It has never been easier to jump into the world of software as there are plenty of paths to software development. We are surrounded by technology and every piece of technology runs on code. As the presence of technology increases, the pool for developers also increases. Since technology is such a vast field with hundreds of different subcategories, you may be asking yourself “where and how do I get started?” A lot of people have talked about this topic, but even if everyone’s path is different. The paths to get their remain the same. With hard work and dedication, each of these paths are easily obtainable.
The Many Paths to Software Development
Boot Camps
One possible path out of the many paths to software development are Boot Camps. Boot Camps are possibly the fastest way to get into software development. Depending on your schedule, boot camps usually run between 9 weeks for full-time and 24 weeks for part-time. Courses offered can be web development, data analytics, and UI/UX design.
Even though boot camps are usually completed within in a few weeks, they are challenging and can cost a lot of money. They will require to put in rigorous work to get where you need to be at the end of the boot camp.
Web Development
I personally did not go this route, but the majority of boot camps that I did see offer courses in web development. Web development consist of building websites. Languages often used are HTML, Javascript, and CSS for the frontend. You are given the tools to not only build a website but to also begin to think and approach problems differently to achieve a solution. Web development is another path out of the plenty of paths to software development.
Data Analytics
Data analytics is taking tons of different data and running different passes through them producing recurring trends. For example, you may take log files from a website, create a script to parse through the logs and produce an output of the most popular times for users.
UI/UX Design
Without design, websites and applications would be extremely difficult to read and follow. Text would not be formatted, everything would be pushed to one side. Not good for user experience. A bad design can also driver users away. Learning about design is a skill in itself and can net tons of work. You would learn what layouts work, what colors work well together, and so on. While UI/UX design work isn’t software development, the plenty of networking opportunities can lead you down many different paths to software development.
Self Taught
It is very possible to become a software developer without any formal training. There are tons of websites out there where you can learn to code at your own pace. Youtube is also a great place to learn to code with many great developers. Being a self taught developer does take some work to find out what you need to know to become successful. You do not have a structure or someone telling you what you need to know or what is next after you complete something. Once you get a few projects under your belt, you can add them to your resume or portfolio then it will not matter where you started. Being self taught shows that you are self driven. This is a great way to learn about coding when you have other things going on such as a full time job.
It usually starts when you are interested in something that you want to build. Say you want to build a game. You would need to find out what languages are usually used, then from that, you might learn about game engines. Once you start building your game, you might want to add artificial intelligence. That will bring you to algorithms used to achieve AI and this can go on for just about anything you want to do.
The good thing about being self taught, you can devote your time to what is important unlike colleges, where you have to devote equal or more time to non-computer related classes.
College
College is the longest and most expensive way to get you on the path to becoming a software developer. A bachelor degree usually takes 4 to 5 years to acquire and can easily cost $50,000. There a plenty of ways to mitigate that, but is beyond the scope of this article. However, there are some benefits of going to college.
Benefits
Colleges can introduce you to new friends and groups that are involved with software development where you can bounce off and learn new ideas. Colleges offer different degrees related to technology and you are provided with a set of classes that you must take and a group of classes you can elect to take. These classes will tell you what you need to know related to the topic. You have guidance to make it easier to learn. Information Technology and Computer Science are a few degrees you can obtain related to coding.
Computer Science
Computer science emphasizes how important critical thinking is. You will need to take STEM related classes to satisfy the requirements. These classes include math through calculus and science classes like physics or biology. You will have plenty of classes related through development like those learning about algorithms, databases, cryptology, and plenty more. The goal is to be able to adapt to any project and solve the problem, coding is only half the battle. However, these classes usually require a prerequisite or two. It could be a year before you get to the class you want to take.
Information Technology
Unlike computer science, information technology is the study and use of computer systems to retrieve, store, and send information. Not much coding is involved like that with of a computer science or software engineering degree, but you still will write code. You might end up writing scripts to set up and send data on a computer system. You might also help with websites and their servers.
Disadvantages
There are some disadvantages of going to school to learn coding. It will take 4 or 5 years minimum. You will have to take classes that in no way relate to technology, and it can be expensive and frustrating.
Don’t let the disadvantages turn you away from going to college to learn coding as many of those have a solution to make it easier and more enjoyable to do. College may present you with opportunities you otherwise would not get. You also do not have to stay the full 4 or 5 years as you can get an associates degree in combination with something mentioned above.
You can see there are a few ways to get your foot in the door with software development and there is no wrong path. Each one of those ways end up at the same place. In 10 years, it is not going to matter if you went to school or not. Do what you feel is right and have the time for and go for it. There is nothing to lose.
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