Studies...

[flexagon]

I felt a little ooky last night, so instead of working out I did another chapter (a short chapter, on inner classes and anonymous inner classes) of my Java Programmer Certification book. Only learned one new thing, too, which proves I knew that stuff pretty well. :) I'm definitely getting back into the Flow mentality... directed effort in general really does leave me happier than aimless puttering. It's nice to go to bed having actually done something. And with only one chapter left to go (and then a lot of reviewing, but never mind) I suppose I should really be scheduling the test. And crossing my fingers that the Prometrics testing center in Burlington is somewhere close to the one bus that goes there. :b

So the other question is, what next? I know jg26 has been studying the C++ FAQ Lite a lot, and it would definitely be good for me to do the same. However, I'm also feeling uncomfortable with the math/analytics/algorithm terms being thrown about at work that I almost remember but not quite... Markov chaining, red-black trees, Poisson processes, stuff like that. Hmmm.

I have to give a talk at work today instead of staying here and attacking all this dust and reading my book, like I'd rather. I think I'm glad it's Friday.

Comments

[jg26.livejournal.com]

I could lend you Numerical Recipes in C++... for your math/analytics/algorithm needs. I'm looking at the index now, I'm not seeing Markov chaining or red/black trees.... but maybe they're in there under another name (or maybe there's other stuff that'd be useful).

I've felt completely overwhelmed with the 'what to do next' problem... actually, its 'what to do first'. bluechromis has pointed out, and Monster.com & HotJobs confirm, that I have some serious holes in my resume, that are making me fairly unmarketable.

What I'm lacking:

Any Microsoft Experience
Visual Studio
COM
JAVA
Anything Database Related
Anything Web Related

Sooo... like I said, where do I start?

[webrat.livejournal.com]

Well, the easiest place to start would be the Web Related / Database Related thing IMHO. That won't take you long at all to pick up. You can nail those two birds with one stone if you're really creative.

[flexagon]

Ha, I think I'm going to end up saying the opposite of rattie. And I'm definitely going to say NOT to run around picking up lots of random technologies before you know what your next job actually needs. But it's good to learn new things, so...

Let's see, COM is dead or dying, skip it.

You could pick up SQL in a matter of days (I'm half a day into the learning curve myself), so I'd say just tell people you'll learn databases if the job calls for it.

Java's looking to me like the easiest and biggest hole to patch. You know C++, and Java is essentially C+ minus the hard parts plus some details about pass-by-reference and of course those feisty anonymous inner classes. Java is also cross-platform, which means it'll be fine to learn on Linux. An introductory book, or, if you want more credibility, a class, should be easy for you. :)

One of my coworkers is almost entirely a Linux/C++ man, by the way, and he's highly valued, so I wouldn't assume you're unmarketable just for not being a Java/web person.

[jg26.livejournal.com]

I did some reading on databse stuff this w/e, and was enjoying that.... so I think I'll continue on that for a while. I have written stuff in java before (a compiler in my compiler design class), but that was over 4 years ago...

Thanks for the encouragement about the linux/c++ stuff. I don't suppose you could drop me the email addy of your headhunter (in case he's looking for another unix/linux C/C++ algorithm type guy) ;)