Doug Bohrer ⋅ Northbrook, IL Retired IT Cyber Security and Compliance, USAF 1972-76, MSM 1976 ⋅ 45 years experience

At Allstate, where I work, we are moving everything onto Red Hat Linux on x86 platforms. This platform is relatively easy to get training on. I would look at local community colleges for programming courses and Linux environment courses. If you want to get a dedicated computer for you to learn this at home, you can get a used Windows XP/Vista machine that your friends have lying around or buy one cheaply from New Egg or Amazon and download a flavor of Linux onto it to get started. If you are really strapped for cash, you can get a Raspberry Pi for $35 and download a version of Linux to get started. I would be happy to help you with this.

The computer field is fairly steady work and fairly well compensated. Since you already have a degree, all you need is a few courses to learn some technology. If you have taken the initiative to get trained on your own and can say in an interview that you set up a Linux environment in your home on your own it will be appealing to employers. You have to understand that you will continually have to learn new technology as it gains acceptance. The market for COBOL mainframe programmers is very limited, because the technology is old and no longer in widespread use. Linux will probably not be the hot ticket in 10 years. You have to realize that going in.

My daughter speaks Japanese and studied 6 months in Japan. She has a BA in Business. All of her jobs have been in IT. She does a lot of database work in SQL. This is not unusual.

Just so you know, being a veteran is considered a big plus at Allstate.

Paul Trejo ⋅ Austin, TX University of Texas at Austin ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Brian, and thanks for your years of service. As somebody with decades of coding experience, I can tell you that the coding world is changing. Dot.Net and Python programmers are less in demand now than people who know "SalesForce" and similar systems geared for BUSINESS applications. The money is -- and always has been -- in BUSINESS.

As a coder, you would be supporting some BUSINESS application, anyway. Online business is the latest and greatest thing, so tools to support that are at a premium.

Yet, what do you know about BUSINESS in general? Take at least one crash course in General Business. Learn the difference between Advertising, Sales and Marketing. Know the basics of Accounting.

Learn the seven basic departments of every BUSINESS that a General Manager must know (Advertising, Sales, Accounting, Production, Marketing, HR, Stockholding). If you have your own company, you'll need a background in all seven. If you work for a company, you'll concentrate on one of these departments. THIS INCLUDES CODERS.

Decide WHAT you want to code. I would tell today's beginner: explore SalesForce.com as an entry-level into coding, and you may find a lucrative, fast-passed career in a modern company already waiting for you. (SalesForce and similar "building blocks" systems offer a short-cut to complex programming modules, and the future belongs to them, IMHO.)

Best wishes,
--Paul

Richard Buck ⋅ Patterson, NY EY ⋅ 25 years experience

Brian

Here is a Company that will train you in software testing and get you a in it after:

Sharp Decisions V.E.T.S.™ (Vocation, Education and Training for Service members) Program
http://sharpdecisions.com/whysharp/vetsprogram/
vetinfo@sharpdecisions.com
(212) 403-7592

________________
Richard Buck
rbvetmentor@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/ribuck/

Dan Linn ⋅ Portland, OR Metal Toad ⋅ 15 years experience

Many great answers here! But most seem a little dated compared to my experiences these days as someone who is hiring at a software shop. Degrees are not needed, but can be a major stepping stone. There are many other very concrete ways to prove your skills in the field though.

I tend to see 4 major types of businesses that hire developers:
*Corporations - Requires experience, pays well, can get boring quick, it's a focused job that can get menial.
*Smaller Companies - You have a chance to do everything, the skillsets needed are broad but shallow, the pay is usually low, low risk, and you could end up being the one responsible for fixing the printer.
*Product Company - Usually focused on one or more software offerings, lots of experience required, continually iterating, can get menial, great pay, low stress, great perks, high risk.
*Agency/Shop - High stress, great pay, most opportunity to use latest/greatest, good perks, medium high risk.

Besides my day job, I run a mentorship group for people of many software-related disciplines (developers, UX designers, project managers, and system administrators) looking to get into the software field. If you're interested in attending remotely through a Google hangout, we can make it work. PM me if you're interested.

Ashutosh Mehta ⋅ Edison, NJ ⋅ 16 years experience

Hi Brian,

So many good responses.

Regarding programming, I can see two major categories in IT. One who develops the product like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and others who support business applications based on it. To be part of 'manufactures', it takes lot of time and passion. Certainly it is rewarding too but research that whom you will compete with. i.e. MIT or other core technical school graduates who love to be night owl and keep codding. At other hand, you can develop and support applications which majority of world does.

