What are the qualifications to be a computer programmer?
#computer-science
6 answers
Erik’s Answer
There are no real "qualifications" to be a computer programmer. I've worked with many self-taught programmers over the years. Much of my experience reflects that of Mario's above. The typical path is a B.S. in CS/CE, but even that's not required. Many have degrees in Physics, Biology, Chemistry and even Music.
I'm largely self-taught myself, but I have a B.S. in Applied Math with a lot of computer science coursework.
Byeongung’s Answer
It depends on company and field. Most companies wants at least BS for computer science or software engineering or relevant major/experiences.
The best way to explore the qualifications is to look into job posting site such as Indeed.com, Linkedin.com, Monster.com, Glassdoor.com etcs..
One example https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=software+engineer+entry+level&l=
As you watch job posts, you can find out what's common qualifications companies wants and get idea of what do I need to prepare at least.
I have also prepared my career in that way and still going on for the future position. What's qualifications for my next career, senior engineer, staff, principal, next? and this is good way to check what companies wants for the positions and be prepared.
Sai Pragna’s Answer
A straight forward answer is to get a College degree in computer science/computer engineering.
If you want to learn few computer programming concepts on your own or explore, couple of things you can start with are building a webpage using HTML and CSS.
Tutorials: https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp (You can do "try it yourself" and explore)
After learning about HTML and CSS, you can move onto a bit of javaScript.
There are certain programming languages you can explore
- Python (Good start for beginners) : You can move onto testing your python skills on competitive programing websites like www.hackerrank.com , www.leetcode.com
madhulika’s Answer
2. Obtain certification in your specialties. A valuable way to prove your mastery of a computer language to potential employers is to get certified. Various product vendors, software firms and professional computing societies offer courses, training and testing for certification in individual languages or programs
3. Stay up to date : The world of computers and programming changes at an incredibly rapid pace. It's imperative to keep up with trends and developments in the industry if you want to have a long and prosperous career
Mario’s Answer
You don't need qualifications to get started. I've hired and worked with many self-taught computer programmers.
Anyone can start by taking an introductory course on programming (like a boot camp) or even picking up a book from the library on basic coding.
However, to get past the *getting started* phase, you need EITHER:
- practical experience coding professionally (even for yourself)
- a computer science degree
Its *a lot* easier to get an interview if you have a degree. But i have worked with or hired people who did not have a degree...but might have had previous professional experience, OR have built and operated their own websites or mobile applications.
My own career path looked like:
- AA from a community college in General Studies
- BS from a university in Computer Engineering
- first job working for a startup
- everything else
But this was just *my* path. People get into being a programmer in a lot of different ways.
Hardik’s Answer
For software industry you need to learn multiple languages with one programming language to rule them all.
You may learn the language depends on your interest but you can start with HTML/CSS/Python/C/C++/Java/shell scripting/JSON.