How I Learned to Code in 4 MONTHS & Got a Job Offer (no CS Degree)

Summary

This video script narrates the inspiring journey of a self-taught software engineer who, without a computer science degree or boot camp, learned to code in just four months using free online resources. Starting with Python and web programming basics, the individual progressed through Harvard's CS50 course and its web programming follow-up, gaining proficiency in programming languages and web development frameworks. The script emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and problem-solving in the field of software engineering. It concludes with the speaker's successful job acquisition through an internship conversion and encourages viewers to pursue coding as a valuable, in-demand skill.

Takeaways

• 🎓 The speaker learned to code from scratch in four months without a computer science degree or attending a boot camp.
• 💻 All learning materials for coding were found for free on the internet, proving that it's possible to become proficient without incurring costs.
• 🌐 The initial exposure to coding was through Python and web programming, highlighting the importance of starting with accessible languages and technologies.
• 📚 Harvard University's CS50 course on edX was a pivotal learning experience, providing a solid foundation in computer science and programming.
• 🛠️ Problem-solving is a key aspect of programming that the speaker enjoyed, which is not for everyone but is essential for those pursuing coding.
• 🏗️ Understanding the fundamentals of how computers work at a low level is crucial for becoming a better programmer, as emphasized by the CS50 course.
• 🌟 The speaker's passion for learning and solving complex problems drove their journey through the challenging but rewarding field of software engineering.
• 📈 The speaker's progression from basic coding to building full-fledged web applications was facilitated by continuous learning and practice.
• 📈 The speaker secured a software engineering job by leveraging an internship and demonstrating their coding skills and motivation.
• 🚀 The importance of being a lifelong learner in the ever-evolving field of software engineering was highlighted, as new technologies and practices emerge.
• 🌟 Coding is presented as a valuable and in-demand skill, akin to a 'superpower', with high demand and numerous job opportunities for software engineers.

Q & A

How long did it take the speaker to learn coding from scratch?

It took the speaker around four months to learn coding from scratch.

What was the speaker's educational background before learning to code?

The speaker had an economics degree from university and had done an internship at a bank.

Why did the speaker decide to learn coding?

The speaker decided to learn coding to find an industry where they could make a good income and have a more humane lifestyle while working on problems they are excited about.

What resources did the speaker use to start learning coding?

The speaker started with resources called 'Python for Everybody' and 'The Odin Project', which they found online for free.

What is the difference between computer science and programming according to the speaker?

Computer science studies how computers work, whereas programming is more about practically creating programs and communicating with computers to accomplish tasks.

Which course did the speaker take to get an introductory understanding of computer science?

The speaker took Harvard University's CS50 course on edx, which they found to be an excellent and challenging course.

What programming languages did the speaker learn during their journey?

The speaker learned Python, C, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and also got introduced to web programming and using databases via SQLite.

What is the significance of understanding low-level implementations for a programmer?

Understanding low-level implementations can make someone a better programmer by providing a deeper understanding of how functions work, which can be beneficial in the long run.

What course did the speaker take to improve their web programming skills after CS50?

The speaker took CS50's follow-up course called 'Web Programming with Python and JavaScript' to get better at web programming.

How did the speaker secure their first software engineering job?

The speaker secured their first software engineering job by doing a non-software engineering internship at a big company, performing well, and convincing the company to give them a return offer as a software engineer.

What advice does the speaker give for those wanting to learn coding?

The speaker advises to try before you think you're ready, to keep learning as the field is always evolving, and to consider if a lifelong learning mindset is suitable for the individual.

What does the speaker suggest about the future of software engineering jobs?

The speaker suggests that there will be more software engineering jobs in the future, and that currently, there are not enough software engineers to fill the available positions.

What is the speaker doing while waiting for their job to start?

The speaker is building projects on their own to get even better at coding and is digging deeper into computer science using free materials on the internet.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Learning to Code and Landing a Software Engineering Job

The speaker shares their personal journey of learning to code from scratch in just four months without a computer science degree or any formal training. They emphasize the accessibility of free online resources and their decision to transition from an economics background to software engineering due to a lack of passion for finance. The speaker highlights their use of 'Python for Everybody' and the 'Odin Project' to learn programming basics and web development. They also discuss the importance of understanding computer fundamentals, which they gained through Harvard University's free CS50 course on edX. The speaker's enthusiasm for problem-solving and learning is evident as they delve into the challenges and rewards of coding, and they stress the ongoing nature of learning in the tech industry.

