<p>Hi eveyone,</p>
<p>I am currently working on my BS in Management Inf. Systems (aka MIS) and by the time I graduate I will be 26 years-old.</p>
<p>I want to become a Software Engineer so I was counting only on my BS in MIS, but I am thinking maybe it’ll be better to go a little further with a M.S. in MIS, or with an additional BS in Computer Science(?). But by the time I get my BS in CS i will be 30 years-old though (no work experience)</p>
<p>Doesn’t 30 years-old (with no job experience) will look a little old to get hired as a Software Engineering, considering some “horror stories” I hear about age discrimination in the software engineering field? I dont care even If I start at the very bottom of the ladder, as long as I will get a job in the software engineering industry.</p>
<p>So far the languages I know are: C/C++, Javscript, VB.NET, Java</p>
<p>Why a degree in MIS if you wanted to be a software engineer? Why not CS or Software Engineering? Depending on what you took, your skills, and job requirements, you should be able to get a software engineering job (depending on that job) with your MIS degree knowing those languages.</p>
<p>I chose MIS because I wanted to have some doors open in the business world as well. By the time I chose MIS I wasn’t certain that I wanted to go in Software engineering but more in Database development, which an MIS is sufficient for that position. But I assume that MIS won’t be sufficient for a software development career.
kopa1234 is online now</p>
<p>Simply know thy tools and know something special (e.g. databases, networking, libraries, the design of certain type of applications) well and you can become a programmer, no degree necessary. Study CS, if you want to know more and maybe be taken slightly more seriously.</p>
<p>Most would not care what age you are or what you did a degree in, if you can demonstrate that you can do the job and are willing to do it. The employers doing any sort of non-skills based discrimination are bastards.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it’s not necessary to become employed to others, it’s very easy to start your own business in software as well.</p>
<p>well, i think a cs degree is not necessary as the languages you suggested are sufficient… but you need to show to employers that you are good at it.</p>
<p>Did you involve yourself in small projects, opensource dev etc? If you dont have evidence that you are good at what you claim, its hard to beat the competition in those roles, especially those with cs degree.</p>
<p>Speaking from my own past experience, the most important part is to let the employer during the interview know about your skills and projects you are involved in. Most will give you an exam to test your skills, but if they like you enough, they will help you during the test.</p>
<p>Project work is very essential. Basically, if you can show a potential employer, what you’ve worked on previously, then that’s surely a good sign of what you’re capable of, what you’ve been reading about and what you’ve been specifically focusing on lately. No-one will consider hiring a programmer that cannot point to code and software that he’s/she’s written.</p>
<p>Working on projects has even been made exceptionally easy in computer programming that all you need is to pick up some open source projects or figure out a self-executed software idea, implement it and even push it out to the internet.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys for your replies. I really appreciate it! :)</p>