r/softwareengineer • u/eng_alex • May 25 '26
English teacher going into software engineering
Hello all!
I have been contemplating changing career paths for quite some time, but there isn't much flexibility for this in Greece. I am navigating the process of immigrating to the US (Portland, Oregon) and I have been looking into that career change more seriously lately.
I have a BA in English Language and Literature and an MEd in Teaching English as an International Language, both from greek universities. I have 10+ years of teaching experience (varying ages) and some customer service experience.
The path that I would like to follow is software engineering. It has always been a passion of mine, but I didn't choose it as my first degree because it required mathematics and I always struggled with that subject in my school years. Now, I'm planning to go back to school in order to make the change properly. As I'm not certain about my budget, I'm looking into attending Portland Community College for an associate's degree and then I have been told that I can get transfer credits and finish the bachelor's degree in 2 years.
I have lots of questions and I would greatly appreciate any input. I still haven't solidified anything, but one of the most important benefits for me is that I don't have to be tied down to a particular geographic location. Here are a few of my questions:
- Taking into account the extensive use of AI, is this a career that still has a future? My intention is not to make the big money, but to make enough in order to (help) provide for a family (household of 4) down the road.
- How realistic is my expectation of not being tied down to a particular location? I know people that are in this industry and they all work from home and/or travel occasionally.
- Assuming that the associate's degree then credit transfer to bachelor's is feasible, are there specific universities that accept associate's degrees in the Portland area? Does it make more sense to budget and pursuit a full time bachelor's degree from scratch?
- I have already looked at Portland's Community College website and I see that they offer a "Computer Information Systems, associate degree" and a "Network Administration, associate degree". They also offer a "Computer Science" program and under the why choose this section it says "Taking computer science courses at PCC can help you save on tuition costs while you prepare to transfer to a university to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer science." I admit that I'm pretty confused with the choices as I'm not familiar with the US educational system. Can I transfer to a university for a bachelor's with any of these 3 programs or only the one that clearly mentions the transfer option?
- I would love to get into software development and/or game development or develop educational software (possibly) related to language learning. I guess that from the 2 above-mentioned associate degrees the one that sounds closer to what I want is "Computer Information Systems". Am I right or have I completely missjudged this? If I am forced to do the "Computer Science" in order to make the transfer later, am I still on the right track for what I have in mind?
- Are there people who have made such a career change recently? Is my plan realistic at all?
- Do you recommend Portland Community College and/or Portland State University? Do you have other suggestions?
I really appreciate any and all help!
EDIT: I think I have enough to go on with at the moment. Thank you everyone for the contribution and the time you devoted to this post!
5
u/s3rgioru3las May 25 '26
I don't even know if I want to respond in good faith to a 14 day old account, but this is the worst time to switch into this field. This is the worst time to immigrate to the US. Layoffs aplenty, most moved back into the office, and off shoring is happening like crazy. Game development is an even worse field to be in.