I agree with many posts which says that learn technology, be advance and try for hybrid role of Technical Project Manager / Project Manager. To satisfy your appetite of tech work, you can lay your hands on freelancing.

Good luck.

Komala Valli ⋅ Apo, AE ⋅ 1 years experience

HI Brian
Thank you for your service. You have chosen the right path. Though initially Coding might seem bit difficult once you start catching-up with the concepts and logic it's pretty much easy. These days you have lot of sophisticated tools for coding. You should probably start with basic C and C++ and then choose Java Stream pr Microsoft .Net stream. Both have equal prospects but Java has an edge given the popularity of the Android mobile Market. And you can choose Mobile programming which is very much an in demand Job these days.

Thanks
Ela

David Limato ⋅ Fremont, CA Hewlett Packard ⋅ 15 years experience

Unequivocally, Yes! It will be one of the best decisions in your career. If you can pick up python and Perl, you will be rewarded after you break in. If you can learn C Programming, even better.

john finney ⋅ Palatine, IL Oce ⋅ 20 years experience

check out this segment from CBS This Morning show on coding as FYI:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/girls-who-code-leading-charge-for-women-in-computer-science/

Sean OShea ⋅ Palos Heights, IL BMC Software Inc. ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Brian.
Thank you and may God bless you for your service.
I've read some great advice in the responses provided before mine. I agree that you should follow your passion, and I think that your leadership qualities can match well with getting qualified as a coder. In my 30 years in IT, I've seen many great IT leaders who started as programmers/coders. It's a great foundation that you can build on - no matter if you stay a coder or decide to take on other challenges in IT leadership. And as stated previously, the pay is solid and the demand for these skills is ever-growing. Best of Luck to you and your family.

Ivan Dzombak ⋅ Pinckney, MI HARMAN International ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Brian -
First, thank you for your service.

I've been involved in developing hardware and software for embedded systems of one kind or another for about 30 years now, and I agree with one of the others posting replies here that a bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering is pretty much a basic requirement for getting a good-paying job in software development. Getting a bachelor's degree while working full-time (and possibly having a family) is a tough slog, and many people never finish it. However, if you really want to pursue a career in software engineering, have a creative mindset, and are willing to go the distance on the degree, go for it.

You might also want to consider other positions out there that you could probably do OK with some sort of certification course, like a Certified Network Administrator (for example). I don't know a lot about this, but it seems like there might be demand for this skill set.

Another option that might suit your background and fit your situation a little better is program management. Many companies, including automotive suppliers and defense contractors, have people to manage development programs for their customer projects. This requires good organizational skills, communication skills, budgeting, and some amount of knowledge of a wide range of subjects related to the project being managed. There are many places where you can earn a Program/Project Management Professional certificate in a reasonable amount of time.

BTW, my wife is a teacher, and I'd say it's a pretty good bet that just about any of the options mentioned in these postings will pay substantially better than teaching :-)

Good luck!

Rick Spiewak ⋅ Annapolis, MD Intellectix ⋅ 44 years experience

I've seen a lot of insightful answers here, but there are things you may need to consider before you pursue software development as a career rather than a complementary skill:
- Many companies look for a degree in engineering or computer science as a qualifier today for software development jobs. This may be unnecessary, but they do it anyway. It can make it harder to break into the field than it should be. You haven't indicated whether you have a degree, but you would at least need to show some training credentials.
- Programming can be absorbing to the point of at least simulating OCD and even fun. It can also be tedious and annoying. You should at least try it and see if you both like it and can beat your head against various walls until you solve some problem or other. Then see if the reward was worth the effort!
Good luck!
Rick

Heather Gillbanks ⋅ Houston, TX General Electric ⋅ 26 years experience

Hi Brian,

I am perhaps the exception to the rule that coders "need" to be introverts (~20 years in IT, until recently). Many are introverted, but certainly not all ("stereotypes - party of 1") ...nor are we all hard-core gamers. :)

Having said that, I agree with Chris that with your leadership experience you might not find the actual coding the best fit. And many companies send the majority of the entry-level coding work offshore.

So, it is not necessarily steadier work than teaching (though it CAN pay better, depending what type of languages you code). I'd suggest you consider Project/ Program management which may be a better melding of your leadership skills and teaching background. Or what about teaching to technical markets (Adults, as opposed to children)?

