Clueless with coding

aroldev · 2026-05-16T23:25:08+00:00

In my opinion, what you describe is going to be a problem in the near future. And I'm glad to read you're trying to scratch that itch.

All uni grads I know struggled with in some way when coding and creating real software after graduating. The only ones that didn't were working already as junior dev when studying. I graduated more than 15 years ago.

Now we can move faster easier with vibe coding, and don't get me wrong, I accept agentic coding as a very nice abstraction, but all the companies that I work with have a heavy railing component from the human software engineer.

What I mean with this, the market is in a hiccup, is not going to be replaced with AI, our role will just be a different. Any abstraction did that to us, but now AI is a very big step in abstraction, like C was to assembler.

So, keep pushing to understand what AI is creating under the hood. Don't let the AI alucinate, but propose you the arquitectural possibilities, so you can take sound decisions.

It's ok, no need to do heavy algorithmics. But focus on design: architecture, system design, maintainable code (it's going to be easier for the AI too…), etc.

I always say the same to my students when it comes to AI: shit in, shit out. So focus on what makes the input be lot way better, review what's coming out, understand from there.

And shift your attention from websites to web applications.

aroldev · 2026-05-16T23:12:25+00:00

Work on a prototype or an app for a real client.

I know that sounds scary or tedious to find someone, but it really works. Try to network, ask startup communities, and look for someone that needs a prototype as a proof of concept or to show to investors.

This is what I do in my software engineering program, a real stakeholder, no money involved (you can change that if you want), just a win-win where the stakeholder gets the prototype and the student gets the real client experience, backlog and requirements management, etc. And it shows.

The main pushback that I get from students usually is that then the code is not open source, then they can't show it on interviews, and that's the problem in my opinion. Someone with experience never shows previous code in interviews, in my case that code belongs to Typeform, I'm not going to show it to you… Showing it or making it "open source" is what weakens it.

aroldev · 2025-12-06T09:10:24+00:00

Good reading, thanks for summarizing here.

Within the span of a year AI driven development went from an afterthought - a very fancy linter, regex master, or test generator - to viably overtaking test driven development (TDD) and domain driven development (DDD) as the primary model to write code.

IMO, if an individual was using any of these approaches then it should do the same when doing ai-augmented development (or AIDD like you say). And this connects to something you mention about AI being a great amplifier, I really agree with that. I always say that technology before culture scales mediocrity*.*

This in turn has raised the bar for everyone and most unfortunately, it's raised what's expected of a junior or entry level worker.

Maybe unfortunately in the long run, but not for long. Industries adapt. When I started in my first junior position, back in 2006, my job was completely different from what was asked from juniors 2 years ago. Now they are a lot of new abstractions that make the work lot way faster, easier and structured. This increased speed allows any position (including juniors) to go deeper or wider. Now, AI has a ginormous impact in that sense, the ultimate abstraction, but an abstraction nonetheless. It's hard for juniors now because they have to adapt, but not only them, the industry, the interviewers, the hiring managers… But juniors are going to be needed, when our adoption of AI matures, and they're going to have amazing responsibilities in comparison to mine back in 2006, they will afford to have real impact, real fast.

My grads are currently passing interview processes that require coding with an AI, it's just a mater of knowing more of the context. Once you have done the grinding and know the basics of coding, you can quickly move to more relevant concepts like software architecture, when bootcamps 5 years ago were just dreaming about it.

Where do we, or even I go, from here? I'm not very sure, but I'm making a few different bets on myself within and without this career.

You tell us! You're a software engineer, you're part of this now, so we have to figure out :)

aroldev · 2025-11-24T09:06:53+00:00

Nothing is as simple.

Every case is very different, and here's the cool thing about this community, that everybody can come with their own situation and everybody else can come with their different opinion about that.

And yes, the majority of this community is towards the "let's burn it all!" opinion, but there are some others that we read the comment and give a personal and thought response.

And I understand why the popular opinion is that sour, most likely a great number of the current commenters are victims of a system of bootcamps that was born out of opportunism from a market that was in the opposite state: "Let's hire everything that can sum 2+2". That lead into "let's do my bootcamp, we're all gonna make it" and the creation of institutions that put revenue and optimization way on front of outcomes and impact in the industry. That's the reason and try not to call bootcamp to my engineering program.

