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I’ve had many interesting conversations with people about how it is hard to become a software developer and how it’s almost impossible to get a job without a computer science degree. It’s a really interesting topic for me and I think the same may be true for many people, so I decided to write about it a bit more.
First of all, let’s answer for the most important question: is it hard to become a programmer without a computer science degree? Yes and no. It’s not as hard as many people think. Yes, it’s difficult, but if you spend some time learning programming and do it regularly, you’ll learn everything that is needed to become a developer and you’ll get your first job without a computer science degree!
Studies
Let’s talk about the studies. It’s a common belief that during the course of your studies, you’ll learn everything you need to know. Well, that’s not true. Let’s start from the beginning and home in on the real details.
To graduate, it took me five years (3.5 years/7 semesters for BSc, and 1.5 years/3 semesters for MSc). Of course, it could take longer if you don’t pass some exams and need to retake them. Considering that you have 5 years to learn something, imagine how much time that is!
I had a lot of different subjects, some that were connected with computer science and some that weren’t. If I remember correctly, I had eight or nine different mathematical subjects,
two different physics, P.E., and some other, more redundant subjects (in my opinion).
On the positive side, during those 5 years, I took a lot of programming in various languages like C, C++, Java, Python, MATLAB, PHP, JavaScript, and HTML & CSS. There were two different subjects about databases, some about algorithms, data structures, compilators, software engineering, basics of computer science, and networking.
You may think all of this was really useful and helpful but add into the equation that I started working part-time as a Ruby Developer between my second and third year (4th and 5th semester).
Before I started, I needed to know something about databases, data structures, algorithms, git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Ruby. Unfortunately, most of those things I didn’t learn until my 5th semester or later, if at all, so I needed to learn everything on my own. This wasn’t so easy, especially when you need to learn several different subjects, study for exams, work on different projects, and have a social life on top of that.
I started learning about Ruby (which wasn’t included in my studies), JavaScript and databases. I knew some of the basics of HTML and CSS which was at some point helpful. I was studying at night, sleeping for periods of 3-4 hours… This was the decision I made, and I had a huge motivation to learn something different from what they teach you in university.
In fact, I didn’t have these technologies in my studies at the time – so in this case, the studies were not helpful at all. Moreover, I was spending more time learning something different. In fact, the situation would play out the same had I chosen an entirely different subject for my studies; learning in my own time and working part-time as a software developer.
Is it possible to become a software developer without a degree?
There are a lot of ways you can learn computer science and programming; the crucial thing is planning and motivation.
Don’t think that it’ll be easy, I’ll say it again: you must be consistent and persistent, even if you feel that you can’t do it. Everything at the beginning is hard, trust me. Even now, when I’m learning something new in the world of IT, at the beginning it’s not so straightforward.
How long does it take to become a software developer? You must be patient and spend a lot of your free time on it. You won’t learn it in one or two weeks or even months. It’s like when you learn a new language, you won’t learn Spanish in two months, even if you spend most of your day on it and you have a person with whom you can practice.
You should prepare your plan and think about how much time you can feasibly spend on it. Do you have a free two or three hours a day? Can you dedicate every day? Regularity is the most important thing. It’s better to learn every day for two hours, than spending one whole day once a week. That whole day will not always be available to you.
Software development bootcamps
I noticed that a lot of people who want to change their profession or learn programming attend boot camps. What are boot camps? A boot camp is something like a crash course, they usually last two or three months (8 hours a day, 5 days a week) and you learn how to code with the help of teachers.
Let’s take a Ruby boot camp as an example. They teach you how to code in Ruby and how to use databases. You’re doing your first real project in a team and later thanks to this, you have a really good grasp of the basics and can find your first job.
Well, in my opinion, it’s a really good initiative but there are two small problems for me. Not everyone is able to pay a lot of money for a course like that (around $5000 or more), and not everyone can take a break of three months to take part.
Another thing is that you can acquire all of this knowledge on your own. You won’t have a teacher but there are a lot of courses which cost just $20/monthly. I’m pretty sure that upon completion, you’ll probably have as pretty solid basic understanding as after a boot camp. Moreover, you’ll be able to learn whenever you want.
Just to clarify, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t attend a boot camp, if you have a spare $5000 and free months, but there are other, cheaper, and just as effective options for learning alone.
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