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General Discussion

Posted by Michael Newman
Michael Newman
39,508 Points

Passion Vs. Practicality

So programming (and specifically Treehouse) has put me at a happy, but stressful crossroads in my life. I wanted to share my experiences and see if anyone else has ever been in a similar situation as I am right now.

First a very short background. I've always been a very intelligent person. In high school I tested well and was able to get good grades even though I was extremely bored and lazy (I almost never did my homework). When I went to college, I suffered big time. I wasn't going to classes and I couldn't find something to study that I could "get behind" or see myself doing as a career. Long story short, I settled and got a horrible warehouse job. 4 years later I discovered a deep passion for technology, got an A+ certification, and bought a Java book and started teaching myself. I picked it all up quickly and started coding everyday after my awful (really, really awful) warehouse job. I found Treehouse a few weeks ago and I'm obsessed with this as well. The organization of the learning and real world application practice is exposing me to all sorts of new things quickly. Things at my job are getting worse by the day and I'm at quite the crossroads in my life. It's difficult but exciting at the same time.

tl;dr - have any of you transitioned from a 9-5 job to programming without proper schooling, and how do you know when you're ready to start looking for jobs? Is it possible to start sending out resumes too early?

2 Answers

Devin Scheu
Devin Scheu
66,191 Points
Devin Scheu
Devin Scheu
66,191 Points

When you feel you have mastered a subject in and out that is when you should start applying for jobs, I feel as thought i'm not ready even still and ive almost done every course on here. I plan I going back through and mastering a course and then after apply. I suggest you focus on one type of programming language you know most and master it down to the core. Challenge your self with tasks everyday and you'll want to practice working under pressure. Exercise your problem solving skills also. If you can do all of the above you should be an AMAZING programmer and companies will be glad to hire you.

Michael Newman
Michael Newman
39,508 Points

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for the advice

Ian Z
Ian Z
14,584 Points
Ian Z
Ian Z
14,584 Points

I'm in a similar situation, i failed all my courses in college because I was young and dumb. Then I worked a 9-5 job in a factory, where i went insane. So now ive quit to practice and be a web developer. I feel like its the only way to escape my hometown and get a job and Visa for New Zealand.

Do you ever go to meetups for Coding? theres usually people hiring at those. My friend got a job at one as some kind of python programmer even though he was a beginner- they taught him.

I hear alot of places will start you off as an intern where you make minimum wage and get trained at same time. Should be easy to get even if youve never coded. Just get super ambitious and apply everywhere and youll get one soon enough.

Theres another intern position called SQA i think and for that you dont need need to know code you just hit run and see if it works and then send it back if it dosent