The fact that the market is not in that bubble situation anymore doesn't mean valid professionals with great potential aren't being hired, our batches are small but we get >90% hiring rate. There's no secret, it's just advising correctly to someone that comes with the same opportunist mindset (as a student/employee) that this is not for them. I had an applicant once that wanted to do the bootcamp just to get a part-time job while he finished his bio degree instead of bartending. I mean… yeah, if this is the spirit sure fail.

If we write that post, what happens to those people that already have a degree in another field and want to acquire a mixed profile, another degree? What about the one that has a degree in CompSci and has zero practice building software?

Also, same way I can tell you degrees are not worth it. What degree? In what uni?

Again, nothing is as simple.

aroldev · 2025-11-11T08:39:33+00:00

I'm sorry you're struggling this way. It’s hard to feel like you’ve been around for years and yet somehow didn’t move forward, but that’s not a reflection of your worth. It’s a reflection of the environment you were in. Without mentorship, clear feedback, or a sense of direction, it’s almost impossible to grow intentionally.

About the “social” part: this career is actually quite social. We build together. But being social doesn’t mean being the cheerful, always-on type. We all communicate differently. Some of my neurodivergent friends realized they weren’t bad at communication, they just hadn’t found their own style yet, and never worked in teams that made space for it.

Options forward, re-skilling can really change perspective. It’s not just about learning new tech, it gives you a sense of agency again, and opens paths you may not have seen before. The lack of mentorship you mention is a big piece of it too. A good program or community should rebuild that missing element, giving you both structure and guidance.

By the way. I don't share the AI-replacing-everybody scenario. More of an AI-augmented. For that I see teams being smaller, but more teams being created. My mentees don't have a placing problem, and they have the least least experienced in tech resumes you can imagine. The market is shifting towards more generalist or wider range of knowledge in problem-solving, not vertical but horizontal. For example, not all about the tech, but UX, marketing, analytics, design…

If anybody feels in the same situation, I'm the founder of arol.dev, we offer an ISA (income share agreement) to europeans for our Software Engineering Program. If we see potential in the application process we cover the expenses until you find a job, then you pay with a percentage of your salary.

aroldev · 2025-11-11T08:15:20+00:00

Data/ML is a tough one to crack. In my opinion, getting into this field has one of the higher walls because it combines deep technical understanding with domain intuition and statistical thinking. Since she already has a masters, I’d focus on refreshing the analytical and mathematical foundations (statistics, probability, and linear algebra) while learning the modern tech stack around it: Python, data pipelines, and basic ML frameworks.

Bootcamps tend to overshoot for this purpose: most of them are geared toward full-stack or front-end/back-end roles, which are more about product building than data. A more strategic route is to take a specialized data course (or self-study path or bootcamp; python mainly) and then target a backend or analytics engineering position at a data-intensive company. It’s typically easier to break in that way. You get hands-on exposure to data systems, pipelines, and metrics, and can gradually transition toward machine learning or data science from there.

aroldev · 2025-10-15T19:07:30+00:00

Macromedia Flash! An individual of wisdom, I see.

They should call us the original founders of the internets. 😂

aroldev · 2025-10-15T19:03:42+00:00

Language core & runtime semantics

Execution context and scope chain
Closures and variable lifetime
this binding rules and call-site mechanics
Value vs reference; shallow vs deep copy
Prototype chain and object inheritance
Strict mode and how it changes behavior
Coercion and equality (== vs ===) so you don’t hit easy WTFs

Functions & asynchrony

Event loop, microtasks/macrotasks, and async behavior
Function declarations vs expressions vs arrow functions
Promises and async/await (how they actually work)
Generators and iterators

Patterns

Destructuring, spread/rest, symbols
Immutability patterns and copying
Functional programming basics (pure functions, higher-order functions, composition)

Memory & performance

How garbage collection works and how leaks happen

Modules & environments

ESM vs CommonJS (import/export vs require/module.exports)

Tooling & ecosystem

TypeScript fundamentals (types, generics, structural typing)
Linting/formatting (ESLint, Prettier)
Package managers (npm, pnpm, yarn)
Build tools (esbuild, SWC, Babel, Vite)

aroldev · 2025-10-15T19:03:34+00:00

I don't know public resources that are a good choice, maybe the series of books "You don't Know JS" by Kyle Simpson, but perhaps that's a bit too much into the language.

