To take on coding as a career, can you self teach?

Hi, Anna! I have been in software engineering for over 20 years. I am self-taught and I have worked alongside people with formal computer science education for most of my career. I have generally found that I have been prepared to address all of the same technical problems that my formally educated peers have addressed.

However, I have found that the past 3-5 years our industry has shifted. I have seen a trend where employers are requiring both formal education AND internships. While you might still be able to self-teach and break into the industry, you will have to work hard to prove that you have the same mathematical and algorithmic "mental muscle memory" as your computer-science-degree-adorned competitors.

If you are going to go the self-taught route, I would advise you to make sure you cover Data Structures and Algorithms. After you have covered that and before you start interviewing, it is a good idea to check out http://www.crackingthecodinginterview.com/

It used to be that just Apple, Amazon and the big shops interviewed like this; but, anymore, even small shops demand similar coding challenges and interview approaches.

I wish you all the best and, if I can offer any clarification, please do not hesitate to ask!

Hey Anna! While this is still a strange concept for many to grasp, more companies are recognizing that college degrees aren't necessarily indicative of someone's full potential and skillset. Coding is a skill that you absolutely could be self taught and do very well. While I have a college degree (in an unrelated field) I am a self taught and learned most of the skills that I do in my job today, outside of my formal education. I personally started with Codeacademy and then a Udacity Nanodegree. Many tech companies are accepting these online programs and bootcamps as substitutes for formal education. You will just have to demonstrate what you know/have learned. Post your work to Github so when you are ready to interview, you have clear projects/portfolio you can show for. Best of luck!

https://www.udacity.com/nanodegree

https://www.udacity.com/course/how-to-use-git-and-github--ud775

https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/subject/all?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzbChjIme4gIVhCCtBh1kxAeyEAAYASAAEgLhRfD_BwE#skill-paths?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=skill_paths&utm_content=US_Brand_Core_Exact_Skill_Paths_May_2019_Launch_Promo_Net_New&utm_term=codecademy&d=c

Yes, there are online courses where you can learn for free or pay at your own pace. Here are some places I have learned from Udemy.com, Pluralsight.com, Skillcrush.com, LinkedIn and etc. Depending on what programming language you want to learn is based on what website to choose from.

If you want to get hired without a college degree, you will have to prove your programming skills. You can do this by working for family and friends. Get written reviews of your work. You can also go online to upwork.com and many other freelance websites. These websites allow you to perform a temporary job and get paid. Get your written reviews of your work. These written reviews will be your references. Also make a contact list from this in case the employer wants to ask further questions. All these jobs you put on your resume and have samples of your work. This is how you can land a programming job without a college degree.

Definitely! One can self learn the coding. There are many online websites available such as www.w3schools.com, which are designed in a way that one can practice coding as well. There are many coder forums and open source code development platforms, such as github.com, where you can post your codes and seek feedback on them. I have seen many dummy software projects available online, which I have referred to while studying my software development subjects. It has helped me in learning the code.

All the best with self learning!