Tech / Resume / Programming Advancement

[Kirbyprime]

It's BG, everything goes! Need help to figure out how to advance myself knowledge wise!

So let's start, I'm an Analyst Programmer at 3 years experience looking for a new job and advancement. Except, it's also the end of November and rarely anyone hires at this time so I figure I'll improve myself in the meantime.

In a short list, my current technical skills wound be:

Actionscript 3.0
C#
CSS
HTML
TSQL
ASP.Net
JS

From best to worst.

I detest HTML5 as of now since I hate Javascript in general even though I do know that Mobile is the "it" thing ( which also pisses me off ).

Currently I'm thinking of going into Unity3D C#. I figure I might as well go into gaming for the hell of it. My C# experience so far has been more server based so I will be pretty much starting from scratch.

Not sure if I should instead focus on architect courses or enterprise architecture. Hell, not sure if I should instead just go for MCSD certification instead.

So, anyone want to give me a hand?

[Fairy-Killer]

Learn C++, Java, and Python (Python maybe not as much but it's a beautiful language). Those three will open a lot more jobs to you and show that you can think in a object-oriented programming sense. You can do a LOT of things with object-oriented and are no longer limited to web. You can also learn C if you want to work closely with hardware, but it's not nearly as big of a job market.

[Kirbyprime]

Learn C++, Java, and Python (Python maybe not as much but it's a beautiful language). Those three will open a lot more jobs to you and show that you can think in a object-oriented programming sense. You can do a LOT of things with object-oriented and are no longer limited to web. You can also learn C if you want to work closely with hardware, but it's not nearly as big of a job market.

Thanks, I have looked into C++ and Java, C++ in particular though I quickly gave up since at the time I was bogged down with work. Since I have more free time now I'll look that again along with Java / Python. I'll probably hold off on C unless I take / finish the whole C++ thing.

I do have a question though, how would those 3 specifically show OOP sense? To my knowledge C# being the C++ successor is also OOP along with most modern languages. Even JS is... arguably OOP.

[Fairy-Killer]

They're some of the most used object oriented languages. That's basically it. C# is great but doesn't appear to be as widely used and known as C++/Java. Though, I might be wrong; I'm just a senior computer engineer who went through the job search a couple months ago. Lots of companies come to A&M looking for C++ since we have Stroustrup here.

[Tajin]

If you want to do games knowing well C++ is almost a must.
If you want to build resume you could go for a certification on the stuff you already know.

[Kirbyprime]

Thanks, since I am looking for a job now your experiences are indeed invaluable.

I like games, though C games are a completely new thing to me so I'll take the both of your advices and go with C++. Any advice on starting points and libraries / engines to look into?

Also, yeah certification wise I don't really see much. MCSD 2012 stuff would be new to me. For stuff I already know I could only go for Adobe Flex certification and I'm fairly comfortable without it ( plus it's not exactly the most sought after language ). Any good cert to go after?

[Tajin]

The ideal thing for a fancy resume would be the MSCD for 2012 either the web path or the desktop path. Neither of them are worth a shit for game development though. It will just make your resume look good and show you're keeping up.
Game wise the best resume is experience.

[Kirbyprime]

Yeah, I heard MSCD was pretty useless for anyone at a non-entry level though I wanted someone else's perspective on it.

Wanted to ask BG because most job postings are asking for Mobile development experience and / or HTML5 experience which seems to focus it to JS, C# (Mono) Objective C and such.