Self Taught Programmers: Advice, Challenges, and Why We Need Them

Go to brilliant.org/helloMayuko to practice your Data Structures and Algorithms!
Thank you to everyone who I interviewed, you can check them out below:
Luis Augusto
/ legendofluis
Katie Chapman
/ thejetset
Valerie Don
KZbin: / babeengineer
Instagram: / babeengineer
Kairsten Fay
/ databae_
Alexander Ha
/ alexdidload
Stanley Miller
/ mrmkeithappen
Jeremiah Peoples
KZbin:@JeremiahPeoples
Instagram: / jeremiahpeoples
Kevan Peters
/ kevanpeters
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🔖c h a p t e r s 🔖
00:00 - Intro
02:23 - Is it legit?
06:35 - Develop Curiosity
09:27 - Technical vs. Soft Skills
10:47 - Learning what you don't know and need to learn
11:30 - Mentorship and Community
13:50 - Comparing yourself and imposter syndrome
17:46 - Believing in yourself
18:40 - Outro
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🌸a b o u t 🌸
Mayuko Inoue is a content creator and Software Engineer. After working in Silicon Valley tech companies like Intuit, Patreon, and Netflix for six years as an iOS Engineer, she became a full-time creator in 2020. Her work aims to help people find their way through the tech industry by sharing her own experiences navigating this world through technology, career advice, and lifestyle videos. She is passionate about discussions around mental health, cultural identity, and creating technology with empathy and compassion.
✉️c o n t a c t ✉️
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This video was sponsored by Brilliant.

[@hellomayuko]

Any advice for folks teaching themselves how to code? Thread below!

[@aeb1305]

Talk out loud when solving a problem!! It allows you to express you thoughts and eventually come up with a solution

[@mehmetkaragoz5017]

The best way to learn coding is to make a project even if you don't know how. Because when you are doing a project, you will already research and learn how it is done.

[@elishakkim]

English major here who transitioned into Software Developer: Understand the difference between Project based tutorials and syntax-based tutorials. Knowing what you are lacking really helps fill the gaps in your knowledge.

[@eggdogtim8593]

Stream your work I've been doing co working streams recently and it helps alot you talk to people about what your doing and it keeps you focused on the task at hand plus you may find more people who can help you on the way I definitely suggest it

[@sameer2643]

When learning what you need to know, just copy curriculum from online courses/MIT OCW/university courses/etc. so that way you don't miss out on the details!

[@datalyfe5386]

Being self - taught shows incredible dedication. Cheers to us!

[@joelgallegos7740]

Amen!

[@hannesRSA]

I thought self-taught was the traditional approach... I just made games, sound mixing and graphics libraries, and database apps before I left school. The degree curriculum disappointed me so I dropped out and got a degree part time. I joined a FAANG company briefly out of curiosity. I could have joined a tech company to start with and be retired by now... But that's in the past - now I have to figure out a career up to 60 just to make it to retirement.

[@spoofer9113]

@@hannesRSA I found it just in my early stage, it is ethical hacking and exploitation it'll require many years but my curiosity and excitement in that is endless.

[@codeitraw5241]

Yes it is so hard. But still do it while most people would quit

[@yourfriendintech]

My advice for people teaching themselves how to code is to figure out your "why". Why do you want to learn how to code? Your answer help ground you for the tough times; because learning how to code and breaking into the industry can be hard - but it's so worth it if you keep at it 😄

[@stevensong8784]

Agree. You need the passion.

[@surajjanampally7023]

I totally agree. I think that software development will become as commonplace as English language . I think that’s why it’s important

[@EyobFitwi]

I've always been a bit of a nerd, and I just love the idea of programming. I just want to have the skills. That's what sustaining me to carry on. Currently I'm learning on The Odin Project and I love the way it presents its course. I think I've finally found my way out of tutorial hell. I'm not even that concerned about the succeeding in making a career change at the moment. One problem at a time.

[@kamw73]

And the why can be different for everyone. I have talked with quite a few software devs making large salaries that are great at coding but they aren't passionate about it and I think that's a big misconception. But not giving up and being consistent seems to be key while learning.

