Hello, I moved to San Francisco a little over a year ago with a desire to pursue a Software Engineering (SWE) career. However, my educational (bachelor's) and professional background are in another - entirely unrelated - field. I've been studying and practicing somewhat autodidactly (or unguided) on and off throughout this time, but I am still too inexperienced (also, I'm lacking a portfolio bc I made the mistake of not posting much of my tutorials/trainings on GitHub) to succeed in getting an interview, it seems. So, upon entering the new year, I've been laying out my options to plan out my next course of action in making the switch. Would you please provide some feedback? Thanks in advance. Option 1: Stay at your current job, despite the fact that you want to quit doing this work with every fiber in your bones, because it pays the bills. Give up your social life completely and study, code, & push every free moment you have - despite the risk of burnout. Option 2: Study for the GRE or any test required to get yourself back into school (for a master's program). Take advantage of student loan deferral. If you can get into a CS program, problem solved - use this experience as leverage. If not, avail yourself of the academic environment and study, code, and push every free moment that you get. Option 3: Attempt to find a job/internship in a job market that has both a higher demand for SWEs and also a higher probability of hiring someone with less/no experience (e.g. look for an opportunity in an English speaking country outside of the U.S.). Option 4: Quit your job. Go back to your parents' house (East Coast). Sacrifice your credit score (due to an inability to pay student loans). And study, code, & push every moment you can until you think/sense that you qualify for a SWE role. Cross the bridge of fixing your credit score after getting a job. Option 5: Focus on your job. Live a balanced life, but SAVE as much as you can. Once you can afford to, quit. Go to a Coding Bootcamp and study, code, & push as much as you can. Option 6: Give up. You'll never become a SWE. In all seriousness, I believe that this is the work that I want to spend the rest of my life doing. As someone once said to me, "if you're going to fail at something, then you might as well fail at the thing you truly want to do." Thanks again to everyone who gives feedback! P.S. I'm most experienced in (looking to apply for) an Android role, but I want to explore deep learning (or anything AI) in my career, as well.
It's definitely not the new hotness that ML is, but I can tell you that ETL companies are currently experiencing a huge labor shortage right now, and with the growth in data over the last couple decades there are interesting problems to solve in big data. Bonus: most of these companies are adding ML/AI stuff, and since good AI requires a ton of data, they're the place to be when ML actually gets to a value-adding place.
Thanks. I hadn't considered ETL before. I'll keep this in mind!
Keep persevering OP. As someone with no bachelor's (or boot camp or w/e) who somehow made it in this industry, it can definitely be done.
Never give up, OP! You can do it!
Thanks for the encouragement!
Mobile is a great idea - there's a pretty big shortage of them and it's a shallow enough field that you can pick it up on your own and get hired without a degree in cs. One of my former coworkers (at a past company) taught herself ios over 3 months, got hired as an ios dev, then went on to work at apple. I think Android is a great position and specialization to aim for.
Thanks - great to hear! 👍
Go for the programming position that is easiest to get in and has the most positions available: php web developer. The most important thing that you need is work experience doing programming. Learn HTML/CSS and php. Find a php job on indeed. Once you get a php job, learn some JavaScript along the way... Work your way up... Signup for codingphase.com: https://codingphase.teachable.com/p/all-courses-subscription/?coupon_code=FROMYOUTUBE Watch this video: https://youtu.be/s7xkWkq3GRE
My former roommate from college just finished a bootcamp, did a bunch of leetcode, and got a job at Google. But for the majority of humans, what I laid out in my original comment is the surest path.
Thanks. I've been spending most of my time working on Android, but I'll check this out.
Stay where you are and try to go for Cloud Ops teams or DevOps. I have a political science degree and that's how I made it stick in this field, from here I will build up to SDE. Feel free to DM me. But whatever you do, do not just quit your job and ruin your credit. The way into this is through the side/back door, not the front. You need to build credible experience and then lateral your way into it with a history of strong technical outcomes.
Same. IT is definitely easier to stick in with no formal training, and you get the side benefit of invaluable systems experience that few devs ever do (GitLab would behoove themselves to hire some, for instance, but probably can't afford folks like us at the price they pay for labor).
Btw, dunno if you're looking, but if you want a smaller environment and probably faster path to SDE, PM me.
One of my best programmers had a BA in History. It’s not the degree, it’s the skills.
A degree is a good way to develop these skills and get an easier path to a top company.
I hear a lot of stories of non-CS grads who got in & excelled, so I definitely believe that it's possible to do. I brought up my options because I've just been uncertain of the most reasonable path to take from my current circumstance
If you can survive financially, go and do masters at a reputable university. Given your passion you will do well and land a nice job.
I did option 1, it’s most painful and took me years to come to same level in comp and work quality as other SV SWEs from Stanford/Berkeley. But it’s what I felt was best. Also I had mortgage and I could not afford education
Yeah. It seems like the default, albeit most challenging, path for non-CS majors. I'm heavily considering a MSCS, but I'll be doing #1 in the meantime. Glad it eventually worked out for you.
I was in your shoes 2 years ago. Applied to and completed this MSCS program designed for non-techs: https://align.ccis.northeastern.edu, and now I’m a SWE at Amazon.
Wow. I had no idea that this existed. Thanks for sharing!
Np!
If you have the financial flexibility, get into a masters program. 👍
Sounds good - thanks! Is getting into a CS program without a STEM bachelor's degree in the realm of possibility?
You might have to do some post-bac math and core CS courses (my state school was like this anyway).