If you haven't already, scour http://www.Glassdoor.com for different types of tech jobs, what they pay, and where (near you). It's a great resource, and may give you more clarity on the best direction, for you.

Best of luck!
-heather

Brian Allen ⋅ Concord, CA U.S. Army National Guard, First Lieutenant ⋅ 8 years served

A couple of answers have mentioned that to be a coder I have to have OCD, be a grinder as opposed to a leader, and be somewhat withdrawn. I think that those qualities describe me to different degrees.

I've dabbled in the online resources for learning code and I am aware that there's some trial and error involved. The closest that I've gotten to coding is creating, deleting, and moving files in command prompt and Bash; editing game scripts in notepad; and doing online exercises.

I mentioned in my profile that I would want to teach abroad in Japan, but now I have a wife and child; I feel pressured to find a job that justifies moving somewhere with my family in tow.

Louis Schwarz ⋅ Somerville, NJ AIG ⋅ 43 years experience

Hi Brian,
I think you should look into Japanese companies in the USA. They all need Japanese /English staff. Cars companies, electronics companies, etc. They may even want you to travel to Japan.
Have fun..

Mary Beth Myford ⋅ Fleetwood, PA Eurofins Lancaster Labs PSS ⋅ 25 years experience

The only way you will truly be successful is to do what you are passionate about. Do you like to teach? There are many different places and ways you can do that: in the classroom, in a company. You an teach English, you can teach leadership, you can work for a company that develops training.

If you are truly interested in information technology, then take a coding course and see if that is what you like. If not, try another course. Talk to coders and find out what their day is like. See if that is where your passion is.

When you find your passion, you will find your field.

Steve Hall ⋅ Beaverton, OR ⋅ 18 years experience

Hi Brian,

If you are looking to learn "coding" because the work is "steady and rewarding" my advice to you is that you are looking at this career for the wrong reasons. As a software engineer for 17 years I can tell you that being truly great at this job requires three key factors: passion, logic, and creativity.

Engineers who are missing one of those key elements generally fail in one of several consistent patterns. Many simply burn out because they lack passion for the field and cannot get excited about tackling yet another new technology stack the third year in a row. There is a common 10 year burnout where people exit software development as a career. Others fail to achieve greatness because they are creative but not logical, or logical but not creative. The great ones combine logic and creativity backed by passion. It's a rare individual that can engage both sides of the brain and some fire in the gut.

Personally, I can work on software engineering research, design, and implementation 10 to 12 hours a day not because I have to but because I want to. After nearly 20 years of working in the field, I still get excited about great new ideas, new approaches, and new tools. I look forward to working on problems, jumping out of bed with my brain in gear already full of new creative ways to apply technology to solve problems of the day. I look forward to doing this for at least the next twenty years.

As some of the other responses point out, coders get outsourced. Creativity, passion, and knowledge do not. In fact, having worked in China for seven months, I can tell you that there is no way to outsource American creativity, drive, and passion. The Chinese would love to figure out how to emulate this combination, to create the next Steve Jobs in Shanghai, but they cannot do so. Their culture, politics, and educational systems cannot produce that type of individual. That is the American strategic advantage.

If creativity, logic and passion for the work resonate within you, then software engineering is a terrific career. If you are attracted to coding because it's steady and rewarding I would advise you to look elsewhere; go find your passion.

Dave Weinberg ⋅ Rio Rancho, NM Practical Risk, LLC ⋅ 40 years experience

Based on my personal experience, it takes a certain type of person to be a real code-writer. Beyond writing a few simple formulas in Excel, I'm not one of them. However, for the vast majority of my career, I worked as a team member, leader, manager and Director on a very wide array of computer-code-related projects for both the private and public sector. Knowing the general layout of the computer code world is useful as is general architecture of how computer-based projects need to be designed and executed. But in neither case, do you need to be the coder.

I agree with several of the others here, learn enough to be able to talk with coders and understand the kinds of problems for which they are useful, but with your skills, you should be leading the effort.

Frank Kielman ⋅ Portland, OR Daimler AG / Daimler Trucks North America / Freightliner LLC ⋅ 30 years experience

Brian, while I agree with previous comments that you are still young enough to start with coding, it could be a tough environment for you to be between the even younger hacker, geek type of developers and the challenge with off-shore development. There are opportunities that can be built around a development skill, f.e. SAP, Oracle, etc., but I could only recommend general coding as an enabler to aim for another IT related position, f.e. project manager, systems analyst, etc. But here is another piece of advice that I gave someone on my team during the 2007/2008 crisis when he asked me if he should recommend IT as a career path for his son...even during those crisis years with high unemployment it was hard to find qualified IT talents! Good luck!