[@oo--7714]

@@surajjanampally7023 no

[@bflattrumpeter]

My tips (musician -> developer): - Take great notes - can you explain a concept to yourself in a way that makes sense to you? Write it down! Clarity of writing translates to clarity of thought. - Sometimes it feels like you need to have a novel idea to start a project. I think we learn much better from imitation - take something you use every day and try to make a simple copy of it. Like moving to a new city, you'll be wander around and be lost for a good while before one day you suddenly realize that you know the place in and out. - Remember that we stand upon the shoulders of giants. You don't need to be brilliant to write great code, just endlessly curious!

[@KamrynB]

I'm self taught and over the course of 6 years I've worked my way up to multiple 6 figure positions, eventually earning the title of "senior" engineer. The most important single piece of advice I can give is CREATE STUFF! My portfolio of 5+ apps not only impressed interviewers, they gave me valuable experience with important concepts and my tech stack. Experimenting with a new library, especially when you make mistakes and have to fix bugs, that is where the learning takes place! Plus it really helped me squash my imposter syndrome-- I can tell myself "I know what I'm doing" because I have a body of work as proof, and thousands of people using my apps that started out as pet projects. Meanwhile I can humbly say "there's always room for improvement" because I've observed how my coding style improved from project to project. Something I just finished might seem like my best work yet but my next project will probably be executed even better. Never stop learning! Keep on coding!

[@wicked5999]

Multiple 6 figure position and title of senior engineer, all in 6 years time? That's impressive!

[@lucidviolin1298]

may we see your apps you created ? to see what 6 years could loook like for someone just starting out?

[@nxn9172]

"Maybe you're a retired Marine, you used to be a teacher, or studied criminal justice in college" Uh... did we talk before? LOL. I'm an 8 year Navy vet, became a teacher, and also studied criminal justice in uni.....

[@FurikuriYugi]

I can give my personal experience. After I got out of the military I was a very messed up and angry individual. I isolated my self for a few years and luckily towards the end I made up my mind I was going to learn programming. I started with python and quickly learned that programming languages are really that, language and once you understand syntax you can quickly learn all the others. The trick was to make it relevant ie have a problem build a solution. After awhile I got to the point that I wanted to make a physical effect in the real world through software and that's when I got into microelectronics. Long story short, I am a self taught software engineer as well as a self taught electronic engineer no piece of paper that says I know what I'm doing only determination and results I now do consulting for several company's and all they cared about is can you do what we want.

[@Dobeowns]

Damn bro I got out awhile ago I’m just getting into programming but I’ve isolated myself for like 4 years now

[@youvegotmail9385]

Take care of yourself and thank you for your service. We are deeply indebted to yall.

[@electricimpulsetoprogramming]

you do consulting for programming of for electronics?

[@marti9442]

I recently got out of the military and am now teaching myself how to code as well

[@electricimpulsetoprogramming]

@@marti9442 good luck marti

[@newlinebraces2872]

I'm just gonna leave this here. Step I: Trying and failing to leran php.(Way back like 2014) Step II: Stumbling onto Unity. Step III: Messing with Unity(C#) for a couple of years as a hobby . Step IV: Deciding to go serious and switching to web development by starting to learn Java and Spring. Step V: Switch careers in the middle of a pandemic to work from home. Took me a while but it was worth it, last year and a half working from home as junior web developer.

[@MannyL23]

Thanks for this

[@xanaramus]

Why did you abandon Unity and c#?

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@xanaramus probably couldn't find a job with it

[@lunaeclipse5768]

that game developmenmt wont work for poor people, no decent GPU to render

[@JarrodShadowsonng]

I started by teaching myself web dev for about 7-8 months since March last year. Only a couple of hours a day and weekends, since I was working full time. Then I did a super intensive (usually more than 10 hours a day, no days off) 3 month iOS development academy from January to April this year following a recommendation from a friend in the field. Got an offer from the company that organised the academy 2 weeks later and I've been working as an iOS dev since May. Impostor syndrome is still a thing, and I'm not sure if it'll ever go away, but I'm loving the work and the team. My advice to anyone else self-teaching would DEFINITELY be to involve yourself in the community, especially in your country / area. Self-teaching coding is a lonely affair and knowing people will bring lots of opportunities your way.

[@frenzsebastiantongol5864]

Thanks for sharing. Struggling with no tech background here 😅. Can I ask what do you do prior to Dev and also which academy did you go to?

