

Ask HN: How to begin a career in programming - shire

It seems frustrating because I work so much with a job that barely pays me to survive. I like programming mostly web development and want to find ways to get into this field.<p>I live in Seattle and I&#x27;m an African student. Things just seem hard right now because I don&#x27;t know where to begin this journey and how much time it&#x27;ll take.
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frostmatthew
> I don't know where to begin this journey

Do you have any college under your belt? I went back to school when I decided
to switch careers (I was a banquet manager at the time).

> how much time it'll take

I already had a few years of undergrad (completely unrelated to tech...I was a
Political Science major "the first time around") so I pretty much didn't need
to take any classes outside of my major and it took two years to complete
(that was with working full time). Started my first job as a developer just a
couple months before I graduated.

~~~
Auflauf
Would you recommend your path?

I ask because I am in a similar situation: already got a degree and could
graduate with a C.S. degree in a little less than two years.

My biggest concerns were 1. finding suitable internships and experience in
such little time 2. condensing four years of C.S. courses into two without
much "slowdown" aka easy other courses; rush rush rush as opposed to quasi
leisurely learning and 3. job prospects as this would cost like $20,000 in
tuition alone.

~~~
frostmatthew
> finding suitable internships and experience in such little time

While I was in school I worked at a smallish-but-growing startup in tech
support. I used what I was learning in school to write a couple apps that made
our department's work a little easier...this was as good as any internship as
when I was going through my first [dev] job search most interviewers were far
more interested in discussing that than anything I did in school.

> condensing four years of C.S. courses into two

That depends on your situation...I was fortunate to have enough credits
transfer that I was able to knock out the remaining in ~2 years

> as this would cost like $20,000 in tuition alone

I'm still a very junior engineer (~3 years) and make more than triple what I
averaged in my previous career - I wouldn't worry too much about $20K. If
you're really worried about money you may want to look at WGU[1] (where I
went) which is pretty cost-effective.

[1] [http://www.wgu.edu/](http://www.wgu.edu/)

~~~
Auflauf
Thanks for the reply and recommendation! An advantage I do have is that I do
live in a college town. Unfortunately it has a population of 40,000 so
startups are rare and I'd likely end up working at the university's tech
support which isn't so bad. I'm confident I could make something happen as we
both know that going back to school after a first degree usually means a huge
shift in dedication in comparison to the first time.

I'm just having difficulties deciding whether going to school for two years
outweighs teaching myself and eventually taking a bootcamp.

If you wouldn't mind... What do you think?

~~~
Auflauf
Also! How much did your degree help you to be where you are now?

~~~
frostmatthew
> Also! How much did your degree help you to be where you are now?

The degree is useful for getting past HR - most of the people that actually
matter in a hiring decision (engineers/managers) don't care. Which isn't to
suggest a degree is worthless - you [hopefully] learn what you'll need to know
to make a positive impression on the people that matter...but it's entirely
possible to do that without a degree (it'll probably just be a little harder
to score interviews).

In my first search (as I approached graduation) interviewers barely asked
about anything directly related to what I did in school (they were far more
interested in side projects I did in my own time and the stuff I created that
I mentioned above) - in my second/most-recent search it never came up at all,
it was all about what I did at my then-current job and [more recent] side
projects.

~~~
Auflauf
Thanks for the enlightenment.

I'm trying to rationalize quitting my part-time non-tech job at the post
office but perhaps college ain't the hottest option.

Congratulations on following through and biting the bullet to make your life
better through programming.

Projects, ho!

------
anon3_
Programming is utilitarian - how do you think being African matters?

People will respect you for putting that aside and focusing on the task at
hand. Marshall McKusick is gay, his husband, author of sendmail, is gay. We
know them for their achievements.

People draw types unconsciously. Make sure people associate you with being an
engineer and your accomplishments.

Find an environment that blocks out distractions. A library. A place with free
wifi and headphones. Get over ear headphones to block out the outside.

Pick up a web framework like Rails, Laravel or Django. Then go to elance and
work your way up. Checkout craiglist and look for for junior level positions.

Keep practicing. Install Linux (Ubuntu, Mint or Debian is fine.)

Short on cash? Get a used Thinkpad.

Are you eligible for FAFSA? You can use that to spend on a laptop.

Use permissively licensed software wherever possible. It's commercial-friendly
and doesn't reinvent the wheel. Reinventing the wheel is your worst enemy.

Later on, depending on when you want to. Learn C, and learn it well. We are
breeding a generation of programmers that only understand higher level
programming languages and won't understand the internals of how programming
and deep systems work.

5 years from now, it's the systems programmers who will be in power - since
we'll be saturated golang / rust / python / node programmers. Bubbles will
bust; expect it.

In any event, as you specialize yourself - carve out a profitable niche that
people actually need. These often may not be popular or cool, but those things
can be more lucrative than you think.

