[Nfbmo] FW: [nfbcs] Career Advice

Gary Wunder gwunder at earthlink.net
Wed Oct 10 02:32:46 UTC 2012


We agreed to work with Wisconsin and Mr. Beezley to do this and they are
still all for it. They are very glad to help and have invested some real
time.



-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bryan Schulz
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 5:16 PM
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] FW: [nfbcs] Career Advice

Gary,

it's the little details that we don't know about members.
Matt would most likely be able to draft the convention registration page
like myself and he could figure out the card processing/paypal faster so why
haven't we asked him?

Bryan Schulz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Sievert" <matt.sievert at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] FW: [nfbcs] Career Advice


> Good to meet you John,
>
> My name is Matthew Sievert.
>
> I have been a programmer since I was in fith-grade.
> My current programming backgroud includes
> Microsoft .net
> Oracle Packages and procedures
> JAVA
> Php
> Cold Fusion
> Some javascript
> and of course the adoption of jQuery
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 12:33 PM, Gary Wunder <gwunder at earthlink.net> 
> wrote:
>
>> This may contribute something meaningful to our employment discussion.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G. Heim
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 11:12 AM
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Career Advice
>>
>> I am the President of the International Association of Visually Impaired
>> Technologists (www.iavit.org) and I'm employed as manager of high
>> performance computing at the University of Wisconsin Department of
>> Mathematics. My opinion is that information technology is about as good 
>> of
>> a
>> career for blind people as it gets. There is hardly any career where 
>> you're
>> not at something of a disadvantage but in information technology, you're
>> about as even with your sighted counterparts as you can be in any field.
>> And
>> it pays well.
>>
>> I was just in a tavern with my friends last week and we were talking 
>> about
>> the state of the job market in info tech. I mentioned how many of my 
>> blind
>> friends were unemployed and another guy asked, "But do you know anybody 
>> who
>> is any good who is unemployed?" I had to admit I did not. Everybody I 
>> know
>> who is blind and is unemployed either didn't have the aptitude for it in
>> the
>> first place or else they let their skill set lapse. But I know a lot of
>> sighted people who deserve jobs far less and are still employed. I just
>> think its way harder for a blind person who not only has to stand out 
>> above
>> all the other applicants, has to stand out so much that the employer will
>> take a chance on a blind guy.  But, of course, that problem applies to
>> every
>> career choice.
>>
>> I'm not so sure about going into programming though. About 8 years ago, I
>> deliberately acquired a new set of skills in order to switch from
>> programming to systems administration. I'm not sure I'd advise even a
>> sighted person to go into programming these days. I think all the
>> programming jobs are drying up and/or moving overseas. All the blind 
>> people
>> I know have jobs as various kinds of systems admins. I personally do not
>> know a single blind programmer.  But I'm not sure my sample size is
>> meaningful and other people might be able to confirm or deny this
>> impression
>> of mine.
>>
>> I've never been unemployed in my entire career. That's because I have 
>> never
>> let my skill set lapse. I spend my own time and money if necessary 
>> learning
>> the latest and greatest. And I work harder than everybody else. I just
>> think
>> that's what you have to do to succeed as a disabled person.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Garcia
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 9:08 AM
>> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [nfbcs] Career Advice
>>
>> Hello Everyone:
>>
>> I hope this is the appropriate forum for this question.
>>
>> I am legally blind with a background in engineering and manufacturing.
>> After
>> talking with many blind engineers, I find that many of them are thriving
>> computer programmers.
>>
>> I am now trying to decide whether to go to Lions World in Little Rock to
>> take their 10 month computer programming course. My counselor at my 
>> states
>> agency for the blind wants me to go to Lions World but to take one of 
>> their
>> IRS courses, which would in essence be a guaranteed job with the Feds.
>>
>> I am the type of person who could do any job, at least that is what my
>> aptitude tests tell me.
>>
>> What is life like for blind computer programmers? Do most work for
>> employers
>> or as freelancers/contractors? Are there any languages in particular I
>> should focus on? Are there any other ways of learning computer 
>> programming
>> as a blind person than going out of state? Learning on my own is just not
>> working for me.
>>
>> Any advice you can give would be appreciated.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Daniel Garcia
>> Northville, MI
>>
>>
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