So to start, I'm 24 years old (25 in March) and was born and raised in Indiana where I currently still live and work. I was raised under the wing of a decently successful CTO father so I got a lot of exposure to IT and programming from a very young age. No college. Currently making $80k as a software developer in a lead role. I'm looking for some advice from you successful folks on what I could do to further grow my career and boost myself up out of mediocre midwest companies that top out around $100k. Is anyone else from the midwest? Anyone still here and feeling fulfilled? I have yet to work for a company where I feel like I am learning and growing from those around me and am worried about "settling" for too long.
Don't stay anywhere for more than a year if not happy. I would suggest staying in Midwest for few more years and try FAANGs later
From the Midwest as well... best advice I can give you is to get a degree. It’s not just that companies are snobby (but they are), it’s that a CS education exposes you to so much more than simple imperative programming. You *may* be able to pass an interview at a top flight company on the coasts with Leetcode, but I sincerely doubt that you’ll get the opportunity. The other option is to either build an open source project that gets wide acceptance, or start / join a startup and make a name for yourself that way. Hope that helps!
Please don’t @ me with “I know a guy at Google/Microsoft/Apple without a degree”... yes, it does sometimes happen, but it’s extraordinarily rare, and it’s not the best / easiest way.
I do agree that in many (most) cases, a college degree is what separates you between desirable and undesirable in the eyes of recruiters and hiring managers. I'm also not hard against going for a degree, but I do worry that the commitment may hurt me and have an opportunity cost associated to it. I do have past work experience and projects that have caught eyes of recruiters, and I have a ton of homemade web apps and software that I've shown to demonstrate what I can do for a company, has not failed me so far.. But I understand that approaching the big dogs is another story.
Be willing to move. There’s not a ton of opportunity in the Midwest. Find a great job in a high opportunity city and relocate there for a while. You’re young. Why not do it now? You may just find that you like it there better anyways.
I actually have no issue relocating. I'm in Fort Wayne right now, did live and work in Indianapolis for a while. My current job has had me travel to some bigger areas like NYC, Boston, Chicago & LA so I've got some good exposure with those areas, I suppose the only issue I'm worried about is relocation assistance since I'm bound by a lease and moving ain't cheap. I'm hungry for improvement so doing it ASAP is more or less what this post was about
I’ve received a relocation package each time I’ve relocated. Don’t let an apartment lease hold you back from moving forward in your career. It may not be a clear profitable move at first. View it as ‘paying for experience.’ Or ‘investing in yourself.’
What was the reason for not ever going to college?
Got my first job as a junior dev while a junior in highschool (they allowed it because of GPA) and worked my way out of highschool. About half a year from graduation I did enroll in a local university but as my first semester was ending my mom passed away and things kind of went downhill from there for a bit. Came out of my slump and just worked.
Do some side projects and make an online portfolio. Degrees are not needed (but let’s face it - people screening resumes still look at them). However, it is possible to mitigate a bit by showing you are capable at building things (apps or whatever). Your work ex alone won’t be enough to stand out. Also, as others mentioned. You’ll need to leetcode heavily and try to break into a notable tech company (several like Uber have offices in Chicago, maybe you can start there)
I am from the Midwest (turned 23 last week) and got a science but non-tech bachelors 2 years ago. Since then I’ve gone into tech (building community initiatives and startups) and am a self-taught programmer. Right now I’m focusing on basically experimenting with the resources and region I currently am in to lay a foundation to do bigger things in the future. Taking risks in the Midwest seem to me to be much less risky than what I previewed it would be like elsewhere. I’ve found that having less competition (compared to the coasts) helps with this and allows for quicker recovery due to being in a supportive midwestern ecosystem. I don’t have c-suite parents, so I had always thought that $100k was pretty well off (shout out to Blind for heavily opening my eyes on this). In recent years, I’ve realized how the midwestern culture can create limiting beliefs in relation to income, lifestyle, speed of creation/change, scalability of ideas, and impact. I anticipate that within the next 9mo-1 year I will I feel like I have outgrown the area and will be moving elsewhere accordingly. Take this for what it’s worth. Mentally organizing my life into “seasons” or eras has helped me balance these feelings of stagnancy with value.
This. +10000 to Midwest creating limiting beliefs. When I moved and was offered $80k for my first eng role in California I thought I was gonna be rich. Now I’m 4x-ing that in a few short years. When I go visit family, it’s very apparent that everyone’s goals still seem self-limited by what they expect can be achieved.
This speaks to me so much. It does feel like living here effectively makes people think less is more.. people saying I'm wealthy at 80k when I'm over here like, no.. there is more than this.. I'm happy with it, but it is what it is. And it really does feel like it's everyone - I don't like how much praise I get from my family only because I know it could be better.
Leetcode and get into FAANGMULA
FInd a remote job that pays high regardless of the area you live.
Yeah, this def also works if OP wants to stay in the Midwest
From the Midwest, went to FANG, do not regret
I am from the Midwest too. FAANG on the resume is worth a lot in the future. Working on my next gig right now.
Go to FAANG for a couple years, then do whatever you want.
This is it
+1