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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Hi! I’m going to try to be as clear as possible even though it’s not easy to explain these things as a beginner. From personal experience I can say that programming is a very vast field. You will have to make some decisions as to what side of programming you want to be on. I have been navigating this field for more than a year and I would say you need to understand the basics of programming, the most basic notions first and then choose a language depending on the field you are trying to get into. Most languages have more or less the same structure and only the syntax varies, that’s why I’m saying start with coding foundations and then choose the language when you have an idea of where you want to go.
Work on some projects, build a portfolio, that’s what I’m trying to do. I have also done bootcamps and honestly not worth the time. Stick to Codecademy in your free time, build projects, practice on Leetcode, populate your Github page and jump into interviews to see what is like.
I had to accept a job that allows me to have some peace of mind while I study and I would advise you to hold on to your current job as you don’t want to be super stressed. Burn out is real I’ve experienced it many times when I was doing interviews and studying. Good luck and I wish you all the best!!
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