Ask HN: Can I ever recover if I did not have an undergrad in CS or Math | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can I ever recover if I did not have an undergrad in CS or Math

9 pointsnus078 comments

I went to school for an undergrad in Industrial Engineering and started working in tech after graduating about 9 years back. I work mostly on databases, business intelligence and reporting . That’s very business and operations oriented and any job switch seems like I have to start all over again.Also operations seem very susceptible to layoffs .

As a result I never seem to break into Software Development and doing programming , ML / AI , data engineering despite trying to teach myself through online learning .

How can I recover to convince employers to let me work on engineering and software development roles even though my work history is BI and operations? How do I break out of my current cycle to have a rewarding career without going back to school for another degree ?

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I know a lot of programmers without a CS degree. It's pretty common to be able to get into it indirectly, or at least it used to be (I took the leap in 2005, but I know of others more recent). It sounds like you've been unlucky not to get an opportunity to code something or haven't taken enough initative. Could you have written automation scripts? Testing scripts? VB Macros for Excel sheets?

They all (including me) have the same thing in common, took it on their own initiative to code something for work, maybe excel/access/testing scripts/extension scripts for services. Sometimes they can use that to get a different job in the same company, sometimes they switch to a junior dev job in another company. In my case I coded a prototype of a better way of my company doing something in my own time, but had to move to a junior Dev role in another company to get to do it for real. I've also heard of developers who started by doing small freelance jobs for small companies, although they tend to be terrible (but aren't always) until they get to work with an experienced Dev as they don't know what they don't know and make very elementary mistakes.

Also, I'd consider a bootcamp before trying a full CS degree as you already have a logic minded degree. Although not the best time to be trying to get a junior Dev job in a recession.

The upper end of this field is meritocratic. If you have the chops to write innovative software, you can do it, and people will recognize it. The mid level part of this field relies more on credentials.

Recover? You seem to be in pretty good shape. You know databases and how business intelligence works. Good. You’re almost there.

I’m not sure if I’d tackle ML/DL unless you have the chops for it (I don’t mean to discourage you, just saying becoming a SWE might be easier/quicker). However, there’s more tools at your disposal than ever before to guide you towards your software engineering/ML goals.

One route would be to improve your engineering skills and land a job at a mature “startup.” Perhaps something boring, with good financials, and relatively few employees. Some might disagree with this next part: don’t aim for companies claiming to be doing ML/AI. You’re good with databases, so if your company lacks an ML engineer, get close to the data and try to add value—then continue this trend until you can do some meaningful ml tasks.

You could get in via a different route. Since you are a BI person learn the data cleaning scripting that's been in high demand. After that you should be able to transition.

My degree is BS in Business Admin. I do happen to have a minor in CS. I was a photography assistant, a fledgling graphic designer, an insurance agent, a financial advisor, a construction worker, a high school teacher, and, finally, a software engineer. I worked a crappy minimum wage programming job while getting my degree at nights for a couple semesters. I kept it up as a hobby while doing the other jobs/careers and did some websites, some admin portals, and some accounting tools on the side. I put out a resume, got picked up by a recruiter, went on some interviews, and got a programming gig. Roughly ten years later, still developing software.

CS degree here, I don't think you're in a bad place at all with Industrial Engineering. There have been quite a few times that I've wished I would have done a dual degree route there to have a better understanding of stochastics and other IE stuff. I know several friends who did IE in school that are doing software development now, didn't seem to hamper them at all.

I think you may do better positioning yourself around data/analytics/etc parts of software engineering to get your foot in the door for a "SWE" job.

I graduated with a minor in CS. It took me 7 or 8 months to get someone to hire me as a web developer. Once I was in the industry I got a Computer Science master's while working. Now I work at FAANG. I think if you believe in yourself (corny as it sounds) and don't give up you can get interviews and a job.

I mean, plenty of developers exist who never had any education at all, even HS dropouts. The reality is that a large chunk of software dev jobs arent really dependent on math of strong CS knowledge and if all you want to do is get in the industry, you're probably selling yourself short.

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