There is a lot of good advice here. I just wanted to add a little story if anyone is interested.
I graduated with my CS degree later than the average person. I always worried about my age especially being a noob to development. My work ethic and constant side projects got me up to speed and I was hired on in Redmond. It is like a dream, but I am constantly being woke up by new talent coming in knowing newer technologies. Instead of worrying about those new guys, I set goals in my spare time to learn those technologies and then later use them in my job. The best advice I give myself is to never become technologically complacent. Having said that, I do not throw all my career investments into one basket. I stopped goofing around on the weekends playing PC and Xbox games and started a part time CNC prototyping business. As much as I love my job, I am not going to work for someone else for the rest of my life. My business is taking off locally and I have managed to convince two local manufactures to get there parts cut in my shop versus China. Anybody can do it...just get off the video games:)
Slashdot Mirror
*their parts :)
There is a lot of good advice here. I just wanted to add a little story if anyone is interested.
:)
I graduated with my CS degree later than the average person. I always worried about my age especially being a noob to development. My work ethic and constant side projects got me up to speed and I was hired on in Redmond. It is like a dream, but I am constantly being woke up by new talent coming in knowing newer technologies. Instead of worrying about those new guys, I set goals in my spare time to learn those technologies and then later use them in my job. The best advice I give myself is to never become technologically complacent. Having said that, I do not throw all my career investments into one basket. I stopped goofing around on the weekends playing PC and Xbox games and started a part time CNC prototyping business. As much as I love my job, I am not going to work for someone else for the rest of my life. My business is taking off locally and I have managed to convince two local manufactures to get there parts cut in my shop versus China. Anybody can do it...just get off the video games