what are my possibilities as newcomer in the field of programming?

[David De Vos]

Hello everybody,

I'm looking to persue a career into programming. I'd like to either work as a software developer or as a back-end developer.

Although I didn't study anything relevant (I have a master's degree in commercial sciences), I've always been strongly interested in this matter or in informatics in general.

I'm currently taking an awesome online course on 'coursera.org' named "Python for Everybody Specialization" (data structures, acces web data, etc.). 

Although I'm really enjoying this online course, I don't know if this is the right way to go as a 'newbie' looking to start a career? 

Perhaps there's more demand for other programming languages such as c++, java or Ruby? Or there are possibly better (formal) ways to gain experience or knowledge which I can use as leverage to find a job?

Does somebody have some advice on what I could do, or how I could kick-start a career into programming? Perhaps there are companies willing to offer a sort of internship or traineeship? 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Regards

David

[ostap didenko]

Hi David,

I've been following a similar pass for a year and a half and finally I abandoned this seemingly nice idea altogether. Currently I work as a New Business Director in my friend's Ukrainian web development company which does a great job for realtively cheap as for Europe price. I am responsible for searching for new clients for the company and handling all the communication with them, so that my friend can concentrate entirely on business administration and programming. And I believe this is a much better path for someone with humanities mindset! 

If you'd like to learn programming, you should realize that its a long and time-consuming enterprise. Around 1-2 years of intense studies should pass until you can do the job. You are now just in the very beginning of this path, so it does not really matter which exactly introductory resources you follow. Pass trough as many introductory courses as you need, until you feel that they cannot offer anything new for you. Then start learning Django. Read a few manuals, type in all the code you find there. Try to understand how it works. Then learn basics of HTML/CSS. Play with it. Build a few simple websites. You'll know how to play with it by then. With hands on experience in Django, Python and HTML/CSS you can already try doing some little money. Volunteer by working for non-profits. I would also suggest learning JavaScript and AngularJS in the same manner... We've just covered a 2-years path now, wow! Now, after you did all fot that, start thinking about a job and internships.
My general adivse is - explore and meet like-minded people. Read a bunch of articles on how to learn programming, google, google and google. You will have to learn A LOT. There are no readily available pathes for learning programming. You have to create your own path for yourself and go through it on your own.  

Actually, I think its much easier to become a front-end developer by learning on https://www.freecodecamp.com. 

Best,
Ostap

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[Jeroen Dierckx]

Hey David,

Only way to do it is to do it.
I would recommend doing lots of hobby project for you, your friends and family.
Even better: find an open source project you like and contribute. Ask
how you can help with your skillset. You can always start by writing
documentation and testing, which are good learning positions.


PS: bel...@python.org is the default belgian mailinglist, it succeeds
this one. just fyi

Best regards
jeroen

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[Hugo Herter]

Hello David,

There are various aspects to working in software development. Learning programming is one of them, facing field constraints is another (interfacing with existing systems, deadlines) and working with clients and other developers yet another.

If your goal is to pursue a career in programming, I can only recommend you to follow Jeroen's advice: try to do a small project for other people (local event, small business website, ...) so you can face a client. Another interesting thing to do is developer sprints : a few days during which developers meet to work together on open-source projects. There are usually many organized a few days before FOSDEM and other developer conferences. Everyone is welcome and it's easier to get started when experimented people are sitting next to you with clear tasks to be achieved.

Regarding languages, Java has more traction in corporate business, and there is both more offer and more demand. Python is more niche, but growing and many companies use it without talking much about it. I'd also pretend that you get to do more fun stuff working with Python than Java. Javascript is also gaining a lot of traction in big companies these days, but is a bit of a mess as the tools are constantly changing.

Internships or traineeships can be difficult to obtain from companies as a beginner as they often consider than the work they can get from coaching a beginner is lower than what they'd get by not spending time coaching a trainee. This of course depends on the experience of the trainee.

Best,

Hugo

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