Coding skills and job opportunities

[Lila9]

I decided to change my career path. I'm a graphic designer by my profession but I realised that I want to explore new things.

I started learning coding to see how it goes and I find it intresting.

I realised that I enjoy the challenge of learning a completely new skill that I've never seriously considered before. Until I started I had some positive experience with coding in the past in some design projects but I was afraid to develop myself more in that direction because some limiting beliefs like "I'm good in humane interests that involve creativity like art and bad at realistic interests that involve logic like math ", or "because I'm a woman I must be bad at problem solving".

But I found it to be false, I found that I'm pretty good at both and that in fact they aren't really separated like I used to think, they are tangled with eachother and in order to be really good in one type of interest it helps to understand the other.

I found that I solve problems and use logic in many small and big decisions everyday, as much as I use my intuition and go with my gut feelings everyday. 

Like when I draw a certain object and I want it to be proportional and accurate as much as possible to the reference, I measure the distance between different parts of the object, add or subtract things in my head and on the paper to make my drawing fit the object from the reference, I do kind of math in my head in order to draw well, without math it wouldn't be as accurate and proportionate as in the reference and the object's beauty from the reference wouldn't pass to my drawing.

And vise verse, for a mathematician to be a good one it helps to be creative, think outside of the box and search new solutions to the problems in order to be solved. 

I think that this kind of belief came from the myth that you can't be good in one subject and in another "contradictory" subject at the same time but in reality it never really separated, the separation is a complete illusion and this illusion is a prison for personal development.

I think about Leonardo Da Vinci who had interests in what we usually see as "contradictory" subjects and if we dive in we see how his understanding in one subject supported the another and without this understanding in the another "contradictory" subject he wouldn't be that good. 

Sorry if I got a little off topic because I'm a bit excited to talk about it.

What I'm aiming to know is what are good job opportunities for people who know how to code (no matter what language)? 

The job that I'm aiming for is:

-Requires coding skills

-Can be done remotely

-In demand by companies

-May or may not involve artistic skills

 

Also, if some of you have a direct experience with learning to code from scratch and finding a job I'd love to get some tips and advices.

 

Thank you 💜

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Lila9

[Gesundheit2]

Frontend web development might just be the perfect fit for you.

Alternatively, you can do backend, or mobile development.

[Lila9]

2 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

Frontend web development might just be the perfect fit for you.

Alternatively, you can do backend, or mobile development.

Thanks 

[thepixelmonk]

Related recent post I made in a similar thread: https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/85597-is-becoming-a-software-developer-worth-it/#comment-1206795

I'm also completely self-taught. Went to like a single semester of computer science in college, decided it was way too slow and just went straight into the workforce. There's very little red tape in this industry and it's definitely possible to bootstrap yourself. Some resources off the top of my head:

• odin project is a great intro to web dev, completely free.
• From there you can check out challenge sites like https://www.codewars.com which can provide simple problems to start solving.
• The sooner you can handle actual projects like https://projectbook.code.brettchalupa.com and even better getting into things like https://screeps.com and you'll be well on your way.

I haven't really gone through much youtube content but there's definitely some good stuff on there, I just don't learn by video usually, although I am currently going through this action rpg guide in order to learn godot and get into game development a bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbG8Oi-SvQ, it's pretty easy to follow along if you know some basics and might be fun if you're into the idea of gamedev

As for jobs, depending on the exact type of work i'm looking for I'll use resources like:

• Monthly hacker news freelancer threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30515749
• There are some good subreddits which I've found high quality work on: https://www.reddit.com/r/jobbit/comments/woft8a/for_hire_experienced_fullstack_software_engineer/
• When looking for full-time salaried work I've had luck on platforms like hired, there are a bunch of them out there these days: https://hired.com/
• If you're able to get into platforms like toptal you can find pretty high quality clients: https://toptal.com. I've also used the more basic platforms like https://www.upwork.com
• Random collection of job-related urls I've saved over the years: https://pinboard.in/u:saiko-chriskun/t:jobs

[Lila9]

@thepixelmonk

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and for the resources! That's very helpful.

I already started an Udemy coding course for beginners but when I finish, I'll definitely check the resources you provided.

[the_void_of_chaos]

@Lila9 Hey! I dropped out of college last year and started learning coding (iOS development) from Udemy and self-actualizing. Got a job last month on freelancer.com. Tbh, I could have got a job much sooner had I not been too lazy but ehh...whatever, I'm too harsh on myself. The sooner you start creating your own projects, the better. That's my advice. Udemy is great but you'll need to wreck your brain over problems and googling stuff all day but hey, everything is achievable! 

Freelancing is good if are just starting out. It will help you get used to the pressure and real-life projects. I'm still a noob in real-life but we're all learning.
You can either do web development or mobile development. If you are creative, that's for you because you can create the UI however you like.
Or, you can do whatever you find interesting. (A non-coding skill, if you're creative is using Blender...it's so cool!)
Also, if you are into Metaverse, you can start looking into Solidity...I think they get paid well.

Another thing I advice you to do is go to different freelancing websites and compare job prices there. Sometimes (~ once every 2 months), there's a sum which can blow your mind...but you'll have to be an expert to get that sum. Other times, it's good and sometimes, it's mehh. The payment varies. 

[Lila9]

1 hour ago, the_void_of_chaos said:

The sooner you start creating your own projects, the better. That's my advice. Udemy is great but you'll need to wreck your brain over problems and googling stuff all day but hey, everything is achievable! 

