Hello everyone,
I am about to graduate as a biology major next april and don’t know if I want to pursue a career in the health field anymore. I learned a little bit of CSS and HTML in highschool and I have just started learning python. If I want to get a job as a junior web developer or software developer by next year what do I need to do? Are there specific roadmaps that can guide me into the correct path or is it something that I have to learn as I move through this tough journey. I would love any advice and I thank you in advance!
1 Like
This is a question that gets asked a lot and there is never a satisfactory answer. The only correct answer is “it depends”.
A junior developer with an unrelated degree and a year of self-study? That’s going to be tough. It’s possible, but not very. But it depends on your skill, how fast you learn, what the job market is like where you are, if you’re willing to relocate, how well you can sell yourself, what kind of connections you have, your luck…
There is nothing wrong with an un-related degree - most of the people with whom I work do not have CS degrees. A few don’t have any degree. And a degree does count for something, even biology. My degree is in music.
But without that CS degree, you’re going to need one hell of a portfolio or work experience.
At the risk of more shameless self-promotion, I once wrote a doc on my thoughts on getting that first job. Other than that, I’d say build things and learn. Do the FCC program (or some other) and get a full stack (FCC gives you a MERN stack, you don’t technically need the Python for that.) And then build things and learn new libraries and then build things with those libraries and let the libraries inspire you to build other things and then let those other things inspire you to learn new things.
A year? Maybe, if you work your ass off and get lucky. But the more you do, the better those odds get. Remember, you don’t don’t have to get every job, you just have to get one.
4 Likes
Thank you! I appreciate the response.
1 Like