<p>Do you have to have prior experience with computers? I only have a simple knowledge of computer parts and have no idea how to take it apart to put it back together. I have never built a website, or a program, or know how to code. I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE.
However, I find technology very fascinating and would love to learn. It would be interesting to know how to code, to create programs and to create software. I will be a senior this year and my high school does not have any computer classes. Would I fail if I select this as my major if I have no idea about computers? </p>
<p>No, you have to be good at math. </p>
<p>It is not necessary. However, it would be wise to try some coding to see if it is something you truly enjoy. You do not need to take a class, as there are many online resources for this. Codecademy.com is one example with very straightforward tutorials.</p>
<p>Not necessary. My kid went off to a STEM school last fall with only the most rudimentary programming experience. Literally – she joined a club senior year of high school (programming club), and learned a bit of Python by meeting a couple hours a week with them, but that was it. And now, end of freshman year of college, she appears to be headed for a computer science major.</p>
<p>Many students don’t start out with coding experience. However, I agree that having that experience does help and it puts you ahead of many of your peers initially. I agree that Codeacademy.com is very useful and straightforward. I would also suggest looking at tutorials and books that focus on projects because you can learn about different CS concepts and see how they’re applicable to whatever program you are working on.</p>
<p>CS classes in college (even for CS majors) will start from the very beginning, with no assumptions that you know any programming. A class like that was where I first started programming, and it was totally doable. If you want to get a jump start and try something like codecademy, that can make you more comfortable going in. I’m now a tutor for that CS class I once took, and some of the students that struggle are those who have programmed before but developed really bad habits, or who have a hard time transitioning to a very different programming language because they won’t change the way they program.</p>
<p>I and many of my friends in my CS classes didn’t start coding until college. Skill levels between those that had no experience and those with experience end up evening out after a couple classes, for those that end up staying in the major. Actually, to be perfectly honest there’s one guy in our year that came in and has been super cocky because he learned Java the summer before college; said guy is now starting to struggle because he tried just coasting in the first couple classes (our school uses C and C++ rather than Java) and is now rushing to play catch up to the people who have been keeping up up to now, prior experience or not. So even prior experience won’t help much if you go in with the wrong attitude.</p>
<p>I second Codecademy as a way to get your feet wet with coding. Though you’ll generally know pretty quickly if it’s something that fits with you or not, regardless of when and how you end up learning to code.</p>
<p>I’m an EE major and I had zero programming experience when I entered college (I have no idea even where to begin). I took C++ programming my Freshmen year and really enjoyed it. The majority of my other classmates had programming experience in languages like Python, Java, etc. I’d say at first I had a disadavange compared to the other students. However, after about a month we were all on the same playing field with C++ (I actually ended up with the highest grade in that class). I was in the same boat as you and I ended up doing really well so I’m sure you’ll do great. If you do want to start programming before school, I suggest learning the language whatever you school first teaches. Once you learn one it’s easy to cross over into others. I’m biased to C/C++ though haha It’s been easy for me to cross over into Python, Java, MATLAB, and others because of my foundation in C++. Just my 2 cents. Good luck, you can do it!</p>