Q. I am currently a junior in High School. I am interested in information technology but the field is too vast for me to pick from. I heard that software engineering is a good field to get into. What are some steps to becoming a software engineer ?
A. To give you the background � There are a number of viable IT majors. Just figure out what you would like to do. These are all good. You need a 4 year degree. If all you have time for is a 2 year degree then that is ok for starters but you will still need to complete years 3&4. Don't get a certificate type degree or a Devry or ITT Tech degree- not recognized by many employers and credits may not transfer in the future. There are several main Computer majors and their associated career categories and you need to know these just to get the lay of the land. These degree titles are often found in Associates, Bachelors and Masters degree programs. Generally most IT employers are looking for a 4 year Bachelors degree in an IT related major as a minimum requirement. For working people some of these majors are offered by schools in night classes and we are beginning to see online or hybrid online/classroom options available. Depending on the school, a Bachelors degree in an IT field may be a BA or a BS. There does not seem to be any problems for employers with a BA or BS as long as it is a bachelors degree. If you already have a degree in another major, if you have an Associates degree or if you have a bunch or college credits and no degree you can usually find a degree completion program that will allow you to take 14-16 months of classes and graduate with a Bachelors in a computer related major.
Now some of the titles colleges use may consist of different course curriculums. As an example one school may have more programming classes in the same major while another school has fewer. Schools may call their general IT program Computer Information Technology, Computer Information Systems or Computer Information Science. To really tell what the major is about you should look at the courses that a particular school offers in that major. Another point of confusion is job titles you will see. For example, I am called a Computer Systems Engineer but I don't do anything associated with Computer Engineering. One job I had I was Systems Programmer but I did not do any programming. So the titles for majors and for jobs in IT can be very confusing. Sometimes I will hear someone say they want to pursue Computer Science or Computer Engineering and once they find out what it involves they realize that is not what they want to do. If this is old info, that you already know, apologies. Here are the majors and some associated jobs:
Computer Science (CS) - A technical degree which usually has a Programming emphasis - people with this major usually are developing application software, web development, embedded code and robotics. Sometimes depending on the college the degree may cover some more general topics as listed under CIS below. CS is a difficult major and may include a number of advanced math courses. Many CS students find themselves not enjoying programming, not being gifted at it or not having the math and logic skills to be good at programming and they will switch out into CIS. CS majors that are able to graduate can also qualify for jobs listed below under CIS.
Computer Information Systems (CIS) - This may also be called a variety of other names like Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), etc. This is a general technical degree and is the degree that I have. Holders of these degree work in a variety of technical jobs like these:
Computer Technician, Service Center Coordinator, Help Desk Staff, Storage Administrator, Network Administrator, Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, Enterprise Administrator, Active Directory Administrator, Exchange and Messaging Administrator, Backup Administrator, Disaster Recovery Specialist, Database Administrator, Computing Security Specialist, Corporate IT Acquisition Specialist and Data Center Administrator, just to name a few.
Computer Engineering - This is a technical engineering and design degree. These degree holders get jobs related to designing and manufacturing computer related hardware. Obviously when you think of hardware you think of laptops and PCs but this might be all kinds of computer devices like tablets, processors, memory, storage, networking equipment and components of computers.
Management Information Systems (MIS) - This is a business degree that prepares non-technically trained people to manage projects, budgets and people. Traditionally, senior IT technical pros would eventually be promoted into management positions after years of technical work. The good news is they understood technical challenges their people were working with but the bad news was that some were great tech people but poor people managers. I have had both types of these managers and the new trend is definitely towards these non-technical managers
Hope this helps.
Best Wishes!
Now some of the titles colleges use may consist of different course curriculums. As an example one school may have more programming classes in the same major while another school has fewer. Schools may call their general IT program Computer Information Technology, Computer Information Systems or Computer Information Science. To really tell what the major is about you should look at the courses that a particular school offers in that major. Another point of confusion is job titles you will see. For example, I am called a Computer Systems Engineer but I don't do anything associated with Computer Engineering. One job I had I was Systems Programmer but I did not do any programming. So the titles for majors and for jobs in IT can be very confusing. Sometimes I will hear someone say they want to pursue Computer Science or Computer Engineering and once they find out what it involves they realize that is not what they want to do. If this is old info, that you already know, apologies. Here are the majors and some associated jobs:
Computer Science (CS) - A technical degree which usually has a Programming emphasis - people with this major usually are developing application software, web development, embedded code and robotics. Sometimes depending on the college the degree may cover some more general topics as listed under CIS below. CS is a difficult major and may include a number of advanced math courses. Many CS students find themselves not enjoying programming, not being gifted at it or not having the math and logic skills to be good at programming and they will switch out into CIS. CS majors that are able to graduate can also qualify for jobs listed below under CIS.
Computer Information Systems (CIS) - This may also be called a variety of other names like Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), etc. This is a general technical degree and is the degree that I have. Holders of these degree work in a variety of technical jobs like these:
Computer Technician, Service Center Coordinator, Help Desk Staff, Storage Administrator, Network Administrator, Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, Enterprise Administrator, Active Directory Administrator, Exchange and Messaging Administrator, Backup Administrator, Disaster Recovery Specialist, Database Administrator, Computing Security Specialist, Corporate IT Acquisition Specialist and Data Center Administrator, just to name a few.
