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Brainstorming ideas for a friend and his future

Family friend has a high school diploma, out of cash and want to improve his life and hope for the future. Is over 30. Is self educated in tons of computer-related fields, and skilled in Access, etc. BUT wants to go to school at night to explore new opportunities and hopes in life. No cash, little time. He thought about learning Networking, thought about making money with what he loves (creating new digital music), thought about finding something he'd love to do AND make good money. Tough...

C# is new and tons of possibilities, I thought. Assuming programming would be a good direction to explore, looking for comments and ideas. If networking is the general choice he makes, where to start in terms of online education?

Basic brainstorming thread here, and ideas, links and recommendations are appreciated, given all I've noted above.

If more than one gives great insights, will ask a moderator to split points.

Thanks a bunch for your guidance. I'll check back when I can, swamped at work.

":0)
Asta

jos010697

Companies all over the place would kill for skilled
Java developers. For starters, studying all 'trails'
offered at:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

would be a nice place to start ... it's free, it's
complete, right from the source and the pages contain
lots of information about myriads of topics.

kind regards,

Jos

ps. I don't receive any money from anyone saying this ;-)

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imladris

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jos010697

Just IMHO, I consider C#/.NET a rude mutilation of the
Java/JVM concept sprinkled with too many promises and
hype marketing and above all, being so soft for your
hands etc. But all IMVHO of course.

kind regards,

Jos

boneTKE

For long term satisfaction and security I would recommend C/C++ to everyone wanting a firm foundation in programming. Two years ago I left a 13 year engineering career for programming - to find something I'd love to do AND make a lot of money. I came to the conclusion that if I learned C/C++, then I could pick up any other language. It will be very hard for a johnny-come-lately language like C# to displace C/C++. C/C++ has been around for decades, has published standards, and is NOT vendor proprietary (like Java, C#). It's two years later and I've no regrets about my decision. Thank goodness I didn't opt for that VB course ;)

knine

Just listening...

jos010697

I bounced into C back in '78 (I'm showing my age here ;-) and I've met C++ in '85, when it was hardly born and I studied both languages and their evolution ever since. IMHO starting studying C or C++ from scratch is doing Broadway the hardway, although it can be done.

I've seen people drowning in all those nifty but nasty
features of C++, I've seen people commiting suicide using C, but I've seen people who finally 'got the hang of it' after struggling for months and months.

Java on the other hand is all about object oriented 'thinking'. C++ needs the same twist of mind, but it also needs knowledge of the gory details it inherited from C. C, by definition, is a high level programming langauge with the exceptional characteristic that the machine code of the bare metal is shining through.

I agree with boneTKE that a solid knowledge of C/C++ is very valuable for your career, but, as I said, starting from scratch is quite a tough job ...

kind regards,

Jos

Shivshankar

First ask your family friend what kind of a Programming career he wants. You gotta be firm on whatever you do and choose your domain carefully. Just because C# is hot amd you may make more money you should'nt learn it if you don't like it. Do whatever is pleasing/interesting.

Anyway, to make out a career in programming it is not only necessary that you learn a language but also be strong in the foundations of Computer Science. In India, Carnegie Mellon University conducts such courses thru third-parties. If one such is available, take it up.

Don't learn too many. Its good to be a Master of one than Jack of all trades. IMHO, C/C++ is essentially a very good starter as far as programming is concerned as you can try almost all of the Computer science concepts(like logic, compiler design, Operating Systems, Business programming etc) in those languages.

And finally... FYI, mainframes are still hot and learning COBOL, JCL, MVS, DB2, ADSO etc will surely help you. It is only that the training would set your wallet by a big amount.

Asta Cu

ASKER

My friend and I thank you all very much for your insights and help; he felt that the information from lmladris was right on for him personally, thus this award.

Again, thanks you to everyone.

":0)
Asta