Coder's Guild Mailing List

education

Posted by Fox on 2000-10-05

I'm 17.  I graduate from high school in May of 2001.  I've been teaching myself 
C++ for almost 5 years now.  I've written several major projects to apply what I've 
learned --I haven't just been reading.  Like I said before, I've got a screen saver 
that is now 95% finished which is made using just about every feature of C++, 
including MFC, and lots of self-made graphics engines, etc.

My point is that I enjoy doing this.  It's frustrating because I can't do it full time, 
and I often have to let projects sit for weeks until I get free time enough to work on 
them.  I want to get a job as a programmer.  Eventually, I want to get into game 
programming, although I don't expect to right off the bat.  I'll settle for other 
programming jobs until I can get into that.

With all of this, what kind of education does one need for a job?  IMO, I know a lot 
already and don't really need more school because I've taught myself; but 
companies, I'm told, like to look only at the degree, and not what a person really 
knows.  What does a programmer just starting out need to do to get a job and 
then continue his knowledge from there?  I'd be fine if I could get a programming 
job, and then learn more about it once I had that baseline.

Am I being too idealistic?  If so, forgive my ignorance and shake some sense into 
me ;-).  Getting started is the hardest thing to do.  Isn't that one of Newton's 
laws?  "Things at rest tend to stay at rest unless a force acts on it to move it."  
"Things in motion tend to stay in motion unless something acts on it to slow it 
down."  Meaning that once something gets into motion, it's easier to keep it going 
than starting it.  I need a start.  Any help?

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