05:01

🚀 Advancing Web Programming Skills and Career Transition

The speaker continues by detailing their progression to advanced web programming through Harvard's CS50's follow-up course, which focuses on web development with Python and JavaScript. They describe the course's fast pace and the practical experience of building web applications using the Django framework. The speaker emphasizes the value of these projects for building a portfolio suitable for entry-level job applications. They acknowledge the continuous learning required in software engineering and the need to adapt to new technologies and practices. The speaker shares their personal experience of securing a software engineering job offer by leveraging an internship at a large company and demonstrating their coding skills and motivation. They encourage viewers to take initiative and apply for jobs before feeling fully prepared, as opportunities can arise unexpectedly. The speaker concludes by discussing their ongoing self-education in computer science and their commitment to continuous improvement and learning.

Keywords

💡coding

Coding refers to the process of writing computer programs, which involves using programming languages to communicate instructions to a computer. In the video's context, the speaker emphasizes learning to code as a means to transition into a software engineering career without formal education in computer science. The speaker's journey of self-teaching and mastering coding within four months underscores the accessibility and the potential for self-directed learning in the field of programming.

💡self-taught

Being self-taught implies acquiring knowledge or skills without formal education or training. The video's theme revolves around the speaker's experience of becoming proficient in coding and securing a software engineering job through self-study. The term is used to highlight the feasibility of learning complex skills like coding independently, utilizing free online resources.

💡software engineer

A software engineer is a professional who applies engineering principles to design, develop, test, and evaluate computer programs and software. The video's narrative centers on the speaker's aspiration to become a software engineer and their successful endeavor to do so without a formal computer science degree. The term is integral to the video's message, illustrating a career path that values practical coding skills over traditional academic credentials.

💡programming languages

Programming languages are formal languages comprising a set of instructions used to create software and applications. The speaker mentions learning Python and JavaScript, which are popular programming languages, as part of their self-education journey. These languages are essential tools for coding and are key to the speaker's ability to build web applications and pursue a career in software engineering.

💡web programming

Web programming, also known as web development, involves creating, designing, and maintaining websites using a variety of technologies and programming languages. The video discusses the speaker's introduction to web programming through resources like 'Python for Everybody' and the Odin Project, which taught them HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This concept is central to the speaker's learning process and their eventual job as a software engineer.

💡computer science

Computer science is the study of computers and computing, including their theoretical and practical aspects. The speaker took an introductory course in computer science, 'CS50' from Harvard University, to gain a foundational understanding of how computers work. This knowledge is crucial for a software engineer as it provides insights into the lower-level operations that support higher-level programming.

💡CS50

CS50 is a popular introductory course to computer science offered by Harvard University through the edX platform. The speaker highlights CS50 as a pivotal resource in their learning journey, where they learned the fundamentals of computer science, programming languages like C and Python, and web development. The course is depicted as challenging yet rewarding, setting a solid foundation for the speaker's career in software engineering.

💡framework

In web development, a framework is a platform that provides a structure to make the coding process more efficient and organized. The speaker mentions using the Flask framework during the CS50 course and Django in the follow-up web programming course. These frameworks are essential for building both the front-end and back-end of web applications, a skill that the speaker acquired and showcases in their portfolio.

💡portfolio

A portfolio in the context of software engineering is a collection of projects and work samples that demonstrate a candidate's skills and experience. The speaker built a portfolio of web applications as part of their learning process, which later helped them secure a job as a software engineer. The term is used to illustrate the practical application of coding skills and the importance of showcasing one's abilities to potential employers.

💡lifelong learner

A lifelong learner is someone who continually seeks to learn, grow, and develop new skills throughout their life. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being a lifelong learner in the field of software engineering, where technology and best practices are constantly evolving. This concept is used to convey the message that ongoing learning and adaptation are necessary for success in the tech industry.

💡internship

An internship is a period of work experience where an individual works for an organization to gain professional insights and skills. The speaker mentions a non-software engineering internship at a big company, which provided them with an opportunity to transition into a software engineering role. The term is relevant as it illustrates how the speaker leveraged their internship to demonstrate their potential and secure a job in their desired field.

Highlights

The speaker learned to code from scratch in just four months and landed a job as a software engineer.

The speaker did not have a computer science degree, nor did they attend a boot camp or pay for any materials.

Coding can be learned for free on the internet, as demonstrated by the speaker's personal experience.

Initially, the speaker had no understanding of coding but had a vague idea of it being related to typing on a computer.

The journey of learning to code started after graduating with an economics degree and disliking the banking industry.

The speaker aimed to find an industry with a humane lifestyle and problems they were excited to work on, leading them to software engineering.

The resources 'Python for Everybody' and 'The Odin Project' were used to begin learning coding.

The speaker learned web programming, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, through these free online resources.