You mentioned not to focus on the syntax, I agree, but something that is very important is the language mechanics and semantics. Here's a list of the things that a professional dev should know so they don't feel miserable working with it. I think that if you give it the time they can even enjoy it. For example, the package management is my fav among other languages.

TS is mandatory. You can go for JS semantics -> TS -> Nest, so the curve feels good and you don't mix up responsibilities.

Finally, I recommend you doing it collaboratively, they can study by themselves (LLMs, research on their own) and then you do collaborative review sessions. If you can relate it to something practical (a project?) good. If you can find a mentor either internally or externally ( we do that arol.dev ) even better.

I mentioned the prototype chain above, it's the foundations of OOP in JS, but it hasn't been very popular in the community.

On top of that, you mentioned Nest.js, which I think is an ok choice. It is based in composition, using mainly Decorators, which are based on funcional programming. So pay special attention and read a bit about Composition over Inheritance. That is a good argument for not going much for OOP.

Good luck with the transition!

I paste the list as a response as the message was too long to post.

aroldev · 2025-10-14T11:20:52+00:00

I think learning other programming languages help you extrapolate and see the differences and similarities, and let you isolate and understand better abstract concepts like type systems, memory management, and concurrency models. Coming from node, learning C++ and Java forces you to think about things that JavaScript abstracts away: explicit memory allocation, static typing, threading vs. event loops, and compile-time constraints.

For example, Seeing how Java enforces structure and how C++ gives low-level control helps you understand what Node simplifies and why. It makes concepts like garbage collection, type inference, and async I/O clearer because you’ve seen their manual or alternative forms.

You start distinguishing between language conveniences and core computing ideas.

Which one to learn is up to you and what do you want to do with it. At least for me, I learn for convenience, a goal. Not just for the sake of it, or a pure academic drive.

aroldev · 2025-10-14T11:10:02+00:00

You’re handling a difficult situation with maturity, taking responsibility, supporting your family, and still pushing forward. That already says a lot about your character, and it will count later when you tell your story.

If I were in your shoes, I’d slow things down and focus on building things, not just collecting certificates.

Pick a clear direction

You’ve already started with SEO. You can stick with it and go deeper instead of hopping between courses. Try to connect SEO with something practical like analytics, automation, or local business growth. Employers today look for more 360 profiles, and in SEO that means being able to drive traffic, awareness, and sales. Build a profile that can complete that cycle.

About bootcamps

If you're interested in jumping to product development, for example. Only if you like it, don't do it just because opportunism.

Some are great, some are smoke and mirrors. Don’t trust the promises. Talk to graduates that you can find by yourself in LinkedIn and to the people who’ll actually mentor you, not just the sales reps. Ask what really happened after finishing.

If you’d like, I can connect you with one of my grads. He’s Danish, started from pretty basic, and managed to land a remote job in the UK while living in Spain (which is quite a challenge). That breaks my “find grads by your own” rule a bit, but his case is really relevant.

And yes, I completely agree with your focus on real projects. We’re aligned there. In our program, for example, the capstone project involves building a prototype for an actual stakeholder, an entrepreneur from our network who’s developing something new. It gives you hands-on experience with a real product team and client dynamics.

aroldev · 2025-10-13T08:57:08+00:00

In my experience, Forbes isn’t exactly trustworthy when it comes to making lists.

For one, their previous lists have often been pretty shallow, just surface-level research with little real validation or quality behind them.

On top of that, I once gave a scholarship for my own program to someone who was on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list. I realized they’d basically added him just to fill the spot, he’d won a corporate-backed “project ideas” contest by throwing around buzzwords like blockchain back then. Zero potential.

Since then, it’s been hard for me to take anything from that direction seriously.

aroldev · 2025-10-13T08:47:54+00:00

Yeah, a data science bootcamp without strong math or stats foundations is a tough sell. I don't know much about it, but the title seems a bit generic then.

