Software Development and Programming Careers (Official Discussion Thread)
- Thread starter Blackking
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What do you ultimately want to make is the question which will answer what language I will recommend. I find udemy great. They have a code right now, 'warmup10' to where you can get most courses for 10 dollars. Check out some of the courses on there. They've taught me a ton.
Start out with python or ruby. C#, C++ and Java will require too much stuff for you to get going starting off unless you are just super interested in programming. It's easier to do functional stuff in python and ruby
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Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
You'll have a lot more options if you pick up C# or Java. Especially in big companies. Right now you are tying yourself to niche technologies. Scripting languages are notorious for going through popularity phases.
90's - Perl was the scripting language to know
late 90's/mid 2000's - it was vbscript on the windows platform.
than it was PHP and Python...etc.. IMHO I would not rely on a scripting language as my primary GOTO language. Unless you have years of experience you are really going to limit the amount of jobs you can apply to.
Pick up the languages that people learn in College(mainly Java now). Java has been popular for probably 20 something years now. In another 3 - 5 years. some new scripting language is going to be all the buzz.
edit: Forgot to add. Since you are doing websites. I highly suggest picking up Selenium for web testing, which you can use with Ruby. Trust me it will definitely help you stand out.
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C# is something I definitely want to pick up down the road, and it has a lot of similarities to Java, so transitioning between those two shouldn't be that difficult once I get a hold of it. In the meanwhile, I'm going to pick up Typescript since it's sort of a mixture of C# and Javascript and transpiles down to Javascript. Ruby can be considered somewhat niche, but it's also very lucrative. Javascript, I wouldn't call that niche since you have to interact with it for front-end development.
The big thing about web development for me is that I don't have a CS degree, so I can at least quickly show interested recruiters what I've been doing.
The main thing holding me back right now is that my porfolio sites look very 'programmerish', meaning they are quite ugly, so I'm going to spend some time fixing them up. I'll definitely have to pick up a course on selenium. I also think I'll cop one on Git and Agile methodology since I was asked about that at the interview I had.
Can't go wrong getting good at vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
good way to stand out in a time when people are dikkriding frameworks left and right. You'll stand out for knowing what's under the hood of all those wrappers that the frameworks create.Can't go wrong getting good at vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
I definitely agree with you here, especially when the turnover with JS frameworks is so high.
Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
Breh, we all deal with this
. It's kind of messed up though, you can have the cleanish/most efficient code under the hood. But if the interface looks like something from the windows 95 era. Nobody is going to care. LOL.. I think a way to get around that is to start a wordpress site/blog site about Ruby etc. And just go over coding tips / showing code examples etc. and bring your site up during the interview. This will definitely help if you attract Ruby programmers to your site and are able to answer people's questions.Unfortunately for non-technical people, they are always going to judge your apps on how they look first and how they function second. If you haven't already I would pick up a course on using Gimp or Photoshop and UI/UX principles like you said udemy is running a bunch of sales. Next if you are really hungry, pick up PowerPoint and if the interviewers let you, present your apps to them. That's one thing I can say that I've picked up from dealing with so many managers and vendors. You really have to learn how to sell yourself.
Next, enhance your Linux skills. Scripting languages are pretty popular among the Linux crowd and their whole open source philosophy.
Breh, we all deal with this
Unfortunately for non-technical people, they are always going to judge your apps on how they look first and how they function second. If you haven't already I would pick up a course on using Gimp or Photoshop and UI/UX principles like you said udemy is running a bunch of sales. Next if you are really hungry, pick up PowerPoint and if the interviewers let you, present your apps to them. That's one thing I can say that I've picked up from dealing with so many managers and vendors. You really have to learn how to sell yourself.
Next, enhance your Linux skills. Scripting languages are pretty popular among the Linux crowd and their whole open source philosophy.
Yeah, you're right about the non-technical people judging things on looks. What kind of sucks is that some of the recruiters don't know a lot about programming, so when they look at your site and it doesn't have all the ells and whistles, they think that it didn't take that much work or you didn't put that much effort in it. The designeresque guys get the interview easier, but they get exposed when they have to interview with the technical people. I really wish there was some front-end designer here to work on projects with lol.
Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
You can get some really good UI pieces for free or buy some.
Free Web UI Elements PSD & HTML - Website Templates - Web UI Kits
50 Free UI Kits for User Interface Designers
UIKits.com | Free & Premium Resources for Designers
30 Free UI Kits
Flat UI Kit Created Entirely With HTML & CSS · CSSFlow
Also you may want to hit up the freelancer websites as a way to get some experience and get paid for it.
From the book Rails 4 test prescriptions:
"As it happens, the hallmar
what are the better freelance sites out there? I'll probably have to take that route
"As it happens, the hallmar
what are the better freelance sites out there? I'll probably have to take that route
Are there any professionals in this thread that have insight into whether the company they work for would hire code academy graduates for junior developer positions?
Are you talking about one of those 'code schools' or are you talking about codecademy.com? I think those code schools help you get a job, but it's not guaranteed. You definitely want to be developing your own portfolio outside of that in the meanwhile.
Coding Bootcamp - Campus & Online Coding Programs | Coding Dojo
this is what I'm thinking about attending. I know they say they help with job placement and they also say 92% of students have work within 90 days of graduation.
Is it unusual for junior developers to be part time? I'm looking for a full time career not something I can do part time. They advertise "work" but aren't specific. I'm going to ask more questions when I interview but I don't want to have to get all my info from one source.
Also, they advertise jobs starting between 60,000 and 110,000 for front end and back end developers. The bls supports it with a mean average at $72,000. That salary send step for someone with no experience. Is this the norm?
Thanks for the advice. I'll plug along with my self study in the meantime.