Not that either are exclusive to one class.

Clanket

I'm looking at that NCI course too. I didn't realise they dealt primarily in Java.

I was going to ask about the languages at their open day tomorrow.

Webmonkey

My girl friend is starting the course in NCI. How do you know it's primarily Java they teach there. Surely they do other languages as well, such as C for the low level fundamentals [memory management etc]?

damiendublin

I went to the open evening yesterday. The guy who manages the course said they deal primarily with Java. He didn't say it is the only language though.

chanianaus

I am doing this course and will be starting Yr 4 in few weeks, I can confirm that Java is programming lang used in the course.

Evil Phil

Java is par for the course really, if you'll pardon the rather weak pun. It's not really the language that counts however, it's the skills that you learn. The OOP skills that you'll learn with Java will transfer to other languages, also having Java makes employable.

What language will a employer expect you to have coming out of college with no commercial experience? They'll expect you to have whatever you learned in college. Having your additional Vb experience will be a bonus imo.

Clanket

I went to the open day yesterday and he said Java was the main one but there's also other languages taught in various modules. It's year 3 before you get to C# though.

Webmonkey

Sounds good to me!

Fluffy88

I was in almost the same position as you about a year ago and now I am kinda at the other end of the situation. I had learnt JavaScript and PHP as a kind of hobby. I was getting good at programming and thought I wouldn't mind working at it, but I needed some kind of qualification before any employers would take me seriously.

What I done was a 1 year HDip in IT in Maynooth. To be eligible for the course you need to have already completed a degree in any discipline, the course was a conversion course. Similar courses are offered by many other institutes. The great thing about the course is you do all the important modules that you would do in a full CS degree and you do less of the crappy ones and at the end of the course you are very likely to get a job. My course was also focused on Java and I found it invaluable to me. I learnt so much from the year and just learning Java gives you a great understanding of programming because it's so well defined. Personally I thought a lot of jobs were looking for C# developers but they realise that if you have Java you can easily learn C#.

Personally I would recommend doing that course or if your eligible for the 1 year HDip it was a great course. If you have a very good understanding of one language you will have no problem picking up any others. And Java is a great language to know(because it's the new kid on the block) and it gives you a great foundation to start your career!

EDIT: To answer your original question, I think that get a good understanding of one language first then move on to learning another if you want. There will be jobs available in almost every language and you will be a better programmer if you have a deep understanding of a language.

hanleyc2

Fluffy88 wrote: »

And Java is a great language to know(because it's the new kid on the block) and it gives you a great foundation to start your career!

Java is hardly the new kid on the block (it has been around for 15+ years) but it is definitely a highly sought after language in the IT industry at the moment and will make your first commercial job hunt a lot easier if you have some knowledge under your belt.

If you are talking about graduate level developer, companies wont expect you to know a range of languages as they understand Universities will only concentrate on 1 or maybe 2 languages.

Fluffy88

hanleyc2 wrote: »

Java is hardly the new kid on the block (it has been around for 15+ years) but it is definitely a highly sought after language in the IT industry at the moment and will make your first commercial job hunt a lot easier if you have some knowledge under your belt.

I know it's not new, but that's exactly what I meant. It seems that a lot of companies are using it, so it's a good one to have. Java or C# would probably be the easiest to find a job in atm.