Seriously, look at the CS specializations that Coursera offers. They’re not expensive, and they usually have Capstone projects where you get to work on an application that you can ultimately show prospective employers.
I was curious about Coursera MOOCs, so I signed up for the Data Science specialization from Johns Hopkins and completed that. Now I’m almost through the University of London’s Responsive Website Development and Design specialization. The Data Science classes weren’t that good, but the Website Development classes are very good. If you want a certificate at the end, you pay about $500 - it depends on the specialization.
For where you are right now, I’d think some kind of web or mobile development specialization would work best. If you want to do Android development, there’s an Android App Development specialization from Vanderbilt that you might be interested in.
What city do you live in? With summer coming up, you could apply for a (paid) internship at a tech company -then if you prove yourself, you may be hired,even without a degree. I know a student who worked at Apple, coding for two summers, and subsequently transitioned into a full-time job, not having completed college. You have high-tech skills - use them! Love the Coursera idea as well!
What is the minimum amount of time I devote to my own style of boot camp if I spent 8 - 10 hours a day? I’m willing to save up to quit work (or most of it) and devote all my time to it for 2 to 4 months…
@csuniv Tech companies need you now! Quit the pizzeria, and find a coding job or paid internship - they are out there. You are already basically qualified, and will learn more on the job
…wow…just what I needed to hear. I quit university around 3 years ago… how much difference will that make? Should I be refreshing my knowledge before applying?
And why do they need me now? What is their situation? Not enough coders? My knowledge needs so much refreshing… would a company hire me and train/refresh my knowledge? Through certs or training?
Pretty much all companies would prefer that you have a degree, and many require one. But there are companies out there where finishing college isn’t essential. Some of the best programmers I’ve ever worked with didn’t finish college, including the founders of a couple of small start-ups I worked at.
Companies want new hires that can come in and hit the ground running. They won’t want to have to train/refresh your knowledge. If you apply for a Java job, you need to go into the interview showing you know Java, so if your skills are rusty, brush up on it beforehand. That’s something all programmers have to deal with. Personally, unless I’ve done something within the last month, I’ve forgotten it and have to refresh my memory again.
If you live in a small town, you may ultimately need to move to where the jobs are.
Would spending 2 months, 8-14 hours/day, in my own created bootcamp be a good amount of time? I also was thinking of studying some new skills too… full stack development or whatever is popular nowadays…
2 months, 8-14 hours a day may be too intense to be realistic. You could easily burn out. 4 months at 6-8 hours a day sounds more doable, but after you start you can decide what works for you. I think it’s important that you actually have one or two working applications at the end of that time to show employers.
Web and mobile full-stack developers are in demand. Those are the kinds of jobs that don’t always require a degree.
Don’t quit your pizzeria job just yet. Not having any income will be quite stressful, and it might even be hard to retrain your brain if you are stressing out about having enough $ to buy food and pay rent
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Maybe start out with small amount of computer time, and see how excited you get. Your enthusiasm can motivate you to put in more training time. If you cut out watching tv and other time wasters, you can find the time to do your paid job and your training. If you need to cut some of your hours as you move along with your training, juggle your budget and make that choice. If you need to take on a roommate, sell some stuff, etc to keep you solvent, be creative in those areas to make sure you have enough money to keep going.
You don’t know how long it will take you to get a job, and not having any employment will be super stressful.Don’t make rash decisions now. Think it through, take baby steps, and look for mentors who can help you along the way. You are wanting positive people in your life who can encourage you with the entire job process.
You will want to acquire some decent clothing for job interviews. Those can be found at a thrift store, but you may want to get some help shopping if that is not something you are confident picking out on your own. Not sure if you need a coat and tie like you would for other professional interviews, but at least get dress pants, dress shirt, tie, and a decent pair of shoes that can be cleaned up. You want to be able to show up at an interview looking and smelling clean, with the focus being on your skills and not your appearance. Yes, there is probably more leeway in computer jobs for folks whose hair/tattoos/style are unconventional. But if you can keep the attention on your skills and not distract interviewers with unkempt hair, nose and ear piercings, etc. you might have a better chance of getting on to the next set of interviews.
