I'd suggest web development. The barrier to entry is extremely low, it's such a big deal that there are a bunch of libraries and communities ready to be taken advantage of, and it pays so well that sometimes you feel like a scam artist charging as much as you do.
Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
41–50 of 58 posts
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#42Learn JavaScript. Go attending the 3month JavaScript bootcamp with http://www.hackreactor.com . You have 99% of chance of landing a $100k+ job afterwards
If I was paying someone $100k, I'd expect them to have just ever so slightly more than a tiny amount of experience in a single language.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#43I'd say to them: learn Java.
Java is in high demand, and if you know either C and/or PHP I'm sure your friends will pick it up. Although there's some competition, you don't have to worry with competing with the 20s kids as long as you are an OK programmer. I believe there's enough demand for your friends to get hired, and theres a ton of resources on java stuff. Better yet, if you can manage to get Oracle certified, I'm sure that no recruiter will put you aside.
Consulting is rather easy to join (comparing with the other IT stuff, such as startups or reputed companies, consulting, etc), provided you can cause good impression with the recruiters. Technical interviews are normally easy, and there is scarcity on the supply side. The hard part is really getting the interview.
I helped a friend of mine who didn' finish his degree and was working in a music shop to enter the consulting industry. The plan was basically a) get some skills and b) bombard alot of recruiters to try and get interviews. We rehearsed some interviews so that he could feel the stress, and I pushed him to study some github projects. He got hired within a month or so, and he's on his second gig.
If you (or anyone) want my .2c, let me know.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#44Learn JavaScript. Go attending the 3month JavaScript bootcamp with http://www.hackreactor.com . You have 99% of chance of landing a $100k+ job afterwards
I feel like this is bad advice. Zero experience + a 3 month course in JS does not get 100k job, certainly not at a 99% rate. Maybe it could lead to a 45k entry-level/internish job, then after a year or so coupled with SERIOUS chops and a few projects, maybe, maybe a 6 figure job, in SF. There are so many of these 'hacker schools' that are churning out grads, you'd better have a good degree or interesting experience to couple with it and be competitive(I had a TS security clearance and prior IT background). These courses are great to get people started but they generally make extremely good entry-level candidates, not seasoned devs out of the box.
Experience: I attended one of these 6month bootcamp courses and later went on to get a CS degree.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#45I know you're a proficient developer (to say the least) so maybe a clear perspective is a benefit: programming for a living is damn hard :) especially if you're almost starting from scratch suggesting node.js as a career path could be a sort of nightmare for a newcomer. I'd suggest your friends to get their hands dirty with a popular open source project and getting involved in a software company doing technical suppo…
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, and while it's just one data point, building a career in software developing without formal training or education is what I have been doing for a few years now.
Anecdotally: I attempted to get into a degree program in CS from my local university after having taken the required prerequisites, and getting mediocre grades in those classes, and was rejected. So I resolved to keep studying on my own, get Tech Support jobs and learn on the job, and keep applying to programming positions.
I worked two fairly low-level tech support jobs before I applied (internally) and was hired on as a junior level programmer. It was only for about six months, until a new CTO canned me, after which I spent about a month getting hammered with job offers and recruiters' emails, then went with a great smaller company I'm currently working for.
Furthermore, I fully submit that those who have a real passion for the work of programming, who get a buzz from figuring out how the small problems they're tackling aggregate into the kinds of large, effective systems that make companies run these days, those people will do very well. If the original poster's friends are motivated mostly by getting a good-paying job with some job security, but don't derive much satisfaction from the work itself, it will likely burn them out in no time.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#46Software development is a hell of a lot more difficult to do right than all the other non-programming IT jobs. If you want a job ASAP, learn desktop support, be a network analyst/systems analyst, systems administrator, database admin, quality assurance analyst/engineer/tester, etc. A lot of jobs out there are just "we needed someone to set up this software for us and push a button once in a while", and they pay well.…
I second it. I am personally disturbed by the trend of people like Bill Gates & Will.i.am (I do not recalll both having programmed something) claiming that programming is easy and everyone should do it. I have faced alot of issue where idiot managers think that mastering right-click and double-click is close to mastering programming. I was told in 1999 that MS Frontpage will make web developers & designers obsolete. The last thing we need is people claiming that you can become a software developer in couple of weeks.
Software Development(Programming & Testing) is a science that needs a understanding of systems. Coding is a BIT simpler process. I have experience teaching my friend programming in school and collage. May be I am a bad teacher, but I feel its a complex process and couple or weeks is too less of a time. Learning syntax will take just hours but writing readable and extendable code in the most efficient manager is what ensures a steady paycheck.
DBA admin is also a rather under-rated job.
I too suggest Level 1 & 2 IT support for starters. Testing & QA also seems like a easy to learn process.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#47I would say the answer depends on Where in Europe your friends are seeking employment. The job market - and the job requirements - are significantly different between Rural Romania, Berlin or an oil field in Norway. They are 30+. General advice there is to stay away from competing with the 20+ crowd. Compete where age is on your side, which means go into business where you have 10 years experience over the young ones…
Genuine question.
> General advice there is to stay away from competing with the 20+ crowd.
What do you see as the relative strengths of the 20-30 developer vs. the 30+ or 40+ developer?
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#48IT is such a broad area. Getting in to Development, is pretty hard without any experience.
My suggestion, get on a technical help desk, and work your way up.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#49Learn JavaScript. Go attending the 3month JavaScript bootcamp with http://www.hackreactor.com . You have 99% of chance of landing a $100k+ job afterwards
You think you can go from almost zero to being good enough at JS for a 100k job in 12 weeks?
It all depends but a 12 week program doesn't make you a Senior Engineer over night. I think these bootcamps provide a nice structure for people who need help figuring out where to start.
A side note, I do know people that were hired right out of Hack Reactor that never programmed before attending.
Re: Ask HN: From zero to IT career, what is the fastest path?
#50Your fastest path is to always be learning. I spent my 20's working to get 20 years of experience in 10.
Your best path is to pick something universally in demand and is largely in one technology/stack/framework to learn to create value with.
For this reason, (even thought I do specialized work) you may want to look into .NET or Java development for starters while rolling into learning other technologies.
Another angle that I have found in universal demand is mobile app development. Specifically creating only those types of mobile or web apps that can be created by Javascript to build prototype/functioning mobile apps using tools like appery/ionic while only learning one language, and at the same time you can touch web apps through javascript applications, be it node, or not.
You will grow and become a polyglot in time when you are always learning.
This way there is one core technology to learn to start creating value. With a lot of the other stacks you have to learn 5-10 different things and tie it together. I'd focus on building results and using higher level tools in the beginning while your talent depends.
And as always, ymmv