How I Became a Software Engineer Without a Computer Science Degree

have you ever wanted to be in technology or dreamt about being a software developer or engineer but did not want to go back to school for computer science for four years plus expenses it brings plus the stress plus how do people do it if that's you you are not alone I was someone who after I graduated University for something completely different than software development or software engineering I and I discovered software developing and instantly fell in love with it I love the tech industry how versatile it was how you can constantly be growing and learning and also to how you could use a skill but travel or work from somewhere else all these great things but in the back of my mind I was saying I do not want to go back to school for computer science for another four years it just it was not in the car today I'm going to be sharing with you how I became a software developer without a computer science degree I'm going to talk to you about things I wish I knew how I did it and if I would do it again if someone who has worked for small companies non-for-profits to big tech companies to freelancing and now at a big tech company I've really been able to see the benefits of being in the tech industry and I'm not saying it's all roses or positive but I'm so happy I decided to make that leap from fashion modeling marketing into the tech industry because it is such a fast growing industry and I've learned so many skills along the way that it's been one of the best decisions best leaps I've taken okay so I'm going to give you some background but kind of a quick version of it because I feel like I talk about my background a lot so if you don't know my background I will link down below some stories of really how I got into technology however I'll go over it quickly because it really does impact how I was able to get into a software developer position without a CS degree when I was in university I studied graphic communications management which is essentially what it sounds like a bit of graphic design a bit of communication courses and management courses it was in my fourth year it was required to take a very basically I'm talking CSS and HTML coding course just like putting together a static website kind of thing but I instantly fell in love with it both the idea of using logic on one hand but then also being very creative on the other hand and when I started going down and researching going down like a rabbit hole and researching software development I really was intrigued by it by all the benefits that this job could really bring you so once I graduate from university I was faced with the choice of do I want to go back to school for another four years to get a computer science degree do you want to go to a coding boot camp or do I want a self teach I definitely did not want to go back to school for another four years to get a computer science degree and these are my reasons why I just graduated from university I was in school for four years already I didn't have the finances to go back to school for another four years and it didn't really make sense to me to go back to school and just get a second degree if I was going to go back to school I want it to be for my masters or for a certification so that took out computer science and one of the things that I was really worried about was will I be taken seriously if I don't have a computer science degree and I thought about that for a while I spoke to a lot of people and I quickly realized that there are so many people in this industry who come from so many different paths of life I mean obviously computer science is still currently the most popular way to become a software developer but it definitely is not the only way what I started to do with some self-learning but I found for me personally and I think this is something you really have to decide on an individual level for me personally myself learning what's going really slow I kept on getting distracted or just kind of off the beaten path you could say as to my learning goes and I thought you know what I need some help that's why I decided to end up going to a coding boot camp I didn't go to the coding boot camp because I thought it would be teaching me everything and I become this genius out of it but I knew what it would do is provide me extra support that I needed for questions I had just kind of that community sense that to me was something that for the way I learned I really needed after my boot camp my boot camp was three months long I felt completely unprepared still like I knew nothing and I think that's a total normal feeling though like I did know things but just feeling that imposter syndrome still of oh I'm not good enough or I didn't learn anything or I need to maybe I should go back to school for another 40 years I've kept I'm popping in my head like oh I need a siesta great that was something very strong I think too cuz when I was looking at job applications a lot of them are saying computer science degree or if you don't have a computer science degree you need relevant four years work experience and I was like well that doesn't make any sense what do people do who don't have a computer science degree but need four years work experience but don't happen like that doesn't make any sense so I kept on looking around and just kind of I think one of the biggest takeaways that I can't stress enough is persistence it's not going to be easy it is going to be worth it you really need to be persistent from learning how to code from job hunting to starting your first job it's all very uncomfortable feelings you're going to feel these are all new things you're learning and it's essentially a new way of thinking for a lot of people including myself and it's it's big learning curve it's a steep learning curve and if you are someone who is able to do it though I'll tell you one thing you will be so persistent in so many other areas of your life so driven because of your experience with this and seeing how if you just stick to the path that you really want to get to and achieve you can accomplish it it just sometimes is like not easy so what I did was I started applying to more smaller scale startup companies and the reason for that was because I found that their interview process to be completely candid wasn't as tedious as say same companies Facebook Apple Netflix Google like I knew that the startups would be a little bit more laxed on their interview process may be more willing to have a junior come on because can wrap up on learning I don't know if that really makes sense or not but that was my thought process at the time so I ended up finding a small company it was non-for-profit and they didn't have a developer position but what they did have was a QA position quality assurance and for a lot of people when they got out their boot camp or grad or self-taught they were like no I need my developer position I'm not doing anything but that and that's how I was - but I was like you know what maybe I'll try and just be open-minded try QA there are things that you can learn from any position it's kind of kind of in it's still in the tech space so that's like a good sign and just see you know if I make a good impression on the company then maybe I can move into a developer role and that's exactly what I did I don't even know how long I was in QA for but after a while I was able to move I think like it was under a year I was in QA but I don't know I can't I don't remember the timeline but any was under a year and then I switched into developer role and I did that by really just starting to pick up very small tickets on my own picking up just small tasks that word development required and showing that I wanted to take initiative that I really wanted to learn and just trying to get familiar with the codebase when I started my first developer job I felt lucky that it was at a company that really encouraged growth and wanted me to succeed so there's a lot of one-on-one help a lot of I felt like I was in school pretty much again and it was a really good experience in the sense that it was a very people understand if you're a junior developer typically from my experience that you're not going to know everything and they want to help you learn and if that isn't the case then it's probably not a good company you want to be with a company that wants you to learn and wants you to succeed and from there I ended up staying in the developer position for soon as a company for Jeff's under two years and then moved to a big tech company and that's right him now and I just having a wonderful experience there as well but I think at the end of the day if you are someone who is considering getting into tech or software development or engineering and you don't have a computer science degree and you don't have the time the money the energy any of the above to go back to school for in another four years it's not only completely possible but it's coming more and more common for people to become software developers through self teaching through going to boot camps or through make sure about if you are someone out there who is like okay well what advice do you have what can i watch I be doing I would say identify first the way that you learn if you are someone who can learn software development on your own to a degree and that's great spend time carve out time treat it like a job or school where you sit down X amount of hours a day and you learn and same goes for if you're going to a boot camp but for me once again I went to boot camp strictly because I needed extra support and that community other ways that you can get that if boot camps aren't for you or through online communities I mean that's why I started this platform is to support and encourage others I know I already said it and I'll say it again you have to be persistent this isn't easy if as my dad would always say if this is easy everyone would do it so don't just give up or don't feel as though you aren't moving as quickly as other people or maybe you start smart enough for it because you are you can do this you just need to be persistent and so many people start in this road on software development and then just give up because it's difficult or maybe it's not for them maybe it's too tough but if it's something you're really passionate about you will get there just stick to it thank you all for watching my video I hope this was at least something inspiring to you that trust me if I could do it you can too and you don't need necessarily a computer science degree that being excited just to be clear there are a lot of great things like computer science degrees bring people and I'm not taking away from that but more so saying if it's not feasible for you to do that right now don't let that stop you [Music]

Channel: Tiff In Tech

Views: 627,818

Keywords: how to kickstart your software engineering career, software engineer career, software development, software engineer, day in the life of a software engineer, learning to code, programmer, software engineering, how to learn code, software engineer career path, software engineer careers, software developer, software engineer career change, software engineer career progression, computer science, software developer career, software engineering career, Software developer career path

Id: 8Xsn4-EwYc0

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020