ShowHN: I learned to code and got a job in less than a year. Here is my ebook.

ShowHN: I learned to code and got a job in less than a year. Here is my ebook.(gumroad.com)

18 points by natasham25 13 years ago | 16 comments

> @devbootcamp graduate

Thought this was going to be about someone who was self-taught in under a year until I saw that part.

Dev Bootcamp is an amazing program and pretty much guarantees you a job if you make it through (at least from what I've heard). But it's only in San Francisco, and they take what, 20 people every few weeks? Not exactly a path that everyone can follow...

Edit: Just realized this was posted by the author, so here's my concern: Considering the fact that you went through a fairly intense 9-week program taught by several experts, how can we be confident your book is useful to beginners who lack that option? The excerpt on your page seems more like a promo for programming/entrepreneurship -- it doesn't tell much about the book or add to your credibility as someone who could teach people to program.

natasham25 13 years ago | |

I've been learning to code on my own for 6-7 months before applying for Dev Bootcamp, and I've tried pretty much every resource. At a certain point, although I've made some serious progress, I hit a wall. I could build things and make them work, but I wanted to follow the best practices and know good from bad code. Dev Bootcamp really filled the gaps in the my knowledge.

That said, Dev Bootcamp is not a necessary condition for learning to code. If you have a specific learning style, especially if you're good at reading books, you can learn on your own, although it might take longer. If you do well with networking, personal branding, build a few projects, and contribute to the open source community, you can get the same result.

I cover all these options in my book, including Hacker Schools all around the world and a lot of online class and resources that are completely free.

desigooner 13 years ago |

Congrats on your journey from learning to code through to landing a job and congratulations on the book.

That being said, you might want to at least provide a sample of your writing from the book for people to look at.

totalrobe 13 years ago |

Has anyone read it? Any unique approaches here or just the usual recipe - focus and time?

wiseone 13 years ago | |

I haven't read it, but I suspect that it's the usual recipe.

The recipe to success is ancient and predominantly hard work, focus, and dedication. While there might be other factors in one's success, they are minimal compared to the three that I listed.

natasham25 13 years ago | |

Yes, it can be boiled down to the usual recipe - focus and time. The other component, that I think is really important for learning how to code and is often overlooked, is knowing your learning style and finding the resources that match it - that is how you learn the fastest.

wiseone 13 years ago | | |

Great call, I forgot to include that. After what seemed like an infinite number of lost battles with teachers yelling at me for drawing in class and forcing me to take notes in list form, I finally accepted and truly saw that I wasn't stupid just because my learning style differed from most (I learn best by drawing what I hear or read). It took me maybe 10 years to realize this.

Evbn 13 years ago | |

That, plus one weird trick that computer science professors hate!

Why is this spam on HN? Why is this person credible to ask $10 for his book, sight unseen? There are plenty more credible sources with stories to share. OP could perhaps be credible, if he wrote and shared a bit first.

willholloway 13 years ago | | |

I found the post worthwhile and I do not doubt its veracity whatsoever. I think you attack the author unfairly.

I clicked to read because I followed a similar path to the author, except I never attended any kind of bootcamps. I started writing my first django app and one month later I had my first coding job.

It was difficult at first, I was often baffled by the intentions of the codes author who I took over for, but I made the product work and it changed my life forever. I just started coding professionally January 15th of this year and already I've fixed and enhanced two large complicated projects and built two of my own.

So anyone saying this isn't possible is absolutely wrong.

I recommend watching Google's Python Class [1] for anyone getting started with Python that has a familiarity with basic programming concepts.

[1] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKTZoB2Vjuk

ciferkey 13 years ago |

In a very humorous series of events, while checking my RSS feeds I read [this](http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4843795) immediately before seeing this title.

Major_Grooves 13 years ago |

At least the Table of Contents would be useful. Maybe the 1st Chapter or something?

natasham25 13 years ago | |

Great idea! This is my first ebook, so I'm still learning :)

shayonj 13 years ago |

did you start learning it by yourself (i.e, watching videos or reading books) or did you attend devbootcamp first?

natasham25 13 years ago | |

I've been learning on my own for about 6 or 7 months before I joined Dev Bootcamp. I wouldn't recommend doing it if you haven't tried learning yourself.

finkin1 13 years ago |

Seems like a much better investment than college, imo. Unless your passion drives you elsewhere.

dkokelley 13 years ago | |

I don't quite agree, although I won't completely disagree yet either. Learning a valuable skill like programming will make you employable and may even have a better ROI than college[1], but going through a "developer crash course"-style program is akin to a trade school or apprenticeship. You might say that going to a trade school to learn to weld is a better investment than college, using the same metric.

College should not be considered a place where you go to get a better job. It used to be that way, but some major problems like grade inflation and the simple fact that a greater percentage of the just-graduated-highschool population is going in to college means that a degree doesn't distinguish you as much as it used to. But there are still major benefits, including lifelong friendships, intellectual stimulation, and learning tertiary skills that are required to be a "well-rounded" person".

[1] Back-of-envelope calculation: $100,000 tuition for an average $1,000,000 increased lifetime earning means that college ROI is about 10x not counting the time-value of money. $10,000 dev school plus personal investment for (let's say) a $40k/yr salary increase over a 25 year career is also $1,000,000, for an ROI of 100x.