Can you really score a job just by learning online?

make cool shit.
show it off.

I don't think it's true that a degree guarantees skill or experience. At least, definitely not in the US (I can't speak elsewhere).

I went to a decent university. Not a top-tier school, but an average state school that has a good reputation. By the end of my four years, I'd say that all of my colleagues who hadn't put time in to learn software development on their own were shitty developers. Since we were never taught "clean code" concepts, I would often see functions that were hundreds and hundreds of lines long, everything tightly coupled, etc.

Unfortunately, the school cared more about Computer Science than Software Engineering. This led to students not understanding how to write maintainable code. I'm sure it's been a smack in the face for many as they've started their first job now.

If you are in development, marketing, design, etc, start by making projects that you can show off. Those are the type of things that will count for experience. Start with small projects and work your way up.

Basically, don't fall prey to impostor's syndrome. Most self-taught devs actually know their shit, whereas university students struggle to grasp basic real-world concepts.

Yes, I worked in San Francisco and Moutain View for 5 years as an engineer making $100k minimum.

I dropped out of college and made apps for free in my early 20s. I drove to California with $300 and some junior dev skills.

What you focus on typically manifests.

I've spent lots of time learning online and a lot of trials and errors. After a Traineeship of 6 month I landed a job very quickly.

It's possible if you set your mind to it!

I spent 3 months learning to code online by myself (all free tutorials) and got a job quickly.

It wasn't the ideal job, but it was a coding job and I learnt a lot.

To be blunt, having a degree is not a guarantee that you ahve the knowledge/skills for a PARTICULAR job. Degree means that you are able to complete something and possibly learned a few valuable general life skills. For a particular job, degree may not be enough especially when it comes to tech. jobs.

Best way is to create something and make it available for people to see. Small project, big project doesn't matter. Show, Don't tell.

I am afraid I completely disagree with having a degree almost guarantees that you have skills ect. I can talk from experience here having dropped out of Three degree courses and an apprenticeship.

The majority of Degrees out there are hugely theory based and, at the end of the day, in the real world theory only gets you so far. Also, experience comes from actually building things / applying the knowledge that you have within companies / building companies as there are so many factors that come into play that a degree simply will not prepare you for.

I have a lot of friends who did CS related degrees who struggled to get a Job when they left university, most of them struggled to put together a basic website. Why is this? because theory and your ability to remember topics to pass an exam does not equate to actual ability.

At the end of the day what businesses look for is your ability to add value to a company. You are an investment, if they feel you will be a good fit, put in the work and are prepared to learn then you will be in a very good position.

In terms of proving your knowledge, be creative! Create Videos, Blog posts talking about a specific subject, network, build projects, create a portfolio, create some form of content online...could be anything....

Hope this helps :)

You can absolutely get a strong foundation of the fundamentals by taking online courses, which is one important aspect of landing a job. But don't underestimate soft skills too! A good attitude, work ethic, communication and proven continual self development are at least as important as knowing how to code for this career.

There are some things (IMO) you can really only learn from experience (not a class or degree). These are things like effectively communicating requirements with PMs/designers and feeling comfortable in a large production code base.

If you're looking for a full time job in software development, my recommendation is:

1. Take whatever online courses you need to cover the basics.
2. Build something that works that demonstrates what you know. Don't try to build something big. Make a small thing that you actually understand and can explain (in an interview).
3. Then look for any entry level position - anything to give you real experience. Don't try to find your dream job.
4. When you get the job, treat it as an experiment, approach with curiosity, humility and a willingness to make a lot of mistakes.

I'm fully self-taught and this was more or less my journey. It's a ton of work but it was worth it for me. It can also take some time to get there, so be patient and keep pushing forward. You'll get there! Good luck!

I’m a fully self-taught developer, and am working in a senior/lead role at a venture backed startup. You can do it without a degree.

Here’s what I’d recommend:

• stick to one language and get really good at it (JavaScript or Python would be my two recommendations for the current job market)
• build stuff rather than doing tutorials. Learn how to figure out problems by searching, debugging, and experimenting
• show off what you’ve built on a portfolio site
• before going out for your first full-time role, do some freelance gigs. It’ll give you confidence that you can build stuff that brings value to other people.

I would definitely not recommend getting a degree just to become a software developer. If your disciplined, you could most likely land a good job within a year—much less that a 4 year degree and now you don’t have any debt :)

When you’re self taught, the primary thing you don’t have is credentials saying you know stuff. You can overcome this by pointing to projects and showing code you’ve written.

Good luck!

When I was a teenager I simply applied for one-off jobs. I was self-taught. Yes, I was cheap. But having real commercial projects behind you is a great shows of skill. I am still unsure if I would get a full time job as I continued with CS degree afterwards. Still, if I could get freelance gigs, I believe after a few I would land a job too. Just have some real expectations. You won't ask for a big buck in the beginning. Surprisingly I did not even have many projects to show off, maybe I got lucky :). As someone who interviewed people before, have a good, well crafted code to show. Demonstrate your knowledge. Contribute to open source (it feels good and shows many skills from git, async communication, taking criticism, etc).

I've been concerned with hiring developers for years now and I can tell: having a degree doesn't mean necessarily much. People with degrees and several years of experience (on paper) come to me and are not able to write an effin' for-loop.

Yes, I have seen a lot of people share on twitter that they got a job by learning from resources such as freecodecamp etc. You should apply your knowledge to build things which you can showcase in some sort of portfolio.

Get a GitHub account and start adding some open source projects you've worked on. It's a great way to demonstrate your skills to a potential employer.