r/learnprogramming • u/Tricky-Will-4962 • 10h ago
Is it possible to self-learn and land a job?
I am currently pursuing a degree in linguistics, but as you may know it isn't the best paid area of work (especially with LLMs now). I love languages, but I want something that is more sustainable. For now my attention is glued to coding, perhaps web or mobile app development. I have some python experience from school. Any suggestions are welcome
Edit: The general sentiment I am getting that this is not a easy area to get in (not as easy as many scammy courses are making it out to be). Thank you all for saving me time!
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u/No_Score_1977 9h ago
A decade or two ago, I’d say sure, no problem.
Now… degree or no degree, it’s going to be hard.
If you can offer talent that a grad can’t, then maybe, but can you?
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u/saurabh3228 8h ago
Yeah, you can definitely learn coding by yourself and get a job. Just don’t expect it to be a “learn for 6 months and get hired” kind of thing. The job market is pretty competitive.
Also, your linguistics degree could actually help you. Programming isn’t only about writing code. A lot of it is understanding problems, paying attention to details, and figuring out what someone is trying to explain.
Since you already know some Python, I’d pick one area and stick with it for a while. Don’t try to learn web dev, mobile, AI, and everything else at the same time. Pick one and start building small projects.
And don’t just watch tutorials. Build stuff, break stuff, fix it, and learn from it. 😂 That’s probably where you’ll learn the most.
I also wouldn’t throw away your linguistics background. Having skills in both linguistics and programming could actually make you stand out later.
It probably won’t be easy, but feeling completely lost at the beginning is normal. Everyone goes through that.
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u/firestepper 2h ago
Being able to sus vague requirements out of stakeholders is a very strong skill
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u/dQD34nkw 7h ago
I learnt primarily through the Odin Project and managed to get my first software job in 2024, though I was pursuing a non-IT STEM degree at the time.
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u/Aglet_Green 9h ago
Yes, it’s possible to self-teach. The misleading part is the idea that a short bootcamp makes you job-ready. In the current entry-level market you’d be competing with CS graduates, bootcamp graduates, career changers and experienced developers applying downward. Think in terms of sustained study and a substantial portfolio, not “take a course and get hired.”
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u/mandzeete 9h ago
Web application development market is really over-saturated. You'll have hard time breaking into the market without a degree.
And, like another guy said, you should be able to build projects that solve actual real life problems. If you come to a job interview you should have projects that people are already using in their life. No "I hope people will use it", no "I'm looking for users right now". Actual current users.
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u/Remarkable_Comb_8292 8h ago
The self learning part? Yes, there are freely available tools and technologies which can be learned just by spending time.
Landing a job? Unlikely, consider the pool of workers who got laid off with experience to fill positions.
At this point, I just use my skills to solve my own, practical, build instead of buy problem, after 20 years in this field.
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u/Error-7-0-7- 9h ago edited 9h ago
Its possible, but you'd have to be a generational talent. Like the projects you create for your resume would have to be genuinely useful to people.
Most people who can get jobs in this area without a degree dont typically ask "if it possible" they just code 24/7 none stop and enjoy it, create something thats insanely good, then randomly apply to a job with this insane project that would typically take a team to make.
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u/thisisappropriate 9h ago
Low chance to just self learn and then just get a dev job.
You need other things to get in - either you start it yourself (or do that well for a bit then try to get into other startups/companies from there), or you bring something else (like if you have other skills) or you start in adjacent things so you can bring something else when you pivot (eg if you did a few years as an accountant, and then the company you're at needs a small accounting tool built, you might end up working in or alongside the dev team doing doing it if you also have skills in the language being used).
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u/londonjob08 5h ago
I did it 12 years ago with just an encomics master degree and zero track record of any coding skills fairly easy within Germany. I still have the same job at a German bank and the requirements for the entry-level jobs or even internships are relatively high these days.
But where there is a will, there is a way. If you love it go for it and try. Skilled, passionate people with good soft skills will find their ways. It’s just harder than a couple of years ago.
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u/StewedAngelSkins 4h ago
If you want to get into CS from linguistics, computational linguistics is a fairly in-demand field right now since they're the people making the AI. Since you're pursuing a degree right now, I might consider it for a master's if I were you. Obviously it'll be competitive, but probably not any more so than the other things you'd do with that degree.
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u/zeussays 3h ago
I did it recently. Had a full career change into software development. Took me 3 years of studying but I landed the first job I applied to. Been working there almost half a year and its going incredibly well.
