Software Engineering notes

In conclusion… Becoming a self-taught software developer in 2024 is definitely possible, especially with more apprenticeships popping up and giving opportunities to those who are just starting out with little to no experience. Just remember to be kind to yourself, and your hard work will pay off. Good luck! Thank you for reading! I’ll be making a post on what to expect in a Python interview and how to pass one in the future. So if you’re interested in that, feel free to follow!

Step 3: Upskilling and Preparing for Interviews After almost a year at the apprenticeship, you should have a clearer image of what role you think would be a good fit for you, and you can start looking at job listings. In these job listings, you want to look for any skill gaps and focus on learning popular tools. For example, you can learn AWS, React, Kubernetes, Docker, etc. depending on the role you’re pursuing. When I did my first interview, I did terribly. But I took notes of the questions they asked, studied, and applied them to future interviews. After half a year, I got pretty good at answering technical questions and got close, but I still wasn’t getting hired. It came down to my personality and answers to behavioral questions. At this point, I was taking my ADHD medication to help with my focus and memory recall during interviews. However, it really affected my body language, tone, and appearance. During my interviews, I forgot that I was on webcam and felt like my posture seemed unnatural, and I would give an unnerving stare when answering questions. There was also no excitement and warmth in my voice when I talked, and it probably seemed like I didn’t care or was tired. In the two interviews where I didn’t take my medication, I was able to answer fewer technical questions; however, I was able to express my personality. As a result, one of the recruiters added me to play video games and grab lunch, and the other hired me! So that goes to show that behavioral questions weigh more when it comes down to the final decision.

Step 2: Finding an Apprenticeship I know some people who managed to skip this step and jumped into decent entry-level jobs. However, this is the route I took, so I will always recommend it, especially if you’ve been struggling to get interviews or just don’t feel confident to pass technical interviews. Most apprenticeships have a high acceptance rate, and it’s a great way to gain experience before finding a better job. However, a major disadvantage of going through an apprenticeship is starting at lower pay. During my apprenticeship, I received zero, nada, zilch for the first three months of training. However, there are many better apprenticeship programs popping up, and they offer stipends for training. After completing my training, I started making ~$35k, which is very low. However, I was grateful for the opportunity and knew that the money would come with the gained experience. By the end of the year, I received raises that brought me up to $45k. Which was not a lot considering newer apprenticeships were offering $55k to start.

Step 1: Learning the Basics When I first started, I was only familiar with the Web Developer role, so that was the role that I pursued. However, you’ll be able to change your role in the future if you think something else is a better fit. Data Analyst, Dev Ops, UI/UX, and Cyber Security are also worth mentioning since they are in high demand and offer opportunities for self-taught individuals like you and me. You should learn the following: HTML CSS JavaScript (Basic-Intermediate) MySQL An Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Language In my case, I went to a coding bootcamp, where I learned the following with Java as my OOP language. However, I strongly believe that you’re able to learn these things without a coding bootcamp. You can find Udemy courses as well as using a learning platform like Codecademy. But everything is free if you’re willing to dig online.

Why Self-Taught? Before and during the pandemic, I was struggling with school due to my undiagnosed ADHD. I just couldn’t find the dopamine in taking history and government courses when I wanted a career in tech. So going the self-taught route and being able to focus on subjects that would benefit my career just made the most sense to me. However, this may also be a viable option if you can’t afford tuition or you’re transitioning from another field.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I took a risk that completely changed my life; I decided to drop out of college and become a self-taught software developer. At the beginning of my journey, I was feeling… - Overwhelmed by the many paths I could take - Lost with what I should be focused on learning - Fearful that this wouldn’t work out - Worried no one would give me a chance If this negative self-talk sounds familiar, I hope I can reassure you that it was one of the best decisions I could have made. After less than two years of commitment, I’ve reached my goal of making six figures, and I’d like to share my advice!

https://overapi.com/ you can learn easily using this website