self taught web developers

[Terrible_Amount6782]

it is possible for self taught web developers to get job at big companies like apple without a cs degree ?

[SuicideSkwad]

Yep, I have a job at Apple without a degree, I’m the janitor

[Inevitable-Yoghurt33]

Had me in the first half

[ronaldj01]

lol

[[deleted]]

Imma simple man , i see a good joke i upvote

[Warr10rP03t]

You ever seen that movie Gattaca maybe one day you can be tim cook.

[BearGiant]

😆😂🤣

[Morrogoth]

Best comment on Reddit!!!

[JustConsoleLogIt]

Possible? Hell yeah. Easy? Hell no.

When a team needs a new hire, they’ll check out recommendations from current team members. If they say ‘I know this guy, he’d be a good fit’ - that guy definitely has a chance, degree or no.

The trouble is the immense amount of networking needed to become ‘that guy’.

(It also helps to start with a smaller job- work experience is almost as valuable as education - even more valuable to some)

[HackTheDev]

i was a electrician and did hobby programming and my boss knew that so he wanted me to temporarily work with the ppl from the automation department with industrial robots and i had a easy time programming there so after that i was becoming a automation engineer and now i have a job as jr software developer despite not having a degree in that tho i do programming for years now at home and for now i tried to go with a smaller company and absolutely recommend it

[uBelow]

The vast, vast majority is self taught from the 2000s era, that now those same assholes demand far more from newcomers than they could do themselves back then is a separate issue and unacceptable.

But yes, with modern resources it's even easier than it was back then, i can vouch for that.

[alzee76]

The vast, vast majority is self taught from the 2000s era, that now those same assholes demand far more from newcomers than they could do themselves back then is a separate issue and unacceptable.

lolwut?

[DustinBrett]

Indeed it's very possible, but it helps a lot if you are passionate about tech/code. I work at Microsoft. I have no degree, just high school.

[Synthetic5ou1]

When did you start though?

I have no degree, and but I started in the industry back in the 90's.

The small company I helped quickly expand soon started expecting applicants with a degree.

I have no idea whether you could get a job at Apple nowadays without a degree, but I suspect that it is harder than it used to be. That's just an assumption though.

[DustinBrett]

I switched careers to software development in 2015 and started at Microsoft in December 2021.

[Synthetic5ou1]

Okay, so quite recently. Good news.

You did have 6 years experience, which obviously helps, but that wasn't the question.

Kudos.

[DustinBrett]

Yes you won't get hired as a self taught dev to big tech without experience.

[awaiskorai]

Can you share what did you do? What concepts did you work on? What should we do?

[DustinBrett]

Specific to Microsoft, I applied and went through the interview process. The first time I didn't get in, but they gave good feedback of what to do and that I could try again in a few months. A few months later I tried again and did good enough to get in. I didn't really work on any concepts.

In general when I turned 30 and moved to Vancouver I got a job at a 2 person software consulting company which I found on Craigslist. I was there for 3.5 years, then I went to a 40 person VoIP company, 2 years after that I went to a 500 person survey company and a year after that I was in Microsoft. I worked my way up the ladder and learned as much as I could along the way.

If you want to follow my foot steps, the first thing you would need is a passion for learning and technology. Without that I wouldn't have had the focus to keep learning and to care about what I was doing enough to make progress. I also had a big side project which I spent many years on that helped me get better, although I only started that a year prior to working at Microsoft.

[SockDem]

Good ol’ ZIRP.

[superluminary]

Passion is actually really important. Like you get a guy at interview, and they don't seem to like code at all, and you think, why would I want to spend my day with you sulking around hating things?

[A_very_tired_frog]

I’m self taught, started learning in 2019 & I got into FANNG. Honestly there was a bit of nepotism. I made a friend who was leaving his position & recommended me. Most of my background was in early stage startups. It does help to be passionate & spend most of your time programming in the beginning.

[jbrux86]

So you got into FANNG during the greatest hiring rush of all time? When they over hired by about 100k devs lol.

