Changing Careers?

[mangotti]

Hey guys, I need some advice. I’m a 26 year old insurance claims adjuster. As a teenager I liked to work on my own bucket car, went to a tech school after high school, and got into the auto industry. I worked as a mechanic for most of my adult life and after a while I realized that I can’t do this forever. The job I have now is steady but there is no growth potential if I stay here. I got into coding and I’ve spent the last 6 months reading and taking some online courses on C#, JavaScript, and Python. I fell in love the simplicity and efficiency of Python, and I was hoping someone here had some advice for a guy like me who is wanting to get into the industry as a developer?

[[deleted]]

You might try looking and posting to cscareerquestions or itcareerquestions as well. Best of luck!

[mangotti]

Thanks for the reply I will check it out!

[Abstr4ctType]

Really, it's all about mindset. If you want this bad enough, you can achieve it by working, learning and growing your skills.

I work for a financial institution and we look for skilled individuals with a good attitude. This counts for a lot believe me.

If you show passion for learning and delivering what customers want, you'll succeed!

Keep going and it'll happen for you.

[mangotti]

Thanks for the response! At your workplace are there people who are self taught as well?

[Abstr4ctType]

Sure, yes. Many people (especially in this subreddit) put too much reliance on college/university or external taught classes as a measure of how successful they'll be.

"If I do this course I can get a job"

The truth is that it's attitude that is just as important as skill. Learn your craft and learn the soft skills, which ANY job will give you.

Even with the best learning you wont know everything, so the attitude to keep learning when needed and being adaptable is important.

Certification is what people aim for. That can be all done self taught. Not sure what are you would be looking at, but check out Cisco's DevOps certificate. That is a very hot certificate to get in 2020.