What career and the College for it? Also Jobs

Oshii

I started my college career going to culinary school.

At first I loved it, it was my passion to cook for others and have them enjoy it. I understood going in that unless I had the money to start my own business I would be working like a dog for a couple years. What I didn't count on was burning out on people. Everyday going to school and later working in a small restaurant made me start to think I was not made for working with people.

Later I took a semester off to think about my career choice and started working at a local call center to make some quick easy money. Working as a customer service representative further cemented my deep dislike of the general public.

I do like to work with computers. I do not mind working with people face to face but over the phone is horrible. I have been thinking about going into computer programing, networking or something like that. What are some good career paths working with computers (and maybe even in the gaming industry?) and what are some good colleges to attend. Location is not a big deal, I live in Colorado and would prefer a college there but I am willing to move.

admanb

When you say you like to work with computers, what do you mean, exactly? Because the gap between working with computers and software development is huge.

CygnusZ

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think part of really learning to enjoy doing a job means working through the burnout. If you can get through the period when you're really "down" on your job, you'll find elements of it that you like and end up enjoying it. With time you'll probably end of getting attached to your job, no matter what it is.

That said, if you're starting with a blank slate, I'd look at average salary, working hours and projected growth for whatever job you're thinking of pursuing. You don't want to start feeling attached to a low paying job when you have a family to take care of

Jasconius

If you're going to be a programmer who doesn't suck and makes a decent living, you'll have to work with people, and quite well. Maybe better than if you were a cook or a chef. In fact, almost certainly.

So I think your basic assumption about the important difference between the two professions is inherently flawed. Start there.

admanb

There is a big problem with the way you say that you hate, flat-out, "working with people." There are almost no occupations that you can be successful in if you can't work with people.

HadjiQuest

I think the OP is saying that they don't like being accountable to the general public (as a chef dealing with rejected orders/complaints, and similarly as a customer service robot), not that they just plain flatly do not want to work with other human beings.

Oshii

Ok to clear a couple things up. I do enjoy working with other professionals, people who know what they are doing and do it well. I worked in a bakery for a year and had a great time doing that, I did everything from baking breads and pastries to decorating cakes. I can work with co-workers people who are doing a job with me. I do dislike working with the general public in a customer service aspect.

My father was a computer programer and I have always been interested in Software Engineering or other software related jobs.

Jimmy King

HadjiQuest wrote: »

I think the OP is saying that they don't like being accountable to the general public (as a chef dealing with rejected orders/complaints, and similarly as a customer service robot), not that they just plain flatly do not want to work with other human beings.

Software developers have similar issues. Based on my experience as a dev who has to pretend to be a sys admin frequently, I'd say real sys admins are likely to have to also.

Do you know how often the person requesting I develop something actually has any clue what it is they really want, what it takes to create it, and what it takes to continue to support it afterwards, or how to put any of that into words specific enough to actually describe what they want? Pretty much never.

One of the guys I used to work with sometimes told people, mostly jokingly, "We're probably going to build this three times. First we'll create what you asked for. You'll probably hate it, but after you point out everything that's not actually what you meant we can go on to the second build. The second build will be what you meant to ask for and think you need. It's probably not actually what you need and once you try to use it you'll be able to point out the problems. Then we can move on to the third build where we actually build the application you need."

There's a lot of working with people. A lot of taking their half thought through, ill informed ideas and working with them to translate that into something sane. A lot of explaining why things have to be a certain why, why something can't work, why something else technically will work but is a terrible idea. Frequently you're trying to explain these things to someone who doesn't want to hear anything but "Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

System administrators? They get to try to explain to people why the servers is down or why it's running slow and why they don't know exactly when it will be working properly again. There's usually about 500 different things that "might" be the problem, some easier to check for than others, and sometimes some of them are nearly impossible to verify for certain whether the are the cause or not.

Working at all means working with people.

Darkewolfe

There are very few people who do not get frustrated with many of the people they work with. Most of the people you work with will not be exceptional individuals, they will be people who barely manage to put on pants in the morning and count to potato. This is true in almost all jobs, no matter the industry. Even in software, you are going to be part of a chain of production, and on a daily basis you will be frustrated by the more average coworkers you have.

Exceptional professionals are able not only to avoid the burn-out, but to work around and with the shortcomings of the process they're in to produce more efficiently or more successfully. Demonstrating both real leadership skills and the ability to motivate and direct the people around you is what makes you successful.

mrt144

I'll tell you one thing; culinary school is a fucking trap. Loving to cook and cooking on a line are diametrically opposed and if you can will yourself to cook outside of your job, then that's amazing. I've had quite a few friends any my fiancee either work in the biz or go to culinary school and most of them don't cook at home after a few years.

Hlubocky

If you are interested in computer science and doing programming after you graduate, there is a pretty big difference between the jobs you can get if you go to a top school for engineering/CS and a mediocre school. If you have the grades, test scores, etc, you should check out the list of US News engineering and computer science schools and see if any interest you.