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How does one get started in the Computer Sciences field? What steps have to be taken?
I am looking into the computer sciences field as my choice of career. I have not dedicated this to my career choice as of yet, but it is one of the more promising selections. I just want to know how to get started so that I can delve deeper into my exploration of computer sciences.
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4 answers
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Dirceu’s Answer
Let me start answering the question in your title. You can just do boot camps starting to code and look for freelancers (e.g. https://www.upwork.com/ - testing jobs can give you good expertise) to get experience and apply for entry-level positions.
Now let me talk about learning more and prepare your steps to get where you want in computer science. First, computer science is a huge and expanding field and a nice place to want to work; If you want to discover more, you can participate in challenges: (for example, https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-10-most-popular-coding-challenge-websites-of-2016-fb8a5672d22f/). Second, you have to take into consideration that writing code to a bank and writing code to a game studio can be quite different for instance: environment, security restrictions, tests and hardening of your code are viewed with different perspectives, and all of those will change the kind of technology you will be learning.
In my personal experience, I have applied for positions in different industries, and I notice that I am more competitive for some than other because of my background. So if you have a field of interest, I would recommend checking which technologies are surrounding it (what is the trend of this industry) and spending time learning about it and, if financially possible, participating in events/conventions. And you probably will figure out if a college or BSc would be a good fit for you (again, if you can afford it). Note that college and university can also provide you working network that can be important to get your first job. But don't worry if you can afford it, you can definitively be a good computer science professional with experience, this is more important in my opnion.
Once you have some basic experience with the technologies of your area of interest within computer science, you can start to apply for the different positions you can find on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn etc. Don't forget that computer science is a global field, so you can try to apply to companies all over the globe; many will hire you to work from home no matter where you live.
Now let me talk about learning more and prepare your steps to get where you want in computer science. First, computer science is a huge and expanding field and a nice place to want to work; If you want to discover more, you can participate in challenges: (for example, https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-10-most-popular-coding-challenge-websites-of-2016-fb8a5672d22f/). Second, you have to take into consideration that writing code to a bank and writing code to a game studio can be quite different for instance: environment, security restrictions, tests and hardening of your code are viewed with different perspectives, and all of those will change the kind of technology you will be learning.
In my personal experience, I have applied for positions in different industries, and I notice that I am more competitive for some than other because of my background. So if you have a field of interest, I would recommend checking which technologies are surrounding it (what is the trend of this industry) and spending time learning about it and, if financially possible, participating in events/conventions. And you probably will figure out if a college or BSc would be a good fit for you (again, if you can afford it). Note that college and university can also provide you working network that can be important to get your first job. But don't worry if you can afford it, you can definitively be a good computer science professional with experience, this is more important in my opnion.
Once you have some basic experience with the technologies of your area of interest within computer science, you can start to apply for the different positions you can find on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn etc. Don't forget that computer science is a global field, so you can try to apply to companies all over the globe; many will hire you to work from home no matter where you live.
Updated
Andrew’s Answer
Depends where youre at in life and frankly how much money you can spend. A bachelors in CS is the easiest way to build your knowledge, contacts, opportunities, and so on. If college isnt an option there are many programs like coding boot camps that offer certifications, like comptia, and can help build your resume. Just watching youtube videos about people in different tech roles daily lives can be helpful in deciding a path and finding resources
Updated
Vicky’s Answer
There are boot camps you can participate and test out the water. If its turned out programming is your interest, there are online bachelors' programs in CS which is normally cheaper than the on-campus programs.
Updated
Francislainy’s Answer
Hi Andrew,
Youtube has many nice (and free) tutorials to get you going. You can just type something like the language or technology you're interested in learning and many videos will appear, such as "How to make a website - beginner tutorial", or "How to make an app". or "How to learn backend development". Then once you know the basics for what you've chosen, try to start working on a portflolio of projects that you can then add to your Github and that can be sent to future employees to show them what you know.
Youtube has many nice (and free) tutorials to get you going. You can just type something like the language or technology you're interested in learning and many videos will appear, such as "How to make a website - beginner tutorial", or "How to make an app". or "How to learn backend development". Then once you know the basics for what you've chosen, try to start working on a portflolio of projects that you can then add to your Github and that can be sent to future employees to show them what you know.