How to Become a Software Engineer Without a Degree
The software development space is one of the fastest growing industries right now, with everything being automated, and many are interested to join this industry. Many believe that you need to get a degree in computer science or software engineering, but this isn’t the case. Many people in these positions are self-taught software engineers as well as coding boot-camp students.
If you are thinking of becoming a software engineer and you already have a degree in a different subject, don’t worry, I have the guide for you to get started.
- Be sure that this is the right career path for you.
A lot of people are eager to start learning coding and are excited about the benefits of becoming a software engineer without even being sure that coding is right for them. Just to make sure you don’t waste 20,000 dollars on a coding boot-camp, I recommend you learning about data structures and algorithms (Harvard CS50 is a great course on this)and maybe a quick beginner course on your preferred programming language. I recommend doing this just to be very sure this is the right decision as coding isn’t truly for everyone.
- Choose an appropriate programming language.
This depends on your interests, it is not compulsory to learn every single language and it’s not even advisable to learn a lot. If you’re learning coding in order to have a career from it, I recommend choosing a programming language that is already popular or growing in demand. Programming languages that are popular are JavaScript, python, html & CSS, Java, e.t.c. while programs that are growing in popularity are R, swift e.t.c.
- Choose a method of learning.
A lot of people think that coding boot-camps are the only way to learn coding but this isn’t the case, you can also go the self teaching route if you want to and believe you can cope. Coding boot-camps can be really expensive, but if you have the resources to do this, it’s a good choice because you can ask instructors to go back and explain. You can also register for courses on udemy and codeacademy which is more affordable. Also, practicing coding everyday should help with your learning process, for example, dedicating 2 hours of your day to practicing what you learnt that day and there’s a platform called codewars for practicing coding challenges . Basically, find what method of learning works for you.
- Choose your preferred programming role
There are many roles to choose from as a software engineer, you can choose to be a front-end, back-end or full-stack web developer, you can choose to be in DevOps, mobile app development, Data science or Machine learning, e.t.c.
- Build your portfolio
Try and build at least 2 projects , set up your GitHub and LinkedIn profile to show to potential employers and clients. You could go ahead and create a portfolio website showcasing all the projects you’ve built.
- Apply for jobs.
This is probably the hardest part of your journey because you’re competing with so many people and you want to try your best to stand out. You could find job listings on stackoverflow , LinkedIn, or by visiting the jobs/career section of websites you visit, or the job alerts in your local newspapers and if the job hunting process isn’t working out for you, you can be a freelancer on upwork until you can get a job just to pay the bills. Also you can start networking with other software engineers through Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Company meet-ups, because you it’s important to get a referral from people when you’re trying to get a job. You can also apply for apprenticeship programs to gain some more experience.
- Prepare for interviews.
When applying for a software engineering job, you have to prepare for the interview process because this is where a lot of people fail. There are tons of resources available for you to prepare and giving you likely questions to come out for the interview like:
- leetcode.com
- algoexpert.io
- pramp.com
- Elements of programming interview (book)
- Cracking of coding interview (book), e.t.c.
- Keep learning
Learning never stops, especially in software engineering there are so many updates and different concepts coming up all the time. The best thing is expanding your existing knowledge. so you can make the best version of an application.
In conclusion, software engineering is an interesting career path to choose with so many perks and you can absolutely choose this regardless of whether you have a computer science degree or not.
