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Make sure you like programming as a profession 1st. I would take a few online courses on software engineering 1st and try to get a few contract projects before

Make sure you like programming as a profession 1st. I would take a few online courses on software engineering 1st and try to get a few contract projects before you decide what career moves you want to make. Programming as a career vs hobby is very different. Hobbyist don't have to deal with the time pressure that professionals have to deal with all the time. Also, you, mostly, don't get to pick what you program as a professional. It makes a huge difference. Regarding networking, the best way is to extend your current social contacts. Ask them about people they know that might help you. Always carry and hand out business cards and ask them to pass it along. It's a bit uncomfortable at first but it gets easier the more you do it. Also, visit your local university and see if you can join or attend their CS-related clubs. You don't have to tell them you don't attend the university. Don't lie but keep it to yourself.

duxup 7y ago
The other thing hobbyist vs career is you can solve problems the way you want and take the path of least resistance at times. "Man I'm a bit overwhelmed, I'll learn that later, let's do this for now." And you're done and that's probabbly ok for a one man show / dude just playing with a hobby. Career you're going to have to jump those hurdles... doesn't matter if you're in the mood or do or don't want to. Sometimes for really dumb reasons too. It's great for growth and learning, but it is a very different experience. I did a bootcamp with some folks who had been doing web development as a hobby for fun for a while. Many of them really didn't adapt well to suddenly HAVING to do things new ways. They were comfortable with what they knew and were surprisingly resistant to other things. Granted that happens in every job / career but a comfortable happy hobby suddenly can become something else. We had a lot of "No man I get that worked for your javascript game but we're not hard coding all that every time ...."

duxup 7y ago

The other thing hobbyist vs career is you can solve problems the way you want and take the path of least resistance at times. "Man I'm a bit overwhelmed, I'll learn that later, let's do this for now." And you're done and that's probabbly ok for a one man show / dude just playing with a hobby. Career you're going to have to jump those hurdles... doesn't matter if you're in the mood or do or don't want to. Sometimes for really dumb reasons too. It's great for growth and learning, but it is a very different experience. I did a bootcamp with some folks who had been doing web development as a hobby for fun for a while. Many of them really didn't adapt well to suddenly HAVING to do things new ways. They were comfortable with what they knew and were surprisingly resistant to other things. Granted that happens in every job / career but a comfortable happy hobby suddenly can become something else. We had a lot of "No man I get that worked for your javascript game but we're not hard coding all that every time ...."