Can you become a Self Taught Software Engineer?
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The Internet provides an endless supply of online learning resources that range from free to very expensive. If you want to enjoy a career as a software engineer, web developer, web designer, programmer, Internet marketing expert, or anything that involves Internet technologies, the following tips can help you find your way.
Your Requirements
Use a journal, 3-ring binder, or notebook to keep track of your goals. List your requirements and at minimum list the following plus anything else that is important to you:
How much do you want to earn and where do you want to work?
Type of work environment, company, clients?
Work remotely from home, travel to office, casual, formal, corporate, start up, freelance, employee, contractor.
Job title you want in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years.
Career requirements.
Set aside at least an hour to go online and research your options. Visit websites that post the type of jobs you hope to work in the future. Note the job requirements, compensation, location, and mark that down in your binder. Focus your research based on what you listed as your requirements in the previous step. For example, if you want to work in Florida as a Web Developer for Walt Disney, you will research the career section of Walt Disney websites and list what they require.
Required skills
As you make your new list, you will probably see mention of technologies, languages, and software that you never heard of before and some that you have heard of before. List the skill requirements in your binder or make a copy of the job listing, highlight the skill requirements and keep it in your binder.
I listed a few online job sites at the end of this column, but use Google to focus your search for your own interests and goals. Now that you have a list of what you want and what the companies require from you, you can start researching how you are going to learn and gain experience for those skills.
Schedule
Plan time for studying, testing, reviewing what you are learning, and networking online with people that are like you with common interests in learning and creating software. If you are serious about a career as a software engineer or web developer, you should plan to dedicate at least 20 to 35 hours per week to studying or working on software engineering or development projects.
Study, Create and Network
I listed online learning resources at the end of this column and I suggest you dedicate 20 hours per week to read, study, and follow along with all the exercises from whatever resource you are using. Plan to put another 5 to 10 hours per week to review and experiment with what you just learned by creating various code blocks or whatever it is you are learning at the time. Keep your experiments in a dedicated folder with a Descriptive name on your external hard drive. Better yet, put your experiments on your website. Tumblr, WordPress, Google Sites, and many others are free for you to use and learn with.
Plan for another 1 to 5 hours per week to socialize and network on the Internet with people that are working in your dream career or fellow students that are also learning what you are learning. Keep all correspondence polite, professional, and respectful and you will find yourself with many positive opportunities to work on interesting projects with people that also respect and value what you bring to the table.
Work in Your Chosen Career Field
As you learn, you can always be working on your portfolio to show your skills, interests, and experience. When you approach your dream company or client, you should be prepared to answer their questions, do an interview on the spot, and provide the following:
Portfolio: Include details of what you did, how you did it, what software, languages you used. Video reviews, text descriptions, and of course beautiful photographs and screenshots. Actual working websites and software that you created. Use the Internet to research what makes an excellent portfolio and check out the list of resources at the end of this column.
Testimonials: You should have written testimonials from your clients, peers, coworkers, fellow students, teachers, and anyone that can provide some insight into what it is like to be involved with you and your work. LinkedIn is an excellent professional resource.
Resume: You can use Google Docs to customize your resume with any of their resume templates.
Business Card: It’s a good idea to have a nice business card that helps you find your dream career and clients. Do not hand it out like candy and qualify people before you give them your card. Use the Internet to research awesome business cards and how to qualify your dream client.
Resources:
Lifehacker Learn to Code Night School Course. http://lifehacker.com/5744113/learn-to-code-the-full-beginners-guide
Codecademy. http://www.codecademy.com
Code School. http://www.codeschool.com/
Lynda.com online software training videos. http://www.lynda.com/
Full Sail University. http://www.FullSail.Edu
More Online Resources:
http://www.FreeLanceSwitch.com
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