Question on Python as career

[joy99]

Dear Group,

I am a researcher in India's one of the premier institutes.(Indian
Institute of Science,Bangalore).

I have done one MA in Linguistics, did a PhD in Natural Language
Processing and doing a Post Doctoral now.
Earlier I knew C/C++ and presently work on Python on WinXP.
I use IDLE to as gui.
My area of work are:
(i) Statistical Modeling,
(ii) Neural Networks;
(iii) Machine Learning.

I have developed the following toolkits:
(i) A web based crawler;
(ii) A Bayesian classifier;
(iii) One NER engine;
(iv) One XML parser;
(v) One PoS Tagger;
(vi) One Parser based on CRF;
(vii) One MLE training system;
(viii) One Spell Checker;
(ix) One Transliteration System;

I have developed them either in Python2.5 and Python2.6.

After I complete my Post Doctoral which may be only 2-3 months away,
with this knowledge can I join IT?
Or Do I have to learn anything new?
Are there any India based opportunities- as I checked Python job board
it is very less.
If I get anything after completing my Post Doc with present base of
knowledge what profiles I may expect?
If I have to learn anything what they may be and how much time
generally a person needs to learn them and what may be the profile
expectancy?

As this room is filled up with many expert IT professionals if any
body can suggest me on these.

Best Regards,
Subhabrata Banerjee.

 

[joy99]

All your items are computer science. IT is about software engineering. That
means _avoiding_ new research in preference for efficiently implementing
business solutions.

You are right. But problem is that in our country hardly any people
work in the cutting edge technology. Something has been brought out in
the west and we try to imulate over here. At the end of the day, when
you see you toiled so much for a problem but it is actuallly someone
else's algorithm things are bit frustating. But well, my teachers
taught me whatever they could.

In Indian Institute of Science, well things are only bit better that
some of personal algorithms or revisions get approved.

I may continue with research but why to follow someone else's foot
step althrough life? So, better to earn money do a decent job instead
of doing all these. If I have enough inertia I can do it later too.
Many people do it.

Test Driven Development. I've to know this.
Active Record (ORM models) I've to know this too.
HTML & webby technologies

I know it bit. HTML,XML,DHTML,SSML I know. I have slight knowledge of
Joomla and SOA.

platforms & deployment issues I will check on this.
GNU, open source, and version controlling I know it bit.
Behavior Driven Development


Ideally, IT should get the job done using a soft language like Python, Ruby, or
Lua. IT should not waste its time using a hard language like C++. That is for
system programming - making the modules that IT reuses.


How about videogames? They always need hard algorithms &
computer science.

That is a nice thought. Thank you Sir.
But I may have to be expert in Graphics and Animation, too. I am
trying to find out.

--

I was thinking if I need to know Django,any good RDBMS(I know only MS-
Access)

Best Regards,
Subhabrata.

 

[Roy Smith]

Dear Group,

I am a researcher in India's one of the premier institutes.(Indian
Institute of Science,Bangalore).
[...]
I have developed them either in Python2.5 and Python2.6.

After I complete my Post Doctoral which may be only 2-3 months away,
with this knowledge can I join IT?
Or Do I have to learn anything new?

The short answer is, you will always need to keep learning new things.
Whatever set of technologies are popular today (check out
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html, for
example), will change over time.

When I started out, I knew C and Fortran. I'm amazed that C is still the
#2 language, and Fortran isn't even on the TIOBE top 20 list any more. 17
of the 20 didn't even exist when I started out.

 

[joy99]

Dear Group,

I am a researcher in India's one of the premier institutes.(Indian
Institute of Science,Bangalore).
[...]
I have developed them either in Python2.5 and Python2.6.

After I complete my Post Doctoral which may be only 2-3 months away,
with this knowledge can I join IT?
Or Do I have to learn anything new?

The short answer is, you will always need to keep learning new things.  
Whatever set of technologies are popular today (check outhttp://www.tiobe..com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html, for
example), will change over time.

