Is a career as a developer the way to go?

I'll keep it short and sweet.

- Have a bachelors degree in phys ed
- Always liked computers/ video games etc but not "passionate" about them
- athletic and active personality
- Been looking into other types of fields for a career to set myself up financially and be practical
- Eventually want to be self employed and build a business
- Looking into web development etc recently
- Front end developer to start?

My question is...

Is teaching myself through something like freecodecamp (along with other resources to supplement that) enough to get a front end dev job? From there I would continue learning but does anyone know anyone who has self-taught themselves or have any of you done it yourselves?

In my area (live in a big city) javascript developers apparently can make anywhere from 20-65$ an hour at the high end.

It seems like you haven't even tried to code yet its really hard. I would rather learn code to make my life easier than as a living. It really easy to monetize the skill and you could freelance for good money coding.

so i mean what ive done so far is probably spent a few hours in html css and javascript. like very very basics.

I can understand that other languages etc may be hard, javascript might even be hard. But i recognize that it is a good way to make a living and then some.

I've been coding since I can remember and have coded commercial for well over 10 years now. Pros and cons so far.

Pros
Good salary
Stress to pay ratio is excellent, lawyers/doctors don't earn a huge amount more than good developers
Pretty easy if it's also your hobby
Intellectually stimulating


Cons
Sausage fest
Stuck at a desk most of the day
If you don't have a project manager be prepared to deal with idiots
People age out of it generally speaking

Also be aware the harder it is the more you'll be paid. Pay scale is generally front end visual, front end dev, back end easy Dev (php+python etc) back end c# java, then specialists and consultants.

Also there is a lot of contracting in IT but I'll leave that for you to investigate lol

You have to really want to do the job tbh, having a slight interest in it will not really cut it.

It will take quite some time to become proficient in it and the goes can be long as the unexpected always seems to happen.

It can be very rewarding if you are into problem solving but without some form of portfolio or table examples of work you are unlikely to be earning much for the short term. You could always try following some tutorials and see how you like it, just give it some time as you aren't learning how to code anything practical in a week.

Like just about anything else, it's a great career option if it's something you enjoy doing. The pay is quite good, and you may even be able to work remotely one day.

First try it out. Learn to code a website or an app and if it's something you can see yourself doing and enjoying in the long run, then go for it.

Web dev is mostly Googling and copy/pasting. Very little has to be figured out. You just have to get to a level of competence to be able to know what to copy and where to paste it. Once you get there (~12 months and you can be quite competent), a whole world of options opens up.

I personally like coding. I can spend hours. But it was not like this before.
I started my degree without exactly knowing what is this all about.

But I see lots and lots of people trying to do something else and they just don't GET coding.

It's about you liking it or not.

If you like solving problems and you don't mind sitting on a chair for hours staring at your laptop for hours, go for it.

Health is important too.. sitting and staring at computer for hours is not a good thing to do..

I think nobody can answer the question for you... but I recommend to use the Power of Now. I code for about a month and start learning with freecode. cum. Subscribe now and start to code, they have a good way to teach and they almost force you to interact and network with coder all over the world. And they introduce you to the Github world wich is elementary for future projects and jobs.

As long as you understand that you can't master this shit in a few weeks of hard work but it requires dedication and constant effort, you'll make a good living.

Being a DEV is the future but I don't have the time if I was a lot younger I would have started coding at school and follow a degree in it.

I would probably try personal trainer.

I think that before doing that you have to ask yourself "Do i like it?".
If yes, do it, it's a good paying job and really fun.

I started as a developer 10 yrs ago. It's very hard because you need always to learn new things.
Frameworks or Versions are updating every year. You need always to be up to date to provide a good service to your customers.
Sometimes it can be very frustrating and it is a long way to go but the salary is very good

I'm going to go against the grain here. Being a dev used to be a good career path, and I'm sure that there will be some bright areas here and there still. Especially if you have a specialty.

But...

Supply and demand. Schools are trying to crank coders out. We will be awash in developers in the next few decades.

If you develop for yourself, then I would say you've got a great chance at making some bank.

If you try to work for a company as a dev, then I imagine it's going to be a race to the bottom. You'll be competing with everyone. Back in the day, experience was a great thing, but in development, "experienced" can mean your knowledge is getting old and you might get turned over for the next college grad who knows about the latest tech. You're constantly retooling, it's a treadmill.

The ones that seemed to have bucked the trend are COBOL devs, but that is just because huge corporations got themselves stuck with it. I don't think they'll make that same mistake again. The corps hate paying 6 figures to devs they laid off decades ago.

Anyways, globalization paired with the coming tidal wave of kids learning development in grade school I think spells doom for the ordinary development career.

I hate coding but I like front end development and graphic design even if I don't have any talent at drawing . As a front end you just have to follow the trends and keep it effective.

seo said:

Supply and demand. Schools are trying to crank coders out. We will be awash in developers in the next few decades.

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The demand is much much higher than the supply and I don't see a change for this in the feature, barring a big economy bust, which will be affecting every profession anyway so...