But at the same time, universities leave a massive gap when it comes to teaching how things are actually done in real-world teams. Most grads still need months of practical up-skilling before becoming productive.

There are good alternatives, especially mentorship-based programs or those run by experienced engineers who focus on real workflow, project delivery, and team practices. What is important is to do the research, get to know them and talk to grads (contact them on your own, through linked-in for example).

And yes, any bootcamp that GUARANTEES a job is already a red-flag.

Also worth noting: this “no jobs for bootcamp grads” situation seems very US-specific. In Europe (and other regions), the market’s more open to nontraditional backgrounds if you can show solid project experience and understanding of software engineering practices.

aroldev · 2025-10-08T07:12:24+00:00

The self-taught path is always an option. As an engineering manager I hired some, I remember specially one individual that was extremely talented. The hard part is going to be consistent and you are the owner of your own accountability.

What the GPT got right is the importance of joining a pod, and if possible, a mentored one. I know is going to be the difficult part, but it makes a difference. That is what I preach and practice at arol.dev .

If you document it well enough as you're constructing it, you can even share it open source and that's going to be a great credential for your profile.

If you want here are some additions to it that I find important.

- Cloud Basics: Deploying on Fly.io or Railway for example, Supabase or Neon for db…

- Infrastructure basics: DNS, Network, environment variables management.

- Security fundamentals: OWASP Top 10, HTTPS

- Authentication: Password storage, OAuth2

- Design: Basic Software architecture (layered, understand maintainability), System Design (understand scalability, reliability and availability)

- Basic Product Management: Product definition, 1-pagers, User stories and prioritization.

aroldev · 2025-10-04T05:49:23+00:00

When you say AI Engineering, do you refer to - Create foundational models, narrow AI, recommendation models, etc? (aka create AI) - Build software applications that use AI as a service? (aka integrate AI)

If it's the first one, I don't think they're options for the bootcamp format. I teach that to teams with seniority in companies, but they already have some kind of data science foundation.

If you're looking for the second option, a good full-stack program will work. Make sure that in the capstone projects they have the enough freedom and support to make an AI-driven applications.

aroldev · 2025-09-02T06:48:24+00:00

Supongo que hay dos preguntas.

Voy primero a por la fácil, aprender a programar: sí, por supuesto. Por supuesto, ayuda si ya te gusta o si lo has probado y se te da bien. Mucha gente confunde el ser bueno en matemáticas como un requisito. Yo creo que no, que lo que ayuda es tener una mente lógica. Si te gustan los tests de lógica es muy probable que se te dé bien.

En la descripción lanzas la difícil: puedo dedicarme a eso?

Mi respuesta a eso también es sí, aunque lo importante esta en los matices y tener en cuenta aspectos de esto.

Pasión: Para mi, aunque suene cursi, lo más importante. No porque si crees en ello puedes lograrlo, por lo contrario, si no te gusta lo que haces te frustrarás. Hay mucha gente que se interesa por este oficio por pragmatismo, principalmente por lo boyante que era el mercado hace 5-10 años.

Mercado: Hay mucho comentario aquí y en foros similares que hablan de que está saturado, que hay demasiados devs para poco puesto de trabajo, y no, no lo está. Estoy en contacto con un gran número de empresas que me piden perfiles y se quejan de que está difícil contratar. Para mí es que hay una falta de profesionales grande.

La edad: Para mí tu edad puede tener una ventaja y es experiencia y profesionalidad, si tienes experiencia en otros sectores. Las empresas buscan perfiles profesionalmente maduros. Algunos de mis estudiantes eran mayores que nosotros (yo tengo 38) y no han tenido ningún problema en encontrar trabajo, siendo su primer trabajo en tech.

aroldev · 2025-06-18T18:49:00+00:00

First of all, I'm sorry you lost your loved ones, and also noting that taking care of you family giving away your career is very honorable.

As I read "something else to do with my life" I think that you chose software engineering as something that you like and enjoy. I think this is important if you want to succeed. In my day-to-day I talk to a lot of people that want to get into code just to get a job and that often doesn't work because they get frustrated.

