Career Options for CS/IT/IS graduates

Career options for CS/IT/IS graduatesALFRED JETT GRANDEZA

FOUNDER, LEAN CONSULTING

About Me• Graduate of AdDU, Computer Science 2012

• Over 5 years of software engineering experience

• Former CTO of T.H.E. Patrons, co-founder

• Founder of Lean Consulting

• Active member of the Davao .NET community

• I do consulting and freelance work

• I do seminars

• Advocate of .NET technologies & AngularJS

• I LIKE TO LEARN!

Career options as CS/IT/IS graduate• Developer/Programmer

• Mobile• Web• “Full stack”

• IT/MIS Administrator

• Network Engineer

• Information Security Engineer / White-hat hacker

• Researcher/Academe

• Entrepreneur

• …and many others

Why you should be a Software Developer?• Programmers are today’s rockstars

• One of the highest paid / pays very well

• In demand

• Future proof

Why you should not be a Software Developer?• If you’re not happy with it

• If you do not want to study all the time

• If you’re easily frustrated

• If you hate details

• If you don’t want to get paid well

• If you want your job to be outdated after 10 years or less

• Never ending stress

• Poor diet

How to start a successful career as a developer?

1. Strengthen your fundamentals• Programming Paradigms

• Object Oriented• Functional• Procedural

• Algorithms

• Data Structures

• Agile Methodologies

2. Master 1 programming language• Avoid at all cost learning multiple languages at one time

• Unless you are very smart :p

• Concentrate on one to master

3. Master 1 framework• Mastering a framework could take years of practice

4. Strategically choose a secondary framework/language• Compliment your first choice of language or framework with another

• Example:• ASP.NET Web API and AngularJS

5. Master SQL• Most, if not all, applications gather data

• SQL is the universal language

6. Learn JavaScript• Because JavaScript is everywhere

• Mobile• Phonegap, Cordova

• Web• jQuery, AngularJS, KnockoutJS

• Back-end• NodeJS

• Database• MongoDB

7. Learn Version Control• Any software company uses version control

• Git

• SVN

• Mercurial

8. Learn how to read someone else’s code• It’s not always about writing code

• A big chunk of your time will be devoted to:• Understanding someone else’s code• Debugging• Arguing with QA

What subjects are very useful? (as a developer)• Databases

• All programming classes• Object Oriented Programming• Data structures

• Systems Analysis and Design

• Research (Thesis)

My advice to aspiring developers• Constantly learn

• Invest in yourself

• Be ready to watch hours of video tutorials

• Be ready to read books

• Put in the hours!

• Learn as much as you can

• Create a Github Account

• Create Stackoverflow Account

Don’t limit yourself in software development• Game Development

• Robotics• Arduino, Raspbery Pi

• Agriculture• Automated Irrigation System

• Health

• Entrepeneurship

• …and many more

My advice on aspiring entrepreneurs

Shameless plug

Davao MSDN Session (Sept)• Sept 17, Saturday

• I’ll be speaking about AngularJS vs AngularJS 2

• Another speaker from Manila, Microsoft MVP

• For more details - Davao .NET Users group