Hello guys,
programming must really be interesting.  I have spent the last few hours breezing through posts by guys here: dual core, slyrox, pc guru, etc. Been reading some blogs and getting carried away by the daunting escapades of hackers. Also been lookin up codes in java, python and the likes. Wow, cool. I actually like programming, as i did a bit of it in school then. The only thing I remember clearly now though is just building algorithms, i.e. working around the logic of programming, which i do pretty well. I don't speak any language. Maybe passing c++, but then nothing else.
But I got a good offer nevertheless, an offer as a developer trainee in a top IT company. They are pretty satisfied with my knowledge of algorithms, though they'll rest me in a sister department until my programming skills are good enough. Okay. Am working already in some other company: a rather lowly rated telecoms company, doing antennas, radio engineering and all that, which i love and am also good at. But now am confused as to which of these two jobs to go for. If I go IT, will I get the hang of intense programming and developing in less than a year and be able to do this above average? If not, I'd' rather stay with my radio engineering. . . . 
Please advice, thanks

Depends on the language you will be using. For something "unmanaged" language like C, pascal, FORTRAN, MASM you will need time these are usually languages without redundant library, I would say about 2 years to master it all.
For managed language like VB, C#, Java, Delphi, python etc you can get a good grip within 3 months.

dell_net:

Depends on the language you will be using. For something "unmanaged" language like C, pascal, FORTRAN, MASM you will need time these are usually languages without redundant library, I would say about 2 years to master it all.
For managed language like VB, C#, Java, Delphi, python etc you can get a good grip within 3 months.

thanks man, dat was helpful!

Gaining top proficiency in either takes years so you simply have to decide what exactly you need to achieve.

At some point in both cases you would need knowledge of the other area.

So I would suggest you reframe the question to "Which to do first?" and that depends on your character as a person.

An easy way to find out, take CCNA (networking actually but pretty close in experience to what a typical telecom course is) and experience what its like to learn lots of commands and use them from Memory and what it feels like planning/administering a network and compare that feeling with what you would get from building stuff using codes.

That would tell you more than we can type here.

besides its a pretty cheap way to test and make a life decision. (Cheaper compared to what you would lose embarking on the wrong one only to realise you are a programmer at heart or the "chosen one" telecom engineer).

I am more of a programmer tho but lately I have been doing stuffs that required some programming and some telecom/networking hardware/knowledge. its fun and if you later get the chance to marry the two YOU WILL REALLY LOVE IT. trust me.

Ciao