Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGodson
A little back story. I just bought a house about 2 months ago. I work at a factory and it sucks. I have no college education. I have an understanding of HTML, CSS, and javascript and have dabbled into other things like C++ as well, but don't have a deep understanding in them. I decided to apply online for some web developer jobs in my area using indeed.com. Turns out there really aren't any in my area.
I recently applied for a junior software developer job just because meh, why not. It pretty much was one of the only jobs that didn't require a CS bachelors degree. The only problem was that it wanted a candidate that understood OOP and I hardly do. I have a personal website that I am kind of embarrassed about. I put it on my resume anyway and sent it in.
To my surprise it turns out they were interested and sent me some link where I took an aptitude test. Apparently I passed that, because they sent me another link where I had to complete a task using OOP in the language of my choice. They told me to do this in a couple of hours or so and not spend too much time on it. I spent all night and the next night working on it before sending it in. I used Java and managed to get a working program, but it wasn't too pretty.
Turns out I failed this part of the test because they sent me a message saying they are considering other candidates for the job. This has left me discouraged, but also kind of inspired at the same time because I was even capable of being considered. Also, building the program taught me a lot.
Now I'm digging through this book called Sams Teach yourself Java in 21 Days which seems to be pretty awesome. I'm not sure I've ever learned so much from just one book. It is pretty incredible. I'm being a little obsessive about it. I even did two days in one day because I spent all night on it and the previous night as well. I'm now on day 7 so I'm a 3rd of the way through the book.
Although now looking at indeed jobs again I see that almost all software jobs require a bachelors degree in CS. Perhaps I just struck gold with a fluke of an opportunity and it has passed me by due to my lack of knowledge.
Am I wasting my time learning Java or can I actually do something productive with it. I really hate school. I feel I can learn things faster on my own, but I guess if it is the only way out of the factory/food-service I might have to do it.
If I do choose to go to school then perhaps I should stop reading this java book so I won't be as bored in class when I go there.
Honestly, I'd probably rather do anything else than what I'm doing right now. Something in code seems the most natural thing to go into considering the pay and also I have an interest.
Am I wasting my time pursuing a tech job without a degree?
Some of these job postings seem ridiculous. 5+ years experience in x, 10+ years experience in y, 10+ years experience in 35 other languages nobody has ever heard of. Is this stuff for real? Are there candidates that actually fit these requirements?
If you had a college degree in physics, for instance (or something random that required a bit of math) + you self learned programming, you would be able to find a job paying > 50k a year doing programming but it would take a lot of work and you would have to work hard at learning a lot of stuff.
Since you dont have a college degree, you're only hope is to learn web dev like javascript, html, css, angular, etc and then get a job doing that. Those are what we call "script kiddies" and they can make a decent wage (30-60k staring salary, I'm guessing?) This is probably your best bet. If you want to do real programming (like using Java, C++, etc) but you hate web development then you will probably have to just get a degree in computer science / software development. Expect to make $60-80k starting salary your first year out of school assuming the economy stays good from now to then.
If I were you, I would go the html / javascript route and do web dev for now. Learn it well over the next 12 months and then you will get a job in it easy. You might have to try hard to get an interview but if you show up in person and shake the guys hand and tell him you would love an interview you will get one. Have a great resume and portfolio and know everything about webdev by that point and you will get a job if you want it bad enough. Then you can make decent money while seeing if the job is one you want over the next 2 years.
If it is, you can then learn java and if you have 2 years work experience doing web dev you can probably then get an interview for an entry level java developer job and they will hire you if you outshine the competition. If you dont have 2 years experience doing the web dev + no degree, then they probably wont interview you.
The company I work at now will interview a person with no degree no work experience no nothing if the person gets a recommendation from an employee currently working as a dev in the company. However I would not recommend any of my friends that have no degree and no work history to be interviewed unless I knew they spent the last 2 years of their life eating, sleeping, and drinking java, math, algorithms, OOP, etc with a Rudy-like work ethic. I would likely ask them a few questions from that one girls big green interview book and if they didn't impress me I wouldn't risk recommending them for the interview.
Last edited by Ryanb9; 04-27-2019 at 10:55 PM.