Ask HN: How do I become a self-taught software engineer in 1 year (full focus)?

What's your current knowledge your starting with, complete ground zero, some understanding of how computers work, some programming experience? What area of interest do you want to focus in software engineering? Web Dev, Embedded, etc?

If you wanted to be a master musician you would need to at the very least: try every different kind of instrument (reed, percussion, string, horn/tube, wine glass w/ water). Then you would need to focus on one until you got proficient at it. Then you would move to the next one, until you have 30% proficiency at each one. Then you need to read more theory to understand chords and intervals, phrasing, and tempo. Then, you revisit all the instruments again with your new theory.

In CS, it's similar. All the different instruments are the different kinds of languages. There is LISP-like Clojure (and others), there is Javascript (functional with declarative), there is imperative programming, assembly programming, and interface/event programming. Hard to split it into the analogous flavors to music, but maybe you can follow. Lisps work fundamentally differently than something like Python or C++. So learn one language in each of the different classes of languages, first to expand your mind to what is possible with the instruments.

Then, you must learn the theory. You must learn everything regarding graph traversal, manipulation, and big-O notation.

You also need a really strong understanding of what solutions are common for real-world problems. Get a coding book like Cracking the Coding Interview Gayle McDowell. You also need small, incrementally ambitious projects that you can put online to showcase your abilities. Then probably a gig as a software intern to get "corporate experience" and then once you are pretty savvy with the general coding interview questions, apply to your dream job and tell them how excited you are to tackle all these problems. Did I miss anything?

Also, it would be helpful to know more specifically you're hoping to achieve by the end of that year. A software engineering job?

It depends, is your goal to land a job? If so that is totally possible. Look in your area (somewhere like indeed.com) and see what is in demand. In most areas Java or JavaScript are both good options as both are in demand and fairly easy to pick up. Based on what language you learn you will need to lean a accompanying framework and other skills needed such as build tools, sql, general design patterns, etc.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is too just fully dive into learning. Program every day and read every day. It is going to be uncomfortable because a lot of concepts dont come easy to learn and it can be very intimidating.

Another huge help would be to find a mentor, when I started programming I had someone to give the a path to follow, read these books, learn this , learn that etc.. Which gave me a huge boost among my piers. Also, you will not get some concepts right away, and thats expected. Someone who has run into those problems can shine a light and explain it to you.

Programming and computer science are diffrent. Learn to program first then a little later pick up a computer science book. And that can be a pretty controversial thing to say especially here. The truth is that most junior level positions just want someone who is reasonably competent and will continue to learn.

I would focus on certain fundamentals first. I would also suggest picking a single programming language to learn and learn it well.

Python is one that many people choose as it has many courses and books on learning.

Pick a text editor or IDE and practice with it, the tools you choose can help you a lot.

MIT has a great course 6.00 Introduction to Computer Science. Udemy has a great Python 3 course Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from zero to hero in Python 3

I would learn a little about Clean Code, I started porting a PHP version to Python https://github.com/tvmaly/clean-code-python it is a work in progress. The book by the Robert Martin is a great way to go if you like books.

I would learn how to test your code, Kent Beck's Test Driven Development book is good and also covers some patterns.

Learn about Object Oriented design, Data Structures, and Algorithms

Learn about version control, git is a good choice

Learn about the command line, it is always a good skill to have