Entry-level programmer with no degree?

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Entry-level programmer with no degree? Nodev 11/10/15 (Tue) 17:46:33 a7c7ba No.23748

Can I land a junior dev position via self-study if I have no degree? Someone told me that as long as I understand sorting methods and can actually write programs I should be able to get a junior dev job--is that true?

I'm willing to move around the USA and I'm not necessarily looking for a high salary, I just want to get a jump start on a real career which I actually enjoy. I have nothing but time right now and if I can turn that into a programming career I am going to.

Nodev 11/11/15 (Wed) 00:00:41 1b16f5 No.23752

Yes, though you might start in quality control for 1 or 2 years. Not a bad thing. Designing test cases helps you see where code breaks most often.

Nodev 11/11/15 (Wed) 00:33:30 3f0f89 No.23754

It's what I did, not game related though. It depends how tough your interviewer is and how much they're willing to teach you. Now I do gamedev in my free time and weekends and will never finish anything at my current rate and apply the programming knowledge I gain at work to it.

Nodev 11/11/15 (Wed) 00:57:59 a7c7ba No.23756

>>23754

How long did it take you to get a job? I can whip up simple apps and I understand more than just the basics, I just don't really know when I'm job-ready. Professional developers make it sound as if people who do it for a living are a cut above and that makes me nervous.

>>23752

>>23754

Nodev 11/11/15 (Wed) 01:58:32 3f0f89 No.23760

>>23756

A year or two, just apply if it sounds like something you can do and maybe you'll get lucky. You honestly won't be ready unless you've already been doing it professionally for a year or two, but some places will overlook that, you just need to be willing to accept that you might need to accept a lower salary for a while while you learn. Make sure to tailor your resume to each position to increase the chance of a response.

Nodev 11/11/15 (Wed) 23:31:29 d36002 No.23779

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Only thing you really need is more or less solid knowledge of the language you're going to use. Usually it covers language syntax, core concepts of it's main paradigm and stuff from core libraries that's most often used.

Also "understanding sorting methods" is kind of a garbage meme. Chances that you won't use that a lot and hence won't be able learn it. You might want to look it up before the interview though.

I also wrote a wall of text but decided to delete it. Fuck, just apply a lot and don't lie about your skills/knowledge. Degree usually means shit unless it's MIT or something. Just find company which will be ready to train you and agree on any salary (having no experience just means that you're going to be a dead weight for the dev team for first N months), and it won't take long to score a job.

Nodev 11/12/15 (Thu) 14:57:53 a7c7ba No.23788

>>23779

sounds pretty reasonable, thanks. Are you a professional dev right now?

Nodev 11/12/15 (Thu) 20:49:45 d36002 No.23800

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>>23788

Yeah, roughly 2.5 years of experience, not gamedev related though. Not much in total but I got myself more or less familiarized the process though.

Nodev 11/19/15 (Thu) 05:58:06 c845bb No.23940

Yes, its possible with luck. Near me a consulting firm opened up an "on shore" development center and hired like 50 people at once. Since it is a small town they accepted a ton of people. But even people with degrees were not that great at programming. So just know how to program (don't worry about writing sorting methods, wtf lol)

If you can run WAMP/LAMP and get PHP talking to your DB and back, thats a good sign.

For reference, I started at 35k and was at 45k after two years. Pretty low for a programmer, but no degree and no previous experience, and I was good enough at it.

Nodev 11/23/15 (Mon) 17:33:30 820486 No.24026

>>23779

The only sort method you need to know is heap sort. That's it. It's the most efficient one every time. Of course, this means you have to understand heaps. Which then means you have to understand graphs. Which then means you have to understand Data Structures.

Nodev 12/24/15 (Thu) 00:02:23 51dd5b No.24561

>>23940

They're doing it again, actually

http://www.collaborative.com/blog/events/waterville-maine/