
Ask HN: How do I seek work as a self-trained programmer? - bordercases
So unfortunately I&#x27;m not doing too well in my CS program, particularly in the mathematics. I enjoy the intellectual engagement but I have difficulty keeping pace with a full course load. At the same time, programming is one of the few skills I have and feel like I can consistently exploit, next to maybe report-writing and to an extent public speaking. AFAICT the latter are auxiliary to careers and are difficult to make as a primary thrust with living pay. (I&#x27;m not too confident this is 100% true, but I suspect that it is true.)<p>So irregardless of my academic performance I wish to develop my programming ability. Becoming a competent self-taught, self-marketing programmer seems like a fairly large task. I am wondering how the self-taught among us broke into the industry, whether the same industry conditions hold now as then, and how to go about finding gainful employment as a self-taught programmer.<p>If anyone has any insight or advice on these questions, I humbly accept it.
======
facorreia
I started (a long time ago) as an intern. If you can find some internship or
temporary position where they're willing to try people with little experience
(but at least some working knowledge of programming), go for it.

After that, you may be offered a permanent, entry-level position, or at least
you'll have some experience when applying for other jobs. And, most
importantly, you'll start developing a network of people that have seen what
you are able to do, which is one of the most effective ways to get job offers.

But, I would also take some time to consider the meta thing, i.e. why you're
having difficulty keeping up with college work. Do you have trouble focusing?
Or with abstract thinking? Some of the, let's say, personality traits, that
mathematics requires are similar to the ones that programming also requires.
So make sure that programming is a good fit for you. Also, again, probably the
best way to find out is trying in the way I suggested above.

