bPHP Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hi! I have a degree in Computer Science and Engineering and I have been a programmer since I graduated, around 2 years and a half ago. I really like programming, but I'm a bit tired of programming 10 hours a day for a standard wage. Plus, I'm not the best programmer in the world, and getting stuck with lines of code for hours is not what I want to do every day. I would like to know what is the best way to get away from this? I don't enjoy it anymore as much, I'd like to be in a technological company, but a bit above programmers, as an analyst maybe, talking about how things should be done and researching that, etc. I don't really know though what is that, if I need a master for it, but I want to step up in my career. Any suggestions on what can I do? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 as an analyst maybe, talking about how things should be done and researching that, etc. How can you tell programmers what to do if you suck at programming in the first place? Creating a successful/flexible system design is based upon your experiences as a programmer. The analyst should make it easier for programmers to implement and maintain not come up with something that only makes sense in the mind of an analyst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Get into web analytics. As an analyst in that industry, you would do stuff like look at data coming into tracking tools such as Google Analytics, Yahoo Web Analytics, Omniture, etc..look at trends in the data, decide what things to track on websites that are beneficial to clients.. etc... and you would work with coders to implement tracking code, telling them what you want tracked and how values should be, etc... and they would go about doing the actual code implmentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bPHP Posted October 22, 2010 Author Share Posted October 22, 2010 as an analyst maybe, talking about how things should be done and researching that, etc. How can you tell programmers what to do if you suck at programming in the first place? Creating a successful/flexible system design is based upon your experiences as a programmer. The analyst should make it easier for programmers to implement and maintain not come up with something that only makes sense in the mind of an analyst. I don't suck at it, not being the best in the world and sucking are two very different things. I'm just tired of it, the long hours struggling with a piece of code to finally realize that closing bracket should have been in the line above... That tedious job doesn't need an engineer. I feel like studying software engineering to be programming 10 hours a day is like studying fashion and design to be a sewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bPHP Posted October 22, 2010 Author Share Posted October 22, 2010 Get into web analytics. As an analyst in that industry, you would do stuff like look at data coming into tracking tools such as Google Analytics, Yahoo Web Analytics, Omniture, etc..look at trends in the data, decide what things to track on websites that are beneficial to clients.. etc... and you would work with coders to implement tracking code, telling them what you want tracked and how values should be, etc... and they would go about doing the actual code implmentation. Thank you!!! I'll check that out. What kind of companies would need this, and how exactly do I get there? Any kind of studies needed, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 well, virtually all companies benefit from having an analyst on their team. It's what helps them figure out what works and doesn't work for their website, as far as user experience. A good analyst figures out the key actions on a site, looks at the data trends, makes reports to suggest what can be improved on the site to increase conversions (conversion could mean anything from filling out a form to making a sale to any other actionable thing). Most mid to large size companies with websites employ an analyst or two (or whole department) on their own payroll or hire a 3rd party analytics company. As far as 3rd party companies that specialize in that sort of thing, you can start by looking at the "partner" or "consultant" lists of web analytics tools like Google Analytics, Yahoo Analytics, Omniture, WebTrends, etc... for instance here's yahoo's consultant list: http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/ywacn (that's your freebie to get started, you can google for other lists ) All of those companies specialize in helping clients implement tracking code and making sense of the data coming in. More often than not they also focus on SEO/Marketing so you might also want to expand your job search for companies that do that sort of thing, as well. As far as what to go to school for... having some programming background certainly helps. In my experience what stumbling block a lot of analysts have is having virtually no coding experience, which makes it really hard for them to talk to the coders about what they want, or understanding a coder when they try to explain limitations, etc... as far as the whole analyzing part, most analysts I know have at least a business degree of some sort. General business practices, marketing etc.. is good so that you understand the general philosophies and goals of a business (to make money obviously, but the method to the madness is what you're after!). Learning about Design in general, especially user experience best practices (UX) is also a must. Understanding the purpose of A/B and Multivariate testing, etc... You can also pick up a lot of certifications from the various analytics tool companies out there, like GA certification. Omniture offers a ton of different certification courses for implementation and reporting for relatively cheap (starting at like $300 for just straight up taking the tests). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 I'm just tired of it, the long hours struggling with a piece of code to finally realize that closing bracket should have been in the line above... That tedious job doesn't need an engineer. The company I work for didn't hire me because I can close/align my brackets correctly but because I can translate business needs into computer code in an efficient way using Algorithms, Design Patterns, and thorough tool knowledge (in everyday use and those available on the market). In short: they hired me for what I know not because they ran out of 5-year olds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bPHP Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 I'm just tired of it, the long hours struggling with a piece of code to finally realize that closing bracket should have been in the line above... That tedious job doesn't need an engineer. The company I work for didn't hire me because I can close/align my brackets correctly but because I can translate business needs into computer code in an efficient way using Algorithms, Design Patterns, and thorough tool knowledge (in everyday use and those available on the market). In short: they hired me for what I know not because they ran out of 5-year olds. Yeah that's what they hired me for also. But I rather design and talk to programmers, there has to be someone above you telling you what are those business needs. That's where I want to be, I know what you describe sounds pretty but I'm not having fun doing that all day. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bPHP Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 well, virtually all companies benefit from having an analyst on their team. It's what helps them figure out what works and doesn't work for their website, as far as user experience. A good analyst figures out the key actions on a site, looks at the data trends, makes reports to suggest what can be improved on the site to increase conversions (conversion could mean anything from filling out a form to making a sale to any other actionable thing). Most mid to large size companies with websites employ an analyst or two (or whole department) on their own payroll or hire a 3rd party analytics company. As far as 3rd party companies that specialize in that sort of thing, you can start by looking at the "partner" or "consultant" lists of web analytics tools like Google Analytics, Yahoo Analytics, Omniture, WebTrends, etc... for instance here's yahoo's consultant list: http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/ywacn (that's your freebie to get started, you can google for other lists ) All of those companies specialize in helping clients implement tracking code and making sense of the data coming in. More often than not they also focus on SEO/Marketing so you might also want to expand your job search for companies that do that sort of thing, as well. As far as what to go to school for... having some programming background certainly helps. In my experience what stumbling block a lot of analysts have is having virtually no coding experience, which makes it really hard for them to talk to the coders about what they want, or understanding a coder when they try to explain limitations, etc... as far as the whole analyzing part, most analysts I know have at least a business degree of some sort. General business practices, marketing etc.. is good so that you understand the general philosophies and goals of a business (to make money obviously, but the method to the madness is what you're after!). Learning about Design in general, especially user experience best practices (UX) is also a must. Understanding the purpose of A/B and Multivariate testing, etc... You can also pick up a lot of certifications from the various analytics tool companies out there, like GA certification. Omniture offers a ton of different certification courses for implementation and reporting for relatively cheap (starting at like $300 for just straight up taking the tests). Thanks for the great info Crayon, I'll research about it and tell you how it went! I was also thinking I might need some kind of business related degree... Maybe it would take me some work, 1 or 2 years but after that I'll probably jump away from something that has me so annoyed. I don't really understand why software engineers have to be programmers, why can't we start doing something else, maybe code from time to time... I don't get it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Well for knowing how to program as a software engineer (or any body else that works directly with programmers) is so that you can speak their language, understand wtf they are saying, move forward on projects, etc... have you actually tried to explain a coding problem to a non-coder before (like for real)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phpfreak Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Good luck in whichever route you choose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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