Career Specialties, Mastering, and Certifications
How do you know what to pick without any experience? Shooting in the blind for a career path to invest in is not typically guaranteed for a successful adventure. Here is a list of some things I have learned along the way for a Software Developer Program associates degree with NWTC that you might find useful if you have no expectations or experience:
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1. Make sure you decide to stick with a program within one institution/university setting. They have curriculum that is customized based on your instructors ability to teach the material. It is a difficult thing to do, this program keeps changing and they have to maintain job security principles with your education.
2. Invest in a hobby related to building your IT interest and skills. This could be reading documents of types of software platforms (architecture/networking), software programming (software developer/front-end and back-end or fullstack), linux books for ethical hacking (cybersecurity), or the history of programming (engineering fundamentals).
3. Before you start, prepare a space that you plan on filling with your personalized notes and programs made with each course by developing your own templates and guide to become a tutor. It's a great way to reiterate the course and learn how to talk tech with other peers.
4. Coinciding with the tutor approach in organizing books, programs, and notes - also develop a discipline in your file system. Every instructor does do it differently, it does give you a variety of filing types and ways to think in organizing modularly. Start with a basic structure and delve in within each course in their requirements. Note it.
5. Never take more course load than you can handle. Dropping your cumulative GPA can extinguish your dreams of graduating in the program if you fall below the median. It is possible to re-take your courses for higher grades, however, so not all is lost!
6. If you are an adult learner, prepare for a young crowd. They are very equipped and trendy. They are patient and feel out of place when they have to correct an older programmer, but are capable of awesome work and guidance. It is a maturing learning environment and not to unlist them as a source for potential help.
7. If you have work experience with an outdated degree, that experience is very useful in the educational setting. Use it wisely and pick your moments to shine. Don't sink in when you realize your work experience is outdated, your work experience is still useful. It is a good idea to share with your instructor/professor to see their experience and compare. They will have a basic path to adjust easily with the new technology you're learning now.
8. When learning about specialty fields within your program, adjust and research other successful candidates. What types of programming languages they prefer to work with and why. What really helps are looking at the job postings of a desired position and look at the requirements.
9. I had a hard time envisioning what the internet was (lame and old, I know) but was it an empty vast space we sent numbers in? How was everything connected? (After some extra time in other courses learning digital logic...) The questions began over again about why serial and parallel wiring was necessary in digital logic (duh, because binary is a compiler for machines since they don't work with regular English, Spanish, etc.). I still don't have a clear image in my mind, which is good for what I need it for, but that's why - keeping the possibilities open as a developer creates the framework/architecture you need and may have an investment in. Constantly looking for new solutions is key.
10. If you can create a website to portfolio throughout the process that would be the best option to transform with your digital marketing in freelance jobs and designs. This is a constant project but worth it. Learn about servers, FTP services (FileZilla), digital marketing, website design (html5/css/javascript) in the beginning stages of your learning experience to get that going and maintain throughout.
One thing I understand (unknowingly learned) is that technology is still new and developing. Your thinking is valuable in the sense that it solves what it can based on your own calculations. Consider the keywords they use, what is being asked to consider in regards to space and time (asynchronous), and realize we are going to be able to create any environment we want to work in with programming. It has not been configured yet, so if you work on extra hobbies of explaining how the internet (at the very least) is in your main tool base - you might want to be able to explain in your own understanding how it fits in yours. The more you remain in control the higher your level of position can become (at an early stage this is crucial to the attitudes needed for developing managerial staff).
