Raymond Woods
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

The long and somewhat painful journey to becoming a programmer

After 10 years of struggle and sacrifice to become a developer (and still not quite realizing that goal, though I’m finally getting closer) I guess my biggest suggestions for anyone else who might be pondering a career in software development are:

  • Start as early as possible
    - Seriously, the earlier you start this journey the happier your life will be. Don’t wait until your overburdened with responsibility and can feel the weight of the entire world crushing down on you. Programming is hard, as such, it takes a huge time dedication to learn what you need to know to become a good programmer. If you’re stretched too thin it’s going to be a very difficult journey (trust me)
    - Okay, so maybe you already F***ed up like I did and didn’t start this journey fresh out of the womb. Don’t worry, there’s still hope, it just might take you a bit longer to get there and probably demand just a little more sacrifice
  • BE PREPARED TO SACRIFICE
    If you need an example of what I mean by “sacrifice”… after years of working a back breaking go nowhere minimum wage job and hating every single day of my life I finally quit, gave up our 2 bedroom apartment, lived off welfare, and spent the next 2 years in a fifth wheel trailer in a trashy trailer park with my wife and 2 kids just so that I would have the time and could afford to go back to school (Junior College) until I finally checked off all the minimum requirements to transfer to a state university and was able to apply for student loans so we could move into better conditions (ending up racking up over $56,000 in student loan debt over a 3–4 year period just so we could live in reasonable conditions while I earned my degree)
  • Try a programming bootcamp before jumping into a 4–6 year college degree program
    There are many reasons why I consider this a far superior option to a traditional college degree program
    - 100% focused on your career goals
    where as in a traditional college you will waste years of your life taking general ed bullshit waste of time classes that you will never need or use in your career or at any other point in your life (sorry for the rant but I still regret the many years I wasted taking these classes just to meet the graduation requirements, waste of my F***ing time that I could have used to oh, I don’t know, maybe spend more time with the kids or actually focus on the programming classes that might have increased my earning potential, sorry I’m ranting again)
    - About half the cost
    each bootcamp option is priced just a little different but usually averages anywhere from $9000–$20,000 depending on your choice of bootcamp and most over a variety of different payment options
    - 100% online bootcamp options
    which is great if you already have kids and don’t want to abandon them for 6–8 months to do the in person option
    - 1/4 of the time
    You’ll most likely be ready for your first entry-level development job within 1 year of starting the program. Compared to the 4–6 years it would have taken you to earn that college degree (don’t get me started on that again)
    - Don’t need a degree to get hired
    The bootcamp option has become very popular and I have seen many people at my current company get hired out of one of these bootcamp programs who don’t have a degree

Summary:
- Start as early as possible, the longer you wait the hardier it will be
- Avoid traditional colleges (and massive debt) and try a bootcamp option first
- Be prepared to sacrifice if that’s what it is going to take to meet your goal (nothing in life is easy, but this is one of those things that is worth doing and will pay off)

Well, that’s about all the advice I can give. Geez, Reading back through it again it’s starting to sound more like I’m trying to discourage you from becoming a developer. :)

Not my intention, so to offer a bit of actual encouragement, I did eventually end up earning my B.A. in Computer Information Systems, have an awesome work from home job that I’ve been at for the last 4 years now with a great financial tech startup company (QA not actual development but close enough I guess), and make over $100,000 a year. My current company is even paying for me to go through the Bloc.io program so that I can transition from QA to development. It was either this or continue busting my ass 12 hours a day / 7 days a week in a cold storage warehouse (worst job I ever had, even worse than scrubbing portable toilets for a living, yes, I use to do that too).

Good Luck on your journey!
(It will be worth the sacrifice)