[@Xpndable]

It feels weird to see a video like this discussing education as the traditional route. As an older developer, in the 80's and even 90's the vast majority of developers in the field were self-taught, because that's all there was. Computer science degrees started popping up around this time as separate from mathematics in Universities. To think that the field is now so flooded with people taught in schools instead of self-taught, such that self-taught is rare feels wild.

[@evanhamilton8289]

As someone who is only a week into the self taught route- I found this video extremely helpful and motivating!

[@tvwsy]

Update?

[@bri4498]

@@tvwsy probably stopped trying like most people.

[@lucidviolin1298]

reponse to update request?

[@evanhamilton8289]

@@lucidviolin1298 life happened. My computer broke down on me after about three months of self teaching. Then shortly after my second child was born. Considering I didn’t have a working Pc at the time I put programming on the back burner. I am now enrolled in my local community college to get an associates in programming and just finished my first semester this week. I wish the self taught route worked for me but life was too much with the children and work. Side note: I was able to transition to a new job at a tech company and have already made many friends who are software engineers. My goal is to join my friends and start programming at the company within the next year.

[@andiuptown1711]

@@evanhamilton8289Nice! Update?

[@shejanulislam6182]

Self taught myself started doing the concepts first. I can't emphasize how important it is to learn the concepts by heart. Coding will come easy if you know what to use. Play around with small projects. Find a mentor who will review your codes and will give you tips. Most importantly don't get intimidated by CS major students. Instead try to learn from them (if they are willing to teach lol). Baby steps go long way. Don't rush online videos. Instead do a weekly recap of the stuffs you learned throughout the week. Don't worry about the jobs. Once all the puzzle adds up, with patience work will show up.

[@lukeyluke9637]

What concepts are important to learn by heart?

[@shejanulislam6182]

@@lukeyluke9637 It depends on what job you are applying for. I worked as an SDET and now a Dev. You are required to be able to explain Object Oriented and Dynamic Programming concepts during the white board interviews. For coding, you need to think out loud. Get in the habit of talking to yourself when coding. Better find someone to code with. Always try to come up with a brute force solution first, then refactor it. Interviewers like when candidates can solve and tune their codes. And remember that most of the jobs have bullsh*t requirements. and it's always normal to not meet all the criteria or able to solve all the problems. It's not possible. And companies need to understand they are not as hot as they think they are. Good luck

[@xboxer808]

I believe everyone should be self taught to some extent when it comes to programming, there’s an infinite amount of things to learn which makes it inefficient to have some other person try to pour that knowledge into your head. I have a computer science degree and I taught myself different languages to supplement my school work. Also there are many new things I’m learning for my current job that I didn’t learn from school at all. Being self taught shouldn’t be an offshoot path it should be expected to some degree when it comes to coding in my opinion

[@paulberber]

Really needed this video right now. Thank you! I'm currently studying foundations of programming and seeing this is just more fuel for my goal of becoming a self taught programmer.

[@alexha3527]

Thanks for having me! I had a great time during the interview sesh and at hanko hangouts!

[@gki177]

Thank you for addressing this and sharing input from multiple self-taught developers. It’s reassuring to hear these thoughts and pieces of advice. I’m still in the beginning slope of my self-taught journey and these are definitely challenges that I face repeatedly. I still have to remind (and convince) myself that I can do this. I’ll be saving this video to come back to for the next time I have self-doubt.

[@alpha6wolf262]

I love the way you have articulated your thoughts, "I really think you learn what you need to learn at the time that you learn it". Thanks for the positivity into the community!

[@OfficialWimpydoll]

Having a mentor that will inspire and push your limitations is so important. I'll be forever grateful to him.

[@richardikin]

Taught myself coding in 1982, still going 😊

[@unclearety9371]

I really love your videos, and somehow they always makes me feel more confident in my choice to work in software engineering. Thank you!

[@donnergid]

Thank you for your insights. Even after a 15 year tech career it's easy to fall into those mental states that destroy your self confidence. Your videos shed the light on these issues, illuminating them so they are more easily overcome.

[@Landon_Hughes]

Perfect 10/10 video. I really needed this. Thanks, Mayuko!

