Ask HN: Good software jobs other than web dev, for the self-taught?

6 points by toexitthedonut 9 years ago | 3 comments

I attended college, but got a BFA in electronic media which 99% of the world doesn't know about or acknowledge, and a lot of the CS basics I have taught myself. So I consider myself in the self-taught group.

Nine years after doing web dev I'm considering opening my options for other areas of programming. Most of what I see in the bootcamp or self-taught route has been web dev or mobile dev. What are other areas that I could probably break into?

lsiebert 9 years ago |

There is also stuff more to the system operations and deployment side of things, jobs like devOps Engineer, release engineering, site reliability engineering, etc.

Honestly, I really wish there were easier ways to go back and get a second bachelors degree or cheap masters degree for CS, for those of us with a Bachelors in another field and who are self taught. I don't need a boot camp, I've got the basics down, But I would definitely benefit from a credential like an MS or BS in CS, and it wouldn't hurt to have some additional instruction on things like constructing parsers, complex data structures (interval trees, k-d trees and other means of space partitioning) with an emphasis on what solutions exist for which problems, etc.

The later I can learn on my own, but a good teacher can speed learning tremendously, and help you retain material to boot. The academic credential, though, isn't something you can get through industry, which seems a shame when even places like starbucks have business degrees that use on the job training to substitute for classroom time.

applecrazy 9 years ago | |

There is an online Masters Degree in CS for a fraction of the cost of full-time attendance at Georgia Tech[1]. I think the requirement is any undergrad degree.

https://www.omscs.gatech.edu

alttab 9 years ago |

You have no limits as long as you're willing to learn. I'd ensure that even though you are self-taught, to ensure you understand the basics of CS like data-structures and algorithms.

Most engineers I've interviewed for engineering positions that were self-taught were very good at building working applications (That's how they learned), but sucked with fundamentals or writing something that is maintainable. I find that without a classical training, that development is unstructured, poorly estimated, barely tested, and brittle to changing requirements.

If you can prove you do not follow the same "gotchas," you'll be employable anywhere you meet their hiring bar.

For engineering, as long as you know what to do, it doesn't matter what your education is. That said, without a 4 year degree many programmers do not learn the "bits and bytes" or the vocabulary / science behind the applications they build.

TLDR - don't limit yourself based on what you think your degree will afford you.