How I Became a Software Engineer Without a Computer Science Degree (in Under a Year!)

[@francescociulla]

I love the format of the intro🧨🧨🧨🧨

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thanks Francesco! :)

[@luisacavalcanti3665]

Hi! First of all, I'm very happy to see more and more women in technology. It's also very inspiring to see people who have changed careers and found themselves in technology. I'm a Brazilian architect. I worked for 8 years designing houses and apartments, but last year I decided to switch to software engineering. I started to learn to program on my own, I developed some front end projects, but I'm still not employed. I hope soon to be able to tell you about a journey as inspiring as yours! (: By the way, your performance at the opera is amazing!

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thank you Luisa! I'm so glad it resonated with you. Architecture and software engineering have a LOT of cross-over. If I were you, I would highlight how architecture taught you basic principles which you apply into software, and then use concrete examples based on the projects you've made. Best of luck!

[@FoodTechLife]

Thanks for the vid, cheers!

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Glad you found it useful!

[@mahmoodtareq3520]

Your voice and performance are absolutely stunning. Your coding journey is inspirational, I'm learning a lot from you. Keep at it, Anna.

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thank you Mahmood!

[@paaLenkaa]

Dear Anna, I am considering switching my career. I am based in Austria so I believe the job market is the same. Thank you for the video and all information provided 🧡🧡

[@AnnaMcDougall]

My pleasure! Glad you found it useful!

[@theconnectingdotspodcast]

really cool video! thank you for sharing your story. I'm just now getting into tech/Web Development at 32 years old and I know I can make it. Stories like yours inspire me.

[@thomashayek9388]

Thanks Anna! Your story inspired and motivated me even more :) All the best for you!

[@AnnaMcDougall]

That's awesome Hans! If you're in Germany feel free to add me on LinkedIn as well!

[@rebeccaclafton3534]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey! I've also had the "floating thought" for years and COVID has finally given me the kick I needed to make it happen. I'm going the self-taught route and am worried about being taken seriously when I'm ready to apply. I'm just learning about the Twitter Tech community (watching your video on that next) and am hoping that can be a support network for me. Liked and subscribed, looking forward to learning more from you!

[@AnnaMcDougall]

That's awesome Rebecca! Definitely check out The Odin Project if you're interested in Web development. I have a video on that too but you can also just google it: it's totally free and has a great Discord community!

[@rebeccaclafton3534]

@@AnnaMcDougall Thanks so much, I will! I was curious which Discord community you were referring to in your video. I will definitely check that out!

[@catalinmpit]

What a journey, Anna! Really inspiring! 🙌 Well done to you! 👏 Not to mention you are one of the coolest people I know. 😎

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thanks Catalin! Not sure if you saw but you're mentioned in this one, too!

[@catalinmpit]

@@AnnaMcDougall Oo, just saw it! Thank you lots! 🙏

[@ChaooCharles]

Very inspiring Anna 🥳

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thank you!!

[@libbyheeren]

You are a gem and I love your enthusiasm 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Haha thank you! It can be an acquired taste 😅

[@Carmen-zl6gp]

Anna, thank you so much for this video ♥️ (greetings from Germany 😁👋)

[@AnnaMcDougall]

You're welcome Carmen! And hello! Where in Germany are you? Feel free to add me on LinkedIn. Always great to know more German devs!

[@alinac861]

Thank you so much Anna for sharing your story. Thanks to you and other people that share their career change stories I have decided to do so myself! Could you share more about your experience with DCI Career Institute? Do you feel like 1 year was way too long if you study in advance by yourself? Thank you in advance!

[@RameshKumar-mv3jd]

Thanks for the inspiring video. How did you go about finding people in your area to contact about breaking into the industry?

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Hi Ramesh! I literally just searched for them on LinkedIn by job title and location, if I remember correctly. You can also look up the companies in your area and then see which employees work there (usually on the company LinkedIn page) and then contact one or two of them (whoever seems most applicable to what you're looking for, or who is most active on LinkedIn). I wouldn't recommend contacting more than two people from each company though: you don't want to be a point of gossip there from spamming them!

[@RameshKumar-mv3jd]

@@AnnaMcDougall Awesome, that's a good idea. Thanks a lot for the detailed reply.

[@robloxaalexx]

Great story

[@nshutielise2261]

I found you on tech tweeter.

[@pravinsingh2926]

😊👌👌

[@AnnaMcDougall]

Thanks Pravin!

[@nshutielise2261]

OMG you can sing too 😃

[@nshutielise2261]

I found you on tech tweeter.