[@agrock30]

I'm so happy that you uploaded a new video. Thank you so much! :)

[@corpuzone]

You’re Still my favorite coding influencer on KZbin. Always so natural and realistic in your delivery of content. I’d say best option Is combining 2 and 3. Self teach and enter a bootcamp to get exposed to actual work with a cohort and building projects is key. Coding or software development is the future especially if one wants full 100% remote work in comfort of your home 🏡

[@itshenreh7687]

Graduated with a BA in English, but have been in IT industry for 10+ years. Foundation of my career is OJT, online videos and self-teaching and practice with home labs. This is a great reaffirmation that "homegrown" professionals can have something valuable and unique to contribute to any team. And as always, "Hi Mayuko!"

[@hellomayuko]

Haha hello Henry!! Thanks for sharing your story and insight ☺️

[@johnniemikhail4675]

Thank you so much. I am in the process of being a self thought programmer I always doubt if the things I am learning will lead to a job at the end or it is not enough. This video is such a great inspiration for me.

[@salonzo]

It's so nice listening to what the people you interviewed have to say in regards of being self taught, their experiences, what you would have to go through, etc. I'm also in the path of trying to get a job in tech 2023 and so far, no luck. But this video is giving me much needed motivation and inspiration. Thank you for this video! 🤧

[@golammuhaimeen2825]

this is such an amazing and inspiring video Mayuko. Thank you so much. This appreciation coming from someone who is on his journey to become a self taught software developer!

[@RaymondShya]

Thank you. This is such a great and encouraging clip to watch.

[@magnogonzalez3471]

Thank you for putting this together!

[@sushantkhattar2598]

Thanks mayuko for the video!! Really an insightful and inspiring one.❤️

[@heytechprogramming5641]

I taught myself how to code and now I am a Python Instructor. 😎 It's a long journey, but it's definitely worth it. 👍

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

Everyone here is having success stories with coding. I guess I need to work harder.

[@Jambajakumba]

Man Mayuko is just a breath of fresh air👌Thank you.

[@michellegutierrez4690]

Thank you so much for sharing this! It gives me hope and motivation to continue learning! :)

[@jarm1664]

I'm currently in a boot camp and thankfully I work as a bartender in a huge tourist/party city, so I'm able to work part time and focus on coding. A lot of the folks working full time have already dropped out of our cohort. I definitely needed the structure of a boot camp, anyone who becomes a software dev totally self-taught is super impressive.

[@mohinhasinrabbi6425]

Thank you so much. Much needed words.❤

[@AbnerG787]

Ngl Ive been binge watching your channel since I started this self-taught route looking for a carrer change. Great content!

[@sharib104]

Thank you for this!

[@laramecodes3520]

Great video! I’m going through this route right now for front end. I’m a Airforce vet coming from a help desk background.

[@cyberrose]

This was an amazing video and great much needed motivation to keep learning

[@spoon4909]

You just made me smile again Mayuko! Thank you, I've been struggling with my self confidence in becoming a software engineering, still looking to land that first job! I took about two years off, and regret it, but watching your video just gave me hope again!

[@spoon4909]

@@lepidoptera9337 If that was true, that means half the developers wouldn't be where they are, but they are. Not sure why you're so angry again people being self taught. Let me ask you this....so how do you explain bill gates? he dropped out of school, doesn't have a college degree. I can go on and on. Please stop spreading your negativity. That's your perspective and maybe your experience but not for everyone else.

[@spoon4909]

@@lepidoptera9337 lol it's hilarious how much you hate on self taught developers. I hope one day you'll get pass this anger and resentment. God help you! 🙏😉☺️

[@jeffriart]

Nice video, thanks. :) I'm personally unable to continue school due to economic reason and self-taught programming pretty early in my teen years. I started freelancing before I turned 20 and had a quite decent income in my first few years. In my third year of freelancing, I got hired full time and I still work in this company today, almost 10 years in. Being in a community do helps getting you started, not only that it's good to get feedback, but it's also valuable to help others as well. This will build up connection, reputation and most importantly, experience. That said, I was never in a proper hiring interview process ever. Being a freelancer at start, it isn't important to have any sort of degree. I guess I'm kinda lucky that the company offered me a full time job after a freelance job with them at the start. :)

[@de5085]

Thankyou mayuko, i needed this

[@erickim3710]

Watched the entire vid. I really needed to see this today.. thank you so much

[@egyleader]

as a self Taught programmer .. Thanks for the motivation mayuko 😃 ,, you are amazing 🥳

[@roguishowl3915]

Hello Mayuko, this is a great video, thank you.

