“Can self-taught programmers get jobs?” In other words, can self-taught programmers actually land themselves a job in the world of coding and software development with no degree? Let’s find out!
1: Real-World Success Stories
Let’s explore some real-world success stories of self-taught programmers who have achieved remarkable careers. These individuals began their coding journeys with nothing more than a desire to learn and a computer.
One such example is David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of the Ruby on Rails framework, who learned to code while working on his own web applications. Another is Hadi Partovi, who co-founded Code.org, an organization dedicated to expanding access to computer science education. Partovi didn’t have a computer science degree but taught himself how to code and later co-founded multiple successful tech companies.
2: The Power of Self-Teaching
Let’s start by talking about teaching yourself. You know what’s great about programming? You can learn a lot of it by yourself. You don’t always need to go to a fancy school or get a fancy degree. One of the most remarkable aspects of the tech industry is that you can acquire a substantial amount of knowledge independently.
Many successful programmers and software developers began their careers by learning on their own, including myself. They used resources readily available on the internet to acquire the necessary skills. The key is having the motivation and dedication to learn at your own pace.
3: Learning Resources
Now, where do you begin your self-taught journey? Here’s the thing — the internet is your best buddy here. It’s packed with valuable resources like YouTube tutorials, informative blogs, helpful forums, and specialized coding websites that offer either free or affordable courses. You can choose a programming language, find tutorials, and start learning right now.
For example, websites like Codecademy, Educative, Coursera, and Freecodecamp.org offer interactive courses that guide you through the basics and more advanced concepts of programming. Additionally, YouTube channels like “Programming with Mosh”, “The Net Ninja” and “Traversy Media” provide video tutorials that are both informative and easy to follow.
4: Building a Portfolio
As you go through your self-teaching journey, consider the importance of constructing a robust portfolio. Think of your portfolio as a showcase of your programming skills. It serves as a visual representation of your abilities, making it easier for potential employers to understand what you bring to the table.”
Your portfolio should include projects that highlight your capabilities. These projects could range from building a simple web application to developing a mobile app or contributing to open-source projects. The goal is to demonstrate your problem-solving skills, creativity, and coding proficiency.
5: Networking
Don’t underestimate the significance of networking in your path towards becoming a self-taught programmer. While programming may be about computers and code, the tech industry is ultimately a people-driven field. Building connections can play a pivotal role in opening doors to job opportunities.
Participating in coding meetups, conferences, and hackathons can introduce you to like-minded individuals who share your passion for programming. Online coding communities, such as Dev.to, GitHub, and Stack Overflow, provide platforms for collaboration and learning from others. You never know when a valuable connection may lead to a job opportunity or a mentorship that accelerates your growth.
6: Challenges and Persistence
Of course, the journey to becoming a self-taught programmer is not without its challenges. Learning to code can be demanding, and the job market can be competitive. It’s important to understand that facing rejection is part of the process, and it doesn’t mean you’re not capable.
Imagine applying for your dream job and receiving a rejection letter. It can be disheartening, but it’s important to maintain your resolve. Many successful programmers faced numerous rejections before landing their desired positions. What sets them apart is their determination to keep learning, improving, and applying for opportunities.
7: The Importance of Skills
When it comes to securing a job in the tech industry, employers place a higher emphasis on your skills and abilities than the formal path you took to acquire them. What truly matters is your capacity to solve problems using code.
Consider this scenario: You’re in a job interview, and you’re asked to solve a coding challenge or demonstrate your expertise by showcasing a project from your portfolio. Your ability to tackle these tasks effectively and efficiently is what employers value most.
Bright Data Can Help You Access the World of Web Data
Instead of wasting countless hours watching tutorials, why not take into account the priceless tool that Bright Data provides. This amazing #1 web platform gives you the tools to convert webpages into structured data by giving you access to powerful web scrapers, award-winning proxy networks, and ready-to-use datasets for download. It is the top web data platform in the globe, and it will give your coding projects a boost.
8: Wrapping it Up
So, can self-taught programmers find employment in the tech industry? Absolutely! It’s all about your dedication, the quality of your portfolio, and your ability to showcase your skills. Embrace any setbacks as opportunities for growth and keep pushing forward.”
The journey to becoming a self-taught programmer may not always be smooth, but it’s a path filled with potential and opportunities waiting to be seized.
Thank you for joining me on this exploration of self-taught programmers and the world of job opportunities in tech. If you’re passionate about coding, remember that you hold the power to shape your future in this dynamic field. Don’t let anything deter you.
My Social Accounts:
📹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/programmingwithshahan
🔗 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codewithshahan
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/shahancd
Stay tuned and follow for more valuable content. Thank you, and happy coding!
Latest comments (41)
I'm learning web dev on my own, without a degree or any white collar job experience, and I really needed that advice and encouragement. Thank you very much!
I was not self-taught. I went to CMU. I learned to program in Pascal. Then, I was supposed to learn ADA, but I failed to drop the OS course since I really didn't want to spend any time with ADA. Should I learn ADA now? Maybe I should brush up on my Pascal! Then, there's that forgotten FORTRAN. What about all the control codes for the VAX OS? Maybe I should take a refresher on that! (Boy! That university was really leading me in the perfect direction. Absolutely up to date with that knowledge. Even AI was all about LISP and symbolic processing. You know, no machine could ever pull off a neural network in this lifetime.) Know any Forth programmers? How's your ALGOL68?
