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How I became a software engineer without a CS degree or a bootcamp

Nadia Zhuk on July 10, 2022

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jthnjsf profile image
Jathin Emmanuel Joseph

Loved the video!! It helped me understand a lot about how to focus on my own journey that I began this past week.

I was also able to finally stop procrastinating and think about getting stuff done instead of searching about how to master something even before learning it.

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Nadia Zhuk

Thank you! I'm glad you found the video helpful! And yes, doing something (anything really) is a better way to learn than just planning or researching... Too many people never move past the research phase and never get to the actual coding.

Are you also planning to learn Ruby on Rails?

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Jathin Emmanuel Joseph

Hi!

I came across a JavaScript course but tbh I don’t know what to learn…everybody is using JavaScript I suppose…

I saw in your video that Ruby on Rails is good for beginners…

Any points on what is better for someone who wants to start building websites fast?

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beetlehope profile image
Nadia Zhuk • Edited

So when I was learning to code, I struggled with JavaScript, tried learning Ruby, loved it, and then later came back to JS when I had some foundational knowledge of programming. For me it was important to find something that made sense to me. If you are struggling with JS, you might want to give Ruby a go and see if it is easier.

On Ruby, this is what I wrote in my book:

"Choosing your first programming language is an important decision, but it need not paralyze you. Pick a language that is known as beginner-friendly. Don’t choose a language just because you feel you have better chances of getting a job knowing it. The language you learn first should be beautiful and easy to grasp. It helps if it looks similar to a natural language like English and doesn’t require lots of setup and configuration to get going. It is important that this language has a developed eco-system, which means that many people use it and can help you if you get stuck. Good documentation and learning resources help as well. It is nice if you see a decent number of job postings for people coding in this language. You don’t want to start with a dead language that nobody uses in the real world.
Of course, I am biased, but I believe that Ruby fits all these criteria. Besides its subtle, almost poetic beauty, it is powerful and flexible. You will feel happy and creative coding in it. I feel blessed to code in it every day and get paid for it."

Consider checking out the book if you are interested, I provide step-by-step guide to learning to code and getting a coding job, I think it might be useful for you: beetlehope.gumroad.com/l/fhIFH

Let me know if you have any questions!

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Jathin Emmanuel Joseph

Hello!

Thank you very much for taking your time to lay things out clearly for me. As you said I will try out JavaScript and if it feels like I am in over my head doing this I will start following up on the resources that you mentioned in the video.

I went through the first chapter of your book and it was amazing! I honestly believe that your linguistic skills must have come in handy when breaking into tech.

Would love to follow more of your content and even contribute if any opportunity arises.

All the best!

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Nadia Zhuk

Thank you so much! I agree that communication skills are very important in tech and the ability to write and talk is an important competitive advantage for an inspiring programmer.

Happy to have you follow my journey :) Have you subscribed to my youtube channel by any chance? I plan to shoot more videos there in the future.

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Gulshan Aggarwal

Cool ! not everyone succeeds with the same path. When I started learning JavaScript I couldn't understand but when I came into node then things actually started working for me .You did it with Ruby that's great & best of luck for your upcoming journey ❤

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Nadia Zhuk

Oh yes, definitely, everyone needs to find a course / teacher / language that makes things click for them!
I talked about this on a recent podcast episode for Scrimba, perhaps you would be interested in listening to it.

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Gulshan Aggarwal

Thanks for sharing, I'm gonna definitely listen to it.

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beetlehope profile image
Nadia Zhuk

Enjoy :)

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🚩 Atul Prajapati 🇮🇳

So inspiring 😻 you are a super woman 👏👏👏

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Nadia Zhuk

Oh wow thank you!

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Yongchang He

Thank you for sharing this!

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beetlehope profile image
Nadia Zhuk • Edited

You are welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Perhaps you will enjoy other videos on my channel as well, there is a lot of content there about building a career in tech: youtube.com/c/beetlehope
Thank you!

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Andrew Baisden

So many inspiring videos keep doing what you're doing!

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Nadia Zhuk

Thank you so much! If you know someone who would benefit from my videos, I would appreciate you sharing the channel with them. Thanks!