[@Vivi-Price]

This was very helpful to me. I recently committed to the idea that I can actually become a software developer and after finishing my first project (that was very unsatisfactory) I kinda felt like this may not be the path for me and this video (alongside getting over that feeling) made realize its a journey and it takes time and I'm just a newbie. Thank for this content it really gave me some perspective. 👏🏾😄

[@a5193]

Thanks for this. I needed it.

[@anthienvo]

Whenever people say that you don't need a Computer Science degree, it just sounds like they undermine people with Computer Science degree

[@MBXD001]

Thanks for all these kind words; Am teaching myself how to code now. The facebook software developer is exactly right

[@reaganswartz1102]

What I have started doing as a self taught developer is basically go into boot-camp courses and look through the structure of their curriculum and from there create my own. This makes planning so much easier because you get to see how the workflow of different courses are executed and get a feel as to how you should approach your coding itinerary.

[@ImanFattah]

Thank you for this video, very inspiring

[@Kessra]

In general, I agree to the sentiment of this video. I basically taught myself programming before the internet came up through books while my classmates went out after school to party. I always played with Lego in my childhood and later on with computers which sparkeld that "Just look how I can play with this thing" idea in me. While graduating from a secondary business college where the only computer-thing we were taught was how to handle MS Word and Excel, I already played with VBA and later with VB around which I quickly dropped in favour of C/C++ and later on learned Java at university. Self-taught is a strechy word IMO as regardless of which way you learn, you at some point have to learn by yourself. Interest in the domain, analytical thinking and problem solving are for sure properties to have when pursuing this path. However, what I'm missing here a bit is that while learning programming isn't that difficult nowadays, mastering the engineering part and sticking to its principles is, especially when they are usually opt out in basic how to programm books, videos and trainings. Even many "trained" programmers or software engineers sometimes forget that they are creating products which need to be maintainable not only by you but also by others. Often times code either rots or is poorly documented or contains the wrong comments in it. I don't need a comment that is telling me that the next few lines are reading some data of some component, I already see that, but I want to know whether the code is threadsafe or has some other impacts that might not be on the radar. How code is written also depends on what kind of software you write. For simple CRUD applications most seasoned frameworks do provide small examples to copy from which allow fast progress, though usually also come with certain limitations and constraints. These are usually not of a big problem for tiny to medium-sized projects, for large projects though they are usually unusable for different reasons like different licensing approaches that don't coop with each other or no active development/bug-fixing schedules present. Code written for a high-performance application like a computer games involving fast-paced 3D graphics is for sure differently written than a typical 08/15 CRUD application and so on. Just compare talks of i.e. Jonathan Blow with ones given by Rober C. "Uncle Bob" Martin and you will see how different their approaches are to the development of games/applications. And finally, there is one aspect in modern-day software-engineering/programming that is hanging like a sword of Damocles in the air: Pragmatism. Often time-constraints will push you into a route where you don't do something the right way but the fast way. You basically take shortcuts to make the deadline. This is even something that superiors often demand and this is for sure not a good thing. Over the years I've met so many programmers who actually don't care enough anymore. They get a task, they try to solve it as quickly as possible and go on. If a year later that change leads to problem for the next developer it is considered his/her problem. A typical example here is to use library/dependency A as it get the job done somehow but you don't (want to) know how it works internally. Some time later you notice that the usage of this library/dependency leads to unexpected results in certain cases and now you are tasked to fix that issue. This is a thing I had to deal with a lot over the years. With enough luck you run into a situation where none of the existing stuff might solve your problem and you get the green light to do it on your own. Things though quickly get bad when the current toolset or toolchain does not allow you to progress further. I.e. at the moment I have to develop a custom extension for a well-known editor and we do need access to the charset of the text-files managed by that editor but the editor is simply preventing any access to that information. My only option is now to fork that whole project, customize it and force all of the employees to use my custom fork build rather than the one maintained by the officials. Decision-Takers however aren't interested in the overhead I need to put in, they just want me to get the job done ASAP. The last thing they want to hear is, that currently this is not possible.

[@lotteman]

I really appreciate that you didnt just go off on a long monologue about self taught developers from a traditionally educated perspective. You did your homework, reached out and got perspectives from people who actually went through the process themselves to get more insight. At age 30, I thought I was really late to the game and I had no chance but I really needed to hear this. I just enrolled into a boot camp for next month.