Harvard University's CS50 course on edX was taken to gain a proper introduction to computer science.

CS50 was described as challenging and one of the best courses the speaker ever took, sparking a passion for programming.

The speaker learned the C programming language and gained an understanding of lower-level implementations.

The importance of understanding how computers work at a low level was emphasized for becoming a better programmer.

The difference between computer science and programming was explained, with the former focusing on how computers work and the latter on practical creation.

CS50's final project involved building a full-fledged web application, providing hands-on experience.

The speaker took a follow-up course, 'Web Programming with Python and JavaScript', to deepen their web programming skills.

The follow-up course was more challenging and fast-paced, with weekly projects building full-fledged web applications using Django.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of continuous learning in the field of software engineering.

Coding is described as a skill that is always evolving, with new technologies and practices emerging regularly.

The speaker secured a software engineering job by leveraging an internship at a big company and demonstrating coding potential.

The speaker's advice is to try for opportunities before you think you're ready, as you never know what might happen.

Currently working on personal projects and deepening computer science knowledge using free online materials and self-created tracking systems.

Coding is considered a superpower and an in-demand skill, with high demand for software engineers and many available jobs.

Transcripts

i want to tell you how i learned how to

code from completely zero completely on

my own in just four months and i even

got a job as a software engineer after

that i don't have a computer science

degree i didn't do a boot camp in fact

i've never paid for any materials i've

used to learn coding because in this day

and age coding is a skill that you can

learn for completely free on the

internet i am proof of that and in this

video i want to tell you how i did it so

just a few months ago i had no idea what

coding even was i just had this vague

idea that something related to typing

complicated stuff on a computer to get

it to do something and that's

essentially what programming is it's you

speaking to a computer to tell you what

to do but a few months ago i had

absolutely no idea what it is what all

the other languages do anything related

to it got the idea of learning how to

code after i graduated from university

with an economics degree now most people

who do economics end up doing investment

banking consulting and these types of

things and i did an internship at a bank

but a long story short i absolutely

hated banking i wasn't passionate about

economics and i certainly wasn't

passionate about working in finance or

many of the other industries where

economics grads used to go to i could

have easily done it and gone on to make

a lot of money as a banker but i just

hated the lifestyle the work wasn't

inspiring to me so it was clear that i

needed a new plan so why did i decide to

learn coding i wanted to find an

industry where i could still make a lot

of money but also have a more humane

lifestyle and work on problems that i'm

actually excited to work on so i

discovered software engineering

so i learned that in order to become a

software engineer all you really needed

was know how to code so i went on google

typed how to learn how to code and i

ended up starting with resources called

python for everybody and the ori project

these are both completely free resources

that i found online the former

introduced me to python one of the most

popular programming languages of today

and the latter introduced me to web

programming so i learned how to build a

web page using html css and javascript

and stuff like how the internet actually

works and what it actually means for you

to open a webpage on your computer and i

was absolutely fascinated by all of this

so the next step was to take a proper

introductory course in computer science

and i decided to go for harvard

university cs50 which you can do for

free on edx and i've done a review on it

which you can watch right here long

story short it's an excellent course in

fact it's one of the best courses i've

ever taken in my life i was absolutely

blown away i came out of this course

wanted to consume all the information

there is in the world about programming

and computer science that is how excited

about this field i was and that's when i

knew that this was the field that i

really wanted to go into cs50 was very

challenging it's hard programming is

very difficult the thing is i really

like working on difficult problems like

this and by the way this kind of problem

solving is not for everyone and that's

completely fine the problem says of the

course absolutely kicked my ass but i

really embraced the challenge from this

course i learned the c programming

language which got me introduced to the

lower level implementations of a lot of

the functions that you will take for

granted in a language like python the

course does use python as well so i got

even more comfortable with python i also

got introduced to web programming which

i had already been doing as part of the

odin project i also got introduced to

how to use databases via sqlite but most

importantly it taught me the

fundamentals of how computers work at a

low level this is what i feel like many

people learning coding neglect

especially if you're self-taught i think

it's really valuable to at least get

some kind of an understanding of how

computers actually work because i could

actually make you a better programmer

down the line in case you're not aware

of the difference computer science

studies how computers work whereas

programming is more like how do you

practically create program how do you

talk to computers together to do stuff

but the better you understand computers

the better you will always be as a

software engineer or a programmer as the

final project of cs50 you're going to be

building a full-fledged web application

using the stuff that you learn in the

course so at this stage you will

essentially know how to code you'll be

able to build very simple things it'll

be a struggle but you will have an

understanding of what it means to build

a front end of a website and what it

means to build a back end of a website

and what sort of languages i used for

