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How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

billmei.net

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Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#121

Post by mdpopescu »

segmondy wrote: post #74
steven777400 wrote: post #2

The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…

For every one student who is very driven and motivated to self-study, there are 99 who are not and need the coercion of a teacher and threat of a bad grade to study.

See my other comment - is it a good idea to force them to get a degree? Doesn't it make the degree worthless? Instead of signalling "this person was able to learn something important" it says "this person has been forced to spend X years in a place where he was bored to death".

(I think there was an Army joke saying something like "private X is able to work when cornered and closely supervised", or something like that.)

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#122

Post by Quarrelsome »

Why did he have to go through hundreds of applications and interviews? I feel like someone should have hired him _much_ sooner. Just on the basis of his words alone.

I too managed to get into programming without a degree but for me the path was as simple as convincing an employer (while I was a cold-calling salesman) I could write a better product than the one they were using.

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#123

Post by totalrobe »

Tomis02 wrote: post #120

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad OP is happy with where he is right now, but his story's ending is underwhelming. > Instead of emailing as many black holes as possible, I would spend a week deeply researching a company and the business problems it faced, then put together a working prototype that I would cold-email to the CEO as a product improvement. ... My strategy was working! Really? Interesting, let's see the outcom…

These were my exact thoughts almost word for word...also the thoughts below make zero sense back to back.

"At the same time, my old clients started referring me to other clients and everything snowballed into a big, unstoppable avalanche of steady consulting work. I took this as a clear sign that I found my calling in life.

Now that I was confident with the flow of consulting work, I began looking for a full-time job."

What?! Why are you going to look for a job after finding your calling with an overflow of consulting business?

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#124

Post by qplex »

komali2 wrote: post #62
popdoit wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm a lazy asshole, but I how can anyone cram-learn like that? 8am-9p everyday? Come on?! I applaud your effort. I really do. As long as your employer, and you, have the proper expectations about your skill set then I guess it's the perfect match.

I certainly wouldn't recommend it for all sorts of learning. It worked for me because I had literally gambled everything on it - if I dropped out or got kicked out, I'd be 17k in debt living in the most expensive city in america with almost no savings. Failure wasn't an option. Furthermore, my fallback options were shitty. 40k/year doing sales or recruitment, busting my ass to reach 6 figures, being stepped on the wh…

So I guess you should do something that makes you happy (good for you!), but please do consider that actions actually have other implications than money.

The fact that you can make more money making webpages than teaching some poor kid english is mostly sad.

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#125

Post by sotojuan »

YZF wrote: post #5
steven777400 wrote: post #2

The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…

There's a big difference between having an instructor and learning things from a book or video lectures. An instructor can correct your mistakes and give you feedback. A book or a video can't do that. Some people presumably don't have a right kind of discipline to study on their own. This is why remote study programs can be a lot more difficult to complete vs. on-site programs. EDIT: There's a known effect, discussed…

> There's a known effect, discussed in the Coursera "Learning How to Learn" course, where you read through the material/watch a video and think that you've actually mastered or learnt it while in fact you have not.

This explains a lot of people I've worked it. "Oh I read a tutorial/watched YouTube videos of it, let me do it".

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#126

Post by bb611 »

Tomis02 wrote: post #120

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad OP is happy with where he is right now, but his story's ending is underwhelming. > Instead of emailing as many black holes as possible, I would spend a week deeply researching a company and the business problems it faced, then put together a working prototype that I would cold-email to the CEO as a product improvement. ... My strategy was working! Really? Interesting, let's see the outcom…

I think a much more self-aware article from him would be "Personalized emails didn't work. My recruiter didn't help. But studying the crap out of Data Structures and Algorithms did. My personal projects might have helped but I can't really tell."

I guess the downside is that's the advice freely available anywhere advice is given to fresh grads, and so is much less exciting.

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#127

Post by zamalek »

steven777400 wrote: post #2

The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…

Ultimately its for a piece of paper that opens doors. It may not be a job, it could be a visa. That being said, after my incomplete stint at college I came away entirely unimpressed. The model for teaching medicine (for example) is completely unsuitable for CS - yet that is how it is done. Tertiary CS could really use a renaissance.

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#128

Post by [deleted] »

totalrobe wrote: post #123
Tomis02 wrote: post #120

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad OP is happy with where he is right now, but his story's ending is underwhelming. > Instead of emailing as many black holes as possible, I would spend a week deeply researching a company and the business problems it faced, then put together a working prototype that I would cold-email to the CEO as a product improvement. ... My strategy was working! Really? Interesting, let's see the outcom…

These were my exact thoughts almost word for word...also the thoughts below make zero sense back to back. "At the same time, my old clients started referring me to other clients and everything snowballed into a big, unstoppable avalanche of steady consulting work. I took this as a clear sign that I found my calling in life. Now that I was confident with the flow of consulting work, I began looking for a full-time job…

[deleted]

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#129

Post by sotojuan »

lacampbell wrote: post #64
rezashirazian wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A college degree, in my opinion, has little to do with the degree or the technical material you learn. the value of attending college and completing a four-year degree at an accredited university comes from the environment you're ingrained in for that time. The people you meet, the conversations you have and experiences you expose yourself supersedes the raw material in the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, the stuff i…

the value of attending college and completing a four-year degree at an accredited university comes from the environment you're ingrained in for that time. The people you meet, the conversations you have and experiences you expose yourself supersedes the raw material in the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, the stuff in the textbox are important but I think you get your real value from the experiences and the relationsh…

This is where most CS departments are heading because "if you study CS you'll get a job!!!!". My experience was similar, though I at least made some friends.

Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

#130

Post by BinaryIdiot »

spraak wrote: post #67
komali2 wrote: post #6

Damn, that guy busted his butt. I got a creative writing degree from a decent but relatively unheard of Texas state school, spent a month studying Javascript, got into a bootcamp, worked for the bootcamp as TA for 3 months, then got a ~120k/yr job in the bay area within a month of leaving the bootcamp. I had 3 projects on my resume and absolutely nothing technical to show for the time period prior to the bootcamp, ot…

I'd say a lot of luck, too? I did the same but my salary is only half that. Edit: I do get to work remotely though, and the salary is in UK terms

> I'd say a lot of luck, too? I did the same but my salary is only half that.

Depends on the area. In the Bay area it's not uncommon to start at a job as a junior for around $100k. Living expenses really push this up. In the MD / DC / VA area, in my experience, juniors can start at most tech / consulting companies at $65k or higher.

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