Who's gonna teach me Rust and Zig? (Grammarly corrects to make the English worse.) Anyway, I was looking around. Looks like it's gonna be me! Autoditacting once again!
Bad enough that I switched from PHP to node.js! Then again, I suggested to Ryan Dhal that he write node.js because I was sick of PHP. Anyway, PHP is not like Pascal. And, I had learned C++ after it was invented but well after college. And, how would I have learned node.js in college? It was some thirty years after college before I thought it up.
So, where did our great node.js meeting take place? In a tall glassy building in SF? No! It was in a little coffee shop 50 miles north of SF. I was sitting playing a piano there when a guy happened by looking for an idea or an open-source project. So, I sat at the piano and he stood at the door and we talked. Now, there's probably a course in college somewhere for node.js and I would probably flunk it. (too many of my own ideas).
Guess I'll have to get good at Bun.js.
What language should I learn next? Maybe I should just create a new one. But, will it have hireable keywords to go along with it? (You know... it's about the keywords.)
This guy did it!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Barone_...
Yes, I am self-taught, and I have hired self-taught people, be warned though, some companies require a Bachelor's or equivalent no matter what. I would have graduated from college in 1988, but got turned down for a job for not having done that, would it be relevant now, not a chance, but still they said no. I even went through multiple interviews and people wanted to hire me, but the owner said no.
So yes, but not at some companies, just keep that in mind. Of course, if you had a BA in "insert any nontech degree" that would work for the company above :)
The topic covered in the blog is broader in scope than just self-taught programmers. The suggestions mentioned are applicable not only to self-taught developers but also to junior developers and entry-level programmers. Thank you for sharing this blog; I found it enjoyable.
Glad you enjoyed! Have a good day!
I started out as a freshman engineering student at the University of South Carolina. Our first freshman engineering class voted to use the department's DEC PDP-8 that we could see, touch, and interact with, instead of the monolithic IBM 370 that was walled off. The first class learned FOCAL, a Dartmouth BASIC clone. In the next class, we learned the PDP-8 assembler language. That provided the base where I could learn the assembly languages of the DEC PDP-11, IBM 360/370, Intel 8080/8085 and Zilog Z80, and the Motorola 680X0 family.
When I switched my major to computer science, FORTRAN was the first language; but the next year, they switched to PL/1; so I learned PL/1 on my own with next year's textbook and driving about 65 miles one-way three times a week during the summer after my day as a member of SC's Department of Highways and Transportation. Class languages: PL/1, FORTRAN, SNOBOL, COBOL. Self taught languages: Algol, Pascal, Visual Basic, APL.
I've been programming for 20+ years and have also been working regularly for the same amount of time. I'm also self taught, but I do find that there are holes in my knowledge that I'm constantly trying to remedy. Those holes tend to be related to the kinds of things you learn in school like data structures, algorithms, and terminology.
Peachtree! I had forgotten all about that software. You win the old-school-software-reference prize of the day. Here's a cookie for you! 🍪
😁
Self-taught can be divided into two groups: who are graduate from a college, who have never joined any college or they have not completed graduation.
I don't know about other countries, but in India, a self-taught programmer without a graduate degree usually can climb up only 2 levels in companies. Here, graduation is considered a minimum requirement for many jobs. So, even if a non-graduate self-taught programmer is bright, he can't become more than a senior developer or team leader. The problem is, the people working below his position will complain upper management that how can a person having lesser education than them can be their leader/manager!
In India, to be at the top position in a company is generally only possible for a self-taught and/or non-graduate person if he owns the company.
Having a degree in my opinion only shows you can provide some effort and continuity.
It doesn't mean you're smart, it doesn't mean you can build things properly, it doesn't mean you can work well with others on a common goal.
In other words it doesn't mean you're a good hire.
Of course NOT having a degree doesn't show anything (doesn't tell you cannot provide continuity: degree => continuity, !continuity => !degree... it's a simple implication, no two ways arrows).
Note that the implication degree=>continuity was for what a degree meant 30 years ago... at least here in Italy a degree is less and less meaningful every day and I'd be not surprised that a reasonably smart individual could today get a degree without any real effort at all (I knew no one that could get a STEM degree 30 years ago without any effort: may be they existed but never met such an individual; passing high school with flying colors without any effort was common, but university degree? no way).
Most good programmers I know do actually have a degree today, but that's just still a "coincidence"; the vast majority of programmers with a degree are bad (the vast majority of everything is "bad").
The good programmers I know have a degree, but programming was MUCH more to them for long before they got the degree... it was their personal passion and for example they've a degree in math or physics or chemistry or got their degree in IT after becoming proficient programmers, not before, just as a nice-to-have.
In general, all schools are always unavoidably way "behind" current bleeding edge; the reasons is that to have good teachers you need time for:
1) finding out what is good and what is bad,
2) finding out a way to teach what is good,
3) form the teachers
each of these steps takes at least decades and in IT (in my opinion) we're still fighting on step 1.
In this sense IT is the worst degree in terms of what is being taught... our field is still very young and moving way too fast to have school system to catch the good stuff.
May be in a couple of centuries things will be different.