Hi everyone.
I know there is lots of topics like that but i felt i need to open a new one. Forgive me.
First i want to introduce myself.
I am 33 years old. I deal with daily paperwork at an energy company. So I usually sit in front of the computer and have quite a bit of free time. I want to take this time and change my career. But I don’t know where to start.
I did a research on programming languages and python is generally recommended for beginners. I would like to do this job initially as a side job to my current job. I am considering resigning from my current job after gaining more experience and finding better jobs in this field. That’s why I need the ideas and experiences of people who have gone through the same process as me. Where should I start? Which courses should I take or which language should I learn? In theory, I don’t think I’ll have any trouble learning something or doing small projects. However, applying for a job posting requires real results. I have no idea how to get this experience.
In addition, if there are people who have the same conditions as me and want to progress together in this process, I would like to meet them.
Waiting for your ideas and suggestions. Thanks in advance for everything.
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Hello,
Tricky situation, however not unachievable.
Few things to consider:
- Only resign once you’re certain you’ll be hired somewhere else (ideally when you’ve had an offer)
- You’ll start from zero, as a junior dev, and it’s likely you’ll have to reconsider your salary (your current experience is irrelevant to your new career)
- Where to start, that highly depends on what you’d like to do
- Why do you want to do it? I assume because your current career has reached a dead-end (perfectly fine btw)? But why programming?
- Keep in mind that the road might be long and uncertain, put some money aside just in case
Now ideally you’d wanna land a junior job in a company near you, where there are medior/senior devs that could help you improve / support you.
Few things to research: who’s hiring in your area? What kind of dev jobs? Front-end, back-end? Which technologies? React, Angular, Vue, Python, Ruby, Java, Go, C#? Have you considered mobile development (native iOS, native Android, hybrid (Flutter, React Native, Xamarin/.NET MAUI)?
If you wanna do it as a side activity, that’s perfectly fine, just be sure of your strategy: will you try to freelance via websites like UpWork, Freelancer, etc.? Or will you try to build websites for small business near you?
That’s actually a realistic approach: slowly build a portfolio of concrete projects that you can later showcase to an employer.
Another idea would be to eventually contribute to open source projects. Some companies love that.
- So I’d first figure out what I wanna do (web, mobile, something else)?
- Do I wanna specialize in something specific (like front-end), or try to do it all?
- I’d follow a career track on here (can take 6 months+) based on the previous answers
- I’d build a portfolio of clients/open source/pet projects
True, that’s a good starting point. Even just to get coding and see if you even like it!
My two cents.
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Thank you very much for your detailed answer to my question.
First of all, the wages for software developers in the country I live in are almost equal to the wages I earn now. Therefore, my primary goal is to expand my opportunities while creating a new career. For this reason, I want to achieve something by working hard in the field I will choose. It also has to do with my lack of job satisfaction at my current job. In summary, I actually want to work freelance.
Besides, I don’t know exactly what I want to do. The problem is actually here. Basically, my field of interest has always been rpg games. As a former Wow and D&D player, I like to build stories through games. But I’m not sure if there is a demand for it in the industry or what projects I need to complete by basically starting to learn which language.
I guess my main shortcoming is that I don’t have a mentor. I am a person who reads, researches and tries to learn a lot. But everyone in this sector has a different approach and advice to the subject. How do I know exactly what I want to do before I do anything else?
But I’m thinking of creating a study plan for myself in the order you gave. Thanks a lot again.
2 Likes
That’s awesome!
But if we’re being honest: very challenging world, game development.
I can’t say for sure how likely it is you’d find a freelance job in that field – I simply don’t know
How about attempting to create your own project, on the side?
It’d be a nice challenge, you’d learn a great deal, and it’d end up as something you could showcase?
Look into game engines: Unity (C#) and Unreal Engine (C++). They’re free to use.
Another question – based on this:
Ever considered being a writer for RPG games/projects?
Don’t take my words as gospel though, I’m just brainstorming here 
And best of luck no matter which road you choose!
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Thanks a lot for your really helpful answers. I think I can work on both python and rpg games together.
I actually had a little work in writing stories for games. However, I could never find that courage in myself, but now I say why not.
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