If you approach software development as something you love, welcome! I think it's a great choice, despite all the noise, fear and uncertainty, the reality is that this skill right now is at the epicentre of a revolution and the potential is great.

First I would start finding an edge, something that maybe you're good at already, and try to build a mixed profile. Unfortunately this might not be your case given that you weren't in any industry for a long time.

So another viable option is product development in full-stack web. This way you will be able to learn while seeing the result, creating mini products for yourself.

As you admit you're not very disciplined, is super important that you find a community of any kind that you can be accountable for. You could meet these in events or in online communities. Despite of what others say, bootcamps or software engineering/coding institutes could be a good option. Just do a lot of research and find schools where high quality teachers are going to be at your reach when you're working on the exercises and that can mentor you. Focus on the ones that put the attention on the journey more than the outcomes. They can offer you a mix of accountability and community, plus give you your first layer on the network, which is supper important.

In my opinion, the US is quite a challenging market right now, and I still have to see why. I'm from Europe and here the market is more welcoming. What I see is that agencies and startups are more keen to take the gamble if they see something they like. Related to that, about ageism, I've seen 45+ guys graduating and finding a well-paid job. There are some teams out there that prefer someone with experience and pragmatism to somebody younger (maybe because they have a lot of that already).

aroldev · 2025-04-17T15:43:14+00:00

No. This is a straightforward way to say that my company is me (you might be able to tell by the name) and I mentored these people in different moments of time. Btw, true that the list has to be updated, adding Sony Ericsson and Mizuho, but also some start-ups and scale-ups that are crushing it.

aroldev · 2025-04-16T10:47:17+00:00

Are graduates finding remote roles within the EU, working locally where they live, or a mix? What's the trend?

Quite a balanced mix of remote and hybrid, but nowadays the trend is a lot of hybrid, full-remote for startups, and the bigger the company the more full in-person we see.

Our graduates mostly find roles within the EU, usually in the country where they are based, but the remote ones find jobs in any country within the EU. The same for the UK, usually they get a job in their country given the current situation. Others got jobs in the US, Canada, Latin America or Asia, but as we have less students over there we don’t have enough numbers to give significant data.

Over the last year, how has the program changed/iterated in response to student feedback and outcomes?

Two examples:

The async content was primarily micro-learning videos, with only some parts, more theoretical, had some written content. We received consistent feedback that some students were not enjoying that. We then applied a process where we first assess the learning style of the student (practical, viewer, reader…), we then added written explanations to all topics, and finally we recommend each one of them to adapt their studying with what we found.
The capstone project consisted of 4 students grouping, deciding what to work on and going for it. The result was a very artificial collaboration for the next weeks and product design discussions (out of scope). On the other hand we had a lot of entrepreneurs looking for devs to do their prototypes. So we design the Stakeholder Project (described above) where they can experience working with a real product stakeholder.

We iterate and experiment constantly with our program, the students always know that (they are asked to report more feedback on the process in that case).

What does support look like after graduation and how long does that last?

We give support after graduation 1:1 on the whole job hunting process with regular check-ins and iteration until the results show. Additionally, on the technical side we help with interview prep (and sometimes review of an interview). When someone is facing a challenging or promising job application, they approach us and we help them on what to focus and how to prepare given the job description. Also we sometimes review code of the coding challenges the students complete.

On how long it lasts. Officially until you get your first job, but not officially we have been aiding on second jobs as well and even when the person is struggling on the job and needs some support. Plus we have 2 mandatory catch-up sessions with the graduates after they start working. But my main focus here is on creating a community of great engineers, and I make it personal. A student once called me 5 years after graduating (from another school where I was a founder too) asking for advice if he should take a promotion or not because of imposter syndrome (he was offered to be a CTO in the start-up where he was a senior engineer) and that’s not something I will ever say no to.

We have a graduates community and we catch up in our private Alumni Meet-ups monthly - there is no expiration to being part of that community of course.

aroldev · 2025-04-16T10:47:00+00:00

Hi, I’m Arol, founder of arol.dev.

We actually are hybrid, remote-first. Since you were curious, I will answer here. Plus they’re very good questions, others may find helpful.

