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Discussion on: Share your story of becoming a self taught developer and getting your first job

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Aaron Todd

I starting a CS & B.Eng double degree but a couple of years before the end realised CS was pretty easy and the B.Eng was way harder. I dropped CS to get out early and then then first bubble burst.

Yeah I graduated the year a lot of large tech companies shut down offices in my town :P

So I took a job in retail and eventually worked reception and then managed a few stores.

Whilst there I self taught myself web development and used my retail knowledge to build a bespoke e-commerce site. I'm sure a year after I made it would've been scared to think about how bad it was but it made sales and people were happy to use it.

Eventually the CTO of a company we supplied found out that I'd made the site and offered me a job as a junior developer. Most of the team I joined were self taught developers - I think I was the only one with a somewhat related degree - and I learned most of what I knew in the first part of my career from someone that did 1 semester of a biology degree :P

After that I guess I combined my work ethic, experiences and a bit of a leadership streak to end up at the top of most development teams I joined. I've been in teams where others were definitely more technically skilled but were lacking some other talents I guess I had.

My experience really solidified for me that being the 'best' developer is a term that encompasses a wide variety of skills and talents. Being a developer and focussing on keeping my skills up and having a strong work ethic has given me so many opportunities I would never have had otherwise. It is an incredibly portable skill :)