cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11308191
Greetings fellow Lemmings,
I know this is a community that has a strong backbone in the Software and Technology space. I am a returning student in my mid-30’s that is returning to college as a way to pursue a career change. I am looking to crowdsource opinions from experienced tech professionals so I can make good quality, informed decisions about how I move forward with my educational and career goals.
With that being said my question is how would you proceed between the programs I have linked below? I am starting at a STEM focused community college (Bellevue College) in the Pacific Northwest. My long term goal is to either transfer to another four year institution (like UW Bothell) grade permitting, or perhaps finish a four year degree from this institution. This is where your advice comes in, and where I believe I need better outside perspective to make a good decision.
Option #1 (Software Development - Application Development Track) This is where I have been leaning because it seems to afford me the largest number of future options with the direction I take my education. Most importantly I think it sets me up in the best position to make the potential transition to the University of Washington Bothell’s Computer Science & Software Engineering program. The Application Development track has a stronger focus on C# & .NET framework programming languages, which seems to provide a better foundation for more potential job opportunities at the moment.
Option #2 (Software Development - Artificial Intelligence Track) Artificial Intelligence is obviously the buzzword of the moment. However, I am wondering if I am robbing myself of options by over-specializing this early in the process, and I also have concerns about focusing my learning process so heavily on Python when that seems to be something that is not used as a standard backbone language for more enterprise level businesses. I also don’t have any interest in the robotics area of this degree, as I don’t see that as being something I would look to pursue in my career. I do want to be conscientious about learning whatever is going to provide me the most future utility, therefore, I am wondering if this is the way to go for that reason.
Ultimately, I am open to any and all advice, recommendations, and wisdom that my fellow Lemmings have to provide. My previous background was in a completely unrelated field, but I have always had a passion for technology and I am a quick learner with a lean lifestyle and no external distractions. Completing this process and securing employment will be my focus 100% for the next 3-4 years. With that in mind, tell me what you think.
- Where should I go with my education?
- What pitfalls should I avoid?
- When should I specialize?
- Am I crazy for doing this later in life?
Hit me with anything you’ve got Lemmy, it is all appreciated!
I faced a similar decision, and I went with App Dev, beacuse I thought I could probably work from anywhere and make good money.
Twenty years later, I’m working exactly where I please, fully remote, and making good money.
No regrets.
I also added a Cybersecurity specialization, beacuse the $$$ is nice.
The biggest pitfall breaking into the programming field is relying on a (basically blank) resume to get the first job.
Do an internship, join a study group and a club or two. Spend more time socializing than working, at both. (But do good work, too.)
It’s your network that gets the first job.
The ideal way to specialize is on an employer’s dime, for two reasons:
As someone who hires programmers, 3/4 of my top people did something else with their career first, (two have substantial retail experience) and it’s an asset to their contribution as a programmer.
This was fantastic information. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post, I sincerely appreciate it.
I actually came from a previous retail background as well, and built a small business from 1 location making $1.5 million annually to four locations making $20 million annually in 6.5 years. The owner made the decision to sell the business after surviving all of the stress during COVID, and that is what started me back on my education journey.
I developed basically every system in that business myself from the ground up, through blood sweat and tears. So for this next chapter of my life I am looking to take my career more in the tech mercenary direction for lack of a better term where I am out to focus on developing my own skills in order to live the life I want to live on my own terms as much as is reasonably possible.
So, your advice really resonates with me, and was an extremely valuable addition to my thought process.
Does this advice apply in this current job market? I graduated 2021. I was unable to land a job, so then did a boot camp, and after that still ended up in a support role. If I’m unable get dev role, the paper won’t help at all. It will be seen as outdated knowledge.
Though, it might actually work for OP where he finished the degree as the job maker becomes hot. Who knows.
Maybe. All I can authoritatively give is my experience.
I graduated in a very diffent time, but I’m still hiring today. My recent hiring experience is more relevant, I suppose.
I believe that expensive degrees are less important for programmers today, but that it’s still a huge pain to land the first programming job.
I’ve hired folks with fancy expensive degrees, and I’ve hired folks with just bootcamp experience, or a community college degree.
My current team has 2x fancy degree, 1x Bachelor’s degree, and 1x community college degree. In all cases their communication skills and proof of past programming projects were key - much more than their degree.
That said, all of my current team have specialties, all of which were obtained through on-the-job training. In most cases, I arranged the training, in some past role where it was needed.
As we’ve discussed elsewhere, programmers are usually a net loss of productivity for the team for their first professional year or three. So I think the advice to build and use a network is definitely still relevant to landing the first job.