Becoming Software Engineer without a Degree?
In the last ten years, we have seen a boom in the tech industry. The demand was so high that salaries skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. We saw coding bootcamps open and promised to turn anybody into a skilled software engineer earning $100k+ after a six months curriculum.
The reality today is:
Going to a famous college like MIT, CMU, or Stanford costs a lot of money, so much that it will be painful to reimburse
Coding bootcamps are a scam: you do not become an expert in 6 months and will unlikely land your dream job after six months, but you will owe the bootcamp money (this is how they are making money: by making false promises).
However, knowledge has never been more accessible than today. You can access hundreds of MIT classes on their Youtube channel OpenCourseWare, or learn from the best teachers in the world for $50 per month with Coursera.
While technology may alienate us, it is also a fantastic tool that reduces barriers to accessing knowledge and learning new skills. And today, everything you need to become a great software engineer is available online. You can learn software development alone: all you need to be is a high-functioning individual who can sit down, shut up, and learn.
In short, you do not need to go for an ivy-league degree and take giant loans. The following video (starting at 1:23) explains this trade-off better than I would.
The reality that nobody wants to hear is that it takes a long time to learn and be productive (about 2 to 3 years to be ready to operate as an entry-level software engineer). Very few people are ready to dedicate 2 to 3 hours every day for the next three years without seeing immediate returns.
Still, some people are doing the work and succeeding. One member of the Codiga core team is a self-taught engineer who learned to program while teaching English in South Korea. This person never stopped and practiced for hours every day for three years. Persistence and consistency do not lie: after three years of hard work, he got a job and is now thriving in our team.
There is no doubt other people can replicate this. All you need is to be a high-functioning individual: be able to sit, shut up and learn.