Computer Engineering - This is a technical engineering and design degree. These degree holders get jobs related to designing and manufacturing computer related hardware. Obviously when you think of hardware you think of laptops and PCs but this might be all kinds of computer devices like tablets, processors, memory, storage, networking equipment and components of computers.
Management Information Systems (MIS) - This is a business degree that prepares non-technically trained people to manage projects, budgets and people. Traditionally, senior IT technical pros would eventually be promoted into management positions after years of technical work. The good news is they understood technical challenges their people were working with but the bad news was that some were great tech people but poor people managers. I have had both types of these managers and the new trend is definitely towards these non-technical managers
Hope this helps.
Best Wishes!
Can a computer file become corrupt based on how you name the file?
Q. If the file name is lengthy can it allow your file to become corrupt? Also do spaces open it up for corruption? IE - "01 15 2008 Red table cloth on wooden desk" as opposed to "01152008Redtableclothonwoodendesk"?
A. I'm a network engineer with 30 years of experience. The answer is YES.
It does depend on a lot of factors. The OS, the version of the OS and the network type (if involved) and the version of the network client (again if a network is involved).
If we go back to MS DOS 4 or Novell Netware 4.0x then you can create a condition which believe it or not was knows as the worlds first NATURALLY BORN computer virus. This was done by creating a file with the extended ascii character number 255 (the DEL character). What happens is the older OS's and NOS's would read the characters as ASCII instead of binary. Everytime a virus scanner would attempt to read the file, or backup software would attempt to back it up, it would treat it as ASCII and would actually delete data that followed it. Just like typing to the screen ascii character 7 will play a bell sound.
In the more modern OS's and NOS's there is a maximum length to a filename, and the entire path is considdered part of the filename. this is why you can do a CUT/PASTE operation very quickly. It in effect simply renames the file/path if its on the same volume. But a copy operation or a paste to another volume must duplicate all the information. Just because your filename is only 20 characters, you can still be over the limit if the full length of the path combined with the filename is over the max, which I believe is currently 252 characters. Spaces are just as valid as characters as any letter or number so they DO contrinute to the problem.
The good news is, that this can usually be corrected by renaming it, or shortening the path. This can be tricky sometimes, but work with your network administrator and they can help out.
I hope this helped.
It does depend on a lot of factors. The OS, the version of the OS and the network type (if involved) and the version of the network client (again if a network is involved).
If we go back to MS DOS 4 or Novell Netware 4.0x then you can create a condition which believe it or not was knows as the worlds first NATURALLY BORN computer virus. This was done by creating a file with the extended ascii character number 255 (the DEL character). What happens is the older OS's and NOS's would read the characters as ASCII instead of binary. Everytime a virus scanner would attempt to read the file, or backup software would attempt to back it up, it would treat it as ASCII and would actually delete data that followed it. Just like typing to the screen ascii character 7 will play a bell sound.
In the more modern OS's and NOS's there is a maximum length to a filename, and the entire path is considdered part of the filename. this is why you can do a CUT/PASTE operation very quickly. It in effect simply renames the file/path if its on the same volume. But a copy operation or a paste to another volume must duplicate all the information. Just because your filename is only 20 characters, you can still be over the limit if the full length of the path combined with the filename is over the max, which I believe is currently 252 characters. Spaces are just as valid as characters as any letter or number so they DO contrinute to the problem.
The good news is, that this can usually be corrected by renaming it, or shortening the path. This can be tricky sometimes, but work with your network administrator and they can help out.
I hope this helped.
What software do Hilton Hotel front desks use to keep track of reservation and other service issues?
Q. PMS provider name? GSD provider name? Are there multiple providers across the various brands?
A. It's called a Facility Management Information System (FMIS). I guess they have custom software.There are a lot of FMIS-tools available on the market, but they are often quite expensive.
What are the different types of computer jobs?
Q. I am wanting to go to college to major in computers. I don't know all of the different computer jobs there are.Could you please name them with a short description.
A. There are many options...
You could of course teach if you get a teaching certification.
Be a lab manager and mangage machines and install software.
Help desk...help people connect to other software or diagnose problems
Programmer...can re-write code or write code for company. You also may need to figure complex math equations for propability and solving problems.
Nearly anything you can think of comp related you can do. It's all about finding your interests. If you're more introverted you may want to do programming. However, if you like working with people a help desk or repair position is for you.
Good luck!
You could of course teach if you get a teaching certification.
Be a lab manager and mangage machines and install software.
Help desk...help people connect to other software or diagnose problems
Programmer...can re-write code or write code for company. You also may need to figure complex math equations for propability and solving problems.
Nearly anything you can think of comp related you can do. It's all about finding your interests. If you're more introverted you may want to do programming. However, if you like working with people a help desk or repair position is for you.
Good luck!
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