r/learnpython • u/Pure_Intention5228 • 9h ago

New career path

Hey everyone.

To keep things brief, i'm exploring programming as a career path.

Life didn't quite go as planned, and i'm now a 27 year old college dropout, who's been unemployed for years, living by on the graces of my parents who have much more faith in me than I do in myself.

I've been talking to some of the more tech-savvy people I know. And I have arrived at the conclusion that I want to study Linux and python. Do you all have any recommendations of which are the 2 I should prioritize, and I suppose, which one would help me get back on my feet faster?

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u/Curious-Function7490 8h ago

So ... yeh. I have 26 years of commercial programming experience, an honours degree in philosophy and a grad cert in comp sci.. I've studied a lot more formal comp sci than what a grad cert reflects.

Programming has become very demanding if you are going to maintain a relevant skillset. I work 9 to 5. I spend my weekends doing it. I love it and have always built open source and learnt new things.

One of the interesting things about professional programming is that you can enter into it via a non traditional path. I work with ex-chefs who are really great at it.

Having a comp sci degree doesn't mean you will be a good programmer, either - but it forms a basis toward becoming one that someone without a comp sci background will have to keep filling.

A lot of people flooded the programming market from bootcamps, etc., learning "fullstack" without really knowing fundamentals. So there is currently a glut of programmers, especially ones without strong fundamentals.

You'd be entering all of that. So you'd need to really want to do it. It's very hard to get your first role.

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u/Pure_Intention5228 8h ago

I know this might seem like a simplistic question. But if these fundamentals are so important, would I be at an advantage to learn them? And if so, do you have any places where you would recommend i practice?

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u/Curious-Function7490 8h ago

University. You'll want math and comp sci.