Freelancing is good if are just starting out. It will help you get used to the pressure and real-life projects. I'm still a noob in real-life but we're all learning.

@the_void_of_chaos These are really good advices. Thank you for sharing and congrats for the job!

 

[Leo Gura]

Here's two hot options:

1) PHP/JavaScript/MySQL -- serious web development

2) C#/Unity -- game development

Both can get paid really well if you develop the skills. And they are relatively easy to learn.

Since you have graphics skills, game dev might suit you well.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Osaid]

37 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

2) C#/Unity -- game development

Both can get paid really well if you develop the skills. And they are relatively easy to learn.

Any courses or resources you recommend on getting into Unity/game development? How should one start? 

[Leo Gura]

5 minutes ago, Osaid said:

Any courses or resources you recommend on getting into Unity/game development? How should one start? 

There are tons of courses and turtorials online. Just search.

Lynda.com and Udemy have many comprehensive courses. All software can be learned through Lynda.com and similar sites.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Osaid]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

There are tons of courses and turtorials online. Just search.

Lynda.com and Udemy have many comprehensive courses. All software can be learned through Lynda.com and similar sites.

Got it, thanks.

[Lila9]

8 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Here's two hot options:

1) PHP/JavaScript/MySQL -- serious web development

2) C#/Unity -- game development

Both can get paid really well if you develop the skills. And they are relatively easy to learn.

Since you have graphics skills, game dev might suit you well.

@Leo Gura Thank you for the advice Leo! I'll consider the game development option. 

[thepixelmonk]

10 hours ago, Osaid said:

Any courses or resources you recommend on getting into Unity/game development? How should one start? 

Check out the gamedev video series I linked in my above post. Work on your own projects as much as possible. Participate in game jams, there are tons that happen regularly. Godot has a community one that happens every single month on their discord. Playing things like screeps can help get you started just programming more and can introduce you to coding game AIs while having some fun with it.

Edited December 10, 2022 by thepixelmonk

[Understander]

@Osaid 

Get a library card!

Some of them allow you to access Linkedin learning, O'Reilly and Udemy (only in US) courses.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Understander

[Osaid]

On 12/10/2022 at 11:51 AM, thepixelmonk said:

Check out the gamedev video series I linked in my above post. Work on your own projects as much as possible. Participate in game jams, there are tons that happen regularly. Godot has a community one that happens every single month on their discord. Playing things like screeps can help get you started just programming more and can introduce you to coding game AIs while having some fun with it.

 

3 hours ago, Understander said:

Get a library card!

Some of them allow you to access Linkedin learning, O'Reilly and Udemy (only in US) courses.

Thanks

[Think Leo]

On 12/10/2022 at 6:51 PM, thepixelmonk said:

Check out the gamedev video series I linked in my above post. Work on your own projects as much as possible. Participate in game jams, there are tons that happen regularly. Godot has a community one that happens every single month on their discord. Playing things like screeps can help get you started just programming more and can introduce you to coding game AIs while having some fun with it.

Thanks for sharing. Your post is valuable.

[herghly]

On 10/12/2022 at 0:27 AM, thepixelmonk said:

Related recent post I made in a similar thread: https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/85597-is-becoming-a-software-developer-worth-it/#comment-1206795

I'm also completely self-taught. Went to like a single semester of computer science in college, decided it was way too slow and just went straight into the workforce. There's very little red tape in this industry and it's definitely possible to bootstrap yourself. Some resources off the top of my head:

• odin project is a great intro to web dev, completely free.
• From there you can check out challenge sites like https://www.codewars.com which can provide simple problems to start solving.
• The sooner you can handle actual projects like https://projectbook.code.brettchalupa.com and even better getting into things like https://screeps.com and you'll be well on your way.

I haven't really gone through much youtube content but there's definitely some good stuff on there, I just don't learn by video usually, although I am currently going through this action rpg guide in order to learn godot and get into game development a bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbG8Oi-SvQ, it's pretty easy to follow along if you know some basics and might be fun if you're into the idea of gamedev

As for jobs, depending on the exact type of work i'm looking for I'll use resources like:

• Monthly hacker news freelancer threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30515749
• There are some good subreddits which I've found high quality work on: https://www.reddit.com/r/jobbit/comments/woft8a/for_hire_experienced_fullstack_software_engineer/
• When looking for full-time salaried work I've had luck on platforms like hired, there are a bunch of them out there these days: https://hired.com/
• If you're able to get into platforms like toptal you can find pretty high quality clients: https://toptal.com. I've also used the more basic platforms like https://www.upwork.com
• Random collection of job-related urls I've saved over the years: https://pinboard.in/u:saiko-chriskun/t:jobs

This is AWESOME, thank you

[Spiral]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:10 AM, Leo Gura said:

Here's two hot options:

1) PHP/JavaScript/MySQL -- serious web development

Terrible. Typescript is more useful these days. Php was cool 10 years ago. Sql is fine but that’s backend.

Edited February 14 by Spiral

[supremeyingyang]

@Lila9  How went things this far with your coding journey - could you decide to commit to a path? I'd like to know that

[spiritual memes]

You might like data analyst specialising in data visualisation. The coding part shouldn't be to difficult and your graphic design skills could be used to make really nice looking graphs. It would require some knowledge of statistics though.