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Hi ladies, I would love to hear from those of you in the software development or data analytics fields. What are the core skills needed? What's your work-life balance life, and are you able to pursue your hobbies? How long did it take you to break into the field? Is there a specific type of personality that is more likely to succeed in it? Will I have to sell my soul just to become financially prosperous? Where can I start?
I don't have a science or math background, so I know I'll have to work a bit harder than those who do. I'll also probably have to spend a few years in school, despite already being in my mid-20s, but I simply don't want to work in the service, medical, academic or entertainment industries. My goals are to be financially secure and have time and energy to pursue my interests and hobbies. I basically want to live the life I didn't have growing up. Any help is appreciated.
I would suggest taking an entry-level programming course at your local community college to see if you enjoy it. I suggest a class instead of any online free thing, because it will keep you accountable while making you learn solid programming fundamentals via being assigned a grade and getting feedback. If you do enjoy it, then you can take the rest of your prereqs at the CC to save money and then transfer to a local or online university. I've heard many positive things about online CS degrees from lots of different institutions!
I would definitely avoid bootcamps of any sort because the industry is pretty competitive now... I've heard horror stories of people getting jobs after a bootcamp that are non-dev jobs cause that's all they could find, but they still needed to give 30% of their paycheck or whatever to their bootcamp school. 😱 So watch out for that...
With a 4 year CS degree you will have a leg up on all the bootcampers. And definitely don't shell out a couple grand for a bootcamp without trying programming first!
I think there is one other way in to the industry that's not university or bootcamp, and that would be to get a job as tech support at a software company, and then self study your way into becoming a dev and get promoted internally. It takes a lot of self motivation to go this route but I do personally know 2 people who have done it this way successfully and are making good money at a Big-N.
For AI, those jobs still require a heavy data science and programming background, and entry-level AI jobs are hard to come by, as many of them require a graduate degree. You need a love of data science to go this route, as data is the heart of AI.
Anyway sorry for writing a novel, I hope this helps you out at all. Best of luck to you!! DM me if you have any questions. 💖
Can I suggest something else? Artificial intelligence will be taking the world soon. Look for courses or certificates on that.
You need to start as a product designer. They are always in huge demands and the job has the least of the learning curves ever. Once you enter into an industry depending on tech, Product designing would have enabled you to understand every usecase precisely. Else everything is around implementation and I see how people coming from other backgrounds not work well with coding environment but product design is easily learnt and pays amazingly well too.
All hackathons I won was as a product designer. So that says something.
It sounds like you're interested in CS because of the benefits, like decent pay and job safety. I feel similarly, like I want a job that can sustain my true passions, which are not very marketable. Tech jobs can be conducive to that goal, at least for now. I'm also worried about the rise of AI making many of these jobs obsolete or at least considerably less comfortable. I don't think this is necessarily a career for coasting along so you can enjoy the rest of your life. The kinds of jobs where that is possible are getting rarer and rarer. The field is very fast paced and will be very demanding on your mental energy at times. I'm not discouraging you from pursuing CS, I'm just issuing the warning that it's starting to look less and less like the cushy job it used to be. Unless you're really passionate about tech, it might not be worth it just for the benefits. Also, be prepared for endless obnoxious tech bros lol.