Brian Burress ⋅ Cincinnati, OH The Byte Stuff (self employed) ⋅ 26 years experience

Yves,

As you learn and your skills grow, consider looking into some projects on GitHub related to technologies you are working with. Find a project that interests you and get involved with it. This will give you an opportunity to see how other people code, write code yourself and get feedback on what you do. In turn, you can then use the project(s) you've been involved with as examples/references of your work when applying for a job. This will help demonstrate that you have more than just "book learning".

Good luck!!

Brian

David Bisignani ⋅ Youngstown, OH SummaCare ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Yves,

I am a software developer myself and the issue that makes software development difficult is the number of different technologies available today and the rapid rate of change of these technologies. Every company uses different technologies and it is a big job to learn every one of them and stay up to date. I would suggest that you consider the industries you would like to work in and then check job boards to see what technologies the majority of companies are using. For example, if you want to work in the financial industry, then search for jobs on any jobs board (like Dice) and see what employers are looking for. Make a list of each technology and then count the number of employers looking for this particular technology. Then concentrate your studies on the most popular ones. Often times, postings have a long "wish list" of skills but not all of them are needed. You might even wish to contact people who work in the industry via Linked In to get their opinions as well. To give you an example, I work in the .NET world, so I am studying things like Visual Studio, C#, the .NET framework, ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC, SQL Server, Bootstrap and JQuery. Other topics, such as PHP and Python, are a bit lower on my list.
One final note: I have been using Pluralsight classes and they can be very helpful. The instructors are knowledgeable but you might want to consider schools that can teach coding and result in a certificate so that you have a credential on your resume.
I hope this gives you some insights and if I can help you, let me know. Just send me an email message. In the meantime, have a great day!

Mike Grayson ⋅ Mckinney, TX FTI ⋅ 45 years experience

First, you have to decide where to start. There are many languages, C++, C#, Java, PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery, Razor, LINQ, Python, etc. There are many frameworks .NET, Bootstrap, MVC, etc. There are also many IDE's (Integrated Development Environment) such as Visual Studio, Eclipse, Android Studio, Sublime Text, Xamarin, etc. And I haven't even mentioned databases.

The best way to decide where to start is by determining your destination. It's like taking a trip, you should know where you are going before you take your first step. So, focus on your destination. Go to Monster.com and enter programming with your city. You will see that people are hiring mostly Java and C# programmers. These are two similar, but very different languages in terms of supporting libraries and IDE's. Personally, I love developing in C# - the Visual Studio environment is absolutely awesome and Microsoft is integrating more and more artificial intelligence that checks your code. But Java is great too. I've programmed in that language and it is largely based on C syntax.

Bottom line... take some time to visit those companies listed on Monster.com. Talk to them. See what they are working on. Tell them your desire. Then pursue the environment that excites you the most. Then, find a mentor who has experience in that environment or join a MeetUp group that focuses on that environment.

Let me know how it goes.

cary chiasson ⋅ Beaumont, TX U.S. Navy, Seaman ⋅ 4 years served

Yves, Well from a fellow veteran thank you for you service. Here is another one that might help. I am taking the Web Design Boot camp I am about halfway through. They are through https://www.udemy.com. You have to pay and it is a lot of videos and learn as you go course. I have learned a lot to code in HTML 5, CSS, Javascript. Now I am learning the back end server stack.

Brian Fox ⋅ Voorhees, NJ SURGE / Personal Clients ⋅ 31 years experience

Hello Yves,

I'll be celebrating 31 years in this industry on May 18, still enjoy the field thoroughly and the projections for future growth are great! Some of the resources mentioned above are good, and you can also purchase detailed video courses for as low as $10 on Udemy that are very informative.

You can feel free to contact me to ask questions about entering the field and some of the best technologies to learn. Good luck!

Brian Fox

Rephael Inbar ⋅ Aliso Viejo, CA Slamdunk Enterprises, Inc. ⋅ 25 years experience

Hello Yves,

Thank you for your service.

One great way to start learning how to code, which is also FREE is here:

www.codeacademy.com

They a large catalog of courses which are GOOD and all delivered online, especially in the area you're interested in: Web development.

Another good and inexpensive source for coding courses is Udemy.com.

Once you have acquired some skills and are able to build a website from the ground up using HTML, CSS and Python or PHP, you can likely get an entry job as a coder.

Feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Best to you,
Rephael Inbar

William Ryan ⋅ New York, NY Circulation ⋅ 27 years experience

check out these types of programs here is one example
https://generalassemb.ly/

Thank you for your service

Robert Jurasek ⋅ Hollywood, FL Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ⋅ 45 years experience

Dear Yves,

I am not sure how relevant it is to your situation but there was a recent article on CNBC.com that might be of interest to you: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/some-people-learn-to-code-in-their-60s-70s-or-80s.html.

Good luck and thank you for your Service!

Sincerely,
Bob Jurasek

Sriram Iyer ⋅ Menlo Park, CA Trantor, Inc. ⋅ 29 years experience

Hi Yves,

Thank you for your service. If you are unable to find anyone in your region, please feel free to contact me (I am in the San Francisco Bay Area) and I can connect you with the right people.

Andrew Klarman ⋅ New York, NY American Corporate Partners (ACP) ⋅ 1 years experience

Yves - thank you for your service and for utilizing ACP AdvisorNet. Maybe you can reach out to someone directly - I would recommend searching for an advisor using our Community section. If you click the "Community" tab, you can search for IT mentors near you. You would do this by selecting Information Technology as the expertise and then plugging in your ZIP code. Let me know if you would like some help or if you would like a tour of the website. I'd be happy to set up an informational tour for you.

-Andy