Want to study programming yourself? Possible, But not easy

In the new year plan of many people, the goal is to “learn programming”. If you are one of them, what is your success rate?

That rate is not very high. According to SkilledUp, a company specializing in information on online classes and boot camps, which involves programming, only 5% of them conduct their studies. through an online programming course, and only 10% complete the course if they have to pay for it.

A worse reality. Experts say that even if you complete an online programming class, you are still not ready for a real job in this industry. “A mistake that anyone can wake up on a beautiful day, attend a bootcamp and get a six-figure salary job is wrong,” Daniel Daks, product manager at SkilledUp to speak. “I’ve never met a student who has gone from an unknown person to a professional programmer through a unique learning product.”

Those who have done the conversion process say there is a limiting factor to them, that is: it is difficult to self-study programming when you are having a full-time job. This explains why teenagers are often very good at programming; Because they are not tied to the same responsibilities as adults, they have a lot of free time to hone their skills. Many people find ways to get more practice time by giving up their jobs, so they can study programming full-time, rather than just learning every few hours.

“Basically this learning process takes 6 to 12 months full-time,” said Chris Sunsong, a self-taught programmer. “Looking back, if I follow the style of learning and working full-time at a certain place, I think this learning will be useless.”

Sunsong, now 30, quit his job a few years ago to learn about Ruby on Rails. To do so, he used free resources like Codecademy and Treehouse , and taught himself 8 to 10 hours a day for nine months.

“I basically learned all the documentation I could find,” he said. “I have recreated a project, and when I get stuck I will find a tutorial on that topic, and I will continue to repeat it until I succeed.”

After all, Sunsong had an apprenticeship as a programmer, which was his favorite job.

Although not everyone believes that you have to quit your full-time job to learn programming. Treehouse CEO Ryan Carson said most people can learn by spending 30 minutes to an hour every day for a few months.

“It is definitely something you can do in the morning before your child wakes up, or during lunch,” he said. “We saw our students study that way for 6 to 12 months.”

Carson added that the Treehouse completion rate is 30%, probably because Treehouse courses are chargeable from $ 25 to $ 49 per month – but partly because the learning content here is also replaced. Very interesting change.

“We have been working on the curriculum for four years,” he said. “We started to reach the point where I understand the most students.”

Joe Fusco’s experience shows that you can have a full-time job in an irrelevant field, self-study programming and career transition. Two years ago, Fusco, who lived in Rochester, New York, did two jobs to earn a living. “I started in the restaurant industry. I do a dishwasher’s job, ”he said.

Later, he quit his job to become a bar steward at night, while working as a security guard during the day. Normally, Fusco will have a shift from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then he will take a two-hour break before starting two shifts from 5 pm to 2 am the next morning, where he earns $ 10 a hours.

“After that year, I began to become tired and exhausted,” he said. “At that time, my daughter was just born, difficulties were getting harder, but that didn’t stop me from studying.”

Fusco’s job as a guard allowed him to have some free time to work with the computer; he kept learning little by little according to the curriculum on Treehouse website. After two or three months, he earned a technology job at Phu Concepts, a company specializing in online web design and marketing in Rochester.

However, there is a big question mark in Fusco’s story. Before self-learning programming, he had previously completed a basic semester in computer science. Fusco said he did not receive much practical programming knowledge at school, but it probably did not affect much.

Daks at SkilledUp said he believes the value of online programming course is that it teaches you the basics. Also, unless you have a fairly good knowledge base, otherwise you may need some help, Daks added.

“The reason Codecademy is great for beginners is what they teach middle-level students to the next level: practical work,” he said. “The next step often requires learners to transition to an educational format that embraces the different realities of a professional programmer. There are no predictable mistakes by general advice or suggestion, and they often require a greater level of personal attention and commitment. ”