Ask HN: How do I become a Software Developer?

Re:Ask HN: How do I become a Software Developer? by ruraljuror on Monday July 13, 2015 @09:01PM (#9882235)

It is great that you have a goal and a direction, but you are pinning your hopes on something that you do not know very much about and you may not even like. It is easy to read about coding on the internet and think it is the answer: that you are going to lock yourself in a room for 6 months and when you come out your career and life will be sorted. This is a delusion, a common delusion many of us have to one degree or another. I switched careers to become a software developer and I'm already trying to figure out how to get to the next step. There was another post earlier today about a career switch and the poster seemed to be blaming it on the company. Becoming a software developer per se is not the answer. You need to focus on becoming a well-rounded person, part of which may involve becoming a software developer.

Being a dev involves a lot more than just coding; communication, organization, teamwork, etc. all go into development. These are skills that are harder to pick up from the internet than coding. It is for these reasons that I would recommend that you consider going to school as a good way to start your career. School is a clear cut path in a situation like yours where you are going from basically no experience to starting a career.

School is not the only way, but I personally would bet on it as the better outcome. Do not let math be a deterrent. You can learn it. Check out Barbara Oakley's book A Mind for Numbers and read Lockhart's Lament. It does not have to be an impediment. Finally, as you mentioned there are a lot of resources online. MIT Open courseware has a lot of awesome resources, especially the intro to programming with Python. Coursera is also obviously awesome. But if this career were as easy as spend 6 months or a year studying and come out making $100K then everyone would be doing it. You need a more realistic plan.

So you have a general direction: software development. Now make some short-term and long-term plans about how to lead a good life and do what you're interested in along the way.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do I become a Software Developer? by _zero on Monday July 13, 2015 @09:57PM (#9882397)

Thanks for the insightful comment. I feel that a dose of realism is always helpful, especially when it comes to something as important as a career.

You're right that I don't know much about development and that I might not like it.

I grew up on the internet, from the days of AOL chatrooms during the 90s to various other websites and message boards. I learned how to repair computers as a teenager because of the internet and my interest computers. Now I can function as an (entry level) I.T. Technician. I focused a lot on maintaining hardware, software and Operating Systems, but never looked into creating software until pretty recently.

But what really got me interested was what Edward Snowden did. Because of his sacrifice I started to get interested in cryptography and open source software. I moved away from Windows to Debian just to experiment, and it turns out that Debian is actually pretty cool.

I believe in the utility of the internet and computers. To me, it just feels like the right step to take and even though I may regret my decision in the future, I'll still give it a shot and try to accomplish something. Besides, it'll be nice to challenge myself with a new hobby :)

I'll check out the book and course recommendations. I'm probably using math as an excuse to continue procrastinating because I'm afraid of failure, so I won't let that deter me. And I'll definitely consider going back to school once I start working again.

[ Parent | on HN ]