My Computerphobia has left my career in complete disarray. Despite warnings from m^e and the others, I kept on splending huge amounts of time on the PC. I could never justify a smoker's addiction. But now, its more credible to me since I have accepted it too, that I have become addicted to computer.

The engineering prospect is a distant proposition now. Although, I can say that I didn't waste my time for nothing. I have learned a lot about Programming. I have managed to publish my 8 months' work - Pika Bot and I can proudly say its one heck of an application. With 26709 lines of code that went into the program, it would surely show my calibre. But, its all so worthless now. My career's even more jeopardised than yours was, m^e . I didn't study anything of Physics or Chemistry in the last year which has left me with not much career options.

I wonder if I'll even be able to pursue Computer Science. They say to take every failure with a 'Its not the end of the world' statement. But, I can't seem to snap out of it by thinking that. Is this the dead-end? Can I ever get on the right track? These are the questions eluding me for the past days.

But still, I can't stop trying. I need an advice from you m^e. How good would a BSc IT + GNIIT Software Engineering dual degree certification program be for my career. Also is a BCA from BIT Mesra better than this. Please advice me on this or if there's anything else I shud do.

I got 80% in Class X from St. Francis School, B. Deoghar which is afflilated to ICSE and 61% in Class XII from Dev Sangh National School (CBSE), Deoghar where my PCM perecentage is below 50%.

Well i'm not m^e but iv'e been very much into computers since I was 16 (I am now 20), I have no certification of any kind but I could probably program circles around half the twits that do...

I live on Government benefits (not much at all) and haven't worked since I was 16 and still can't find anything, trust me your world isn't over even mine isn't.

I don't know much about your problems or education but if you really want to continue with it then just stick with it and don't give it up. Maybe it's not the best career but if you enjoy then as long as you can manage to keep yourself going at the end of the day then who cares eh?

Thanx for the advice, Chesso. Let me clarify things to you.

The biggest flaw is in our Education system. I am not sure about things in Australia, but here in India, one has to excel in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics to be able to purusue a career in Engineering. The trend's kindaa like this - you pass your senior secondary, do a 1 year coaching for engineering and then try cracking at the various Joint Entrance Exams (I must mention, some extraordinary ones do that without coaching), following which you get subjects as per as your rank and are then able to become an Engineer in it. This doesn't sound anything like a flaw. But what startles me, is the fact that you choose your stream after competing successfully in the JEEs, before which you have no clear aim (well some do have options) and some like me, have just one way to go - Programming (as in my case).

The education system assumes that any student who's good in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics can study any kind of engineering. Theres nothing wrong with this either. But, what about the other minorities, like in this case me and m^e (as he was actually some 10 year ago). We were born to program. Who knows the best ever programmer might be one of us. In the US, as I have come to know, special talents are cited and taken up by companies but in here they see everything that's deviated from the standards set up a long while ago by some upper class hypocrites, as not suitable.

Its this thing that's been bothering me for the past couple of years. Even though I knew going by the way I was, I wud have extreme difficulties in the future, I had a feeling that I would be taken up by some company for my talent, hence I kept on dedicating 12+ hours to programming.

I believe I have made something that very few with my academic qualifications would have been able to. But I just don't know how to launch myself through it or if it is actually possible.

BTW, I am 19 and have had a PC for 4 years now. I managed to learn quite a bit of VB from the MSDN library and lately from my 1 year old Internet Connection, besides the Basic and C++ as part of the school curriculum.

Well I don't know much at all of India but somehow I don't think Australia is any better these days.... heh.

I don't know much especially about all these engineering degree's and such I just program and that's what I do. I seem to be pretty good at it too, For 8 years on and off I just skateboarded, and yes I was pretty damn good at it too.

I suppose learning mathematics and science and a host of other subjects could improve my technical understanding of both my hobbies, but learning these will not teach me nor help me do that specific thing.

That's one clash I have with the education system, the purpose of modern education is to prepare a child basically to work. What place does history and science have in the general work place (Shouldn't these be for specific, chosen career's). They have actually made Australian studys (a mostly bunch of indiginous crap) a mandatory subject here in Australia.

In the case of the Australian Studys Subject, ok we beat the crap out of them and took over, big deal how was it any different from history all over the globe... and what exactly can learning this do for me? jack **** that's what.

I mean obviously mathematics and chemistry and such are a hell of alot more usefull and on par with any kind of job then something like Australian Studys but I think you get the point.

