Administration

Hi, /prog/. Long time lurker, first time poster.

Basically, I'm starting college soon for computer science, and I wanted to know what you thought about it? What I mean is, I've programmed for awhile now and have built databases in the past, and I think I would like to do Database Administration for a job after graduation. Is this alright, or am I naive of the field? Also, do you think I should be worried at all about all that offshoring stuff I hear so much about? Or is there still enough work available out there that as long as I'm actually competent and can do that work, I won't really need to worry?

Thanks for the advice.

>>5

>>4 here

You need a BS for a lot of decent jobs in CompSci, so better
to just get it and be done with it.
you need a BS for any decent job right out of college and for most _{(read: almost all)} decent jobs that require experience ^{(e.g. lead SOFTWARE ENGINEER, etc.)}. i emphasize right out of college for the fact that experience alone can get you places. but if you really want a good job, a BS is pretty much [u]MANDATORY[/u].
Master's degrees are usually preferred over BS, but the industry isn't at the point where a someone with a master's is regarded much more highly than someone with just a BS. if you want a PhD, you're pretty much just gonna be a professor _{doctorates cost too much for employers ^{except Google et al.}}

As for ``really good programmers", is there any kind of a
scale or something that I can rate myself against to see how
``good" i actually am, and to see how good I really need to be
ICPC

I'm hoping education in college can put me ahead of the
competition
Your competition has a BS, also!!!