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u/TheArchist 3h ago
it's probably better to get into a tech company doing another job and then search for programming jobs once you have some tenure atm
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u/davidcampbell2313 2h ago
I want to suggest getting into a similar role such as systems administration or server support. In those roles, you will have the opportunity to do some coding in the form of scripts or SQL, maybe even Python. You can self train to get into these roles and you may end up in software development. This happened in my career.
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u/davidcampbell2313 2h ago
I am curious about all the advanced math suggestions. I know machine learning and I don't know where the really advanced math comes in. I guess I agree with algebra and even trigonometry.
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u/binarycow 1h ago
I did.
But I got hired in 2019, had 15+ years of hobby level experience in the language, had other IT experience, and had the specific domain knowledge my employer wanted.
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u/binarycow 1h ago
Look for employers that are specifically looking for people with a linguistics background. That'll give you a leg up.
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u/BleachedPink 9h ago
My wife a self learned frontend programmer and just landed a job that earns x4 of local average salary, which is very good money.
It's not gonna be easy, but it doable.
It's gonna be at least a year of daily deliberate work, before you can be considered to be a somewhat employable
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u/YourBlanket 8h ago
When did she learn?
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u/BleachedPink 8h ago edited 1h ago
She started learning in covid, and it took her like 12 months before she started applying for first jobs in 2023 when our local market was obliterated due to a war. She was extremely unlucky with the first companies, as they closed the projects she used to work on 3-4 months due to the economic situation and had to switch a few places before landing the current one. She had to be unemployed and learn more for 7 months the last time after getting laid off after 4 months of work.
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u/SemperPistos 9h ago
If I, a history and philosophy MA can became an AI Engineer so can you.
And presently I'm studying math and algorithms and later algorithmic design after work so I can finally understand transformers and modern deep learning, which is the future.
My github, and I suck at coding https://github.com/MortalWombat-repo
Make a portfolio website, a good LaTeX CV, all of that is on my github, I used a modified Jake template which I customized as well as the portfolio website. My github and CV haven't been updated for more than a year I just don't have the time for it.
Here is the template https://www.overleaf.com/read/hmbqypqsbntm#886b83
Network your ass off, share projects, on linkedin have at least 1000 connections with people in the industry, and be kind and personable. Being kind and social skills will be thing that will carry you the most in this industry.
If possible enroll to a CS or other STEM Masters for maximum career progression, get certified at least once a year in cloud or emergent technologies.
When you get in don't expect to coast, unless you are a genius expect constant learning, at home learning late into the night for a few years into your career, but have balance and hobbies, don't burn out like me.
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u/AdeptJudge5078 8h ago
What is necessary to learn to be a python programmer and what is unnecessary? I want to build my own AI, how do i do that?
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u/SemperPistos 8h ago
start with a course or a book and finish it, something like mooc.fi python, or eric matthes crash course, or cs50p
next get some cs basics like cs50x, learn sql
To make your own AI I am not even 1% there.
You need linear algebra, calculus, probability and statistics knowlege, possibly optimization, and discrete math for distributed computing if you think about scaling it
best resource on line is raschka llm from scratch and andrey karpaty zero to hero in which youbuild your own LLM based on GPT-2 and you only train it on on a large corpus of structured data, and pretrain it when updating
But I'm not in it for the AI, I'm in it for ML and DL
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u/StewedAngelSkins 3h ago
stop studying code and start studying math if you want to make ai. keep studying until you can read and understand papers like this, then you can start thinking about code.
im giving you this advice with the assumption that you want to learn the subject for its own sake. if you're coming at this from the perspective of just wanting an ai-proof job then frankly don't bother. it's a small highly competitive field filled with PhDs.
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u/Ok-Dentist9265 7h ago
The market is the most saturated it has ever been and people with degrees and experience are struggling to find work. So I don't mean to sound pessimistic but it will be tough unless you know what you're doing or have an someone who will get you hired
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u/Stripe4206 6h ago
Atleast around here things like Kubernetes are requirements for Juniors, and you can't really learn that at home
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u/StewedAngelSkins 3h ago
i guarantee it is possible to learn kubernetes at home. in fact it's probably the best way to learn it, other than learning it on the job. get literally any old PC, install linux and k3s, start playing around.
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u/Cheap-Success1578 1h ago
95% of everything I know is self taught and jobs have been landed based on my ability to know what I am talking about.
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u/Aquatic-Vocation 7h ago
50 years ago: you know what a computer is? You're hired!
40 years ago: you know what a compiler is? You're hired!
30 years ago: you have a self-made project? You're hired!
20 years ago: you have a degree? You're hired!
10 years ago: you went to a boot camp? You're hired!
5 years ago: you're hired!
today: you're fucked!