all of these and how to actually connect

the front end with a back end using a

framework like flask which is the one

that you will use in the course so after

doing this before venturing into other

areas of programming i wanted to get

even better at web programming

specifically so i did cs50s follow-up

course web programming with python and

javascript and this course is

essentially a continuation of the

extremely engaging and exciting style of

cs50 but it's just even more focused on

a web programming specifically rather

than computer science as a whole and be

warned this one moves at an even faster

pace than cs50 you'll know from my cs50

review that cs50 is very hard and the

continuation course the cs50 web is even

harder every single week pretty much

you'll be building full-fledged web

application this time using the django

framework it will really really push you

to get better but the great thing is

that every single week you're building

an actual application which you can then

put on your portfolio later to apply for

jobs again they are simple compared to

the stuff that you'll be able to build

if you've worked as a software engineer

for a long time but again for

entry-level jobs they don't really

require that elaborate stuff it took me

a while but i came out of this course

having a pretty decent understanding of

web programming the point that now if i

have an idea of building whatever i can

just go out and figure out how to build

it on my own i don't need a course to

hold my hands anymore and that's really

the goal of these courses is to hold

your hands to the point where you know

just enough so that you can go into the

world yourself and build whatever you

want to build so if you do all of these

steps and you do them properly you will

now know how to code i did this all in

around four months it might take you

longer if it does that's completely fine

i had a lot of time to put into this i

was able to work on all of this for

around a couple of hours each day it's

absolutely fine to take your time but

before i get all the experienced

software engineer typing on my comment

cool you know how to create a simple web

program as nothing look hold on i

understand coding is a skill that you

will never really master it's a field

where you always need to keep learning

new things because there are always new

technologies coming out software

engineering practices changed and that

kind of stuff so when i say you will

know how to code i don't mean that you

will be a master i don't

mean that you will be a great software

engineer what i mean is that you will

know enough to start creating simple

things and you will know enough to get

your foot in the door in the industry

than to get your first job in terms of

web programming for example you will

understand what the front end and back

end means and how to connect them using

a framework like django or flask and you

will sort of know how to navigate

yourself into tech world and that is

what i would call the first step of

getting into the software engineering

industry and then when you get your

first job that's when you will keep

improving down the line obviously this

field is something where you will need

to become a lifelong learner you need to

be someone who likes learning new skills

and updating their learning all the time

if that's not you then this field might

not be for you i know it's for me

because i love learning new things

that's why i'm so excited about this

field just keep in mind and think to

yourself whether this is actually

something that you want or that you

don't want but i will tell you that in

this day and age coding is sort of the

closest thing that we have to a

superpower it's one of the most in

demand skills in the world so if you

just learn enough coding to get your

foot in the door you'll pretty much be

good for the rest of your life there is

so much demand for these skills there

are so many jobs of software engineers i

know it's not going to be replaced by ai

anytime soon if it does please kill me

in fact if you look at any other

predictions from people and my own

opinion there will just be more and more

software engineering jobs in the future

and currently there are not enough

software engineers in the world to fill

up all the positions that are available

so if you learn this skill you will have

something extremely valuable and it's a

pretty good feeling to be able to offer

something that's genuinely valuable to

the world okay so i didn't talk about my

software engineering job yet so here's

how that happened the truth is that i

got slightly lucky because what actually

happened is that during this process

that i've described i did a non-software

engineering internship at a big company

it was a business kind of internship and

it just so happened that i was in a

division that also hired software

engineers i did well in the internship

and they wanted to give me a return

offer so i just asked them hey would it

be possible to get that return offer as

a software engineer because actually

i've been learning coding so i was

basically just able to convince them of

my potential and motivation as a coder

person to get them to give my return

offer as a software engineer so you

could say that i got slightly lucky but

what this goes to show is that you

should always ask you should always try

before you think you're ready at this

point i was around two months into my

process i certainly didn't think i knew

enough coding to actually apply for

software engineer jobs directly but what

this goes to show is that try before you

think you're ready you never know what's

gonna happen and even if i hadn't got

this job i think with my skills now i

would certainly be able to apply for a

software engineer jobs directly i have a

lot of side projects i've done in my

portfolio and i can talk about my

passion and motivation to this field in

a very genuine way and so what i'm doing

now while i wait for my job to start i'm

building projects on my own to get even

better and i'm digging deeper into

computer science itself and i'm doing

this completely on my own without paying

for anything as well and actually

created a full system to track my

progress learning computer science using

materials on the internet using notion

and i made this video about it the

response has been amazing i'm sure

you'll love it go watch it and if you

want to follow my journey of

self-teaching computer science and life

as a self-taught software engineer make

sure to subscribe