I have decided to sell out

[MyNameIsMethodis]

im so horrid  :'(

[TEEEPO]

Well that's not good, obviously. I only gave up when it came to hardcore calculus. Geometry is feh for me but I actually do love Algebra. Gotta thank the arabs for that.

exactly how much calc would do you need to know in order program comfortably when you just start to dabble in it? outside of derivatives, i really don't know how you'd even start to apply alot of the theorems taught in calculus to programming unless you're developing a 3d engine.

[Phoenix Dark]

Like, what do entry level accounting peons start out at?

A CPA firm hired me right after I got my bachelor's at 40k a year. This was with no experience / no CPA license. Job was total shit though; I hated doing tax returns, audits were slightly less bad. There is the potential to make serious bank doing public accounting if you ever make partner, but good luck with that. I'd second what people are saying and go straight to a private company. Will immediately make more money, not have to deal with idiot clients, etc. Had so many clients coming in after election day '08 panicking that they were gonna get taxed into oblivion or whatever. Oil companies in the south pay out the ass, but the rub is you have to live in the south.

What are you doing now?

[Tasty]

Well that's not good, obviously. I only gave up when it came to hardcore calculus. Geometry is feh for me but I actually do love Algebra. Gotta thank the arabs for that.

exactly how much calc would do you need to know in order program comfortably when you just start to dabble in it? outside of derivatives, i really don't know how you'd even start to apply alot of the theorems taught in calculus to programming unless you're developing a 3d engine.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. A lot of it isn't straight up math, and the only hardcore math stuff is in optimizations and algorithms. The stuff I do is pretty straightforward.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

i always liked programming music for games and messing with XACT or w/e it was called. i wish i didn't lose my prototypes i've felt like finishing one of them recently but i forgot everything i know baout C#

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Who does accounting and doesn't get their CPA?

[TEEEPO]

the majority of people?

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Really? Why? So much more money.

[Beezy]

Like, what do entry level accounting peons start out at?

A CPA firm hired me right after I got my bachelor's at 40k a year. This was with no experience / no CPA license. Job was total shit though; I hated doing tax returns, audits were slightly less bad. There is the potential to make serious bank doing public accounting if you ever make partner, but good luck with that. I'd second what people are saying and go straight to a private company. Will immediately make more money, not have to deal with idiot clients, etc. Had so many clients coming in after election day '08 panicking that they were gonna get taxed into oblivion or whatever. Oil companies in the south pay out the ass, but the rub is you have to live in the south.

What are you doing now?

I got my bachelors in accounting in 2010 and I still can't get an accounting job. Maybe because the school I went to wasn't all that special. Or maybe it's because I live in NYC.

[benjipwns]

My bachelors and Masters are in History and Poli Sci. I've gotten more jobs out of being able to use Excel and computers in general. Nobody cares about the degrees.

I have Google Docs Excel files listed on my resume. People seem to love them.

[Spurgeon]

What are you doing now?

Right now I'm going back to school. I sort of quit Jerry Maguire-style, so I burned that bridge. However, I do have countless family members in the oil-field, and it's very tempting to use nepotism to get a job with a private company. So far I have resisted. I guess it could be my backup plan.

Who does accounting and doesn't get their CPA?

State requirements vary, but it's not something you typically can just pick up right after graduating. My state requires that you have work experience under a CPA in addition to passing the 4 parts of the exam. Some people don't work under a CPA if they are doing private; they might be the only accountant there depending on the size of the company. And the exam is difficult. My co-worker was a far better accountant than me, yet failed a couple of components. Here you had a time limit to pass all the components, and it's hard to fit in studying when it's busy season, have a family, etc. But yes, typically your asking price will be higher across the board if you got your CPA.

[Phoenix Dark]

Who does accounting and doesn't get their CPA?

I used to think this until I met a bunch of people who make good to decent money without it, and have no plans on getting it. One of my mom's cousins owns a tax business in Texas (Buna iirc) and is making bank without a CPA; I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a B.S. either.

[Steve Youngblood]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. A lot of it isn't straight up math, and the only hardcore math stuff is in optimizations and algorithms. The stuff I do is pretty straightforward.

Yeah, I don't know if my math minor has served me at all in my professional career. There are certainly aspects of programming where it is absolutely critical, but I don't ever delve into it.

