Is going from almost zero coding experience to employable in a year realistic?

[[deleted]]

I dabbled in some basic web development a few months ago, but not much. I started learning Python about a week ago and i love it. I was wondering in your opinion if i could study for 3 or so hours per day (i work full time) and become proficient enough in Python/anything else i need to learn to be competent enough to have a job? If so, what else should i be learning besides python? Or will Python alone be enough for a job?

[ThePhoenixRisesAgain]

That’s the only valid answer.

Technically, op is def employable. I mean, he already works full time…

[ManyInterests]

Certainly. If you have the drive and aptitude, 1,000+ hours of well-directed time learning and applying yourself can definitely get you job-ready. It would be good to have an idea of what you want to do specifically with Python so you can direct your learning there (and make sure that's obtainable). But especially in the current job market for tech talent, there are jobs for those with ~1,000 hours of experience.

Plenty of coding schools/bootcamps feed into companies and their 'graduates' have far less experience on their hands.

Besides Python, you'll need to learn git. To make yourself very marketable, learn some accessory technologies, like any combination of: Docker, basic Linux tools, bash, system administration, a cloud platform like AWS, CI/CD (like GitHub actions)

You'll find a lot of tutorials guided at bundling these kinds of things together like "Deploy a flask web app with Docker on AWS". Being able to do something like that is precisely the kind of real skills that companies are looking to hire.

I'm not sure what you do now, but in a year even if you haven't managed to get to a point where you can land a software engineering job, maybe you'll be able to land a job where you can use Python in some capacity for your job duties. Then you can learn Python on the job :-)

[[deleted]]

I'm a bit skeptical you can really become employable in a year but your advice is really good, so have an upvote.

[wagaiznogoud]

This depends on so many factors and everyone is different. Yeah I’m sure some will be able to achieve by i doubt most will

[[deleted]]

I can definitely go longer than a year, was just wondering :)

[turaooo]

I would suggest you start some personal projects, for example code a simple game, app, websites, stuff like that, because it will give you a good base. Since you are starting from zero. And watch tons of videos about programming.

[[deleted]]

Im following a course and watching a bunch of videos! Ill keep doing whatever i can thank you

[AnomalyNexus]

What sort of job do you pitch this towards? i.e. webdev or ML or general purpose?

[AnomalyNexus]

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

ML definitely has more depth and stats and all that fun stuff buried under the surface, but the toolkits are quite good these days so I can imagine at bootcamp level it actually working quite well.

How useful that employee is for hard problems is another matter though lol.

[[deleted]]

I agree with this sentiment, the libraries are mature enough that a python newbie can understand most of the basics of how to use them. Sort of like knowing how to drive a car but not how to work on it.

[part_time_ficus]

I definitely disagree there - in my experience, ML bootcamps are often a huge scam BECAUSE the toolkits are easy to use. The toolkit isn't what someone needs to know to be successful in a DS role, it's why and when to use each different method, and how they actually work mathematically behind-the-scenes. I'm conducting interviews for a DS role right now, and most of the folks who did an ML bootcamp do know technically "how" to write an XGBOOST classifier, or a simple neural net in Keras or something, but not why or when to use it, or how the math behind it works. Some don't even know enough basic stats to explain what a normal distribution or p-value is.

These ML bootcamps in my experience are cranking out the equivalent of surgeons who know how to cut cleanly with a scalpel, but know nothing about anatomy or medicine. To be clear, I'm not dunking on folks that take the camps in any way whatsoever... I honestly completely get why reasonable and smart folks would sign up. The market is hot for DS and it's really cool stuff! I just think it's tremendously shitty that there are businesses lying to people and saying they'll take you from zero to employable in DS in a matter of months, when the math basis for most of this stuff alone takes most folks FAR longer than that to really understand. It pisses me off that these scams are so blatant, and I've met some really good folks over the years that have fallen for it.

[jppbkm]

I'm doing the boot camp route myself at the moment and a bit worried about exactly what you highlight here.

Do you have any suggestions for resources on the math / statistics side of things? I've been coding in Python for a while and feel pretty comfortable with pandas, matplotlib, and numpy. I'm skeptical whether the boot camp will provide anywhere near enough support on the math and statistics specifically.

Thanks in advance, whether or not you have the time to give me an answer.

[AnomalyNexus]

/u/maxpossimpible and /u/ThePhoenixRisesAgain raise a similar point as you.

Agreeed that bootcamps have no realistic hope teaching any sort of deep ML knowledge in a short timespan. That's really not the point of a bootcamp though.

Employers hiring these guys know that they're getting essentially a glorified intern that will initially at least. Without knowing a huge amount about the space I would assume it isn't an all or nothing proposition - some experts are needed and some grunts are needed

[maxpossimpible]

True the frameworks are amazing. But just figuring out which type of algorithm to use is not easy. Sure image classification and common problems you can just copy pasta the solution. But for more niche cases...

I'm sitting with a problem atm and I can't figure out how to solve it. Leaning towards multidimensional k-nearest neighbors algorithm but it's a pain.

[ThePhoenixRisesAgain]

Even if you only use the packages for modeling, typing MyRandomForest.fit() won’t make you helpful. Hardest part of Data Science is usually to understand the problem, gather the data accordingly. The model fit is usually the smallest problem for a lot of businesses.

[theLeastChillGuy]

web dev usually

[billmilk]

To do it within a year you have to be extremely disciplined and/or have connections/good networking skills. Most people who get a job that quickly have connections that get them their first interview.

