What would you do if everything fails (what's your plan B)?

Dr Herbie wrote:

I'd start my own software company.  Nothing to lose, everything to gain.

This is my Plan A. My Plan B involves cardboard boxes and visits to the dole office.

Busk with my guitar, and make guitars, and possibly teach lessons.

I only work in sprints...I am not aware of the master plan.

If everything fails I'll become a money transporter.

ZippyV wrote:

If everything fails I'll become a money transporter.

Drug mule?

Male Escort.

I love the company of women, so I may as well get paid for it.

My plan B... go teach (English) overseas, where teachers are paid decently.

I graduated with a BA, majors in Computer Science and Japanese. Most advertisements I see for English teaching openings (in the states for overseas jobs) have a requirement for BA, so I'm good there. I wouldn't mind going back and doing linguistics as a undergrad/grad. As it is now I'm working in my plan A (programming).


The biggest issues with masters in Computer Science is that it becomes a specilization (for the most part) rather than a continuation of general knowledge. Often times masters programs are geared for learning specific applications of CS: compilers, artificial intelligence, cryptography, etc. So it may not be more advantageous outside that specilization. It does show you are a dedicated student, but it may not be the end-all shoe in.

tgraupmann, I know someone who's going/gone through a bioinfromatics graduate program, was interesting talking with him. Definately a interesting field.

Sabot wrote:

Male Escort.

I love the company of women, so I may as well get paid for it.

Ha ha. what makes you think you'd only be 'escorting' females ?

Sure, you might be able to hold out for a while, but eventually, you have to take care of necessities... where do you think the name "Google" came from...

If I have no other options I am going to presume that it is the apocolypse and quickly join the roving gang with the tallest feather adorned headdress ala Mad Max.

Failing that; there is always PHP work.

Something to consider to help you decide when your studies are complete.

It seems like everybody that I'm forced to interview at Plan B, that is coming from India has a Master's degree.

So if you want to compete, you will also need a Master's degree. And this is for entry level / senior SDET positions.

As time progresses, the requirements are just going to increase.

My personal opinion is that we all really need at least 3 degrees.

If you consider the computer as a tool. A tool is great, but you have to apply it to something. You also need to know about the business to sell the tool or work with project managers.

Itemized:
1) Get a computer science degree.
2) Get a business degree
3) And get a degree in the field you want to do.

You need all 3 to be able to excel in your field.


In my case #3 should have been one of the following:
- robotics automation
- genetic engineering
- bioinformatics
- biochemistry
- biosystems
- proteomics
- intelligent distributed systems
- civil engineering
- aerospace engineering
- invivo sciences
- nanotechnology & manufacturing
- digipen

I went to school to be a C++ developer. Plan B ended up making me an SDET, which is like being a developer, but it's a developer for the test department. SDET isn't a complete waste. You pick up a good tool set. C#, Perl, XML, code reviews, SCRUM, performance testing, setting up build environments. The worst part of being an SDET is that it changes your life. Nothing is ever perfect. A scene looks awesome, well... if they fix this detail.

But I didn't give up.

You bring out Plan C. Plan C is what it takes to get back to Plan A.

Now people say, the best way to get your foot in the door is to join QA. But I don't think that's right. Once a QA always a QA. You get pegged sucker.

That said, you can wait for your employer(s) to make your dreams. You have to get them yourself.

I said Plan A was I wanted to be a developer. More specifically, I wanted to do development in bioengineering, biotech, robotics, automation. (not QA automation). Most of you in these forums are likely in the MSFT region. That's the Redmond area. That's pretty close to Lake Washington. That's where I am too. Did you know that there are 140 biotech companies around Lake Washington. All the biotech companies belong to an organization called the WBBA (Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association). There are two divisions of the WBBA. Basically pharamacuticals and medical devices. Too bad the drug side is focusing on Viagra right now (a top seller).

So Plan A is to work for some of these WBBA companies. I did my internship to get my BS for a biotech company for a year. But then fellback to Plan B (SDET) cause it pays good.

[Plan C] is working on getting into a developer role. I've been fairly successful. I started out creating and working for Open Source projects that you'll find at sourceforge.net. After a couple years, I started volunteering for "indie" teams. When I got a more advanced toolset that's when I found something really fun. I started doing game development and getting into 3D. 3D is a big industry. There are far more resources available about it on the net compared to years before. There are several roles you can fill. You can be a modeler a create 3d models with tools like my favorite (Modo). You can be a texture artist and paint models. You can be an animator and animate the texture models. You can be a tool designer and automate the pipeline to get the animated models into your game. You can be a level designer and create the levels for the game maps. You can be an engine developer and create the backbone of your game. You can be a server/client/p2p developer and work on the networking for your game. You can be a rendering developer and work on the visual effects for your game. You can be a gameplay developer and design the user interaction for your game. Or be a producer, make movies of the game, talk with publicists, and submit your game to competitions.

Yeah I've done all the stuff in Plan C. Pretty fun.

I still wonder about how to turn Plan C into Plan A. Just thinking about it always makes good Sci-fi game content.

You know for the cool sci-fi games out right now. A few of my favorites are:
- bioshock
- alanwake
- crysis

But then there's also Plan A. Companies like:
- AmGen
- Zymogenetics
- Many more, check out the wabio.com industry page.

Anyway, good luck with your Plan A. I've always known what I wanted to do. The hard part is figuring out how to get there...

plan b - Run for President

ScanIAm wrote:



ZippyV wrote: If everything fails I'll become a money transporter.

Drug mule?

No drugs, a real/legal money transporter.

Bus driver.

ZippyV wrote:



ScanIAm wrote:  ZippyV wrote: If everything fails I'll become a money transporter. Drug mule?

No drugs, a real/legal money transporter.

Money launderer?

Seriously, though, why would you need to transport money?

ScanIAm wrote:



ZippyV wrote:  ScanIAm wrote:  ZippyV wrote: If everything fails I'll become a money transporter. Drug mule? No drugs, a real/legal money transporter.

Money launderer?

Seriously, though, why would you need to transport money?

You've clearly never worked in retail, or any other job involving money handling...