[T234]

Grow/Manufacture/process drugs

[Verdigris Murder]

I don't know, I feel like facebook is a bubble waiting to burst any time soon.

The whole social bubble is gonna burst soon enough. I was postulating that we'd see a myspace like departure from site based content to a central user based content. I don't know the how but I know its gonna happen. There's just too many networks and more coming every day. My thought is that eventually people will tire of having to take action to find and communicate. Eventually the user content is gonna just automatically generate everywhere.

While at Yahoo! we dabbled with our employee's data (those that shared willingly) of emails, phone logs, and their gps logs. We were able to create several  algorithms that took that info and was able to match based on frequency contacted a "friendship pyramid." We then gave those in our test a place to post updates and it was able to detect who knew who automatically across everything. So when they posted or went somewhere it would populate for others to see that were in the "friendship pyramid" automatically. It got a bit out of hand as it was able to tell who was romantically involved based off of keywording. It even found more connections outside the test data using another algorithm from bing. Eventually we got the plug pulled on the project cause it was rather invasive. Like a facebook friend finder on steroids without all the fuss.

The sad truth is that the internet as a whole is gonna go through some growing pains here in the next few years. Cloud based computing, IP protection madness, and that grey zone known as privacy.

I find this fascinating.
What about stuff like TOR, and Silkroad? Bitcoins too.

[demi]

Dabbling with graphics is when you need to study math like a mothafucka

Otherwise it's all logic

[demi]

Also I didn't mean working AT facebook. Just working on the Facebook platform.

[Mr. Gundam]

Economics. Wife started around $70k a year right out of undergrad. Even crazier now with her MBA.

[Verdigris Murder]

Are the Icons home-fathers? Is that what it is.

[Mr. Gundam]

Are the Icons home-fathers? Is that what it is.

I work full-time. Have a masters degree but since I'm in public education my salary will never match the wife's earning potential.

[BlackMage]

Medical Field has been ok to me. I get paid 43k a year with full benefits, 401k and I only work 3 days a week (12 hour shifts but still). Plus my job is secure as fuck.

[Mr. Gundam]

I make ~$65k/year, good benefits, pension, and summers off. Can't really complain.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

mr gundam how do you like teaching? I am seriously considering it.

[Huff]

In general, a degree in which you can put some letters after your name (CPA, PE, DPT, JD) is nice to have

[MyNameIsMethodis]

What does CPA PE DPT JD mean

[Mr. Gundam]

mr gundam how do you like teaching? I am seriously considering it.

I'm not a teacher. I'm a school psychologist. I love my job, though.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Isn't that a guidance counselor? 

[Mr. Gundam]

Isn't that a guidance counselor? 

Not even close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_psychologist

[MyNameIsMethodis]

oh i see cool, do you like it? what was your major psychology?

[Mr. Gundam]

oh i see cool, do you like it? what was your major psychology?

I've got a B.S. in Psychology, B.A. in Sociology and a M. Ed. in School Psychology.

It's a great job. I've worked at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Working with kids can be challenging, but very rewarding.

I make literally no money right now, work 60 hours a week and I have the best job on the 'bore.  #suckit

You do have a sweet ass job.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Damn two bachelors and a masters, insane.

[Hock]

Really? Why? So much more money.

Well, you can't get it right away. You need experience, and you may need extra schooling to meet the education requirements (if your schools program doesn't cover all the credits). Then you have to take the exam. It can take multiple attempts, and if you don't pass all four parts after a certain amount of time you need to retake the parts you did pass. So some unlucky people just get stuck in a loop of taking and retaking the CPA exam.

I could be wrong, this is just going by memory from my accounting class. I haven't thought about the subject in a year.

[Tasty]

I'd kill for summers off. :'(

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I make $120,000 a year in engineering.  I started off at $61,000 a year in 2009 and worked my way up mostly by taking lead on shit projects and high risk projects.  There's a lot of change going on right now in basically every branch of engineering and if you have the intelligence and drive, the world is your oyster.  It doesn't even need to be green technologies (which is seeing a huge influx anyway), just the rapid pace of technological progress opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The downside is that engineering fucking sucks ass in school.  Also, engineering isn't even close to a guaranteed job.  For as much talk as there is about a shortage of STEM people, there are quite a few that are still having shitty luck finding an entry level job.  There is basically no guaranteed job these days.