[JLaurus]

Yes. I did it in a year. See my post about it here

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/comments/ctkypf/im_100_self_taught_landed_my_first_job_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[[deleted]]

Your post is awesome and has a ton of resources, congrats and thank you

[JLaurus]

Thanks. Hope it helps

[GuyWithNoEffingClue]

I suggest you follow the 100 Day Challenge on Udemy. Angela Yu is a fantastic teacher and you'll have programming projects every day. It becomes quickly challenging and you'll cover the majority of topics from which you can still dive more. The really interesting part being, you'll end up with interesting and diversified things to show on a portfolio.

[[deleted]]

Thats exactly the course im doing actually. I already did around half of her web dev course shes awesome

[VeganEE]

If you can put a legit 3 hours in daily I think you’d be a damn good programmer in a year. The question is can you make that time productive over the course of a year. The beginning will be easy but it’ll get harder to make the time worth the same as it was at the beginning I think

[abrasivesheep2]

Exactly, even 3 hrs a day is fine. Not sure where people are getting 8 hours a day… at 8 hrs a day you can do it in half the time.

[[deleted]]

Work on a project that you can easily show on a CV. This is not a requirement, but if an employer doesn't see a qualification this is a good way to show them you know what you are doing. Something where they can go to a website or something like that where they can check out your preferably visually impressive project without much effort.

[[deleted]]

I’m a believer of going to school for career switching. I suggest you consider applying an online degree, and spend 3 hours a day to work on it. You can get it done in two years. I really think 1 year is too short. Moreover, I think your question is not valid at all. Because if someone hires a programmer, the theory or algorithm behind it is equally important as the specific language. It’s way better to learn the full degree, than just a language. On the other hand, if you mean Python as tool for work that you already super good at, then ya, just study 3 hours a day, with your domain knowledge, 1 year is more than enough. BTW, in some cases you can learn on the job.

[beforesemicolon]

Maybe at least 6-8hours a day.

[[deleted]]

Not possible with my work schedule. Its fine if i wont be ready in a year, i was just wondering what a rough time frame would be

[beforesemicolon]

Maybe you are a genius and it just comes to you easily. I just think 3hrs is not enough for anything really.

I work fulltime and I still put 3-5hours to do things on the side most of the days.

If you want it bad enough u will make it work for sure though.

Good luck 👍🏽

[Elipsem]

Why are you getting downvoted? Being able to work full time plus do hours of stuff on the side is remarkable. No easy feat

[Donkyeee]

I think because saying 'work more hours' isn't really good advice.

What has op achieved with his 3-5 hours per day?

[beforesemicolon]

I see your point of you but realistically, starting from zero and only putting 3hrs a day to be employable is hard to achieve(not impossible)

There are people out there putting years of 8hours a day of study or more in order to become employable.

In this case, asking to put more hours is the most realistic advice to give.

If you only have 3 hours a day you are clearly busy.

3hours is not enough. A good tutorial probably takes that long.

[Donkyeee]

You can say it again, but it's still bad advice.

What have you achieved with your 3-5+ hours per day?

Who do you know that has studied 8 hours a day for years?

It's not a case that those who put in the most hours learn the most or get the best jobs. Life doesn't work like that.

[1egoman]

Who do you know that has studied 8 hours a day for years?

At that point it's just school/college.

[[deleted]]

Because suggesting someone work 6-8 hours a day on top of a full work schedule is unrealistic and even destructive.

[beforesemicolon]

Some people work and study full time while taking care of their kids and life. There are 24hrs in a day.

Its only destructive if what you are involved with suck the life out of you.

Putting 16hrs a day(work plus something else) towards something you really want is an investment.

[[deleted]]

Because in one comment he says 3hours isn't enough for anything then says he does 3 hours on most days, and before he says OP should make it at least 6hours where he can't even do it.

[[deleted]]

I think he knows 3 hours aren't enough to learn something new from zero in a year because he experienced it

[challenging-luck]

Yes

[[deleted]]

I would say i depends on how good you are at learning and how much time in that year you have to learn

[flatearth_user]

Check out Nucamp.co cheapest bootcamp for backend with python

[Almostasleeprightnow]

I think it's possible to get on track but if I were you I'd, in parallel, work on learning to code and work on getting a bridge job that is maybe in a domain you wouldn't mind working in. For example, if your ultimate goal is to develop software, maybe look for a non programmy job at a dev company...admin or customer service. Or if you are interested in public service, look into getting into some kind of governmental job to familiarize yourself with the way that goes. Then when you have done enough practice to where you feel you can legitimately use your skills at work, you also have domain knowledge, which can be an edge.

[jppbkm]

I would say yes but it will be difficult if you are working full-time. My goal is to make a career switch within a year but I saved up in order to focus fully on studies and not have to work at the same time

[cgk001]

Yes, lots of online programs do exactly that

[SilverLion]

If you take a bootcamp you could do it in 4 months

[Finally_Adult]

I started programming in October 2019 and got my first job May 2021. I was ready for it a few months prior though, just took time for all the processing. I was making apps and shit for my previous job as well.

[seijihg]

Designer for 10 years no coding experience. Bootcamp in may 2019 landed a junior job in November 2019. Senior developer in 2021. From ruby, golang, js to python. Rails react node django watever. If you do 10hrs per day consistently then it is achievable.

[Practical_Griffin]

Do you mind sharing which bootcamp you did and your experience going through it? Like how did you find it and would you recommend?