[@MrZealot11]

How is the boot camp going?

[@89DerChristian]

This video was really helpful. Thanks!

[@8koi139]

I felt so identified whit the "I just went through some 3 months of learning and had 4 years at my side" I completed a Python course in 3 months, was not sure were to go next or if I could do something at all, currently in a ML course!

[@fleeb]

I taught myself to write software, starting around 1980 or so, before I could even afford a computer. I was in junior high school (or middle school as some call it), and something about writing software caught my attention. This was at a time when we didn't have fancy things like IDEs or some of the sophisticated graphics we have today, and home computers were, frankly, pretty terrible. But, partly for fun, partly for the science museum to whom I donated my time so I could learn this sort of stuff, I wrote a database engine in BASIC for the TRS-80 III that could search through floppy disks of information for shells, if I recall. Since I did not have a computer of my own, I initially wrote it on lined paper with a pencil, then typed it into the computer. I didn't write software because I wanted to accomplish anything specific, but because I genuinely enjoyed the kind of puzzle-solving nature of the discipline. Today, I still love the kind of puzzle of building a set of objects that work together to accomplish various goals. I'm just fortunate folks seem to want to give me money to do this.

[@hannesRSA]

Crazy.. at least I had a zx spectrum and learnt basic and assembler by retyping apps from old magazines.

[@fleeb]

@@hannesRSA I didn't know of any magazines available at the time, but my middle school math books had some example BASIC programs that tempted me into writing software. Made me think that maybe it wasn't as difficult as people seemed to make it out to be. But, yeah, I couldn't afford my own machine, so I had to make do.

[@hannesRSA]

@@fleeb I was late to the party.. also had no PC yet - got a deprecated zx spectrum system from my school for $20 around 1992. But got a PC 2 years later and messed around with info off BBS's till I had internet access. Pre-internet I reckon programmers had to be way more self reliant.

[@fleeb]

@@hannesRSA Oh yes... I did get on BBSes, but I don't think I saw a lot of programming on the ones I saw. I just read the manuals and figured stuff out from there. A bit harder to do these days, but examples usually come more easily now than then. Hmm... by 1992, I could finally buy a PC and and a C++ compiler. Took FOREVER to compile anything on an Amiga 500, so I switched to an obscure language (Amiga E) which compiled considerably faster. Fun stuff.

[@MrScotchpie]

What is really fantastic about the tech/programming industry is you don't need any qualifications at all, just a good portfolio of projects. I'm in the UK and haven't a degree. I left school at 16. but now at the ripe old age of 54 I hold a Senior Principle Scientific Data Analyst role at a global Pharma. I spend most of my day coding in R which I taught myself before R was a thing but realised it had potential. All you need is curiosity and grift, and even if you only have a high school diploma you can make it in programming.

[@synster693]

i just started learning 11 days ago and im in love with this comunnity

[@slhermit]

What I did years ago (to change career): 1. Learn dbs and OOP; few community college courses on dbs and programming (Project-based learning) 2. Get a contract job & keep learning. 3. After 1-2 years of experiences, you can easily get well-paying SD job 4. Keep learning. In the self-taught path, getting a related job as quickly as possible is important in my opinion. If you attempt to do a lot of learning in one breath before getting a job, you are likely to give up.

[@RichardTafoya]

This is wonderful. Exactly what I needed to see/hear today. Thank you! Question: Are you going to try and get to a Natalia Lafourcade show this year?

[@cailrambler4907]

Thank you!

[@uxdesigndiy]

Thanks for your videos! I love your style :)

[@tinongnjong1305]

Great content and background music 🎶

[@anon343]

As a software dev that took a non-standard route (I studied business). Imposter syndrome is real, but the good programmers/managers DON'T expect you to know, they expect you to ask, google and be honest. Lean on your stronger soft-skills. My business degree and cyber qualifications definitely made me view my job differently. But also allows me to get more training than others. Take all the training you can get. You will need it for the long-run. It also allows me to talk to more customers and teams, hoovering up knowledge, so I feel I am learning at a quicker velocity that a CS guy who never leaves his desk.