[Van Cruncheon]

i make a healthy amount of annual cash being a pushy, arrogant bastard. type b's forced into type a behaviors 4 LIFE, cuntdrips

me

[MrAngryFace]

Ill never make Type A

[DJ_Tet]

I make $120,000 a year in engineering.  I started off at $61,000 a year in 2009 and worked my way up mostly by taking lead on shit projects and high risk projects.  There's a lot of change going on right now in basically every branch of engineering and if you have the intelligence and drive, the world is your oyster.  It doesn't even need to be green technologies (which is seeing a huge influx anyway), just the rapid pace of technological progress opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The downside is that engineering fucking sucks ass in school.  Also, engineering isn't even close to a guaranteed job.  For as much talk as there is about a shortage of STEM people, there are quite a few that are still having shitty luck finding an entry level job.  There is basically no guaranteed job these days.

What field of engineering are you in?

I just finished my associates in Computer Engineering and need a job before I can finish the real degree.  Wondering if I should stick with Computer, switch to Electrical or a different field.

Most of my calculus is done but I'll probably have to start over and do it again since I'm only through Calc 3 and I don't remember that shit anymore (did it in HS and 15+ years ago at Georgia Tech.)  But I think I can handle the math, the rest is just the drive and desire to finish it off.

Finding a job has been a bitch and a half though  :'(  Got a few certs and some desktop repair/support experience but it's hard to even get an interview in the field.  I'd really like to get into networking having my Network+ and studying for my CCNA but without experience I can't get an entry level job, so why should I even bother with the CCNA at this point until I actually get an entry level job.

Fucking thing sucks.

[Beezy]

You need the degree. I think you need your masters in some states before you can take the CPA.

[Spurgeon]

Can you just study for the CPA exams for a few weeks and pass them and start working? Or do you need the degree?

Depends on the state. My state requires a bachelors (can be in anything) but you need to take a certain amount of specific accounting undergrad courses. Also need 150 credit hours total; most typically go get their MBA to make up the extra hours, or do a dual bachelors. But as I said earlier, need the year of working under a CPA before you can get the license, regardless if you pass the exam.

I'm curious where the engineering guys are located that are having difficulty finding a job. That seems like the one field where oil companies are handing out jobs like candy more so than accounting.

[Huff]

Can you just study for the CPA exams for a few weeks and pass them and start working? Or do you need the degree?

Depends on the state. My state requires a bachelors (can be in anything) but you need to take a certain amount of specific accounting undergrad courses. Also need 150 credit hours total; most typically go get their MBA to make up the extra hours, or do a dual bachelors. But as I said earlier, need the year of working under a CPA before you can get the license, regardless if you pass the exam.

I'm curious where the engineering guys are located that are having difficulty finding a job. That seems like the one field where oil companies are handing out jobs like candy more so than accounting.

Its just a problem with most fields now. When the economy took a turn for the worst, people that would have been retiring stayed at their jobs because of uncertainty in the future. So each year there are more grads looking for jobs that usually would have been there.

Unlike certain fields (law) I don't think there is an over saturation of engineers or accountants, so there are still good opportunities out there, just not as good 5 - 10 years ago. And this also varies but which type of engineer

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Can you just study for the CPA exams for a few weeks and pass them and start working? Or do you need the degree?

Texas requires one hundred and fifty-something college hours before you can take the exam.

My graduate advisor has said that this will most likely happen:
Start graduate school this fall. In september the recruiters will come and I'll have some job offers and a guaranteed job so long as my GPA stays good. After I graduate and if I choose to go with one of the big 4 firms, they will pay for your CPA exams as well as study courses while you work.

[demi]

i make a healthy amount of annual cash being a pushy, arrogant bastard. type b's forced into type a behaviors 4 LIFE, cuntdrips

me

I want to be a Type something. What's a Type something

[MyNameIsMethodis]

arent you arleady a type 2 diabetic 

[Mupepe]

I make $120,000 a year in engineering.  I started off at $61,000 a year in 2009 and worked my way up mostly by taking lead on shit projects and high risk projects.  There's a lot of change going on right now in basically every branch of engineering and if you have the intelligence and drive, the world is your oyster.  It doesn't even need to be green technologies (which is seeing a huge influx anyway), just the rapid pace of technological progress opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The downside is that engineering fucking sucks ass in school.  Also, engineering isn't even close to a guaranteed job.  For as much talk as there is about a shortage of STEM people, there are quite a few that are still having shitty luck finding an entry level job.  There is basically no guaranteed job these days.