When I started out, I knew C and Fortran.  I'm amazed that C is still the
#2 language, and Fortran isn't even on the TIOBE top 20 list any more.  17
of the 20 didn't even exist when I started out.

That's always there. C still rules, even Python is built in C. For
good programming sense knowledge of C helps as it works still as some
kind of standard. Fortran yes lost its power but Fortran is THE
LANGUAGE for people who do high end simulation like Aviation
Technology or Supercomputing. They do not take the languages available
in the software engineering community of business development like C,C+
+,Java or even Python.

I heard recently NASA is using Python.

My query was for the more or less sizeable amount of knowledge for
developing business solutions as these fetch in our developing
countries more jobs than high end research.
In our country the scope in high end research is very limited.
20-30% you need to upgrade always be it our research, management or
programming. Sometimes even some very new technologies like SAP
overrule the market and you have to know them altogether.

Thanks for a nice answer.
Wishing you all happy day ahead,
Regards,
Subhabrata Banerjee.

 

[joy99]

Wouldn't you say you have already joined IT?

It's difficult for me to believe that you have managed to get all the way
through a PhD without cultivating close relationships with at least one
private sector company.  Unless you had planned to stay in research
throughout your life, wouldn't that have been an obvious step along the
way?


There are very, very few full-time Python jobs anywhere in the world,
although many people use Python as one tool in their toolbox.


I am amazed that a PhD does not already have some clues about the answers
to these questions.  Your best plan is to start exploiting your network of
contacts.  If you don't already have a network of commercial contacts, then
you have a long, hard road ahead of you.

I worked for quite sometime in IT, for few months I was a fellow to
IBM,too. Our institute/lab has close collaboration with Carnegie
Mellon or Massachussets Institute, but I ported to Python, and I am
the only one in my lab using it others stick to Java. I got wonderful
results doing work in Python. So, I was thinking if I could make a
career in Python. And it is a room for expert Pythoner/programmers
around the world.

You are right, Python is seen more as a tool somepeople even find it
good scripting language,too.

Surely, I'll solve this on my own.
Happy Day Ahead,
Best Regs,
Subhabrata Banerjee.

 

[r0g]

Wouldn't you say you have already joined IT?

It's difficult for me to believe that you have managed to get all the way
through a PhD without cultivating close relationships with at least one
private sector company. Unless you had planned to stay in research
throughout your life, wouldn't that have been an obvious step along the
way?


There are very, very few full-time Python jobs anywhere in the world,
although many people use Python as one tool in their toolbox.


I am amazed that a PhD does not already have some clues about the answers
to these questions. Your best plan is to start exploiting your network of
contacts. If you don't already have a network of commercial contacts, then
you have a long, hard road ahead of you.

Getting involved in an open source project or two may bolster your CV
and help you get your foot in the door. Employers always like a bit of
real worlds experience - some even insist on it. There are thousands of
open source projects using python you could contribute to, or you could
found your own. You sound like a bright guy, maybe you could be the next
Bram Cohen?

Roger.

 

[joy99]

Getting involved in an open source project or two may bolster your CV
and help you get your foot in the door. Employers always like a bit of
real worlds experience - some even insist on it. There are thousands of
open source projects using python you could contribute to, or you could
found your own. You sound like a bright guy, maybe you could be the next
Bram Cohen?

Roger.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for another nice message.
Bright? I don't know, all I try to do my work and get some results.
That's upto the world to say.
Happy day ahead,
Best Regards,
Subhabrata.

 

[Grant Edwards]

Getting involved in an open source project or two may bolster your CV
and help you get your foot in the door.

Having some real experience would help offset the liability of
having a PhD.

1/2

 

[TimmyGee]

Having some real experience would help offset the liability of
having a PhD.

1/2

www.rentacoder.com?

 

[r0g]

www.rentacoder.com?

Euwww, that's not an experience I'd recommend!

Roger.

 

[TimmyGee]

Euwww, that's not an experience I'd recommend!

Roger.

Really? I was considering giving it a go one of these days. Not a good
idea?

 

[John Bokma]

[..]

