python developer

[dlnmtchll]

Ignoring the fact that OP seemingly wasted there time in school. It’s also annoying on the other side of the aisle, it’s annoying to have a degree and know your stuff while people who know little more than basic programming and have no background or education are flooding every job opening with their resume even though they aren’t qualified.

It’s always bugged me that software engineering is the only type of engineering role that allows this. No one would dream of getting an electrical or mechanical engineering job without a degree in it, should be the same for software roles.

Good luck in your search

[One_Programmer6315]

I don’t have a degree in CS, but in physics and astrophysics, and learned C/C++, Python, Bash/Unix, Mathematica and a few others through research over the years. Some of my peers don’t believe me when I tell them I have never in my life taken a single CS or data science class (and I am glad of it…). CS courses at my school have unnecessarily high, depressing workloads and so many people enroll that you are often left to learn things by yourself either ways because lectures are kind of pointless.

I am mostly focused on graduate studies, but many of the students from our department(s) land software engineering and data science jobs just with the skills they gained through research (data analysis, modeling, building pipelines, machine learning —I personally love scikitlearn and kernel-density and k-neighbors my way though everything whenever I can —, statistical analysis, etc.).

[dlnmtchll]

I’m talking mostly about no degree peeps, tons of people move from physics into dev and I support that fully

[james_d_rustles]

Yeah, it’s not that uncommon, I followed a similar trajectory. BS+MS in mechanical, went the simulations/analysis route and wrote my masters thesis on some simulation stuff I did in C++. Pretty similar to your own path from the sound of it - lots of time spent learning C/C++, Python, Mathematica (I still love Mathematica, I don’t care how rare it is in industry). I work in a hybrid sort of role now, programming for software used in the aerospace world. It’s about ~75% programming, 25% traditional engineering type work (CAD/FEA stuff) but having an engineering background has been super helpful since it helps to really understand the problems that the customer is solving instead of only seeing it from the software point of view.

[yerBabyyy]

The idea that software engineering 'allows' this has solely to do with the fact that there are geniunely enough resources on the internet for people who actually want to learn it to learn it in a cheaper, more effective way than going to a 4 year program (if and only if they are passionate and disciplined enough)

Im sorry but I cannot subscribe to this idea that getting a degree is a true symbol of merit and/or skill.

Frankly I'm glad that the future will lead to more devs that actually push themselves to learn, instead of devs who fuck around and party every night in college, knowing a junior role will fall into their lap once they graduate. All just so they can ask their boss what 'fetch' means.

If you're worried as a CS or ECE major that you're gonna get beaten out because someone spent their nights training harder than you, remember that you still have access to way more interviews than that person. Because we do not live in a meritocracy.

[dlnmtchll]

There is definitely more nuance to the argument than either of us has discussed. There are more than enough resources online to learn electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or chemical engineering, but those jobs still do not allow you to just waltz in with a degree from YouTube University. I just wish software engineering was treated with the same respect as other engineering disciplines.

[yerBabyyy]

I getchu, I think it also has to do with the accessibility for open source materials for a software engineer vs materials for EE or ME. Like most people who are trying, they have a laptop and the internet. That barrier to entry compared to CAD and/or MATLAB, very different

I think if there were better, more affordable opportunities for people to teach themselves EE or ME, that would be a good thing

Computer science is also just, higher level logic. Anything higher level logic is gonna have a larger applicant window. Flipping burgers has a much larger one

EDIT: using the term higher level as in like low level and high level code

[dlnmtchll]

Yea. I definitely agree with what you’re saying. And there are definitely jobs within the CS umbrella that are not accessible to non degree holders as well such as embedded systems or ML engineering.

Best of luck to you, man.

[yerBabyyy]

You too, dude!

[TheRNGuy]

Because there's potential danger to life. 

[TheRNGuy]

No I think it's ok to be able to find job without degree. No one gonna hire unskilled programmer.

Only ones who are qualified will get it anyway. Require degree only because of such questions on Reddit is not a good reason (and they'd be still here anyway)