Right now i am a Computer tech working on client level issues. (Have A+ Cert).
I really want to study Psychology but i dont know how these majors link together. What would be a good educational plan for me? I WANT to study psychology, but i dont want to waste all of the education and on the job training i have for computers.
Answer
A lot of schools offer a cognitive systems course, which deals with the way humans and machines interact. This would be the perfect program for you. Here's more info from the University of Toronto site, but it's offered at a lot of places.
Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of intelligence in humans and machines. It encompasses work done in computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. Drawing on the concepts, theories, and methodologies of these disciplines, cognitive scientists seek an understanding of such mental phenomena as perception, language, learning, and reasoning in information-processing terms, and they aim to integrate this understanding with a neurophysiological account of how the human brain implements these information-processing phenomena. Cognitive Science also offers a science major program. The arts major program has a "Perception and Attention" stream, a "Language and Cognition" stream, and a "Thinking and Reasoning" stream; the science major has a "Computational Cognition" stream and a "Cognition and the Brain" stream.
A lot of schools offer a cognitive systems course, which deals with the way humans and machines interact. This would be the perfect program for you. Here's more info from the University of Toronto site, but it's offered at a lot of places.
Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of intelligence in humans and machines. It encompasses work done in computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. Drawing on the concepts, theories, and methodologies of these disciplines, cognitive scientists seek an understanding of such mental phenomena as perception, language, learning, and reasoning in information-processing terms, and they aim to integrate this understanding with a neurophysiological account of how the human brain implements these information-processing phenomena. Cognitive Science also offers a science major program. The arts major program has a "Perception and Attention" stream, a "Language and Cognition" stream, and a "Thinking and Reasoning" stream; the science major has a "Computational Cognition" stream and a "Cognition and the Brain" stream.
What 4 year computer degree is the best that makes the most money?
ill will
I am planning to start school this summer, I am 30 years old I was in the Army and I have my GI bill.
I want to get a 4 year bachelors degree in the computer field. I was thinking about IT and info security, but I want to know what degree is easiest to land a decent paying job after you graduate. After all that is why I am going to go back to school is so I can get a decent job. I am planning on going to school in Raleigh or Durham N.C. I was thinking about ITT Tech but I changed my mind after I looked at there reviews they were mostly all negative, Please I need anyone's suggestion,thanks!
Answer
There is a shortage of high quality people in all fields. These people will always be in demand. Many of the worst programmers have already lost their jobs to outsourcing but the best and the brightest who keep their skills current and relevant will always find employment (but there IS competition).
In IT you cannot afford to become lazy and content with your skill set. If you keep continually learning business and technology and work on your communications skills you will always be valuable as a programmer, analyst or project manager. You should figure you'll need 5 years experience after graduating a 4 year school to begin to make a good wage.
You will also need to move to where the jobs are: there are no good paying computer jobs in Casper, Wyoming for example. Moving to Silicon Valley may be a good move, but you are also going to be competing with 600,000 other software engineers, so you really need to stand out.
Information security is a given these days - there is nothing specialized about it. The concepts are straightforward, it just takes the will to implement them. There ARE some very specialized jobs that provide some job security, even in smaller towns: computer forensics. A very specialized field that the police, FBI, etc. use to analyze the contents of a user's disc in criminal investigations.
You can ask your college professors for other examples that are in demand. Doing software intern work in a computer drive manufacturer (like Seagate, Western Digital, etc.) would get you job experience in the computer forensics field (for example).
One thing you have to consider is whatever job you choose, you have to ask yourself "Why couldn't this job be exported?" We used to have a team of IT support people at our company, and now IT support is in Asia (except for one low-paid guy). You can manage computer systems from anywhere, including overseas. IT is a 24/7 type of job (mostly on weekends and nights) - so having a family is not a good idea. Software programmers have a more normal 5 day a week job, but it's rare you'll keep the same job with the same company for more than 5 years.
People can, and do, contract overseas programmers as well. The only thing that will provide "job security" is doing something that either 1) no one else does overseas, or 2) a job that *requires* you to be in the USA. Even so, you will *still* have to move to where the jobs are, so you have to built that into the equation.
You college professors will educate you in computers (after all, you are paying them), but they will educate you even if they KNOW there are no jobs when you get out. It is up to you to know what jobs are "secure" or in demand, and go and pursue them. That's one of the reasons why the ITT's reviews were negative.
