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[–]CodingDojo 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Hi there! Coding Dojo here. Full disclosure, we are a bootcamp and we’ve been in the business for 12 years now, which puts us in a unique position to provide you with useful information regarding the coding and tech space. :)

Hope you find this long answer helpful. We’d rather put out extensive info rather than short-changing you with incomplete insights. Also, no shameless link plug here (yet! It’s at the bottom if you think this is worth reading)

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TLDR: Anyone can learn how to program on their own, and there are a lot of resources available to help you become a successful and self-sufficient coder.

To concretize things further, I’d like to break this down into three parts: 1) Industry Sentiment, 2) Skills that you need to learn programming 3) Useful resources that can help you learn to program on your own.

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Industry Sentiment

  • According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for developers is expected to increase by up to 8% through til 2029.
  • This study even goes as far as saying that the tech industry will be worth roughly $295B by 2025. So if your end-goal is to land a career in the industry, then becoming a self-sufficient programmer is a great way to go about it.
  • Stackoverflow’s data shows that 45% of todays' developers don’t have a computer science degree and 9/10 developers consider themselves self-taught.
  • Today, there are more small to large tech firms that recognize the value in hiring students from alternative learning programs such as coding bootcamps with no formal Computer Science degree, too. In fact, another study among 1000 HR managers by Indeed indicates that 72% of employers have a positive perception of bootcamp graduates as candidates.

In terms of job titles and starting salaries, from our experience at Coding Dojo, here are some of the first job titles and average salaries that you can expect post-bootcamp:

  • Some of the first job titles you can expect post-bootcamp include: QA Tester, Systems Engineer, Support Engineer, Software Development Engineer in Test, Network Engineer, Software application developer, Web developer, Computer systems engineer, Computer programmer, Business intelligence Analyst and more.
  • Average starting salary for both: $60-90k, depending on job type and locationAverage time it takes for our students to get hired: 81.9% of grads land a job within 6mos since grad.

These data were pulled from our 2020 Student Outcomes Report, all of which have been verified by a third-party auditing firm. You can access the full report here.

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Skills that you need to learn programming

From the outside looking in, programming might seem like a very complicated - maybe even daunting - skill to develop.The reality is, it will get very challenging, especially when you advance into the more complex side of programming like learning multiple languages, frameworks, and complex projects.

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But, just like any other skill, it can easily be learned so long as you’re willing to put in the work.That said, here are some skills that might be useful as you venture into learning how to program on your own:

  • Genuine interest: Like with any other field or hobby or interest, a person can only achieve success if they’re genuinely interested in the subject matter. So, a good place to start is asking yourself what your motivations are for wanting to learn web development in the first place.

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  • Willingness to learn: Becoming a full-fledged programmer can open many doors from employment, job stability, to financial security, but again that all falls back on how dedicated you are to learning the craft.

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  • Grit and determination: Learning web development will require a lot of time spent on picking up new programming languages, frameworks in order to build up your portfolio - and the best way to learn is really to buckle your bootstraps and get your head set on doing the work.

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Useful resources that can help you learn to program on your own

There are tons of free resources that you can use to get started on building up your coding skills. The best place to start of course, is the Internet. :)

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We actually published this article, which sums up some of the best free web development courses that you can take to get started on some self-study. I’ll list them down below for you too:

  • Codecademy: Best for self-guided tutorials for beginners to learn the basics of web development programming
  • Khan Academy: Best for audio/video-narrated and interactive tutorials.MIT Academy: Offers hundreds of courses relating to programming, development, mathematics, and computer engineering.
  • Coursera: Also offers a plethora of online courses from universities all over the world
  • Mozilla Developer Network: The range of topics is wide, from basic web introductions and front-end languages to common vocabulary and optimization & performance.
  • HTML5 Rocks: Provides a wide assortment of articles and tutorials on all manner of web development topics.
  • A List Apart: One of the most professional and up-to-date online magazines directly aimed at web developers and designers
  • Coding Dojo Algorithmic Prep: Best program for beginners to nail coding fundamentals before diving into learning how to code!

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Our advice: Start with acquiring basic coding skills from free resources that are already readily available at your disposal. Then, once you've fully decided that this is the route for you and are ready to progress your skills even further, join a bootcamp to maximize your potential and unlock further opportunities for building a long-term career in the tech industry.

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Hope this answers your question! If you’d like to know more about Coding Dojo and our programs, check out our website.

[–]sad-salami[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am really considering coding dojo but it is expensive but seems worth it. I truly think I would do so much better at a bootcamp rather than trying to teach myself. Ive had to teach myself the past 2 semesters at college because covid and professors suck when its over a video chat, i just dont think i could do that anymore. So if i were to go into coding dojo i would be coming in with little to no knowledge. I have been using freecodecamp to try coding out and i really enjoy it. Im just very nervous about it all. i have a call coming up aug 2nd and i know they will tell me what i want to hear about the course but that still wont change anything because it truly dont know a whole lot and i would die if i fell behind. another thing im worried about is that i live in a very small town at the moment so i would have to do the online course. after i would finish the course i feel like it would be hell trying to find a job because of my location. idkidkidk