How I became a Software Engineer with no CS degree

I went from being unemployed to landing a software developer job in 6 months. This video is about how I became a self-taught software developer and how I learned how to code without a computer science degree or coding bootcamp.
#coding #programming #tech
🔗 Resources
Learn to code roadmap - www.roadmap.smoljames.com
Smoljames hub - www.smoljames.com
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Roadmap - roadmap.smoljames.com
📚 Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:26 Backstory
01:27 3 Major Questions
02:00 What do you need to know?
03:35 How and where to learn programming?
06:47 What non-programming things can I do to increase success?
08:45 Links & Outro
🔖 Topics Covered
- Self taught programming
- How to learn to code?
- How to land a software developer job?
- Do I need a CS degree for tech?
- Key steps for learning to program

[@baldeoman]

Bro you're not describing software engineering. You're describing coding. It's like the difference between a mechanic but a mechanical engineer.

[@naturalista2.074]

Great break down! I asked similar questions similar from these in one of your other videos. You've just answered it here. Thank you!!!

[@Smoljames]

Haha glad you found your answers! If you ever have any additional questions, feel free to message me on LinkedIn or in the Discord channel :)

[@TheSoulCrisis]

You're tenacious, smart, diligent, and definitely charismatic in your approach to all of this. Really enjoyed seeing your process, not fun or easy landing tech roles these days and congrats!

[@Smoljames]

Thanks for the comment my friend :P

[@omi_khan4901]

Absolutely loved your nodejs crash course dude. Subbed!

[@Smoljames]

Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the sub :)

[@esahoosa]

I’ve been using this roadmap and recommending to other new devs from online open-source discord communities and they love it. The hardest part for me was just closing KZbin immediately and just focusing on dialing the fundamentals of html, css, and js. Once you’ve got these down and a coding environment, frameworks and other ideologies, it all just start clicking and making sense. Thanks for this James.

[@Smoljames]

Thanks for the comment my broski :) Appreciate the kind words and thanks for sharing the roadmap too! Glad you're enjoying the content

[@jimmyjimmy1827]

Hi, I’m planning to learning to program on my own, could you recommend me any discord please

[@eduardocgarza]

Great video - keep it up!

[@Smoljames]

Thanks for the comment :)

[@JusticeTrace]

Thank you for the advice! Completely new to programming and on my own learning journey to become a developer! (:

[@ApplieditemsDiscounted]

I'm brand new to .. looking for a great career

[@Smoljames]

Best of luck :) Feel free to join the discord channel if you have any questions!

[@LawGarithmic]

Thanks for the content! 😃 Any chance you can do a video going more in depth on how you used LinkedIn and the language you used on your messages and emails? Might be really helpful for people struggling with this.

[@Smoljames]

Thanks for the comment - and I can certainly make such a video :) In the mean time, I'd recommend looking at my Web Dev roadmap which has a full article on exactly this with examples included. Link in bio :)

[@vectoralphaAI]

99% of all self taught software engineers seem to be within the Web dev industry. I never hear anyone self taught go into Embedded software, Application software, Game development, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, or any other type of software development and software engineering. Only Web development i wonder why??

[@Randy4thQuarter]

what u thinking?

[@Smoljames]

Good question - I think it's because the learning curve in front of building your own website vs building your own video game is vastly different. Building a website is a very feasible thing to do for someone with no prior experience and if there's more jobs in that industry, the naturally it's going to be the better direction for beginner developers.

[@arkansavalder]

web dev is the easiest way to get hired .. you can learn the other things mentioned accordingly once you get some experience

[@Andalusian_]

There is a bunch that get into data Analytics and data Science

[@quinnlaya331]

@@arkansavalderfor AI, some of them are self taught but they had more rigorous math training. Either bs or ms mathematics that learned to code.

[@sarahjeantalley9565]

Thank you! I am too in a foreign country, no income… going through Permanent Residency in USA (I’m Canadian) been married to a US Citizen for 6 years now. So here I am! ❤🎉

[@akshayjadhav5150]

thank you James ...

[@Smoljames]

More than welcome!

[@N1rOx]

Thanks for the video's bro. It's quite motivating. I'm currently trying to switch to SWE from Carpentry at age 30. I'm quite a bit into Javascript, so I guess I'll put together some projects soon. I'm looking forward to that, Javascript has been quite... dense, so I'll be happy to just write code for a change. Btw, you sound kiwi, are you working in the country?

[@Smoljames]

Glad you enjoyed the video :) JavaScript is a great place to start, and projects are definitely a great idea. And yes, you guessed it - i'm Kiwi. Currently working for a Canadian company as I was living in Canada for a bit though!

[@amj.composer]

You're so fkn cool lol. You've "cracked" the system. I've learnt so much

[@Smoljames]

Cheers for the comment :) Glad you're finding learning from the videos!

[@MoreNizar]

Thank u james

[@Smoljames]

Happy to be of service :)

[@brianbrian3031]

Thanks for the great info! Was your 1st job offer remote? If not, did you have to move? Which city? How much salary did they offer? These are things many KZbin audiences would be interested in knowing. Thanks!

[@Smoljames]

Glad you found it useful :) yes remote and in Vancouver - no I did not have to move. And 60k CAD starting salary

[@kaitocity]

In your roadmap do you recommend following each section step by step? Or are they simply sources of information that you find useful for that specific topic? I'm a bit confused if I should interpret each item within the section as a step to follow or if it is a source of information. For example in the frontend frameworks section you placed FullStackOpen last, do you recommend doing the curriculum after everything you listed above? You mention FSO again in the backend section so it confuses me a bit as in theory I would have already done it, so I think I'm misunderstanding.

[@Smoljames]

Great question - I personally would suggest following each section step by step. As for the overlap of items such as FSO, they will have some content regarding React, and other stuff about databases. Hence why it's listed in two places :) but ultimately the sections are the steps and the inside resources are just suggestions for where you can learn that particular section :) hope that helps!

[@Mac_For_Science]

Going to really try and take your video to heart. I'm kinda hung up right now on way laptop to buy. Either a M2 MacBook Air 15" 16Gigs of ram and 256 gig ssd. Or M2 MacBook Pro 14' 16 gigs ram and 512 gig ssd. Can you recommend which one? It would be about $550 difference between the two systems

[@Smoljames]

I have an apple mac M1 256 ssd and I must admit I keep hitting the storage limits so I'll have to upgrade. But up until now, it's been more than sufficient so if you're on a budget, then it'll still be satisfactory to save the money :)

[@Mac_For_Science]

Thanks! The first thing Ill do when it comes in is hit up your roadmap. Would you entertain a video how how to setup a Macbook from scratch oriented to following your specific roadmap? Thanks again love love love your content!!@@Smoljames

[@YoungSavKing]

Goat

[@vinay.upadhyay]

how important is learning DSA ?

[@Smoljames]

Not massively but if you have the time then it can be nice to have - even if it's just a little knowledge of Python!

[@0x-003]

whats your view on paying for Codecademy? and taking. their frontend engineer path?

[@Smoljames]

Paid bootcamps can be amazing for anyone looking for a bit more support on their journey - if you feel like that's you, then I wouldn't hesitate!

[@tiffanyalberti2029]

Is anyone here a software engineer without a degree?? Did you actually do it?

[@t.e.r.o]

Hi, can you mentor me?

[@Smoljames]

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about learning to code! Feel free to msg me in my Discord and I'll respond there :)

[@weneedlittlepatience]

Did you finish college ?

[@Smoljames]

I did - with a qualification in a different (unrelated) STEM profession :)