
Ask HN: How should I catch up on fundamentals as a self-taught programmer? - superpops
I learned programming as I was studying another major basically, not Computer Science. And I was mainly learning that during my work-study job because there were a ton of slow hours in the computer lab and I got curious about learning web development and stuff. So I started reading some tutorials on HTML and CSS. Then they eventually started putting me on updating some of the department websites. Now, years later I have been a web developer at several different companies.<p>But it&#x27;s just not the same anymore and I want to take on something more challenging in my career. That&#x27;s where the CS fundamentals come in, right? Well, since I didn&#x27;t take CS, I guess I have some catching up to do. The companies I&#x27;ve been with are on the smaller side, not Fortune 500 type companies.<p>Is it a stretch to want to jump right into a large tech company so I can expand my knowledge that way? I&#x27;m going in straight cold with the applications, no referrals (don&#x27;t have any for those companies...yet) and it&#x27;s been bothering me because I think this is the main reason I am not getting replies.<p>So in the meantime should I take any online courses? Where do I begin? And where to I go for work to apply the fundamentals that I learn if the big shots do not want to interview me (yet)? My employer unfortunately cannot pay for education or conferences even if it benefits all the employees on their part... so I have to carry it all on my own.
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jupiter90000
This resource is pretty nice if you want to keep mainly on the self-teaching
route: teachyourselfcs.com

Do you know what the more challenging thing in CS you'd like to get involved
with is (distributed systems, embedded systems, database engine construction,
etc)?

