Anybody working in the computer science/software design field

Of course I'd like to hear from you Manwhore, you've been telling people to learn computer programming for years!

You talking about various IT jobs or developer/software engineering? There's definitely more money on the software engineering side, but in both fields you actually need to know the technology. A degree won't cut it on its own. There's a lot of dudes out there making bank without a degree just because they know their shit.

Yeah I study CS.

Unfortunately I don't work in this field yet, so can't answer work related questions. I know a couple of guys who are very experienced and they always have work.

I started off with zero programming experience, but slowly got used to it after a lot of frustration. If you decide to study CS, don't be discouraged if you feel like the dumbest person in the room from time to time, there are guys who have been programming for years.. so don't compare your progress to anyone but yourself. In general, it's about solving problems and finding the most efficient algorithm for a given problem.

Quite often companies visit our college and search for students to work with, so students with some experience can gain even more that way... so job prospects are good.

I'd say that for someone who never did any programming or CS related stuff, studying computer science gives you alot of knowledge and a basis for getting really good on your own. As already mentioned above, the degree is not enough but it's a great starting point. The motto of our college is you come here for knowledge not for a degree.

Luckily when you start to understand basic concepts it starts to become fun.

As for the coursework... it's different depending on the uni you go to... but here we have (for each subject) 3 hour non-mandatory lectures per week and 2 hours of laboratory excercises, most of them mandatory. You have to be quick on your feet and study promptly because of the mandatory homeworks.

There are some good guides on youtube on programming, for example you can check out a channel called thenewboston, i advise checking out python first, since it's the easiest and straight to the point.

Also check out youtube for MIT lectures and these series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-OxzIC6pic so you can get the general idea if this is something you'd like to devote more time to.

Def interested in developer/software work not IT, I'm interested in photography/videogrpahy too so I feel like I could have a good eye for web design

Very helpful! thanks man

Why you dropping the pa stuff.

the economy is amazing for CS people. There were quite a few making 6 figured upon graduating college. Pretty much everything you need to know is already out there, you don't need a company. The only issue is that, there's a lot to learn. But there's no limits on you. The guy who make instagram didn't have a college degree. 

Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. The medical and pharmaceutical fields are corrupt as hell, I'd rather not be prescribing people Xanax for the rest of my life. I dig natural medicine, but I'm niot going to graduate school for 4 years to be a Naturopathic Doctor. In any case it is dangerous to be someone's "healer" because all of these illnesses go SO much deeper than anything you can treat on the physical level. I feel very out of place.

I would like to do something creative now! I'm open to anything, and i'm looking around for something that really excites me.

That sounds interesting, especially as someone who switched from biomed eng to cs. A podcast or article about your experiences would be facinating to read. 

Computer science is no joke. In many ways it's a lot harder than medicine. And no it's not that creative. You're referring to the design side of internet and web development which is a different beast entirely.

You need to learn Photoshop and html/css outside of school first then decide.

Yup, I'm more interested in design. Maybe I'll torrent photoshop soon and get started with that.

Maybe??

I will torrent the fuck out of photoshop and get started

what type of design in particular? you can download the program gimp which is free and does 80%-90% of what photoshop does. also, you can buy photoshop elements and a drawing tablet for a cheap price. don't worry about getting full blown photoshop unless you're a pro. or torrent it lol w/e. it's a bit frustrating learning curve but it's worth it. my backround is more digital art as a hobby rather than photo/video editing, though.

check out adobe programs too. e.g adobe flash, illustrator, dreamweaver, fireworks, etc. it's probably the best place to start if you're looking at web design. we're talking code, animations, buttons, gifs, everything. it comes with great tutorials too if you buy it, so you can totally learn to be advanced with this stuff on your own. The interface is pretty intuitive. but I haven't played with these programs for years, so i don't totally remember, just check out youtube tutorials and see if it's your thing.

This is all completely different from computer science though. And obviously a drastic, and some would say "lesser" calling, than medicine. Are you not liking your classes? It too hard? What's going on here I think your reasoning is a bit flimsy at this point. 

Hi man.I ve been working in IT for 1 year and my biggest advice for somebody who wants to be part of the tech revolution is first of all,find a thing you want to create and see what skills do you need to make it.Start small then build more and more know how.In the mean time,you will surely find a job that matches your quest.Maybe not full time but something to bring in some $$ using what you already know.

^ Awesome. 

if you are out of shit to do...think about 3 problems that you have and you might want to solve in your life or maybe a app could solve it.I m sure you can find something which is not already made.Good luck

PS:If you ask me,mobile=future.I think home pc s and laptops will die and will be replaced by smartphones.Already Microsoft did the first step with Continuum.

Medicine is a shit fuck of scientific debate. The history of medicine might as well be called the history of the placebo effect. It is not something you can understand until your immersed in it, and it SUCKS. If anyone is interested in what i'm saying read "Anatomy of an Illness." Medicine is has both empowered and recently stripped human beings of their power. Everyone is sick because the medical community loves to bitch and moan about how everything is bad for you. To those that enjoy medicine, do what you enjoy. I would rather not be a salesman that needs to meet the quota of the large pharnaceutical/medical industry, while at the same time being liable for everything I do/not do. At the end of the day, my influence will never come close to the personal responsibility of the patient. If I need to manifest a sick world to feel important and make money than im going to have a sad life.

The classes aren't hard, they are stupid. Might as well do something I enjoy. I have been taking pictures/video and editing since 7th grade, so I do have a liking for design. I would never persue a career in film/video through college because thats just a waste of money. I assume web design is the next logical step, but who knows, I don't know shit about it! 

Thats awesome!

I'm not doing anything drastic, I will be finishing all my classes this semester. The plan is to become an EMT and try that as my last endeavor in medicine, I also have a few shadowing opportunities to explore. 

Cool that's a pretty solid route. I had several buddies that went from EMT to paramedic to fireman. One's a captain runs his own station now. It's an honorable pursuit

Thanks! I'm actually already nationally cetified and will be able to work in November, it sure will an experience.