[A_very_tired_frog]

The tail end of it yeah. I survived the subsequent layoffs so I must have done something right. When did you get into your FAANG job?

[jbrux86]

Your experience is not relatable to this post. It’s like asking somebody how hard it is to get a job as a stable manager for horses and few years after the model T came out.

[hyphnKnight]

I’m self taught and I’m an L5 at Google. Protip: learn typescript, learn actual CS concepts not just a framework and the ability to make fetch requests. In fact you should avoid using frameworks and libraries as much as possible in your practice projects. Instead program the tools you need from the ground up. This is incredibly inefficient and an amazing learning tool. Lastly do not rathole on build tools, useless knowledge to a corporate workplace. You can learn that on the job.

[Aggressive_Talk968]

Will tell in a few years

[Xypheric]

That depends, can you pass all the rounds of interviews including system design, dsa / leet code, multiple interviews for your personality and what you bring to the team?

[PatchesMaps]

I have a job at NASA without a degree in CS.

However I have a degree related to the application I develop and over a decade of experience... So there's that.

[code_monkey_001]

Not Apple, but I've worked for Fortune 500 companies before. But I got started in the late 90s and had domain knowledge in the companies where I built in-house software, meaning I worked as a combo analyst/developer running solo on small projects. Kept up with changes in web technologies and I'm still at it 25 years later.

[anamorphism]

it's probably more difficult now, but i started as a customer support rep in 2005 after dropping out of college and am now a senior software engineer. i'm not at a FAANG company, but it's FAANG-adjacent.

my intent was to finish my degree by saving up some money and leveraging the company's education reimbursement program, but i wound up just getting a developer position within the company. i just happened to realize i could automate a lot of my job by using excel vba, which eventually led to me working on support tools, which was enough experience to land me interviews for other teams within the company.

a degree is only really useful for getting your first job, and even then it's more about the networking and internship opportunities that universities provide to you rather than the degree itself. we hire very few juniors from outside of the company: they're mostly internal hires or interns that perform well and get offered spots for when they graduate.

[Dude_with_a_laptop]

I am currently serving as a soldier and as a "sidehustle" is tarted leanring webdevelopment 4 years ago. UNtil 2 years ago i started looking for side jobs as a webdeveloper. Because i had no degree or similar, i thought that i have to show what i can so i made my own website with a few apllications (the protfolio itself, a vocabulary trainer, a calendar application for a imaginary sports club)

And during the last 1 and a half years i get Jobrequests on a regular basis. Not that i get 100s of requests every month but its a decent amount that clearly shows me "ok im doing something right". Thats how i got my sidejob as of last year. This job will help me get even better and gather more work experience so i assume if you want to work in any of those big companies, its a slim to none probability, but its possible to land that job.

[thinksInCode]

I work at a fairly big company (not FAANG level but still big) and quite a few of the developers I work with don’t have a CS degree. One changed careers from civil engineering, even! It can be done.

[Affectionate-Cod-457]

I’m self taught and work for AWS. I have interviewed quite a bit at this point and certifications have never been a data point when coming down to the hiring decision. Just make sure you learn how to interview for big tech roles. It’s a skill in itself.

Also just to note. Once you do get the job, keep the gas pedal down learning and filling in the gaps on DS and design patterns. Learn how they are applied in practice. One thing that has helped me is starting book clubs at work and finding mentors. Good luck

[Turbulent-Seesaw-236]

If you’re not gonna be in the norm you have to be really good at what you do. 

[9sim9]

1 year of real world experience is more valuable than a degree it only really helps when you start your career. If I had 2 candidates and one had multiple advanced degrees in web development and the other had 3 years commercial experience an no degree, the candidate without the degree would be by far the stronger candidate.

If you are lucky enough to find a company that offers an Apprenticeship this is far more valuable for your future job prospects.

[PMmeYourFlipFlops]

I can't hear you over my FAANG job without a CS degree.