4 ms·

I am very interested to hear about difficulties one might face doing this, as I'm in a similar situation. Currently I am a scientist in R&D for a blue chip comp

I am very interested to hear about difficulties one might face doing this, as I'm in a similar situation. Currently I am a scientist in R&D for a blue chip company, but have been programming for fun and as a small part of the job for a couple of years. I'm interested in moving to a full-time programming job, but am worried about the typical minimum requirements; after all, I have no CS degree and haven't been coding since a young age.

eric_bullington 15y ago
I'm in a similar situation -- transitioning from another profession, with a background in public health (epidemiology and biostatistics) and interpretation/translation (as a certified translator). I've been programming for fun and as a small part of my job for the last few years, but now have reached the point where I really need to find a full-time job as a developer since I'm find myself constantly drawn to writing code for side projects instead of focusing on my current job's requirements. I've been bitten by the programming bug, so to speak. I'm starting to pick up freelance jobs, and am working on open source projects in the hopes of gaining experience. I'm hoping to enter the profession through the machine learning/NLP route -- with my graduate studies in biostatistics, and fluency in several human languages, it seems like a natural fit. I'd love to hear from others who have transitioned from another profession to programming in recent years. Advice from experienced programmers on how to break into the profession full-time would also be most welcome.
- lowlyscientist 15y ago
  Was it easy to pick up the freelance jobs? One of my colleagues recommended just applying for contract work with a low rate - sort of just for a foot in the door - but I have yet to try this. How did you go about it?

4 ms·

I am very interested to hear about difficulties one might face doing this, as I'm in a similar situation. Currently I am a scientist in R&D for a blue chip comp

by lowlyscientist 15y ago

eric_bullington 15y ago
I'm in a similar situation -- transitioning from another profession, with a background in public health (epidemiology and biostatistics) and interpretation/translation (as a certified translator). I've been programming for fun and as a small part of my job for the last few years, but now have reached the point where I really need to find a full-time job as a developer since I'm find myself constantly drawn to writing code for side projects instead of focusing on my current job's requirements. I've been bitten by the programming bug, so to speak. I'm starting to pick up freelance jobs, and am working on open source projects in the hopes of gaining experience. I'm hoping to enter the profession through the machine learning/NLP route -- with my graduate studies in biostatistics, and fluency in several human languages, it seems like a natural fit. I'd love to hear from others who have transitioned from another profession to programming in recent years. Advice from experienced programmers on how to break into the profession full-time would also be most welcome.
- lowlyscientist 15y ago
  Was it easy to pick up the freelance jobs? One of my colleagues recommended just applying for contract work with a low rate - sort of just for a foot in the door - but I have yet to try this. How did you go about it?