Been programming on and off for 15 years +, mostly for personal stuff like websites, or scripts at work. I have a basic level. Got rejected from CS school when I was 18 because of my math level (can be relevant in my country), ended up in marketing and now product management -- pretty bored of what I do. All I really want to do is sitting on a CLI and solve problems with code all day long, yet to do that I need to make a drastic life change and quit, re-learn the basics (self-learning is good but I need interactions with mentors/experienced devs) then kind of restart professional life from scratch (with 1/4th of my current income, which will affect my family). This is so hard to make as a decision. This article definitely helps and is encouraging because I thought my time had past. Anyone else having similar 'issues'? Do you think it's worth attempting to become a developer these days, coming in with a product background, or is this a fantasy, that I should keep as is?
Can you not slowly rotate over time in your current company? Or just interview at other companies and ask, saying you want to start in product management and see if they have any tracks or internal processes to help people move departments. I know that they do it in a lot of companies, even the one I am in which is around 75 people. There are tracks to move between departments if you're interested.
Thanks for replying! Yes, that's a way. I nearly managed to pull it off a few years ago, but ended up being more relevant on the non-dev stuff, and that led me to the wrong track (as in, not the one I wanted, but the one paying me more). I got better and better as a PM and now it's hard to convince anyone that they should let me go to a less strategic role. In the sense that developers are often executing the roadmap, not defining it (at least where I am), and paying me for (slow) execution only is kind of a waste of my domain knowledged and experience. But you're right, trying internally may be the best/safest way.
I tried learning programming off and on for about 3-4 years. Sometimes while working full time, sometimes while unemployed.
How to create an full stack web app didn't click until three things happened:
1. I took two statistics courses (one at a community college, one at a university. the university one involved programming in R). This really helped me understand that there are tons of different types of data, with different shapes, sizes, purposes.
2. I took a "Database Management" course at a university. This helped me understand how databases are designed and how they're used within the context of an app.
3. I looked up "What is a REST API" and "how does http work"-- specifically, coming to terms with what diagrams and code for these things means.
From there, I set my sights on building a full stack app in javascript. NodeJS (ExpressJS) on the backend, and initially jQuery on the frontend-- then I realized my jQuery project was turning into a mostly unstructured mess. I had heard about ReactJS, so I decided to take 1 month to learn it via Udemy.com (Stephen Grider's course). THen I re-did the frontend, and kept grinding on the project.
At various points, I lived in a tent in California, on a friend's ranch in Texas (did landscaping in exchange for rent), drove back to CA but failed to land a job (app was only halfway built), then I realized "You know what? Instead of living out of this tent in California, I bet I can rent a place for cheap in Mexico"-- Drove to Rosarito, Baja California, stayed at a hostel & made friends with its owner who rented me a cheap house for 3 months. Then went back to ranch in Texas, and 3 months later I finished the app.
All in all, most of the app was created part time in 6 months of part-time work (usually about 4 hours a day) (Prior to that I did some exploratory & design work on it for about a month).
The day after I finished it, I made a diagram about it. And a web portfolio featuring the project. And it's on github as well of course.
I applied to about 15 jobs. Landed one two weeks later, working with Clojure/ClojureScript-- I had never used it but the company gave me 2 weeks to pick up the basics.
So yeah--
- It takes sacrifice
- It takes focus
- It takes marketing strategy
It doesn't have to be a fantasy.
That first job was $80k on contract. About 3-4 years later I'm at $180k on salary (that number includes stock & bonuses)
What helped me was:
- The mentality of "If you really want it, you'll do whatever it takes to make it happen"
- Motivational music & speeches
- Help from developers on IRC (Especially the #nodejs and #reactjs channels -- these days on Libera server). And Udemy.com / Youtube / StackOverflow. But IRC is a chatroom where you can chat in real time w/ devs.
