If you're starting out, I have bad news - given the decreases in salaries for people who've had 10 years experience, I hate to say this but the timing of your graduation is QUITE BAD. Offshoring fueling the latter along with the economic downturn and I don't expect things to improve much.
I have over 10+ years in tech, worked at a major software company and left for the dot bomb craze. I gave up lots of salary for equity and while the company was profitable and public, the market tanked a mere few weeks bef
i would not say that a "traditional" 4 year program for CS is a waste of time. it depends on what school, what courses you've taken, what internships you've had, and also what research you've done. for example, i did my undergrad at cornell and am just finishing my masters here. i applied to one job and got an offer for 70k. i know giving an example does not illustrate a point, but from what i have seen, all of the people i know from various universities getting their undergrad and masters degrees have gotten into a phd program or a job. also, i would just like to add that all my friends (myself included) do not goto top cs schools and have near perfect gpas.
as for the original post, i agree with previous statements to not worry about the starting salary for right now. you should also try to get a job with a big company so it looks good on your resume for future jobs (that pay more). the key is to have something on your resume that you can sell, either some large project you've worked on, research you've done. in my experience, gpa is not too important. just as long as you have 3.5 or higher, that's exactly like having a 4.0. there is an army of 4.0ers out there, so its not a big selling point. for most jobs a gpa of 3.3 or higher should do nicely.
i would not get a degree at DeVry. from what i have heard, its useless. you may as well just get certified or spend that money and time learning it yourself. the original post asked about being a programmer, not a sysadmin/IT guy.
i would agree that tech is no longer a field you enter just to make money, except for maybe biotech.
Bad news (Score:5, Interesting)
I have over 10+ years in tech, worked at a major software company and left for the dot bomb craze. I gave up lots of salary for equity and while the company was profitable and public, the market tanked a mere few weeks bef
Re:Bad news (Score:2, Insightful)
as for the original post, i agree with previous statements to not worry about the starting salary for right now. you should also try to get a job with a big company so it looks good on your resume for future jobs (that pay more). the key is to have something on your resume that you can sell, either some large project you've worked on, research you've done. in my experience, gpa is not too important. just as long as you have 3.5 or higher, that's exactly like having a 4.0. there is an army of 4.0ers out there, so its not a big selling point. for most jobs a gpa of 3.3 or higher should do nicely.
i would not get a degree at DeVry. from what i have heard, its useless. you may as well just get certified or spend that money and time learning it yourself. the original post asked about being a programmer, not a sysadmin/IT guy.
i would agree that tech is no longer a field you enter just to make money, except for maybe biotech.