And you might need to brush up on your conversation skills. Being able to interact with the interviewers, having some knowledge and opinions of current events, current local sports teams, etc will give the appearance of a more polished candidate. Again, the computer science field is not going to be judged as harshly, but it would still be a good idea to make sure you are engaging with others as you work on your training.
I haven’t seen anyone wear a tie to a software interview for 20 years. Wear business casual.
In an interview, potential employers will generally be looking at technical skills and whether they think you can work with the team. Some interviewers may only ask you four or five basic technical questions (I’m that type,) while others might grill you. Sometimes they ask you to take a written coding test, other times they don’t.
It’s very unlikely you’ll get into a discussion about current affairs or local sports teams, although you certainly should be able to carry on a conversation. Programmers almost always work in teams, so being able to communicate effectively matters. Don’t come off as a know-it-all, since that type of person is impossible to work with.
It could be months from the time you start interviewing until you find a job. Make sure you’re in a position to survive.
Thanks so much for the suggestions… you guys are so great!.. is it possible for me to obtain a job with a six figure salary after training myself for 2 or 3 or so months? If so, how’s it possible?
The answer is no. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme - it’s a good market for CS, so entry level positions are there. Higher levels though, the 6 figure salaries, take a degree usually and a very high level of skill usually learned over many many years.
Either way, why the obsession with that level of salary? An entry level CS job will be 3x more than you’re currently making easily - you don’t need 6 figures to have a good life. In fact, studies have shown that it’s about 75k a year - after that, money doesn’t do much for happiness.
Have you looked at General Assembly courses? There is a “campus” in Downtown LA with a variety of tech classes of different lengths and skill. You could sign up for a one-time couple hour presentation on a few of the different areas of CS that you think would be job relevant. You will get a chance to talk to people in the industry,and then perhaps sign up to take a longer multi-week (but still very part-time) course on a specific area of focus. I would recommend actually going to the in-person classes, instead of the online versions, so that you also get the networking effect of speaking to other people. You can keep your day job, but still work toward a more rewarding CS career. Any of the other students or instructors could give you a lot of valuable information to hone your focus!
After checking some of GA’s list of classes, I’m beginning to wonder…a lot of what they teach can be self taught from off the web? Am I wrong? Maybe it’s not necessary and not worth the price to pay for something that can mostly be self taught? What do their classes offer what I can’t learn on my own?
Much of CS (or most subjects) can be self-educated. However, self-education does require a highly level of ability and motivation, both the learn the material, and to learn the material in a reasonably structured manner to be effective and efficient (i.e. figuring out which stuff needs to be learned first to help learn other material later, and which is more important to know when doing actual work later). School provides instructors to help the student learn and provides the structure and organization of learning.
It does look like you have already taken the foundational frosh/soph level CS courses:
Because of that, you are more likely to be able to self-educate the more advanced topics as needed. You may want to look at more advanced CS course materials on various web sites to see what you can learn on your own. For example:
Are there any particular subjects you would recommend?
Does anyone know of anything they would recommend that would help me be aim better? Something nonCS/CS that could help me prepare? Motivational material? Networking with developers? Via ■■■■■■■■■■? Your own personal tips? Management skills? Tips on how to get the most out of my short education before finding work?
Operating systems, networks, databases, algorithms/complexity, security/cryptography, and software engineering concepts are commonly encountered in industry software jobs. But concepts in other courses may be also be found, depending on the job.
If your objective is to get a job ASAP, stick with a focused full-stack web development track or mobile track. Those will be more practical, which is what employers want. The classes mentioned in the previous post are the theoretical classes people take when they’re going for a CS degree.