[@FRAMEDSKATEKREW69]

For anyone considering going back to school: I was able to maintain a Full time job and go to School Full time(software engineer track), but mostly because I went to a community college. At the time I did not realize that Community College would be less homework than a standard University. That said you still have to apply yourself and make sure you do your assignments early in case you have any questions or don't understand your assignment. I had great teachers at my CC, they did so well I actually liked Java so much I went for Java 2. Also make sure you find a job that doesn't mandate Overtime out of nowhere, that really caused a lot of stress for me and really affect my health. I transferred to a local University and this semester has been hell, a lot of unnecessary amounts of homework from my math courses lol Also not as many online courses so I can't even find a job to work around my schedule ):

[@janellasuzannebalantac710]

and i was just wondering if maybe u could have a programming tutorial series? idk anyw love you💛

[@Eshcole]

I learn better the traditional way and I took that route to learn coding despite already having a career in a completely separate field for several years. As happy as I am that it all worked out and I was able to jump into a whole new career, the amount of school debt it left me makes me wish I was self-taught. 🤣

[@oscarromeu2129]

What a wonderful video! I like a lot the idea of diversity 💜 I just missed one thing: in this career sooner or later everyone will have to teach themselves new "things" and this will be true for a long time 🐧 Regards!

[@DemetriPanici]

I tried to learn some HTML and CSS for my website but I definitely have trouble with even just that. I gotta learn more!

[@mitchelloliver18]

Don't spend 12 hours a day learning, learn a little bit then build. Then learn a little bit and build it get easier overtime and you won't be think about how to write HTML or CSS. you got this!

[@darktealglasses]

So true, the self-taught route is the cheapest but the hardest! How'd you structure the curriculum for yourself when you're new to the industry and can't even see the bigger picture of it? Even if you follow a uni curriculum, most people don't have the motivation to sit down and code every night after long work days.

[@techmentormaria]

When I taught myself I just picked a project and kept going and added more and more things

[@darktealglasses]

@@techmentormaria trying

[@ArnelFranciaDev]

it's been a month since I started to study html and css., and i think the most important part is you need to always crave for more just like underestimating yourself just to be good at it.

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@DemonsCrest1]

tip for learning to code: make programs to solve your own problems. or make programs to solve friends'/family's problems. e.g. a thing that batch renames files, or a gui for a set of excel data.

[@mascode1]

Great video!!

[@urnotjl]

Thanks ~ Although I did get a CS-related degree, still feel tons to learn. Anyway, why do I reckon western education is all about self-taught, especially in CS. There is no way that all the knowledge will be taught in 2/3 hours lecture. But I really appreciated the help from lecturers, TA and other resources, which may be hard to get on the self-taught pathway?

[@gilberto_xyz]

Thank you

[@westernpigeon]

I just graduated from college last month and I've been on and off teaching myself how to code since 2019. Now that I'm done with school, I can finally self-teach full-time! I've been coding for 8 hours a day since mid August and I already have an interview next week to get into a software engineer program that will boost my skills 🙏anything's possible.

[@aaraviii]

Let us know about your interview. How it went and what did you learn from that etc

[@aoquanghuy7318]

love that there was one Vietnamese teacher photo in your video that is about physics

[@SnowmansApartment]

i think the most painful thing i learnt after working 24/7 on an idea for 2 years, and publishing my own app is that people will copy your idea and thee is nothing you can do about it. Right now i can‘t publish an amazing new feature for my app, because i have to think of ways to protect it first, so it‘s not like i designed, solved problems, and created an intuitive and amazing product just for other apps to copy it within a month or two. At least it will have helped me to find a job, but it‘s still frustrating to see my work copied shamelessly by so many..

[@DemonsCrest1]

i'm a self taught software developer. thanks you for complementing me :D

[@silentbob1236]

I am almost completely self taught, but i learned programming over the course of 15 years. I normaly will learn what I need when I needed it. I cant say that I am very good at any off them, but I am very good at troubleshooting. I just started as a PLC programmer programing chemical blending systems, and Im killing it. It is SO much fun. I just get to solve problems all day :D

[@zs9652]

How did you get your job?

[@leonardtangty]

Frankly i subscibe to ZTM academy life subscription and was wondering whether to go for a bootcamp to strengthen my coding skills.I will see how i progress on myself .Thank you for the video.I find it very beneficial.I am from Singapore.Nice to befriend you.

[@lunaeclipse5768]

I was a skater when i was in elementary school and i learn to ride a skate in just about a week, then do ollie and kickflip 2 weeks but i do believe that, in order to become as good as any other pro skater i takes years of practice. i think its the same thing as coding, but more like in how to build program structure in you head before start typing.