As a practical matter, you have about 20 years to make your mark. At age 50, companies know that health problems start. No large company is going to hire you because older people skew the health care insurance curve, at most you may be able to work until age 55 until you get laid off (they don't want you on their health insurance roles). You don't want to pick a path that will take you 15 years to establish yourself.
By that time you get to age 50, you need to be prepared to be an independent consultant (and pay your own health insurance). If you are not working toward that goal, you'll be like many of my software programmer friends - out of work with no prospects of finding any.
One of the most important things you can do to find out the right job for you is just to *ASK*. Research the FBI and look to see if they are hiring forensic analysts or cyber-terror analysts. What are they looking for? Are you willing to move near the FBI or Department of Homeland Security headquarters? Ask other people in the IT field what they think is the right course to take. Ask other employers what they are going to be looking for 4 years from now. Ask your professors what they think.
Ultimately, you're going to have to pick something you like doing, because 20 years is a long time to be stuck doing something you don't like. (But you really won't be able to pick what it is you want until you're in the third year of school because you will learn so many new things that you didn't know about before).
There is a shortage of high quality people in all fields. These people will always be in demand. Many of the worst programmers have already lost their jobs to outsourcing but the best and the brightest who keep their skills current and relevant will always find employment (but there IS competition).
In IT you cannot afford to become lazy and content with your skill set. If you keep continually learning business and technology and work on your communications skills you will always be valuable as a programmer, analyst or project manager. You should figure you'll need 5 years experience after graduating a 4 year school to begin to make a good wage.
You will also need to move to where the jobs are: there are no good paying computer jobs in Casper, Wyoming for example. Moving to Silicon Valley may be a good move, but you are also going to be competing with 600,000 other software engineers, so you really need to stand out.
Information security is a given these days - there is nothing specialized about it. The concepts are straightforward, it just takes the will to implement them. There ARE some very specialized jobs that provide some job security, even in smaller towns: computer forensics. A very specialized field that the police, FBI, etc. use to analyze the contents of a user's disc in criminal investigations.
You can ask your college professors for other examples that are in demand. Doing software intern work in a computer drive manufacturer (like Seagate, Western Digital, etc.) would get you job experience in the computer forensics field (for example).
One thing you have to consider is whatever job you choose, you have to ask yourself "Why couldn't this job be exported?" We used to have a team of IT support people at our company, and now IT support is in Asia (except for one low-paid guy). You can manage computer systems from anywhere, including overseas. IT is a 24/7 type of job (mostly on weekends and nights) - so having a family is not a good idea. Software programmers have a more normal 5 day a week job, but it's rare you'll keep the same job with the same company for more than 5 years.
People can, and do, contract overseas programmers as well. The only thing that will provide "job security" is doing something that either 1) no one else does overseas, or 2) a job that *requires* you to be in the USA. Even so, you will *still* have to move to where the jobs are, so you have to built that into the equation.
You college professors will educate you in computers (after all, you are paying them), but they will educate you even if they KNOW there are no jobs when you get out. It is up to you to know what jobs are "secure" or in demand, and go and pursue them. That's one of the reasons why the ITT's reviews were negative.
As a practical matter, you have about 20 years to make your mark. At age 50, companies know that health problems start. No large company is going to hire you because older people skew the health care insurance curve, at most you may be able to work until age 55 until you get laid off (they don't want you on their health insurance roles). You don't want to pick a path that will take you 15 years to establish yourself.
By that time you get to age 50, you need to be prepared to be an independent consultant (and pay your own health insurance). If you are not working toward that goal, you'll be like many of my software programmer friends - out of work with no prospects of finding any.
One of the most important things you can do to find out the right job for you is just to *ASK*. Research the FBI and look to see if they are hiring forensic analysts or cyber-terror analysts. What are they looking for? Are you willing to move near the FBI or Department of Homeland Security headquarters? Ask other people in the IT field what they think is the right course to take. Ask other employers what they are going to be looking for 4 years from now. Ask your professors what they think.
Ultimately, you're going to have to pick something you like doing, because 20 years is a long time to be stuck doing something you don't like. (But you really won't be able to pick what it is you want until you're in the third year of school because you will learn so many new things that you didn't know about before).
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