What field of engineering are you in?

I just finished my associates in Computer Engineering and need a job before I can finish the real degree.  Wondering if I should stick with Computer, switch to Electrical or a different field.

Most of my calculus is done but I'll probably have to start over and do it again since I'm only through Calc 3 and I don't remember that shit anymore (did it in HS and 15+ years ago at Georgia Tech.)  But I think I can handle the math, the rest is just the drive and desire to finish it off.

Finding a job has been a bitch and a half though  :'(  Got a few certs and some desktop repair/support experience but it's hard to even get an interview in the field.  I'd really like to get into networking having my Network+ and studying for my CCNA but without experience I can't get an entry level job, so why should I even bother with the CCNA at this point until I actually get an entry level job.

Fucking thing sucks.

I got my CCNA and A+ certs in high school before my daughter was born because it was a quick program to hopefully have a decent job by the time she was born.  It helped back then when people saw it on my resume (actually got me the job I'm doing now) but anything in actual computer repair or networking was off limits because I had no real experience in the field.  And that was in fucking 2004 when the job market was great.  I can't even imagine what it would be like now.

[Tasty]

I make $120,000 a year in engineering.  I started off at $61,000 a year in 2009 and worked my way up mostly by taking lead on shit projects and high risk projects.  There's a lot of change going on right now in basically every branch of engineering and if you have the intelligence and drive, the world is your oyster.  It doesn't even need to be green technologies (which is seeing a huge influx anyway), just the rapid pace of technological progress opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The downside is that engineering fucking sucks ass in school.  Also, engineering isn't even close to a guaranteed job.  For as much talk as there is about a shortage of STEM people, there are quite a few that are still having shitty luck finding an entry level job.  There is basically no guaranteed job these days.

Where do you live/work?

[Human Snorenado]

My main problem is that I absolutely hate "marketing" myself or networking at all.  I just want a transaction where I show up, show my credentials and get a job offer.  I know this is completely unrealistic but whatever.  I'm just terrible at any sort of networking or interviewing bullshit.

[lennedsay]

I'm a tax accountant, and I love it. Def not for everyone though. The people in my dept vs people from other accounting depts at my work are like night and day. Something about looking at taxes all day make people crazy, for good or bad. With that said, I'm not sure I could go to the financial or auditing side.

Acquaintances and distant family used to ask me, "Why accounting? It's so boring..." That stopped after they inevitably had some random tax question they needed answered ASAP. Close friends/family weren't surprised by my decision though. I was the kid who always played with the toy cash register and wrote "checks" to pay for my plastic veggies.

My husband's in IT and makes more than me. Tons of paths within the field.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

is there alot of "homework" in the accounting field

[lennedsay]

No I'm a big girl so I do my work at work.

Actually, I work for a company huge on work/life balance and get scolded for not taking lunches. It's probably different at other companies though. My last job was 60 - 80 hrs a week but I was management level, so most "homework" was personnel-related (creating training programs, scheduling, etc).

[recursivelyenumerable]

My main problem is that I absolutely hate "marketing" myself or networking at all.  I just want a transaction where I show up, show my credentials and get a job offer.  I know this is completely unrealistic but whatever.  I'm just terrible at any sort of networking or interviewing bullshit.

The job market for software developers with certain skills on their resume is so insane right now that I still get like three calls a week from recruiters despite having taken my resume off Monster and not sent it out to anyone since I started my current job seven months ago. I doubt the situation will last though.

[Tasty]

My main problem is that I absolutely hate "marketing" myself or networking at all.  I just want a transaction where I show up, show my credentials and get a job offer.  I know this is completely unrealistic but whatever.  I'm just terrible at any sort of networking or interviewing bullshit.

The job market for software developers with certain skills on their resume is so insane right now that I still get like three calls a week from recruiters despite having taken my resume off Monster and not sent it out to anyone since I started my current job seven months ago. I doubt the situation will last though.

I'm not quite so in demand but my situation is similar. And yeah, I think it won't last forever either. But we'll see. My hope is that everybody's learned how to pick the pieces up faster from the dot com bubble.

