I'm under 18 and I'm afraiding of wasting my time.I want to a job about "IT".It can be everything.Coder,web designer,tester,sys admin,IT teacher...etc... I'm tryin to learn reverse engineering in Linux (Kali 2 distro).Also I'm doing programming projects.Last one takes 6 months and 200,000 lines of code...

This is for 30+ years old bro's : If you were in my shoes,what do you do ? Where do you start from ? Which job ? (think about 2025's and say something)

And please God,it would be to right place to open this thread.Thanks for any replys.

Get working? Off the top of my head: Gain enough knowledge about PCs so that you can get a bog-standard helpdesk or similar position and learn how to work as part of a department, show willing and help others. In the mean time learn from people at work and learn on your own. Once you've got experience and knowledge try to move upwards and don't be afraid to move on to another company. Make sure you've a good CV with lots of mention of how well you deal with customers and with time management and the like. Don't stay in any one job too long -- make yourself a pact to move up or move on.
So, I suppose my advice comes down to work hard and assemble a good CV. Technical knowledge and qualifications can matter and can get you interviews but it's real-life experience which gets you jobs.
And remember, you don't know as much as you think you do.

1 members found this post helpful.

First, welcome to LQ!

Here are some of the thoughts that immediately come into this 30+ year old bro's mind...

Before looking for "a job about IT", learn how to think and communicate in complete sentences with proper punctuation, spelling, grammer, etc. It is the first clue that you actually listen to your teachers.

Tell us (and yourself) why you want to work in IT? Because you really like learning and applying new computing theory? To make tons of cash? Because it is COOL? To attract babes? Do you know what IT is?

What are your qualifications for "Coder,web designer,tester,sys admin,IT teacher"...? Anything at all?

You cannot possibly understand reverse engineering until you first understand forward engineering... do you? If not, you are indeed wasting your time, and everyone else's. Being able to boot a live instance of Kali is not a qualification to build a career on! Further, Kali may be the cool uber geeky Linux distro among pre-adolescents, but tinkering with it without knowledge will get you no brownie points in an adult setting, and may earn you some time in detention!

Stating that you are doing a project that takes 6 months and 200,000 lines of code without saying anything at all about the nature of the project and your part in it, does not impress anyone.

This response is not intended to be harsh, but is intended to be honest and perhaps jolt you into a little better focus. It is the honest thoughts of how a 30+ year old bro will receive your question - think about it.

You are under 18, you don't say by how much but from your question I might guess 12. I would suggest that you see how quickly you can cover that ground in gaining some maturity. Pick a real role model (not from a TV show) based on the respect they receive from others, as opposed to how cool you think they are, then try to figure out why that is and emulate those traits. Learn how to earn respect, and how to show it to others - it is your most valuable commodity in many cases!

And most important of all - decide what YOU want to do, and why you want to do it. That becomes your goal and then it is a much easier task reaching it! Once you can articulate your own goals and reasons, you will find many wonderful people eager to help you along your path! And you will not have to worry about wasting your time, or theirs!

And one final thing, never refer to intelligent adults as "bros", of any age... that only sounds cool to yourself at the age of 12.

Good luck!

2 members found this post helpful.

Do you have any interest in science or engineering? That plus programming might be a good combination. In a career like that, you typically work in a team where some members know the theory incredibly well, and they come up with the crazy ideas that might actually work, and you would hopefully know enough about what they are doing that you could create solid code that helps to make the crazy ideas a reality.

Exactly. We are the GEEKS. You will be assimilated.

2 members found this post helpful.

Hi...

Welcome to the forum

Well, speaking of God, you can't get any better role model than Jesus Christ, that I do know. I would encourage you, most of all, to talk to Him about this. What one chooses in life (and especially if one chooses to receive Him) is extremely important.

While it's good that you don't want to waste your time, don't let it push you into an area that your not suited or have an interest for. You cover a pretty wide area of IT, is there an area that you have an interest or passion for specifically? Do you have an aptitude for any of these areas?

I would also agree that improving your spelling and punctuation will be extremely important, especially in customer service. You might want to consider improving your skills in this area.

I hope you find these suggestions (and the suggestions of the others who have posted on this thread) helpful to you.

Regards...

1. Definitely use proper spelling and grammar; if you ever get a real job, this would be a mark of maturity. Also, clarity is critical; I've read many docs that were unclear because of bad grammar - they can even imply the opposite of your original intent.

2. If you are really that young, you are too young to specialise; investigate all of those possible careers and learn a little about each.
In fact, in a long career, I've been a programmer, a DBA, a SysAdmin and done a little Network Admin as well.
As a SysAdmin, especially now that "DevOps" is the trendy phrase, you need to know something about all of those areas.