The key factor why your analysis is missing the mark is that the "constant retooling" that you mentioned creates a steep curve that allows the good ones to constantly be a league apart from the mediocre ones, since the latter don't have enough time to catch up. Therefore, in this line of business, there is a guaranteed torrent of highly paid work if you are on the upper 20%. That said, the mediocre ones don't have a problem making a living either, since the demand is huge.

If you try to work for a company as a dev, then I imagine it's going to be a race to the bottom. You'll be competing with everyone.

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That's a race to the top.

Back in the day, experience was a great thing, but in development, "experienced" can mean your knowledge is getting old and you might get turned over for the next college grad who knows about the latest tech.

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The college grad does *not* know the latest tech, unless they learned it outside of the curriculum on their own. Curriculum lags dramatically - go to Harvard CS, they'll teach you Joomla. Furthermore, real wanted experience is "I've made this and that and that and helped drive in $x millions in revenue" - the grad doesn't have that.

Anyways, globalization paired with the coming tidal wave of kids learning development in grade school I think spells doom for the ordinary development career.

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I guess you are right if by ordinary career you mean "low production in a cubicle". But if by career we mean high productivity from anywhere, it's a train with no breaks.

jazzc said:

The demand is much much higher than the supply and I don't see a change for this in the feature, barring a big economy bust, which will be affecting every profession anyway so...

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That's why I mention decades. It'll take a while for the school kids to get into the job market. But it will get saturated. It has to because industry will demand it.

The key factor why your analysis is missing the mark is that the "constant retooling" that you mentioned creates a steep curve that allows the good ones to constantly be a league apart from the mediocre ones, since the latter don't have enough time to catch up. Therefore, in this line of business, there is a guaranteed torrent of highly paid work if you are on the upper 20%. That said, the mediocre ones don't have a problem making a living either, since the demand is huge.

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The problem is many developers are so involved with their work that they don't have the time to retool. But I didn't miss this point as I mentioned having a "specialty" in my post. COBOL ended up being a specialty by accident. Structural unemployment is a real thing.

That's a race to the top.

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No, when you're competing with a bunch of other people, it drives wages down.

The college grad does *not* know the latest tech, unless they learned it outside of the curriculum on their own. Curriculum lags dramatically - go to Harvard CS, they'll teach you Joomla. Furthermore, real wanted experience is "I've made this and that and that and helped drive in $x millions in revenue" - the grad doesn't have that.

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The college grad of today has newer knowledge than the college grad of the 90s or early 2000s.

I guess you are right if by ordinary career you mean "low production in a cubicle". But if by career we mean high productivity from anywhere, it's a train with no breaks.

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When people speak of "careers" they're usually talking about the "safe", "steady" paycheck. Entrepreneurship is the only way to go, which is why I mention working for yourself you can make bank.

Appreciate the responses. I definitely like problem solving.


Edit: on a side note, I do plan on being my own boss someday whether it be in this field or one I am crazy passionate about. The thing is I want a solid plan B so if i screw up i have a good 'job' to fall back on that will actually pay the bills in this city and eventually support a family etc.

I've seen posts about "the fastest way to a jr front end dev job" etc which is EXACTLY what im after...right now.

Given my situation i want to be job ready asap (3-7 months?) but i wouldnt stop learning after that. I just want to focus on a few things so i can do what employers want me to do which from what i understand is html, css, jquery, some javascript and sometimes maybe php.

But ANYWAY ive tried a little bit and i dont mind it. Im a very active person outside of work so i mean balancing sitting with activity isnt hard for me.

Just wondering if you guys have any good resources to start learning. There are so many out there its hard to just pick one because it might be missing A, or B, or C. Who knows i might do this for a week and hate it so i guess that part is up to me to figure out. I think being a developer is super cool but also intimidating because you need to know so much.

I plan on either doing freecodecamp front end along with reading a few javascript books and maybe 1 or 2 other html cssc courses OR


I plan on doing the teamtreehouse front end dev track and then the fullstack javascript track along with a few books like i said if i feel like i am missing something. From there i would build my portfolio up, build some sites or web apps and then start applying. Does this seem like a good plan? BTW im in Canada near a very large city so TECH is big here.

seo said:

That's why I mention decades. It'll take a while for the school kids to get into the job market. But it will get saturated. It has to because industry will demand it.

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Good dev skills is a high bar to entry, therefore it's different than cranking out bricks to build more houses.

The problem is many developers are so involved with their work that they don't have the time to retool.

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Tons of time if you want to make time. But, if one doesn't want to make time, of course one will be bypassed by the competition.

But I didn't miss this point as I mentioned having a "specialty" in my post.

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Specialization is the whole point in this business, because it has an exponential curve of "latest shining tech, yay!".

No, when you're competing with a bunch of other people, it drives wages down.

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For whom? Certainly not for the top 20%. Also, wages are a result of demand as well of supply. And demand is stellar.

The college grad of today has newer knowledge than the college grad of the 90s or early 2000s.

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Which is also mostly obsolete and therefore does not provide a competitive advantage.

When people speak of "careers" they're usually talking about the "safe", "steady" paycheck.

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They should move to Venezuela.

Entrepreneurship is the only way to go, which is why I mention working for yourself you can make bank.

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Absolutely. At the same time, there is great money at the higher ends of the pyramid for those who don't have what it takes to go that way.