[DJ_Tet]

I make $120,000 a year in engineering.  I started off at $61,000 a year in 2009 and worked my way up mostly by taking lead on shit projects and high risk projects.  There's a lot of change going on right now in basically every branch of engineering and if you have the intelligence and drive, the world is your oyster.  It doesn't even need to be green technologies (which is seeing a huge influx anyway), just the rapid pace of technological progress opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

The downside is that engineering fucking sucks ass in school.  Also, engineering isn't even close to a guaranteed job.  For as much talk as there is about a shortage of STEM people, there are quite a few that are still having shitty luck finding an entry level job.  There is basically no guaranteed job these days.

What field of engineering are you in?

I just finished my associates in Computer Engineering and need a job before I can finish the real degree.  Wondering if I should stick with Computer, switch to Electrical or a different field.

Most of my calculus is done but I'll probably have to start over and do it again since I'm only through Calc 3 and I don't remember that shit anymore (did it in HS and 15+ years ago at Georgia Tech.)  But I think I can handle the math, the rest is just the drive and desire to finish it off.

Finding a job has been a bitch and a half though  :'(  Got a few certs and some desktop repair/support experience but it's hard to even get an interview in the field.  I'd really like to get into networking having my Network+ and studying for my CCNA but without experience I can't get an entry level job, so why should I even bother with the CCNA at this point until I actually get an entry level job.

Fucking thing sucks.

I got my CCNA and A+ certs in high school before my daughter was born because it was a quick program to hopefully have a decent job by the time she was born.  It helped back then when people saw it on my resume (actually got me the job I'm doing now) but anything in actual computer repair or networking was off limits because I had no real experience in the field.  And that was in fucking 2004 when the job market was great.  I can't even imagine what it would be like now.

It's been really tough but I've got about 5 years experience in pc repair (been A+ since 2000 and got Net+ in 2010.)  Today I got what I hope will be a bite, had an interview and a technical interview that both went well and got a skype interview on Monday.  Hopefully I can get one of the two positions, pay is a little less than what I was making but it's way more than I'd get stocking shelves at Target so I gotta be happy with that.

I was this close to killing a banker though.  3 hots and a cot sounds pretty nice right now, and dead bankers sounds even better.  Fuck them for ruining the economy and making me have to take entry level work with 5+ years experience.

I can't even get an interview for networking, there are no entry level jobs available w/o experience in networking that I've come across.  That's why I started getting the Comp Engineering degree.  But it's either get a job or go into massive debt at this point to finish and I'd rather get a job.

[Madrun Badrun]

My main problem is that I absolutely hate "marketing" myself or networking at all.  I just want a transaction where I show up, show my credentials and get a job offer.  I know this is completely unrealistic but whatever.  I'm just terrible at any sort of networking or interviewing bullshit.

The job market for software developers with certain skills on their resume is so insane right now that I still get like three calls a week from recruiters despite having taken my resume off Monster and not sent it out to anyone since I started my current job seven months ago. I doubt the situation will last though.

what's your skill set?

[Tasty]

If you have extensive skills in three or more of the following you have it made in Cali: HTML5, JavaScript, Node, iOS dev, Android dev, jQuery, Git, Ruby.

[Van Cruncheon]

i have skills in most of those, but as a dev, that's like saying you have skills in jizzmopping and fluffing. you do it if you're slumming and need a buck, but you keep it to yourself

[Van Cruncheon]

"dude, i heard you got stuck working on a canvas game"
"...yeah, industry ain't been there for me for awhile..."
"hey, man, that's cool. gotta make a dollar. um, could you...um...not call me again?"

[Tasty]

For some reason recruiters love vagueness. Just putting "HTML5" or "JS" on there is enough to get some bites. Just be prepared because the interviewers are usually sharp as a tack.

[etiolate]

My main problem is that I absolutely hate "marketing" myself or networking at all.  I just want a transaction where I show up, show my credentials and get a job offer.  I know this is completely unrealistic but whatever.  I'm just terrible at any sort of networking or interviewing bullshit.

same

Not only am I no good at networking, I really don't even like the feel of it.

[Human Snorenado]

Yeah, I always feel vaguely sleazy whenever I have to network or schmooze or whatever.  Like, I have no real problem doing this with friends or someone I know, but a complete stranger?  No thanks.

[Oblivion]

Join me in starting up a political blog. We'll become rich. Rich as nazis!