[Help] Training as a coder - where to start?

[matt]

Thanks everyone for your replies

 

[clapham_gull]

Python is what they teach 14+ year olds in Secondary Schools around here - which presumably gives evidence to its "easiness" but also its widespread professional use??

Sort off, but I was taught Pascal at school in the 1980s.

Doesn't really matter which language you start with. Things like variables, loops, logic etc.. are common to all languages.

Sent from my SM-A526B using Tapatalk

 

[Wozza]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9WqpQp8VSU&ab_channel=NamanhKapur

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Thanks everyone for your replies

Thinking a wee bit outside the box OP, has your friend considered as career change to software tester, rather than coder? Every coder is always super-confident that their code is completely free of bugs, and every coder is always completely wrong.

Main advantages of training up as a software tester rather than a coder are:

a) you dont usually need any knowledge of the underlying computer language of the system you're testing so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket

b) every single IT project of any note needs extensive testing before going live so there will always be a demand for your services

c) the money's good, more or less on a par with coder pay

Here's a good place to start looking at getting recognised industry-wide accreditation

https://www.bcs.org/qualifications-...rofessionals/software-testing-certifications/

 

[matt]

^ That's really interesting and probably not something that he has considered so far. Thank you

 

[CheeseRolls]

Hi all,

A friend of mine is considering learning to code with the hope of being able to change his career path (currently he works in customer services). There seems to be a very wide range of online courses (paid and free) available, so I wondered if anyone with current knowledge of this area could offer some advice or insight on which skills are most sought after, which qualifications are well regarded, and any other tips on how to get a foot in the door.

If it is of any relevance he is bilingual (Spanish and English).

Thanks in advance.

Hello World.

 

[clapham_gull]

Thinking a wee bit outside the box OP, has your friend considered as career change to software tester, rather than coder? Every coder is always super-confident that their code is completely free of bugs, and every coder is always completely wrong.

Main advantages of training up as a software tester rather than a coder are:

a) you dont usually need any knowledge of the underlying computer language of the system you're testing so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket

b) every single IT project of any note needs extensive testing before going live so there will always be a demand for your services

c) the money's good, more or less on a par with coder pay

Here's a good place to start looking at getting recognised industry-wide accreditation

https://www.bcs.org/qualifications-...rofessionals/software-testing-certifications/

In my opinion the BCS has focused far too much of the "business analysis" side of the things and have tendency to offer the "soft skills" of the IT industry.

By far the best place to learn is University. I'm not a huge fan of the BCS or the courses they offer, just a personal opinion.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

In my opinion the BCS has focused far too much of the "business analysis" side of the things and have tendency to offer the "soft skills" of the IT industry.

By far the best place to learn is University. I'm not a huge fan of the BCS or the courses they offer, just a personal opinion.

In my fairly extensive experience, companies would almost always opt for somebody with six months relevant experience over a graduate with zero relevant experience. Harsh maybe, but them's the breaks

 

[beorhthelm]

good shout on testing, under appreciated area of the software development world. often leads into development.

wanted to add with a background in customer services and no CompSci or tech, would be better to focus on front end development. easier learning curve and applicable transferable skills understanding and meeting client requests.

 

[Happy Exile]

As others have said knowing what kind of development you want to do is important. I don't work in IT anymore but encounter a lot of data analysts in my role and that seems like a constantly growing sector with good earnings for people who can use R and Python (and even those who know how to use Excel for complex statistical analysis can do OK). Organisations have never collected so much staff and customer data - HR relies on it (or should), L&D teams need it, sales teams, marketing, if you're an organisation over a certain size you need to report on things like gender pay gap (other pay gap reporting likely to come in soon too), increasingly ESG metrics need to be reported on for investors etc etc.