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Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
21–30 of 58 posts
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#22Love this website, and love how there are more and more resources for auto-didacts.
For anyone who wants to learn how to draw, check out drawabox: https://www.drawabox.com. The guy started out just wanted to share the basics and now I think he makes a living through that site.
EDIT: I should also add that I know drawabox is off topic, but it is IMO a great example of where education might be going. Carefully constructed resources and advice for self-motivated learners, and a patreon to support it. The people at teachyourselfcs.com can learn from this site.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#23I'm a self-taught programmer and I've been looking at this curriculum longingly for a while now. I've been working up the courage to quit a cushy but unfulfilling job to study CS full-time (also math and physics, but that's just for fun). I fell in love with programming after I started working, and have spent the last 7 years automating everything I can in my job. I'm confident in my ability to solve problems, but I'…
You don't need a CS diploma but you need to know how to program. You'll get either a take home project or white board problems during the interview. If you can pass those, you aren't lazy, and you aren't a jerk you are hired.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#24I'm a self-taught programmer and I've been looking at this curriculum longingly for a while now. I've been working up the courage to quit a cushy but unfulfilling job to study CS full-time (also math and physics, but that's just for fun). I fell in love with programming after I started working, and have spent the last 7 years automating everything I can in my job. I'm confident in my ability to solve problems, but I'…
I definitely got significant value out of studying CS in a structured/academic context after being self-taught; it helped a lot of concepts that I already fuzzily understood gel together. For instance, I had written little config file parsers, and even most of my own (mini) programming language, but taking a course on programming languages, studying grammars, lexers, parsers, etc. helped make everything click and feel less shaky.
I'm not sure the diploma is a huge deal, as long as you have some industry experience (sounds like you do) and can demonstrate your skills. Having some references who can vouch for you is good to have, too.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#25Timeless quote from Bodik, from the article:
"Don’t be a boilerplate programmer. Instead, build tools for users and other programmers. Take historical note of textile and steel industries: do you want to build machines and tools, or do you want to operate those machines?"
gReaT resource.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#26Computer science is overrated. Computer engineering on the other hand... much more practical ;)
good luck w/ that =)
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#27I'm a self-taught programmer and I've been looking at this curriculum longingly for a while now. I've been working up the courage to quit a cushy but unfulfilling job to study CS full-time (also math and physics, but that's just for fun). I fell in love with programming after I started working, and have spent the last 7 years automating everything I can in my job. I'm confident in my ability to solve problems, but I'…
Maybe do the Gerogia Tech Online Master's in Computer Science? If you're considering studying full time the fees ($10,000) are trivial compared to the foregone earnings. You don't even need to finish before you start interviewing.
Alternately go to the Recurse Center. They exist for people like you and make their money by helping you get a job afterwards.
Or you could "just" learn in public and chronicle it. Make a Twitch channel or livestream on YouTube. Do enough that people you don't know personally will vouch for you for a FAANG interview. Do three months of Leetcode and go to a few meetups and someone will do that.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#28I did my undergrad in Economics but I want to transition to software engineering. But idk what stack to choose or what projects to work on. I also can't afford to leave my job to do a bootcamp either. So I'm stuck and it sucks.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#29Computer science is overrated. Computer engineering on the other hand... much more practical ;)
I'm seeing this belief more and more among engineers these days. It's not even an admission of ignorance, but an explicit position they hold. "You don't need to know the chemical composition of the patty to flip burgers," one told me. All I was doing was trying to explain that he could be way more than a burger flipper if he learned more deeply.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)
#30Ive been teaching at a top bootcamp for a while now and really enjoying it, in large part because we get a lot of lateral freedom to spend time going deeper on computer science topics and get a lot of excuses to do so with our current CS-heavy curriculum.
I just wanted to say this is exactly the kind of welcoming, positive resource that made the software industry feel so welcoming when I came back to it after a decade long hiatus. Its not perfect but it really seems like its never been so easy to find the resources you need to become not just a proficient developer but a fully engaged software engineer.
I'll be forwarding this to all my past, present and future graduates. Thank you for posting and for all the work that went into assembling this. :^)
Also if anyone has any other good resources for helping to shape new minds in the industry and make responsible / capable engineers please let me know!