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I can't help you directly (I'm not in the IT Security field), but I think I have some applicable tips. I did very badly in college, and majored in American His

by vikp 12y ago

I can't help you directly (I'm not in the IT Security field), but I think I have some applicable tips. I did very badly in college, and majored in American History. About three years ago, I quit my job and learned how to code. I was focused on machine learning and data analysis. I faced the same problem you did -- no way to prove I had any skills. The way to stand out to employers in your field is to do things that are publicly visible. It's hard to judge someone's talent from a resume, but it's easy from a github repo. Some ideas for you: * Contribute to open source projects in the space you're interested in. * Start a blog. You'd be surprised by how much sharing some of your own experience can help others, and it can raise your profile a lot. * Lots of companies offer bug bounties -- try to find some vulnerabilities and collect some. Blog about your experiences. I don't know how hard this is, though. * Make cool projects and share them on github. Blog about them. Post them on HN. * Go to meetups in your area on topics that interest you. Meet people. Make cool projects with them. * Go to hackathons if you can. They're a great way to meet people and find interesting projects. * See if you can take on a small part-time role helping out at a startup in your field. As for what's in demand, take your pick. I've talked to companies having trouble hiring web developers, mobile developers, and data scientists. Any of them is a good choice (again, don't know anything about IT security demand).

jarcane 12y ago
Wow. That is almost exactly my life story right now (three years of cinema studies, had to drop out for financial reasons, now trying to teach myself code and sorta succeeding at it but feel grossly unqualified). Thank you for posting.
- Jacqued 12y ago
  Hey ! I kind of did this transition recently from Literature grad to developer. I don't know if you had the same experience but I think for me the key to succeeding in this transition was to try and learn not only to 'code', but also about the engineering, quality, deployment processes surrounding code that most juniors (that I have seen) typically know little-to-nothing about. That way, even if you have a lot to learn on-the-job, you probably won't be a burden on the rest of the team and they won't have to spend too much time holding your hand (except at code review time, but I guess that's the case with every newcomer to a project). I also worked for myself for some time and had some experience (minor really) to help me get my foot through the door. Then when you get a job, you have an opportunity to show what you can do and after that you're just like everybody else.
  - dfcarpenter 12y ago
    I am curious how you went from freelancing to working at a firm. I also got into development from a liberal arts background ( I went to a “great books” school ). I started out several years ago, first with a brief internship, and then freelancing with a friend who a more experienced developer, and now I am freelancing solo. I have several sites and apps under my belt but I feel like an impostor and totally unqualified when I look at the requirements for various job listings (Junior/Intermediate JS/Python/PHP)

by vikp 12y ago

jarcane 12y ago

Wow. That is almost exactly my life story right now (three years of cinema studies, had to drop out for financial reasons, now trying to teach myself code and sorta succeeding at it but feel grossly unqualified). Thank you for posting.

Jacqued 12y ago
Hey ! I kind of did this transition recently from Literature grad to developer. I don't know if you had the same experience but I think for me the key to succeeding in this transition was to try and learn not only to 'code', but also about the engineering, quality, deployment processes surrounding code that most juniors (that I have seen) typically know little-to-nothing about. That way, even if you have a lot to learn on-the-job, you probably won't be a burden on the rest of the team and they won't have to spend too much time holding your hand (except at code review time, but I guess that's the case with every newcomer to a project). I also worked for myself for some time and had some experience (minor really) to help me get my foot through the door. Then when you get a job, you have an opportunity to show what you can do and after that you're just like everybody else.
- dfcarpenter 12y ago
  I am curious how you went from freelancing to working at a firm. I also got into development from a liberal arts background ( I went to a “great books” school ). I started out several years ago, first with a brief internship, and then freelancing with a friend who a more experienced developer, and now I am freelancing solo. I have several sites and apps under my belt but I feel like an impostor and totally unqualified when I look at the requirements for various job listings (Junior/Intermediate JS/Python/PHP)