Information Technology Computer Programming?

I did read the related fields. But still in aw. I am currently a carpenter for over 20 years of experience. I wanted a change careers since carpentry is slowing down and been out of work for months. I gained an interest in computer programming which I do have small programs written in Visual Basic.Net, that I developed and find it to be fun. Need more education in computer programming. I enrolled into an online college named Kaplan University, this is the end of my 5th Term in the IT/Computer Programming. Can anyone please explain to me to be a computer programmer am I in the right direction? IT/Computer Programming, or am I in the wrong field for computer programming? I spoke to my advisor and she told me that I am only emphasising in programming. Now am confused because I wanted to become a computer programmer.Wanted to learn more about C++, C#, Visual Basic and Java. I do have all the programming classes except C++. I also finsihed Statistics, and Discrete Matematics.

Information Technology Computer Programming?
If this is something that you really want to do and will be happy in doing it, then you've made the right decision. Since you have skills in Statistics and Discrete Mathematics, you definitely have the logical skills for programming. The question that you have to answer for yourself is what programming language do you want to learn for your career. All programming languages have the similar logic, but they vary in syntax and the type of environment (Windows, Solaris, Linux, etc) they can be executed on. You can be a jack of all trades (know C#, VB.NET, Java, Perl, etc), but it will be a tall order to do, since you will be focusing more on one one type of technology (either Java or .NET, or something else) as you progress through your career. It's nice to familiarize yourself to various programming languages, so if you choose to try something else, it would be an easy transition. But once you've gained experience in one technology, learning another language won't be as hard as starting from scratch as you've already have the basic idea of programming. As long as your courses have computer programming, then you can take on a career in computer programming
Reply:Ok, look for some software engineering courses - about managing projects. Software also involves design for re-use - so that you are not duplicating effort.





I think you are talking past each other - you are emphasing computer programming - won't the eventual certificate/degree be in computer programming? If so, that's what you want.





Wish you the best. In computer programming, one needs to keep up to date - there seems to be a new language and new toolset that one needs to be aware of.





Best wishes!
Reply:You don't need computer languages at first, either - you need programming - which should be taught in English. You shouldn't start on VB or C until you've learned programming - algorithms, data structures, methods, how it all ties together. I've coded many programs that were "developed" by people who knew nothing about computer languages.





(VB isn't a programming class, it's a language class. "Programming" is a programming class.)
Reply:Look for a Computer Science major.





It will have courses like this





http://documents.weber.edu/catalog/curre...





I am taking this course it's great. Discrete math, calc and stats are required. It sounds like you have a few general classes out of the way and it is a perfect time to focus in on the programming stuff.
Reply:I am not sure is there is a computer programming degree outthere. I know there is a computer science degree. I have a BS degree in computer science.





I think you are in the right direction in learning VB. You can use VB to write Windows Program and Web Applications.





If you are interest in making websites, I suggest you also learn html/javascript/php/xml along with VB.





If you are more into making windows applications, then C# and VB.





If you want to write programs that works on windows\linux\mac, learn c++ and java.
Reply:Yeah you are on the right track....