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At this point, I am beginning to narrow down what I would like my focus to be in. I am interested in cloud computing and cyber security at the moment, but am still open to other facets that may be easier to break into.

I am enrolled in the Harvard CS50 course right now, and am looking for other good platforms to learn on. I have found a couple of youtubers where I am learning python at the moment, and Java to start. If you think I should be learning any other languages at first, let me know.

If you are self taught, let me know how you became employed in tech, if not, tell me what I should be doing/looking for/working on to make a break into tech.

I have read many stories of self taught devs getting jobs in the industry, all across the board, so I know it's not impossible, I would just like some tips and pointers to help me on my journey.

I am not that smart yet, so go easy on me, but I will be listening to all advice. This is something that I feel called to do, because I am interested in it, and can see it as something that will support me and my family long term, and something that I can do from the comfort of my own home.

All advice appreciated and accepted.

Thanks.

At this point, I am beginning to narrow down what I would like my focus to be in. I am interested in cloud computing and cyber security at the moment, but am still open to other facets that may be easier to break into. I am enrolled in the Harvard CS50 course right now, and am looking for other good platforms to learn on. I have found a couple of youtubers where I am learning python at the moment, and Java to start. If you think I should be learning any other languages at first, let me know. If you are self taught, let me know how you became employed in tech, if not, tell me what I should be doing/looking for/working on to make a break into tech. I have read many stories of self taught devs getting jobs in the industry, all across the board, so I know it's not impossible, I would just like some tips and pointers to help me on my journey. I am not that smart yet, so go easy on me, but I will be listening to all advice. This is something that I feel called to do, because I am interested in it, and can see it as something that will support me and my family long term, and something that I can do from the comfort of my own home. All advice appreciated and accepted. Thanks.

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[–] • 1 pt

No one has pointed out the most important part. Once you look good enough to get an interview you have to prove you can code. Prep by doing like 500 leetcode problems.

[–] • 1 pt

This is only the case for large or major tech companies. I know multiple people that got entry level software engineering jobs, and all of them either had an "easy" question or no challenge at all. I agree that data structures and algorithms are important, but one can definitely get his or her first job without it. For the company I work and do interviews for, I like to ask a modfied variant of the number of islands question, but candidates are expected to have 3 to 5 years experience. If it was an entry level position, I would probably just ask a lot of questions and prompt some type of "easy" challenge. But if you memorized/know how to do the top 500 questions then you can easily pass almost any interview for FANG.

[–] • 1 pt

You make a solid point. For entry level you really don't need much more than proving you can do the basics. Gotta do some prep though, I had a guy who couldn't do the most basic FizzBuzz once. He didn't get moved forward.