I'm currently in my second last year of school, with probably a 1-2 week window of opportunity to change classes. My school offers a very limited amount of classes (country hick town). Now, i'm very very very into computers. They control my life. I'm the guy all the people in my year talk to if they need computer help. I used to want to be a games Programmer or something, but i've started going away from that because i'm struggling badly in my maths class (it's the 'smart' maths class).

I'm planning to have a profession in the computer industry. My friends are quite interesting in some sort of computer store or something. I'd probably like to do something else though. What sort of jobs are there in the computer industry? What sort of prerequisites are the most common (for tertiary education courses).

Seltox, are you able to do subjects by Distance Ed at your school? Also you could perhaps do computer courses through TAFE (I also live in a hick town in NSW and can do computer courses through TAFE via the internet). I guess Wodonga Tafe is probably closest to you, however over 100 kms is probably a bit much. My children's school arranged distance ed courses and a few of the senior students also attended the TAFE in the next town (luckily we have a school bus that was able to take and return them).

I would suggest getting hold of the current TAFE handbook (it's probably also online - I haven't looked). They list all the courses and also the type of jobs one can expect to get with the different qualifications. Perhaps it would also be advantageous to search for the same with courses offered at the different universities.

You could also ask you Careers Advisor if they could get a list of the various careers available in the computer industry. Once you have researched some of the above you may find a career within the industry that stands out for you.

You might also check out the Careers Portal for the Australian Computer Society. Looks like some interesting info there. As well there are probably other associations which similar information.

If games programmer is your passion, perhaps you could get some extra tuition to help keep you up with the Maths.

This post has been edited by frantique: Feb 4 2008, 01:50 AM

I actually done Work Experience at Wodonga TAFE, in the ICT department .

your question is rather broad....there are a lot of different "computer related" proffessions around (from data entry to database engeneering, to programming, to designing chips) you need to sit back and decide what you like most about computers and what kind of job would give you the best "enjoyment:paycheck" ratio.....you can find some jobs that will pay through the nose to have you (assuming you have the credentials) but aren't much fun...and you can find some jobs that are the funnest things around but don't pay squat....either end of that extreme will have you hating your job eventually

dsenette that is some sage advice! been there, done that, so very true. my 2 cents: get a tutor for the Maths. over the years I've come to realize that way too many things come down to having good comprehension of the numbers game. and read up on articles relating to employment projections for the years to come. the US gov'mint puts out some great stats every year on this subject. whats hot now will be cold tomorrow - or relocated overseas, etcetera. check out and see what positions institutions and government will be looking to fill further down the road, in the years to come.

Just a question, how much money is there in 'professional gaming'? I probably wouldn't actually consider this as a profession, but I do play a lot of games, and no one in my area seems to come near my gaming skills (I sound up myself, but it's true. it sucks, no one ever wants to play _against_ me). If it was possible for me to go to a competition once or twice a year and get like $1000 or something, it'd be a really nice 'on-the-side' way of getting money.

there can be alot of money in proffessional gaming....but it's alot like saying "theres alot of money in proffessional footbal"....not an easy group to get into

If you do want to get into professional gaming, you could start by entering in some small time contests and work yourself up. Then when you do well(really well) in the big games, then maybe some teams will want you, thats when the fun begins XD

what kind of games do you play?