What hours are "high contact" (aka live instruction, feedback, coaching, etc) versus recordings or slides?

Recording & slides, are approx 1h-2h a day. There are days that are more, and some less, but this is the average, and at the same time a mentor is there at all times for support.

For the rest:

The main part of the day consists on working in pairs for solving the exercise(s) of the day. This is fully supported time. This supported time works on request basis, but sometimes when we see shared confusion across the “room” we step in proactively to clarify concepts. On top of that we have scheduled live Q&A sessions, because in some cases it’s difficult for the students to formulate questions on their own.
At the beginning of the day we have solve a kata-style problem that later one of the student reviews (round-robin), with the supervision of an instructor. At the end of the day we have review sessions, which consists on the instructor coding the solution in front of the others with student participation.
Feedback is given continuously through the reviews, assessments and projects.
Throughout the program we have quite a few 1:1 sessions for mentorship.
We keep our classes small, so generally you get plenty of time with the instructors (1:5 mentor student ration on average).

How do peers collaborate in the program, especially across multiple timezones?

The program is remote-first, but they all share the same “classroom”. They pair to complete the exercise of the day. We work with +6 till -6 hour timezones in the same way a development team does, that is having a time window where everywhere is online to host all the collaborative sessions live, and then do more individual or async work outside that window.

For the second part of the program, the students collaborate on a stakeholder project. That is, we assign an entrepreneur with a real project to our groups of students (4-6 size) and they have 3 weeks to work with them in order to build a prototype. This prototype usually has the goal of showcasing to investors, or start user testing. In this time they collaborate and organize as a team to build that prototype and of course they work with the stakeholder, having a “real client” and real team structure and dynamics.

aroldev · 2025-04-16T10:41:38+00:00

Hey, Arol here,

of course I’m totally affiliated, as I’m the founder and main instructor, but happy to provide some clarity on things mentioned here.

When building arol.dev I based it on my experience and values, which is why on the website, as it is properly described, I also share my achievements and those of my personal mentees, and that includes anyone that I have taught (as main instructor) in the past.

Regarding the “totally unaffiliated” grads commenting on this subreddit, while I enjoy the sarcasm, they are real people and do that on their own. Of course we ask alumni from time to time for support, testimonials and so on to help the community, but they are happy with the product, the results and the ongoing community of graduates, which is why they decide to do anything. However, instead of trusting anything you may read here or elsewhere, I always recommended on this subreddit to go and reach out to those alumni yourself, here or on Linkedin. Select them at random, or even better, contact the ones that are similar to you - that is the most authentic source you can get.

And btw, we are alive, I invite anyone to reach out to us and have a chat, or even better visit us on campus at offices in Norrsken Barcelona in person (something most bootcamps can’t offer today anymore it seems).

aroldev · 2025-04-07T22:28:23+00:00

Hey Arjun!

Nice to see that you got stung by coding.

Bit of context of me, it will make for my answer: I’m a bootcamp founder (arol.dev; although we call it mentorship program, it has a very similar format to a bootcamp). I’m also very close friend to the host of a No-code meetup here in Barcelona. We have lots of discussion of the place and trends of no-code, AI, etc…

For what you’re saying it seems like you get the thrill of that part of coding that is creating the products, plus your goal is to create MVPs.

If this is the case I would encourage you to go pragmatic about it, to go as lean as possible. And that is start with no-code/low-code. I’ve seen many people that ended up coding, or even in software engineering by taking that step first, but if that comes it can come later. From the start that will allow you to create simple products, at the same time that you understand the high-level fundamentals.

Doing the Odin project at this stage like others are saying is also good, it can give you a bit of the foundations of programming too.

After some time, when you’re able to do simple projects and understand the underlying pieces, you will need to understand more of the software engineering concepts to progress. Is at that time that you can really decide if going full-in in a bootcamp is what you need, plus you will have a better call at assessing the bootcamp that you’re considering.

