So you are learning how to become a software developer…
Trying to switch careers to become a software developer can be difficult. It revolves around googling general questions and sifting through dozens of coding tutorials. One of the best things you will notice about becoming a software developer is that it involves being part of a welcoming and understanding community. They are always there to give an interesting viewpoint on how to improve.
To start off however you are gonna need a few tips from someone in a similar position.
1. Start off with the fundamentals
One of the horrible parts of trying to switch careers is how you do it. Most people that i have met who are trying to become software developers start off with javascript, html and css. This sounds fun because it gives you an interesting look into the basics of how web pages are built. With those languages you can start digging into the chrome developer tools and understand a lot about what it takes to be a good developer. Also you can start creating something tangible and interesting very quickly. But more importantly it’s the fastest way to landing your first internship, and possibly your first shot at gaining a mentor, which is important.
But what’s equally important is gaining a basic understanding of computer science. That way you can understand the underlying concepts behind programming languages, and various other elements. Try taking a intro to programming course if you can. If you can’t do that because you’re desperate to switch over and get a job quickly, head over to freecodecamp for front end development courses and take those intro classes in the future.
You can start here (coursera, udacity, edx, teamtreehouse are also good places to start):
Intro to computer science courses:
Harvard cs164 (sequel to cs50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zdfCR6c8vw&list=PLuhjguFxSeVLvKvWwTUIpVwXdLtZPX1ZS
MIT intro to cs: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+6.00.1x+2T2016/info
2. Gain a list of resources
During this time you are gonna want to explore the world of software development and learn as much as you can about different tools and resources. Allow me to shorten that time period by a few hours with this list of websites and pages that will help you learn new languages and concepts, or give you tools and advice.
Miscellaneous websites with learning resources/ lists of useful tools
Bento.io: https://bento.io/
Teaching tree: http://www.teachingtree.co/
Whole pixel: http://www.wholepixel.com/libs
tutsplus: http://tutsplus.com/
Medium posts for the aspiring developer:
Best hackernews posts: https://medium.com/swlh/best-of-2015-pfffffffft-79d9b014f4de#.em18k2z6x
30 best websites to learn design:https://medium.com/the-mission/30-best-websites-to-learn-design-and-development-ed70f1ae9b5e#.a4m2ko8cr
How to get hundreds of stars on your github project github:
Tip: most major companies will put their own tools or additions to libraries on github, or they will have pretty interesting engineering blogs.
3. Going to meetups and networking
Living in NY has its advantages for the tech industry. For starters there are several meetups, bootcamps, tech companies, and startups in the area. Try to take advantage of these areas of growth by attending meetups. You will learn a massive amount of information while being in the presence of experienced software engineers. More importantly go to a hackathon. It doesn’t entirely matter how experienced you are just show up to one. The first hackathon I went to was for startup weekend, a google entrepreneurs hackathon. I just started to learn how to code a month before so i barely knew what a string was. But i went and performed research for my team, and I learned more in a weekend than i could have learned in a college course about making a startup. While i don’t have a universal list of meetups to go to, i can suggest that you start to discover what meetups and hackathons are in your area. Again, freecodecamp is a great online and offline community to start with.
Also look into joining open source communities on github, and participating on stackoverflow, or quora. The point is to get into a group that can provide you some direction at the least, and a mentor at most. Try to have fun out there, and good luck.
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