I, too, was an EE major in college because I really didn't know what I wanted to do "when I grew up". However, through a little luck and perserverence, transitioned into software development, with practically no college preparation (except the simplistic computer programming classes offered to me in my degree program). Whether good or bad, I spent a lot of my time in college doing "self study" in computer programming, which resulted in a lot of my EE school work suffering.
When it was all said and done, I had a solid background in the things that I wanted to learn and have been able to consistently grow in the software development arena. The degree in EE (or lack thereof) hasn't affected me in any positive way, and today when reviewing potential hires, I find college preparation to be one of the least important credentials on a resume. YMMV.
I've tried a number of Java IDEs, and Forte has proven to be the best at enhancing my productivity while not imposing too many restrictions on how I develop. For no cost, the Community Edition provides significant support for developing a subset of J2EE apps (JSP/Servlets, JDBC, etc.) right from the start.
Forte's IDE is extemely modular and extensible, with 3rd party modules becoming increasingly popular, and providing built-in support for developing your own Forte modules.
The downside? It is extremely heavyweight. Make sure you have gobs of memory if you really want to get any value out of using Forte.
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I, too, was an EE major in college because I really didn't know what I wanted to do "when I grew up". However, through a little luck and perserverence, transitioned into software development, with practically no college preparation (except the simplistic computer programming classes offered to me in my degree program). Whether good or bad, I spent a lot of my time in college doing "self study" in computer programming, which resulted in a lot of my EE school work suffering.
When it was all said and done, I had a solid background in the things that I wanted to learn and have been able to consistently grow in the software development arena. The degree in EE (or lack thereof) hasn't affected me in any positive way, and today when reviewing potential hires, I find college preparation to be one of the least important credentials on a resume. YMMV.
I've tried a number of Java IDEs, and Forte has proven to be the best at enhancing my productivity while not imposing too many restrictions on how I develop. For no cost, the Community Edition provides significant support for developing a subset of J2EE apps (JSP/Servlets, JDBC, etc.) right from the start.
Forte's IDE is extemely modular and extensible, with 3rd party modules becoming increasingly popular, and providing built-in support for developing your own Forte modules.
The downside? It is extremely heavyweight. Make sure you have gobs of memory if you really want to get any value out of using Forte.