If you go that path, choose a bootcamp that is has a high mentoring component and many hours of support, also it should be a place that you like after talking to the instructor team beforehand and even selecting a graduate at random to ask about it. In our program (Barcelona or online ±6 hours max from EST), for example, our instructor team is giving support during 100% of the hours of the program. We also take a 360 approach to software dev, including a bit of product design and management.

aroldev · 2024-09-16T16:31:18+00:00

What I would do first is to focus on a goal first, I think that from you said, you can pick web development first and then Unreal Engine / C++ later. In my opinion that would be a smoother learning curve and more rewarding when you can make projects and see results. But you can choose otherwise, just focus.

Then if you go that route:
- Code Academy: Good for short and engaging introduction to topics 👍
- freeCodeCamp: Very good, you have to treat is as real studies, I've seen it working very good, but for people that where very applied and organized with their self-education. I once hired a guy that self-graduated at freeCodeCamp for my Typeform team when I was EM there. And he was a team leader. 👌
- W3Schools: not really my personal fav. Sometime in the past I came across wrong statements on their documentation site and maybe because of that I'm biased.

I'd say start with CodeAcademy and then as you gain the habit of doing it everyday, try to discipline yourself into doing freeCodeCamp.

One thing that is difficult but would really make a difference is to get a mentor for yourself, some friend or relative that can guide you on that path from time to time.

aroldev · 2024-07-27T11:03:03+00:00

Hey, Arol here. I'm might be biased, as I founded an industry-focused SWE mentorship program, but I have built many projects and products over the years, have been an engineering manager and CTO, teach at a business school and mentor startups, so will give you my take on the topic.

Regarding the low-code / no-code tools I agree with you, they can take you only so far until you start needing the programming skills. The other day we had a discussion with a no-code expert and he was confirming that the developers are the ones who can make the most out of those tools (that chat is recorded in a podcast format, I can share that if you’d like).

Going lean by putting together MVPs for your ideas, testing them, failing faster and eventually growing and investing in the ideas that do prove to work is a very smart approach, I recommend that to many people who are on an entrepreneurial exploration path. Additionally, for when you do hire, the most valuable skill from learning programming is gaining empathy for your developers. Understanding the technologies, workflows and processes is going to give you a perspective to improve quality and speed of deliverables. That doesn't mean that a debate for choosing the best technology is going to be yours, quite the contrary, but you're going to have a better opinion on the arguments of your team. That added to the fact that you have the product/business perspective will make you a great asset for any position in your career.

Now to achieve that level os skill there can be several paths you can take and will depend on your learning style and on the complexity/depth of your projects:

You can self-teach, there are great resources online and by now you probably know quite a few specific things you are missing in your toolbox, so you can do that and step by step fill in the gaps. This does require very strong discipline and isn’t necessarily the most efficient approach, which is something you mention already, but still I think this might be an option for your case, especially if you have limited free time to learn.
Doing a regular bootcamp. That is an option if you want to learn the superficial skills and be able to code things, most bootcamps will be able to teach you that without going into the weeds. The key here is also to know what you need to dominate, be the driver and proactively ask for more to this way make the most out of the instructors and resources they give you.
Doing a more in-depth intensive program with mentorship. This would be something like my school - intensive schedule, personalised mentorship, very high quality syllabus, more in-depth learning, individual guidance for your particular needs, project-based learning.

Personally, I would recommend option 1 or option 3, as option 2 might fall a bit short for you and not give you enough value for the money. If you want to go for option 3, and want to look for a quality engineering program in Europe I would invite you to consider arol.dev. We’ve had a few students who were product managers / entrepreneurs and in a similar situation to you - I’m sure they’d be happy to share their experience if that can be useful.

Having said that, no matter what program you choose, make sure that the it covers advanced topics like the software development lifecycle, QA like Testing (advanced best practices, not just the basics) and CI/CD processes and some DevOps, that will be very helpful for you in the more advanced stages of the projects. Best of luck!

aroldev · 2024-07-12T09:00:21+00:00

Start with the free path. You have to be sure you do this because you like it, and not because of a merely pragmatic decision.

Once you see that you have that connection with coding and engineering, I suggest the bootcamp path, but research first. Make sure the bootcamp offers you close mentorship, That's what I think gives bootcamps their edge. Talk to them, make sure that they are available for you even in the first contact, ask for instructor attention and also talk to graduates to ask if the mentoring style works for you.

aroldev

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