IT/Software career thread: Invert binary trees for dollars.

Black_Death_sl said:

This talk of MUMPS and EDI brings back memories of my first job out of college with a large HIS software provider (actually mentioned in the wikipedia article unfortunately). I did quite a bit of work with X12 specs in the insurance and billing worlds (835, 837, 270, 271, 997). They are treated less as specs and more as guidelines...each carrier will have subtle differences requiring you to maintain a custom translation layer which can be frustrating.

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Oh they are not hard and fast specs in any sense of the word. That's what makes getting into the integration space so lucrative. Minor changes to the specs confuse the shit out of ordinary people and they think that if you can make those adjustments you're a superstar. I've built my entire career around it. I just turned down a job for 140k/yr a month ago because it didn't have the benefits package I wanted simply because I am an integration specialist. It's the best field to get into. I work around 30 hours a week, golf my brains out, get 8 weeks of vacation and make stupid money just because I genuinely enjoy solving those kinds of problems. It's baller. No seriously, I'm not joking, I get 8 weeks of vacation.

Adebisi_sl said:

I'm very bored with my current job bros. It was never my intention to be doing what I'm doing (9 years now) but the money was good. I'm 32, have a mortgage and fam ... would I be insane to go back to university for comp sci/comp engineering?

I've got the school bug.

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No, insanity is when you stick a glass jar up your butt and don't plan for the catastrophic outcome.

Is comp sci a good general degree to get? Don't want to be shoe-horned into having to get a certain position. Never gone to college but I know I want to do something with computers.

Unless you can get your current employer to pay for it you should just teach yourself. Save money and time.

Khane_sl said:

Unless you can get your current employer to pay for it you should just teach yourself. Save money and time.

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Any recommendations for good books/sites that are free/cheap to use? Also what language is best to start out with?

joz123_sl said:

Is comp sci a good general degree to get? Don't want to be shoe-horned into having to get a certain position. Never gone to college but I know I want to do something with computers.

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It's typically a very general degree yes. There are a ton of different types of software development/engineering jobs you can get and a lot of different technologies you would be able to work with with a bachelors in comp sci.

joz123_sl said:

Any recommendations for good books/sites that are free/cheap to use? Also what language is best to start out with?

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Well I was responding to 'bisi but you can pirate almost any book you want, or if you want to go the "legit" route digital copies of programming books aren't prohibitively expensive. As for the "best" language to start out with there is none. It really depends on what you think you'll be interested in. Java and C# are the two most widely used languages generally speaking but that doesn't preclude the vast array of other languages out there from being worthwhile to learn/know.

Do you want to do web development? If so front end or back end? Do you want to work in the financial sector? Healthcare? Do you want to integrate disparate systems? Database? There are endless possibilities to the kind of work you can do in the software space. It's kind of an impossible question to answer.

Pluralsight has some free tutorials and also a modest fee for a subscription. Developmentor is another decent site. Channel 9 is a great resource for getting started on Microsoft technologies.

Is it possible to get a decent job getting associates first then go back for a bachelors?

It's possible to get a good (better than decent) job without any degree in the field at all. My brother is a self taught developer making over 80k/yr at his first job in the field (after overtime hours) in central CT.

Yes, it is very likely you will get a decent job without a degree in this field.

Depends on the company, we only hire people with degrees (and not from pay-for-degree schools).