In this essay, I would answer an interesting question: Can anyone become a software developer?
Fundamentally, learning how to become a software developer is the same as pursuing any career path.
The “hard work” and the “consistency” are the common factors to achieve success.
All people follow the same path to become the software developer:
- first learning the technology and theory;
- then apply the learning and building projects;
My suggestion for all people that want to follow this path is to try for two weeks or one month and see if you enjoy it. Otherwise, abandon everything and bet on others.
Today there are many free tutorials on the web or on YouTube and starting to experience something is very simple. Good resources are FreeCodeCamp and Mozilla web docs that contain great roadmaps for what exactly you need to be learning for software development. Both are free!!
There are also specialized sites with targeted learning paths at affordable prices like:
Now I will briefly list some key steps you will need to take to enter the world of software development.
1. Choose a programming language
The first thing to do is choose a programming language and focus on understanding programming fundamentals. “Learning how to learn” because once you have a solid foundation, you can easily change programming language, frameworks and technologies.
Today there are many programming languages!
But remember that there is no best programming language.
Some languages are better at solving some problems than others.
My advice is to start with Python or Javascript and spend a lot of time learning and writing code.
The more hours you spend writing code the more you’ll see that day after day topics will become clearer and your skills will improve. Start playing with the code to learn the basics and fundamentals. Below is a python tutorial for beginners:
2. Read code written by other software engineers
Another advice I’d like to give you is to read the code written by more experienced programmers and try to understand every single line of code. As well as reading books helps you to be more fluid in writing and language, likewise reading code produced by more experienced people, helps you to produce and organize your code better.
3. Build projects and your portfolio
Practical experience is worth more than anything else. You need to start building projects on a language you are comfortable with. As you learn how to code, build projects it should slowly help you to build up your professional network.
4. Follow professional tech network
Follow some specialized blogs, communities and ask questions, ask for help, be curious. There are many people out there willing to give you tips, advice and ready to help you solve your doubts and problems.
5. Master your pre-interview skills
Before your interview, you will need to master three things: resume, cover letter and your online presence.
- Prepare a one-page resume and insert your skills and your projects. Please be honest, do not include topics in your resume that you do not know.
- Prepare a cover letter where you briefly describe why you want to access that job position and why in that company.
- Take care of your online presence with a website, your Linkedin profile and GitHub.
Conclusion
Brief recap:
- Search on YouTube video tutorial on Python or Javascript
- Learn
- Write Code
- Read code written by others
- Build projects
- Write Code
- Follow professional tech network
- Master your pre-interview skills
- Write Code
- Write Code
- Write Code
- Write Code
I would like to conclude by saying that the road to becoming a software developer is not easy, because it requires a lot of study and commitment. But it’s not impossible so what are you waiting for?
Remember hard work and consistency.
Before concluding I recommend you to like this post and leave a comment.
See you in the next essay. 😉