Posts made by G I Jones

I'm a new IT guy, and I've been looking at degree paths in Networking and the like to better my IT skills and employment opportunities.

In my experience I do really good with advance (300-400 level) job specific classes in college, but STRUGGLE to do mundane General Education things like writing a 2,000 word essay (My opinion is never strong enough, or I can say it in a couple paragraphs) or figure out what AB ÷ YZ × Spaghetti + Saturn sums up to. So pretty much anything past Pre-Algebra on the math side.

This leads me to believe that I should instead spend my money where it won't be wasted: Cisco Languages, CompTia A+, Networking+ Security+, PHP, JQuery, and whatever specialized languages that I find interesting/useful to a preferred career path.

In your experience, is seeking out specific job related skills instead of a degree a bad choice?

@NashBrydges That answered my question in full. I appreciate that.

I had initially started researching how to do this with a fillable PDF, but people have said it's impossible. So I guess I'm moving on now to research if and how hard it would be to do it with php.

@scottalanmiller Of course, lol. My question is more about the "behind the scenes" stuff.

I didn't know if I needed PHP in conjunction with some other language, or if it's even simple stuff in the world of php.

I need some direction on this.

I'm looking into creating a document a user can fill out, let's say, on my website(similar to an employment application), and then when they slap the submit button, relevant fields of my choosing from that document would be converted to a plain list and emailed to a specific person.

I was thinking PHP could do this, and I wanted to learn PHP anyway, so I started doing the free lessons on codecademy. But I'm starting to think this isn't possible with PHP unless I made the form with PHP, and then extracted the data from there...?

Can anyone advise?

Thanks for clearing that up guys. I'm with you now.

@scottalanmiller

Can you define for me, what you consider "baseline" knowledge? It sounds to me like you're referring to common sense. I'm having a bit of trouble seeing your point in the examples you've given. I'm super open to understanding this though, could you elaborate a little more please?

I feel like I've read "baseline" knowledge somewhere else on this forum or another, is that a post already? Forgive me if it is.

Being the new IT guy, I'll try and paint a picture for you about how these knowledge gaps happen, or at least my story.

I attended college at School of Informatics and Computing, with a degree path in "New Media" as they call it. My education consisted of 3-D Animation/Modeling using several programs but with a strong emphasis on Maya. I also took some classes in Web Development (CSS, XHTML). My education stopped there as far as computers go. But I'm comfortable around computers, and I have been ever since I got my first one.

I took a job at a quasi-military academy, working with "at-risk" youth. My first job was simply as Cadre (something like a Drill Sergeant). After about a year, they had an opening for "entry-level" assistant for the MIS department (we're the IT for the organization). I was only TDA'd (Temporary Duty Assignment) initially, but I liked it so much, I decide to interview to keep it and get paid for it. My two years of computer related studies qualified me for the position and I got it.

I honestly came into the job knowing that I knew nothing about most of it, but was confident that I could learn everything I needed. We have a pretty broad range of responsibilities here in my department compared to what I been reading about other IT departments. Some things I do well already, and others I'm working out, but carefully as I do not want to stretch myself too thin.

When I first started, did I know what a Domain Controller was? Not a clue. Active Directory? What's that!? Hell, I even had to learn how to Windows+PauseBreak when my boss told me to add a computer to the network. On the flip side of that, my boss can't code a webpage to save his life. That's where I come in. The rest is time/experience. I feel that knowledge gaps like this aren't as relevant as having the resources to bridge those gaps. I mean, we're supposed to be the best at Googling right? It's in our nature to find solutions. That's the only relevant skill I'm seeing.

Hey all, I was referred here from a user on another forum. A Lively bunch over here, I'll tell ya. Love it.

I'm a new IT professional who's gotta whole lot of learning to do, and all the ambition to do it.

Haven't been to school for IT specific studies yet, but am set up to start next semester. In the meantime, learning all I can from this and other forums in conjunction with a couple tasks I've volunteered to lead. If you see the chance to learns me, then learns me, dammit. I need it.

Cheers to all.