A few things: 1. Classes - I'm at LSU, and I'm set to graduate in a little over a year. I'm actually an English major, but I don't know if that will have any effect on my job prospects. I've taken the first computer science class (which is just basics and MS office applications), and I'm taking two ISDS classes right now. I'm set to take another ISDS class on network security this summer. I would really like to take some interesting computer science classes, there is one on e-commerce, 2 on networks, etc. To take the interesting classes, you have to take more programming classes than I have time to take before I graduate. I don't really want to take any more programming classes, but I don't know if that will have any affect on my job prospects either. 2. Certs - I'm thinking about both A+ and Network+ to start, but maybe MS certs would get me a better job. Or, should I not waste my time and money and jump straight to something harder? 3. BR - I think I might be in this area for awhile, just what is the job market here like? I've done a little browsing on monster, and there are some jobs, but they seem so specialized. 4. Internship - one of the classes you can take at LSU in ISDS is basically an internship class, which I would like to do, but A) I work full time during the day and B) I wouldn't know where to find a local company that might use linux, would want an intern, and would want an intern at night. 5. Money - Right now I have a full time job at LSU that has nothing to do with what I want to end up doing. I don't make very good money (about 28+), but I'm worried I might move down the pay scale if I got a job on the bottom rung of a field.
Basically, if you were in my position, what would you do? If you had to do your pre-job education over, what would you do differently? I would really appreciate any help any of you could give me, because honestly I'm kind of worried about this. Michael
