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Discussion on: Where and how to become a self-taught designer/developer✍(and many other areas)

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anortef profile image
Adrián Norte

You should NEVER replace formal and official education for online platforms and courses, even though both are complementary. I never had enough money to pay official education and I had to rely on this kind of self-taught methods to get a job and keep growing until I could pay my formal education.

I have to disagree with that statement. Formal and/or official education is one way to get knowledge but self-taught is equally valid for tech.

I have been working for more than 10 years with people from very different backgrounds and as far as I can tell the only thing that made a difference was the passion for tech, neither having a degree, nor being self-taught or having gone to a Bootcamp.

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helleworld_ profile image
Desiré 👩‍🎓👩‍🏫

Hi Adrián, thank you so much for your response.

I don't know how your way into tech was or if you have formal education yourself, however, as discussed here, and as for my experience, most companies will shut their doors if they don't see higher education in your CV.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have any higher education myself more than high school and I've been developing for Smart Cities, but if you aim higher, they won't care only about your passion.

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anortef profile image
Adrián Norte

I do not have any formal education in the tech field. What I did to enter was just go to a desperate enough startup.

Maybe is something of Barcelona but most companies seem to not care about that.

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helleworld_ profile image
Desiré 👩‍🎓👩‍🏫

That's exactly what I'm mentioning, I'm not saying that formal education will make you smarter but definitely will give you a work in a big company to start with, and probably with a decent salary.

As for my experience in Barcelona, not having a higher education made companies shut their doors to me even though I've been developing in the AI field/Smart City area/Designing smart solutions from scratch.

Maybe you were just lucky and the companies trusted you, but honestly, that isn't happening often and it's a mistake to say that being self-taught is enough, you'll need a lot more or... Just luck!

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ciberninjas profile image
Visit me on 🐦 @ciberninjas

Sin formación reglada, ni padrinos. La entrada que te queda en España son los denominados BootCamp, que básicamente pagas por hacer enlaces con empresas, tras una especie de masterclass durante equis semanas.

Aunque hace poco. Leí, un chico que para vender estos BootCamps y como vía de defensa de ellos; citaba. Que el mismo había entrada como profesor auxiliar tras haber realizado el mismo.. Lo que te puede dejar entrever, el nivel que pueden existir en esos Bootcamps..

Desde luego lo que citaba este chico, no es para una demostración de calidad del personal.Más bien, el hecho real de que dentro del mundo de la tecnología actual, sobre todo entre las StartUps se entra y asciente más por tus dotes sociales y ganas de trabajar; que por tus conocimientos; ya cada uno puede tener su propia opinión sobre si eso, es positivo o no.

Dicho esto, con un poco de suerte. Es bastante fácil de que a través de Linkedin te encuentra alguna "cárnica" del sector e incluso alguna StartUp, hasta a mi me han ofrecido algún puesto en su día; apenas sin conocer mis conocimientos.. Eso ya depende de si deseas muchas horas sin cobrar y en equipo majo, o si deseas trabajar de esclavo y cobrando bien.

Me extraña que si eres de Barcelona, no te salga ningún tipo de trabajo, aunque sea en prácticas; a poco que demuestres unos conocimientos básicos..

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nineismine profile image
nineismine

I think for max success a mix of both is probably best! Sure you can make it in tech without any sort of degree, but there is probably a ceiling for how you can go in a large company without a degree of any sort.