Programming or networking as a career?

danish pasterys

Hi I'm trying to reach out to any programmers or network techs out there tat can give me sum insight to the job

I enjoy making simple webpages using html but one programmer turned me off it sayin how hard it is and pressure involved,

I'm currently doin a networking course and its ok finding it a bit dull due to all the theory and no practical labs but i don't know what to really focus on as a career. Any insight on either field appreciated

Basically I'm tryna find out what wud be the easier job to grasp and have a less stressful life

Dravokivich

Not a programmer or network engineer, but I've been working on service desks for the last number of years. Networks, has the potential to be a high priority issue/problem to be dealt with more so than programming. With programming you'll have deadlines to work to as part if project work and such, but networks could be that a site/set of offices are off line, outages and support required would have a much higher impact, than holding back a release.

Don't let that out you off. Concentrate on what you're confident/capable in.

uch

edit:

sorry just read your post properly, easiest to grasp depends on a lot of things, using myself as an example, I'd be no use as a programmer as I'm Dyslexic and find it difficult to go through pages of characters, on the other hand I'm a very proficient DBA, but only because there are great GUI tools for managing Databases available. basically work to your strong points, if you are good a looking at Switch configs then go for it.

Freddy Smelly

do server admin... it requires both programming and networking

Both can be stressful - you probably shouldn't be considering either if you're not good under stress, the best guys I've seen actually strive on stress and being pushed to the limit.
I work in the Networking end so can't say how it is from the programming/web development end. I think the important thing is to figure out what you find interesting and that will keep you motivated to work, for me it's security & variety.... I mean today alone I was working on a Cisco Switch, Checkpoint Firewall, SoureFire IPS, Checkpoint VPN, Cisco Ironport and many other design/configuration things.

It's stressful at the start but once you start the get comfortable with the platforms you grow confidence and believe more i your abilities.

Also you will constantly need to up skill and I think that's very important in any area of IT, the more your learn the less stress you'll have.

Khannie

danish pasterys wrote: »

one programmer turned me off it sayin how hard the job was an tat he has to constantly upskill

This is the biggest load of lazy arsedness I've ever heard.

Yes you do have to constantly upskill. The reason for that is that technology changes. Skills that were awesome 10 years ago are not so awesome any more (with the possible exception of C/C++ which hasn't changed much over the years). If you're not interested in technology (not you specifically) then coding is probably not a good choice of career though. The people who do best are the ones that find problem solving interesting, not a chore.

mach1982

Stay with programming there many sites out there that can help you such as with web programming w3shools. Can I make suggestion that , you also stop using tetx speak also .

Gone Drinking

You'll need to up skill in every area of IT. If you go down the Cisco route, you need to either up skill or resit exams in order to keep your qualifications.

They change the exams every few years (like they are this year), so you wouldn't be able to just keep resitting. It doesn't make sense anyway, the more you know, the more you get paid.

Programming is no different, if you don't up skill you'll be left behind and won't be hireable.

If you're coming into the sector looking for a handy number were you don't have to up skill, then you might as well look for another kind of job.

Evd-Burner

I am a programmer. I really enjoy the programming aspect of things, it can be extremely tough at times, just last week I had a project that had to be completed, I didn't go home that night.

I also have to do a fair bit of networking, I enjoy the networking but it stresses me when a site down in say Mayo has a fault.

It's happened to me where some bloody EEJET decided that he couldn't connect his bloody torrents and decided to hit the reset button on the router because he thought it was broken. He destroyed the VPN and all the port range & and port triggering. I wanted to kill the guy.

Khannie

But the highly invested in, complex router config was backed up, amirite? :pac:

moc moc a moc

Evd-Burner wrote: »

decided to hit the reset button on the router because he thought it was broken. He destroyed the VPN and all the port range & and port triggering. I wanted to kill the guy.

Your important hardware should be physically secured (and the configs regularly backed up, as above).

Khannie

Ah sure its a harsh lesson, but hopefully only learnt once.

danish pasterys

Allow me to rephrase my question

Im currently doin a os & networking course with the idea of doing a degree in network technology after it, and I would like to hear of basically what jobs are out there for net techs or even the IT ladder in general, no programming. A slight description of jobs too please

ie whats a day in the life of a system admin? An such an so

Theres guys in my course with IT experience and certs yet they say they cant get work, the guys with the certs cant get work because theyve no experience. I tought IT was a very demandin area in ireland ?? Or is it only demanding for the highly skilled engineers and programmers

Lucifer-0

Could always go down the QA route and get into automation.
It's a fairly handy number and it's in demand (decent money).
You get to code all day, nothing majorly complicated, people generally leave you to it whereas if you were a manual tester you have people constantly asking questions.