The basis of the fact is my friend as far as they are concerned you either put up and shut up or go away, so you either take what they throw at you and throw it back at them or just leave it all together.

And I do see your'e point, well I see it as basically you already know how to program so why the hell should you need to learn all this other rubbish that's pretty much irrelevant to your case. This is why I don't want to attempt certification in the computer area, not to mention some of the really crappy and surprisingly outdated material they throw at you.

Ok, I am not from India, so I don't know much about the certification that you are talking about. But here's my opinion.

The first question would be how much time do you have before your exam? The standard time required is actually quite long. You can do a crash course in less than half the standard time. Of course, you can't be aiming for the top 1 percentile, but if you concentrate, you can get pretty good results. From what you describe about yourself, studying for Physics and Chemistry should be ok for you.

So, don't despair. Sit down and think about it. Remember, what is the objective. If the objective is just to pass the exam, then make sure every available effort is put into passing the exam. There are tonnes of way to do this, eg. working on past exam questions(if available), guessing which is the hot topic/subarea and concentrate on it. Heck, you might even get good results if you're lucky and your effort is concentrated on the correct topic/subarea.

Good luck.

Yikess.. hmm.. you really are in a fix.

See from what I saw of the job market back home - the good companies don't pay much attention to the NIIT degrees. They only work are a supplement to your core degree. Even stuff like the Microsoft Certifications don't ever count much on their own. They're good addition to your main degree but don't serve any purpose alone. I know for a fact coz I had a bunch of certifications which didnt get me $hit.. (you can measure my certificates by the KILOs )

Of course, a BSc would rank higher in preferrence than a BCA - but it depends where you get it from. Rather than doing it from a local college - if you can get a BCA from BIT Mesra it'd certainly count more, coz the reputed companies tend to trust colleges like BIT and all more. I know of some of my younger friends - who've done BCA from good colleges in Pune and Bangalore and have landed up with companies like Cognizant as Analyst-Programmers... It all depends on how good a place you graduate from - apart from your course-work of course.

You can hold back for now and do nothing for a whole year - and study for the JEEs again - but that'll have to be a calculated risk. Anyways - you'd have to crack your brains insanely over the PCM part the whole year through and probably take 7-8 hours of tution everyday, coz cracking the problems in the JEEs is no childs play.

One option I can give you is to do what I did - run away from India.. Go study elsewhere in some foreign univ. That'll open a lot of doors for you rightaway. You can even land up in the univ. I did. They've got a branch here in Thailand ( http://www.webster.ac.th ) - and offer 4 year proper degrees in Comp. Sci. Think of it - you'd be spending somewhat more than you'd do in a good college back home and yet study in an international environment with extremely small class sizes (20-25 students max) and way more individual attention from the teachers. I'd really recommend this one to you. If you need more help on this front, let me know.. They've got sessions starting 5 times a year - and you can join in anytime. Moreover, once you graduate - you'd be exposed to a wide variety of MNCs to try for your job.. certainly wider exposure than back home with much lesser competition.. Here Indians with computing skills are valued WAY MORE as they're a rarity (than back home where you can find them in plenty - in every nook and cranny)

Talk to your parents and see..

Thanx for all the time you took to explaining me all the facts. I was very positive about doing the NIIT course. But, from your experience I am going to wipe it off my mind.

The prospect of going abroad, is something I can only dream about, (atleast for now). But still, I would like to know how much it would take, altogether for the journey. I would be more than happy to study there, but my dad's firm stance (mostly derived from the fact of financial insufficiency) that studying in India is the best and probably the only option, has left my hands tied.

If you can find some normal work to save up it may well be worth it in the long run but I can't say for sure, ultimately the decision is yours to make so it will be your feelings and intillect that make the final decision.

This post has been edited by Chesso: Jun 8 2006, 03:52 PM

See don't take everything I say literally - coz ultimately its YOU who'll have to decide based on your situation. I can just suggest alternatives. Anyway, when I suggested Webster, Thailand - I had two things on mind.. first of all very close to India and secondly, relatively low tution fees. You can find out all the details by mailing to: admissions@webster.ac.th. Once you get a rough idea from them, you can always talk to banks for educational loan. There are a whole lot of banks offering that now - payable once you get a job after finishing your course.

But anyways, in the end if you dont have any other options open - then don't ignore the NIIT courses either. They'll at least set a basic stage for you to build upon.. at least better than having done no course at all.

Thanx for all the help guys. I have moved on to Kolkata and taken up NIIT's GNIIT course. Ain't got a PC here wright now. I'll be back soon. Thanx once again.