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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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[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

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.

Well I guess that's me. Spent a great deal of my 20's being a fuck-off, but on the side I was self-training (actually just entertaining myself). No way I would have got a job at some big corp with no credentials.

How I got to my current spot was getting into the bottom floor of some small company that makes a particular kind of instrumentation. Spent a few years assembling instruments for them, then handling the servicing department. After awhile I started doing things with the product for fun, like wiring up an 80's synth chip to one of the instruments (totally out of place for what the instrumentation is used for, but it was cool). Really just showing off those guys that hey I can do stuff, you know...

What got me in the door was I spent a summer writing some software in C# to communicate with one of our instruments and provide a visual representation of the data output. Small company, so didn't have the manpower available to write it. But it was a serious hole that needed to be filled. Company pres asked for the source code, and sent it off to the engineers to have a look at. Those guys said "hire him." So they hired me.

The first project they asked if I could complete was quite major. Honestly wasn't quite sure if I was really up to the task at first. Not gonna say exactly what that is to spare myself the risk of being doxxed. It took me a year to complete, by myself. "Manufacturing equipment", still being used today for production. Increased output ten times. It took every single skill I had at the time... firmware programming, software programming, fabrication, digital circuit design, and a shit-ton of soldering to build the prototype. Even has an FPGA at it's center, which was a first for me.

There's ways of attaining the career you really want. If you can do it, someone out there is willing to pay you to do it. You just have to show them you're not full of shit. Trick is getting someone to hear you out. I did that through infiltration, more or less.

One of the engineers who really put in the good word for me one day told me he didn't have a degree either, but didn't stop him from being the lead mechanical design engineer... he's good at what he does.