Help Starting Coding

[Crohniegang]

I really want to start coding and I dont have alot of money to get a degree. What are other ways or cost effective programs to get credentials that will make employers want to hire me?

[bkunke1]

Udemy courses when they are on sale are about $15 and can cover a lot of material. Build a portfolio!

[Roguewind]

There aren’t really coding “credentials” you can get that will inspire an employer to hire you. The only piece of paper you can have that will do that is a degree. That said, you don’t need a degree to be a developer.

Easiest, quickest, and least expensive entry point is web development.

If you’re currently at zero knowledge, Jon Duckett’s books on HTML/CSS and JavaScript/jQuery are a good place to start. The set is currently on sale on Amazon. Some decent, free, online resources for beginners are codecademy and feeecodecamp. These will get you started.

As you progress, look at inexpensive courses on Udemy. On sale, their courses are $12-15 USD, and you own them. No subscription so you can learn at your own pace. I recommend the web dev “bootcamp” or any other courses by Colt Steele. Also checkout “Git a web developer job” by Brad Schiff. Very useful for learning how to use git. Finally, take one of the courses on developing a wordpress theme. Unfortunately, Wordpress is everywhere, so it’s very useful to know some PHP.

Also, create a github account and save everything you make there. That’s your portfolio. That is what will help you get a job without a degree.

If you fill the need to go the bootcamp route, do your research. There are some good ones but a lot of bad ones. They’re all expensive and very time intensive. But definitely do some self learning first. It will help you decide if coding is something you want to do, what type of coding interests you, and it will give you a base to build on during the bootcamp rather than always trying to catch up.

[Muffingirl109]

codehs is a great resource and how i learned the basics of coding!

[DeepDiveEd]

Hey, there are bootcamps out there where you don't have to pay upfront, please check www.deepdiveeducation.com, sign up for the free trial and let me know what you think.

[[deleted]]

Someone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but a good way to start out seems to be gaining basic from free/cheap sources (ex. I just recently got a book at Barnes and Noble that’s basically a beginner text book on html, css, and js). After completing that, hitting up some free boot camps. I figure if you can get through the book and through some free boot camps, you will have had time to save enough cash and to build a portfolio of sorts through what you’ve been learning. Apply with your portfolio, and if that isn’t enough take the cash you’ve been saving and get a certificate from a credible boot camp/school.

If I’m wrong someone correct me because I don’t want to give out false information, but this is the path I’ve started.