As a parent, the number one question I get asked by other parents is, “How do I get my kids to have a job like you have?” It is a great question. I have a horrible answer that scares most of them away. “You have to love mathematics and problem-solving.” Modern society has instilled a fear and loathing for mathematics and hard work in our children through popular media. I believe these are essential cornerstones to a successful knowledge worker career. While I do not love his books much, Andrew Friedman gets this much right:
“In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears — and this is our problem.”
I mean, the dancing is okay, and the music to me is kinda mid, but you get the idea, right?
So, how do you embark on a career as a software professional?
To bastardize another popular quote, this time from the movies:
“Show me the source code!”
And I put the word source code, where it used to say money.
Now that I have bombarded you with not just one but two trite internet quotes, I will proceed to dispense with my own wisdom.
There are four paths to a career in software development. They have varying costs, take varying time, and have varying degrees of success.
The first and most traditional way to get into software development is to take a four-year college degree program specializing in computer science or computer engineering. It takes four years and costs tens of thousands of dollars. I was fortunate to get into a co-operative education program where I could work between semesters and get paid. This enabled me to get through my degree with low student debt. It is harder to do this now than it was when I went to school. The costs are accelerating, and the barrier to getting accepted into a four-year program has never been higher. I am not certain that if I were just finishing high school today I would even get into the University of Waterloo!
The second way is to take a boot camp program. You can go to many places to get a four- to twenty-week boot camp. This takes less time than a college degree and is less expensive. I believe most of these are less than the cost of one year of college. There are remote boot camps like the Chegg Skills program and local businesses that specialize in this, like LearningFuze. I have met with candidates from both programs and found they have reasonable day-to-day skills for a junior software developer. I have hired a few people from these programs as well.
The third way is the hardest for most people. You can sit down and start learning it on your own. There are a variety of tools and videos on the Internet to help you become a software developer. I have worked with half a dozen self-taught software developers, two or three of whom are among the best software developers I have ever worked with. I have a limited amount of advice on what resources to use to become a self-taught software developer; it has varied over the years. All the people had high innate math skills and intense curiosity and grit. This takes between six weeks and six years, depending on the individual.
The fourth way to become a software developer is the one I have seen the least. You can find an existing software developer and attempt to become an apprentice. I am mentioning this because I have attempted to find a software apprentice a few times without success. I have met many people who expressed a strong interest in pursuing a career in software development, and when presented with an option to help get them there from here, they wrote more excuses than lines of code. A friend of mine is attempting this with one of his friends right now. This is on par with the time frame for a boot camp but without the cost. It requires knowing someone who has the skills as a senior software developer committed to helping you get there from here. I will update you all when I hear back from my friend on how this went.
This is a short post today, and hopefully a good one. Thank you for being patient. I know this blog post generally comes out earlier in the week. We have back-to-school stuff happening, heat waves, and of course, World of Warcraft: The War Within all happening at once this month and I have been battling with time on all three fronts.
That being said, if you know any late-night West Coast Havoc Demon Hunters looking for a raid guild, hit me up. Our raid team needs one.
