Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on what you want to do. If you are serious about learning to code for a career change, there are some great schools out there.

If you are looking for a free guided course, I think Harvard's CS50 is hard to beat. If you are looking for something less structured, start with a project!

As long as you are passionate about it, I think it can make for a good project. Most of what I learned was through automating spreadsheets at work because I was passionate about making parts of my job less redundant.

If that is a video game, I think Scratch is phenomenal for getting started with logic and fundamentals. If that is a website, start with learning HTML (there are a million great options).

Find a project that excites you and pursue that. Starting with an idea you are passionate about makes it more likely that you will push through when it gets challenging.

I used my connections, I took a pay cut, and I got lucky. I still struggle with sharing this story because it forces me to acknowledge the privilege I had and how much luck played a role. If you want to get a job in software, you might have to do those things to land your first role, but this is not advice.

The situation today is different. I joined the industry at a time when bootcamps were not as prevalent. I think I was a worse candidate than the typical bootcamp grad is today.

I applied four times over ten years. The fourth time I applied — the time I was successful — I had been teaching software engineers for five years. Depending on your approach to developer relations, the developer advocate role and teaching software can have a lot in common. Like with getting that first job in tech, I think luck plays a role.

I do not have any secrets for this one. I signed up for a job alert and applied to what I felt I was most qualified for. I was also rejected from similar jobs at similar companies in the process.