[@kyllinglove9357]

Great video, it will probably help me a lot

[@gamingcroctv4523]

as a self-taught myself, I'm so happy I taught myself how to program back in 2015 :)

[@alphabetkaye]

Are you working in the field? How long did it take you to get to the point when you were job ready

[@Prinsdam]

The way I learned was to code within an existing environment that's tangential to a skill I already have (Javascript in Adobe Illustrator). One skill reinforces the other, and everything you do is immediately practical- I started creating tools to streamline my art workflow, and what I wanted to see provided the guidelines for how my study progressed. I graduated to the C++ SDK later. It's honestly really depressing how the video approaches this purely from the goal of getting a job in The Industry. Money is an impure motivator, it's an intermediary to getting something else. If you REALLY want to motivate yourself, figure out how to write code in a way that materially benefits you and not someone else. Programming is primarily a tool to create what money can't currently buy.

[@autobusesMexico]

I like to learn by myself, with youtube videos and documentation. Motivation! I learn what I need in my own projects. So, my earnings motivate me . PD. I want a teacher like you😍

[@jonesalapat6199]

Two points to keep in mind for people wanting to get into Tech. First of all tech is not only about programming- Analysts, Infra, operations, People - Program managers, Consultants, Product and so on are the huge number of other roles. I guess best way to go by it would be to do a diploma course say 6 -12 months. Second, the main aim should be to get a job, once you get a job then ponder on what you want to do next, If you like coding, then learn stuff everyday and it is quite complex as you dive more into it. Also, Please don't have huge expectation in IT, sometimes you get good work, sometimes not, again who knows what happens in next 20 year's, maybe AI would be writing the code and our job may be not needed 😂.

[@Leczo12]

In the end everyone becomes self teaching developer and that journey never ends

[@Jagem_Kang]

Love the Chillhop loop, i listen to chillhop while studying or gaming. By the way, i shared this video to my 2 nieces who are interested in coding

[@catagna7273]

Self taught programming is a must in my personal opinion. Why? It is fundamental to follow up the technology nowaday, still working on flutter frameworks. In fact i am not really good with javascript... and.... i still want to chase the career on flutter as a programmer. Wish to all self taught programmer be prosper!

[@amandac.4641]

Any advice on books to read for software engineering? Maybe mayuko could do her top software engineering/ programmer books she love or feel what ppl should read to help them better understand code? 🙂

[@14xx07]

It’s easy to say “find a mentor”. but there’s only that many programmers would empathise and take us under their wings. I was hoping to hear some tools and place to start off with… besides brilliant. This is a pretty video with little practical help for those who wanna get started. :/

[@vieyra1996]

Exactly

[@UNKNWN96]

I find this to be difficult if you don’t already have friends that you know who are programming, all my mentors were my friends before they were my mentors so the transition was pretty easy since we got along so well already. The generic answer is “just network” but it’s really difficult and I feel for those who aren’t fortunate to know someone already working in the field that would be willing to mentor them.

[@stevensong8784]

Thanks!

[@hellomayuko]

Wow thank you Steven!!

[@theencryptedpartition4633]

I think the reason why we feel impostor syndrome is that we wanna work with people who understand and support you and often times you want to be able to understand and support them. But when someone is significantly smarter or better than you (hypothetically), we think that we’ll be just wasting their time, or that they’ll mock us somehow. I mean that’s the feel I used to get, maybe will get itf (I hope not) still kinda hard not to feel it when you’re 16

[@ridhaanshari9342]

Whoa it's posted on my birthday

[@adonigarcia1651]

Good Video, i just want to tell: learning what you need to know is simple just take a week to learn a programming language and start to make project than when you have an idea to put into your project then to Google and you will be learning how somthing is used, so i have been learning, if someone working in the industry see this i would like to show my progess and so help me to make networking. Thank you.

[@kessiezhang9357]

I noticed that lately a lot of data scientists switch to software engineers. Can you talk about your opinion on this?

[@alkaniranjan8625]

remember learn from anywhere except social media like tik tok , twitter etc the will put you into jeopardy a

[@sheereenfathima]

In my life I really struggle to understand what is programming I never find this much difficulty in my life for learning and understanding something new 😭😭😭😭