Euwww, that's not an experience I'd recommend!

Roger.

Really? I was considering giving it a go one of these days. Not a good
idea?

If you have no problem with coding projects that take 80 hours and have
a budget of 200 USD...

 

[Michele Simionato]

After 5 years of postdoc in Physics I decided to change career and to
move to IT. I decided to learn Object Oriented Programming first. I
chose Python since it was already installed on my Linux machine and it
was easy to tackle for a beginner. In the process of learning Python I
began posting to this newsgroup: first asking questions, then
answering them. I also wrote a few papers about Python. After a year
or so I was kind of known in the Python world, with a respectable
curriculum. Then I got my first job by answering a job offer on
comp.lang.python. My advice is to contact some local Python user
group, to go to conferences and to make yourself known in a way or
another.
It takes time. Good luck!

Michele Simionato

 

[joy99]

After 5 years of postdoc in Physics I decided to changecareerand to
move to IT. I decided to learn Object Oriented Programming first. I
chosePythonsince it was already installed on my Linux machine and it
was easy to tackle for a beginner. In the process of learningPythonI
began posting to this newsgroup: first asking questions, then
answering them. I also wrote a few papers aboutPython. After a year
or so I was kind of known in thePythonworld, with a respectable
curriculum. Then I got my first job by answering a job offer on
comp.lang.python. My advice is to contact some localPythonuser
group, to go to conferences and to make yourself known in a way or
another.
It takes time. Good luck!

       Michele Simionato

Dear All,
This really came out to be a resourceful discussion. Every one tried
to help me with some nice idea(s). Now, it is my time to act. Let me
first summarize them and proceed on them suiting my need and
capability.
Wishing you all a nice day ahead,
Best Regards,
Subhabrata Banerjee.

 

[r0g]

Really? I was considering giving it a go one of these days. Not a good
idea?

It's OK if you want to work for nothing (by western standards), not use
any open source licensed libs and work to design briefs like "Make copy
site fo facebook with videos MAx bid: $100".

I suppose it might be worth the trouble if you like writing scrapers,
cloning other people's websites and don't really need much income from it.


Roger.

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

joy99 a écrit :
(snip)

I was thinking if I need to know Django,any good RDBMS(I know only MS-
Access)

Any job in IT will (well... "should") indeed require
a decent knowledge of the relational thery / algebra, relational
database design (normal forms etc), SQL, and working knowledge with at
least one "major RDBMS (oracle or postgresql) and possibly the
ubiquitous (in the web world) MySQL gizmo.

Django and/or Rail might be a good idea too, but most of the
"enterprise" stuff is still done in Java

 

[Aahz]

There are very, very few full-time Python jobs anywhere in the world,
although many people use Python as one tool in their toolbox.

Depending on how you define "Python job", I disagree with you. All my
employment in the last decade, including three different full-time jobs
at three different companies, has had Python as the primary job skill
requirement and is what I spent more time working with than anything
else. I don't think I'm particularly unusual.

My company has been trying to hire a person with Python and Linux
sysadmin experience for more than three months -- in the San Francisco
Bay Area -- with little luck.

 

[Nicola Larosa (tekNico)]

Not that few. Anyway, it's not a zero-sum game: you want to work with
Python? Find a job where *you* introduce it.

All my employment in the last decade, including three different
full-time jobs at three different companies, has had Python as the
primary job skill requirement and is what I spent more time working
with than anything else.

Wow, same as me. Except, mine were four full-time jobs at four
different companies, and I introduced Python in the first two, in
Italy of all places.

I am glad that I didno't have to introduced Python myself for three
years now, but was instead asked to work with it. Making yourself
known
to the community is fundamental, so I second Michele's comment: invest
some of your time in free/open work, and you'll be much rewarded.

--
Nicola Larosa - http://www.tekNico.net/

Do you know how to proof-read your writing before hitting send? If
not,
please learn. A spell checker may help. If you do know how, if you
care
so little for what you write that you can't be bothered, why should
any-
one care enough to read what you write? - Steven D'Aprano, October
2009