Emanuel Carpenter ⋅ Alpharetta, GA SDR Master Class ⋅ 20 years experience

Brian:

There are two reasons you should learn to code:

1. The pay is excellent. Senior developers here in Atlanta are starting at $100,000 per year per the Atlanta Business Chronicle. (Read the article here: http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/11/28/invasion-of-tech-giants-forcing-up-salaries.html)

2. Coding can be a stepping stone to starting a tech company.

What's great is that you can start learning for free on websites like Udemy or Udacity.

Teaching is a noble profession. But the pay usually sucks.

Coding is definitely worth exploring.

Tim Keefe ⋅ Washington, DC U.S. Army, Specialist ⋅ 6 years served

1. I agree with Chris on this one. When I first got into IT over 14 years ago, I was flirting with the idea of getting into programming myself. That field, along with help desk, hardware technician, and networking were some of the best places to get one's foot in the door, if you were interested in going into IT. Java had yet to achieve the status that it has now.

Programming is still one way to do it, but, yes, it's tedious work and you really have to have a love of doing it to do it over the long term. You also more or less have to reinvent yourself every few years because of learning more than one programming language to keep up, else your skills will atrophy and you'll find yourself with fewer and fewer job opportunities. Lastly, programmers are a commodity nowadays, meaning that there are many people all over the world who can do it remotely for next to nothing. Something to keep in mind if you're thinking of doing this as a full-time position. Might be find to do it for a few years as you gain experience, but I wouldn't want to be in my late 40s and early 50s still programming unless I truly loved it.

The better option, IMO, is to do what Joe recommends: learn enough to be dangerous and then learn how to do project management. As technology is changing rapidly, you have to find a level where you can learn about the technology and then how to use it to solve a problem. You also might profit from spending time learning how to be a Salesforce developer, since the cloud is hot and there's a great demand for Salesforce administrators and developers.

2. Another idea to consider is going overseas to teach English, especially Asia, since you already have the ESL background. I did this many years ago and count it as one of the best times of my life, because I proved to myself that I could do it and flourish in a foreign country for almost two years. There's plenty of information now to research opportunities, unlike there was when I went (mid-90s.) Just do your research and pick a place with many opportunities.

You could also couple this option with learning how to code before you go over. You could take some of this IT background and teach computer science students over there, freelancing.

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison, AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

Brian, you are still certainly young enough to chart a new course and software engineering/programming (coding) would be a way to more than double what you make as a teacher right off the bat, and quadruple it within a few years of experience. If you pursue this course and then determine that you have a yearning for leadership, you would always have the ability to become an Agile ScrumMaster and/or Project Manager and continue leadership within the field of Software Engineering. Obviously there are obstacles- the largest being that you don't know if you have the knack for it. Writing code is extremely tedious and definitely a solo task where introverts with OCD excel. If you consider yourself primarily a "people person" you may have difficulty adjusting. That having been said, I would still advise taking a course or two just to see how it suits you.

Chris Malburg ⋅ Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA Writers Resource Group, Inc. ⋅ 40 years experience

12-5
Hi Brian,
Should you learn to write code? My honest answer is no. With your senior background as a lieutenant, I imagine you're a leader, not a grinder code-head. However, if you wish to pursue a career in the tech industry, you probably should know your way around the most popular coding languages in the industry you want to work.

Among the hottest industries now are gaming, finance and healthcare. Please let us hear back from you to see what you decide.

Best wishes,
Chris Malburg

Todd Gilchrist ⋅ Chicago, IL U.S. Navy, Commander ⋅ 22 years served

Great article on Wired.com -- Out in the Open: The Site That Teaches You to Code Well Enough to Get a Job

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/exercism/

It talks about a website "called Exercism.io [http://exercism.io] is trying to help. Exercism is updated every day with programming exercises in a variety of different languages. First, you download these exercises using a special software client, and once you’ve completed one, you upload it back to the site, where other coders from around the world will give you feedback. Then you can take what you’ve learned and try the exercise again."

Sunny Ran ⋅ Waltham, MA ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Brian,
Programming has become a tool to solve problems in many fields. So you should certainly consider getting deeper into coding. If you can couple this with some domain expertise in a specific field (say healthcare or finance etc) then marketability goes up. LMK if you want to converse further. Good luck.
Regards,
Sunny