Don't enjoy "in-house programming" help me not miss the boat!!!

Question

I've been an "in-house programmer" for two years now since graduating with my BSCS. I aspire to be a product software developer and am feeling that I might be missing the boat. I currently am trying to decide on one of the following:

1. Get a Software Engineering Certificate from a near by university. http://cse.msstate.edu/prospective/grad/certificate.php this program requires that you have at least 2 years of real world experience before you can be accepted into the program

2. Go for the gold get a Masters in CS. This would be pretty hard for me since I have a wife and child, but could do if it meant more money and better job one day.

3. Make it happen for myself. I currently am trying to start a iPhone business and I could also try to teach myself the things I'm lacking as a software developer( for instance reading books like code complete, joels books etc..) because I've been an "in house developer" since graduating. Then use my knowledge and the experience I gain from pursuing an iPhone app business to land me a more software development position in the future.

4. Or a combination such as the certificate and starting my own iPhone business.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You could also try to make a name for yourself outside a degree.

• Contribute to a relatively known Open Source project.
• Blog about your iPhone hobby projects.
• Collect reputation on SO and change alias. :)

Answer 2

Have you brought up your desire to be a product developer to supervisors/project managers where you work? If you haven't, it might be a good idea to try to get to know some of the project managers of the products produced by your company, and perhaps instead of looking outward for new developers, they might bring you on as a developer.

If that's not a choice, are there any companies in your area that need new product developers? If so, apply for those. Life's too short to be unhappy with where you work and what you work on. You definitely need to be in it for yourself and look for opportunities that will not only help advance your career, but also increase your happiness with your life.

Answer 3

Keep your dayjob, live frugally, save money and start your own business: part-time/moonlighting at first, and then once the 'green shoots' appear, and the savings have grown, jump in full-time. Nobody cares what your degrees is when you work for yourself. Unless you have a compelling reason to get a masters, don't waste the time/money/effort - put that effort into your own business instead.

If you go into debt and stress yourself financially to get a masters, that dream of starting your own company is going to fade even further away...and your ability to take risks will be even further diminished.

Answer 4

A Masters in CS might be helpful if you are going into research or heavy math/science fields. If you want to do standard/business apps, consider not getting a masters degree (at least not for career reasons), or maybe an MBA.

Answer 5

Try applying for a job as a product software developer. You can do this in conjunction with any of your other approaches. You don't need to put all of your eggs in one basket.