I work for an internet company already but my educational background is not in computers. I’d like to be able to work remotely, possibly abroad, and get paid well in the future and secure my employability options. I heard today that Computer Science degree holders are highly sought-after in the USA and this is why we have a lot of immigrant workers and outsourcing. Should I go back to college at age 30 and get another degree though I have a masters in another field? Are there certificate, night programs or online programs I can do? I live in the Los Angeles area. Thanks!
First of all, you haven’t mentioned your job profile, specialization area & yrs of experience. Well, to answer your question, the outsourcing market is booming & it’ll be incorrect to state that Com Sci alone has abundant opportunities. You need no go back to college & do any specialization course. In case you wanna work remotely, you may approach some of the ITES companies in India who require the services of a local US competent person to create their business potential in US. You can then work as their FRONT END guy in US talking to various companies for outsourcing their work to low cost options. Alternatively, you can do some of the happening IT courses say .NET or Java & get employed in a good IT firm like TCS, IBM, Accenture etc to name a few.
If you have a Masters in another field, I would ask myself what would help me in that field? Unless of course you no longer like that field. Perhaps you could get a PhD and then write a compelling book – fiction or non-fiction?
Quite frankly a computer science degree just means two things – no life and lots of competition. If you go into computers these days you will need to know the following in no particular order:
HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP, C#, XML, Java, C++, Salesforce, Joomla, Drupal, Zend, ASP.NET, and probably one of a hundred other things that some company will ask for that eliminates you from consideration. Microsoft will pull you in so many different directions it makes your head spin. The Open Source world will give you great tools but disappoint you in not standing up to the bullies at Microsoft and their lawyers that will tell you whatever lies they need.
Personally, I wish I had never become enamored with computers. I love to program, but I hate the fact that most applications have already been written or re-written 500 to 5000 times with no end in sight. All the “new” that exists is a new marketing definition that may or may not pull users from one company to the next.
In summary, we live in a Wal-Mart economy. I wish we lived in a two-planet human-inhabited solar-system. That, . . . would require lots of new programmers!