3. Get a more 'normal' distro like eg Centos and learn how to manage it.

2 members found this post helpful.

Learning how to program is good. It should be in generally-used languages, rather than those only used by Microsoft. If you feel comfortable in C++ and Python, that will go a long way. It's not the size of projects that matters, but the variety.

Get to know your way around CentOS: lots of institutions and companies use it, just as lots of companies use its parent, Red Hat. Learn bash and all the commands. What do they actually do? What files are altered by useradd? What does pidstat do, and why might you need it? How do you configure systemd?

Don't neglect your English, both written and spoken. In any job, communication is vital.

Have fun! My father once said to me that he'd always looked forward to his day's work: that's what I call a successful career.

1 members found this post helpful.

If you're learning, you're not waisting time.

I think generally the advice given has been good, except Astros spelling and grammar rant... if that's a rule 'round here, it's news to me. I think you probably can make a good impression with your written word, but you're on a message board... still, his point regarding being careful to avoid confusion is a valuable warning... lots and lots of confusion at any given moment in your chosen field... no reason to add more.

Stay out of desktop support, I've never met anybody who did it who wasn't desperate to get out of it.
Stay away from "code me now, pay you later" gigs. Those have an obvious downside.

I think the real question is are you going to go to college or are you going to try to get by on your pleasant demeanor and crushing intellect?
I chose the latter with mixed results. My recommendation is for the former. (and of course, if you can't afford the former, well... sometimes a good, strong lie is just the thing....(paraphrasing for clarity)

Kali Linux is a penetration testing platform, not really a general purpose, desktop, or server based distribution. Others have suggested CentOS. If you want to do IT, I'd suggest that as well.

If you took 6 months and wrote 200,000 lines of code, I'm assuming a few things here, or rather I'll say that I'd expect the following:

1. Well structured and documented code
2. Debugged code which you have tested at the various levels of module, interface, and functional levels
3. Hierarchical structure of code, modules, and files
4. Coding standards used, if not defined, at least a common style has been used
5. Code has been backed up, even to the point of having been added to a git repository or other archive.

Otherwise you may have wasted a ton of time inventing something which may be useful, but is not maintainable, or not portable, or other desirable large software project descriptions.

We can't tell you what to do. You have some preferences yourself. I fully get that these preferences float to other interests, and also understand that since you may not be able to do precisely what you'd love to do, you'll have decide what other things you can concentrate on which will both interest and benefit you in your life and career.

The best advice I can give there is to gravitate towards something you really like, regardless of the potential rewards. A minor point there is that if your sole dream in life is to walk dogs, then you'll get work, but it won't be excellent paying work, but you may be very happy working with and interacting with the animals. Just don't stand around criticizing that you're not extremely well off if you choose a very simple profession. Meanwhile don't pull hair out of your head obsessing as to whether or not programming versus IT, versus software QA would be better for you. Those subtle decisions are exactly what I'm talking about. One of those three, I love. The other two, I know I'd dislike a great deal. So I do the one I love. You figure out your list and choose the ones you love.

I'm not 12.I'm going to start universty next year.I really interested in computer.There are some near answer but not what I want to hear.I remember writed code for 5+ hours in a day.I really enjoy with it.I'm trying to ask is this : In the future I don't want to be jobless like a "radio serviceman" in 2015.Which job has the longest life do you think ?

Now you see the question.In the first message I tried to explain I can be a software engineer like coder,programmer,developer... but if I have to do something about hardware,I can learn hardware.Just want to select my job early and start to get experience.It would be very sad if I code for years and years then I become an hardware enineer.

The worst thing,I everyday practise my english but i learn very slowly.I have to live in USA for a while to make it faster.Can't for now.So, sory for my grammar and thanks for the every line of replies Bro's!

You want too literal advice. You want a definitive answer.

The title of the thread says you want to avoid wasting time in Linux.

If you consider any learning experience a "waste of time", then you already are on the incorrect path.

There are no guarantees in life.

But guarantee that you can end up miserable if you forcibly choose a profession merely for your perception of gainful employment.

1 members found this post helpful.

Don't marry the first girl that lets you have sex with her. Best career advice any young man can be given. Don't get her pregnent, either. Avoid those two things, and your career will naturally sort itself out.

Better yet, don't have sex with any woman until after the wedding vows are exchanged. Then, have sexual relations with only her, your wife. You can save yourself from some serious problems this way. Physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally.

Regards...