I want to develop software for a living, but I suck at school. What are some certificates or programs outside of the college system that will prepare me for the workforce?

7    11 Aug 2015 02:29 by u/Beers

Ive dropped out of college three times. Not proud of it. I get really bored with general education, procrastinate, then eventually lose my shit when I see the amount of work I need to do to catch up. I am not ready for academics that are not related to my interests.

I currently work retail, and it sucks. I spend all of my spare time programming in Java. It's almost like my time on the clock is my "day off" because it is so boring and mind numbing. I am way more capable than this, but I do not believe I can sit through another highschool level chemistry class without killing myself. I started Java about 5 years ago, I currently goldarm on gameservers for extra money, and write all the scripts and bot management software in Java. Sorry, I am rambling....

Actual Question

What are some certificates programs that are fast paced, credible, focused only on valuable skills? What types of jobs will they apply to? It doesn't need to be Java. I am looking for something intensive and fast paced that I can devote all the time I have to. Then I want to use this new skill set to launch myself into a rewarding career path.

Thank you for reading and possibly responding. I hope this is related to programming and not in violation of rule 2.

13 comments

11 u/tame 11 Aug 2015 07:14

You aren't gonna like hearing this, but the ability to concentrate on something that you find boring is a critical, essential skill of software development. You need to work on your discipline as well as your technical skills.

7 u/snowfragrance 11 Aug 2015 05:28

Start building things. Join an open source project. Design and complete your own project. Build your own resume from the ground up. Don't WAIT to be a programmer, BE a programmer NOW. If you take the time to get a jump start on the bleeding edge, you will have an advantage over people who have been coding for decades. This is an industry where experience and learning is king. You can make it. Forget about certificates, just become a programmer and stop waiting for somebody to tell you that you are. Study balls to the wall (or vagina to the china) and in the meantime work somewhere else until you are ready to transition.

2 u/Beers [OP] 11 Aug 2015 05:59

I program every day, but I can only teach myself so much! I think that if I continue with my current path, I will not learn how to program efficiently.

2 u/snowfragrance 11 Aug 2015 06:03

There are a plethora of learning resources out there. Have you watch all forty episodes from cleancoder.com yet?

0 u/Beers [OP] 11 Aug 2015 17:46

Nope, but now I will! Thanks!

3 u/SecureRhino 11 Aug 2015 04:16

Forget about certificates, they are expensive, very much like school and I am not sure any "fast paced, credible, focused on valuable skills"-certificates exist. Since you're already coding, put some source code out there in the world. Upload your projects to github and participate in open-source software. For bonus points pick any industry, research what open-source tools they use and participate in those. Then apply for jobs in that industry.

1 u/Beers [OP] 11 Aug 2015 05:15

Well, my code kind of sucks. It's not efficient, I use the wrong data structures for the wrong things. I don't have formal training, so I'm a bad programmer. I want formal training, but I do not want to take Jazz Appreciation or Chemistry, etc... I want to focus on learning to program well, and not worry about when my Philosophy midterm is scheduled.

1 u/jped 11 Aug 2015 07:38

Although I completely agree with you and am in the same boat with you (sophomore in college as CS major), its incredibly important for us programmers to be very well rounded in all things. Who knows what we may end up programming one day. Maybe we'll get hired to write some kind of music software, so it doesn't hurt to understand music theory. Or maybe write a program for an actual chemist to use. And although you mentioned philosophy, one important branch of philosophy, ethics, is important to CS. At my college we are require to take an ethics course because programming in some cases can be life/death or even life ruining. Say you program for an X Ray machine. You screw something up and the patient gets WAY too much radiation and dies (actually happened) or lets say you write a finance program and it screws up some numbers...next thing ya know the client of that program's money is screwed up.

3 u/Master_Foo 11 Aug 2015 06:48

Certificates are bullshit. What an employer really wants to see is a GitHub account full of activity. Personal projects which demonstrate your skill. An ability to complete something. Collaboration on projects.

Incidentally, I've recently started mentoring anyone who wants to learn and build, because this question gets asked every day. I have an open source game engine that I'm building. There are a number of people, just like you, helping me out. In exchange I provide guidance and goals.

Instead of getting a certificate, come join the team and get a verifiable record of work. Or if you don't join the team, at least work on something that can be verified.

1 u/mwolf 12 Aug 2015 16:55

Someone who got into the same situation as you:

The education system sucks but that degree doesn't just mean that you're qualified to write software, it means you're qualified to put up with the bullshit of a well established system and come out ok. see /u/tame's comment.

Stick it out, do everything you can. take a night course here or there, but always be pursuing the degree in some minor way. Get an adderal prescription, it sure helped out some of my class mates. Hell I should probably have one.

In my experience, if a company interviewed you, they gloss right over certificate type things. The important part of the interview is your technical ability, prior work, and school if you lack work experience. The 4 year degree helps show them you've at least probably been exposed to things they want to have in an employee and unless you have some nepotism in your favor you're unlikely to be noticed they'll gloss right over you in favor of someone who does have one unless you're a degreeless Richard Stallman.

0 u/Beers [OP] 12 Aug 2015 20:53

Thanks for the advice... I want a degree, I really do, but I am truly afraid of academic work. I've never felt more anxious, more lifeless or hopeless, or stressed, even with classes that I can easily handle. I have tried to try, and I do fine for the first half to three quarters of the class. I have failed too many courses, I have spent too much money for nothing, I have hurt myself, I have wanted to die, and I don't know why, but I have only felt this way when attending school. I leave for a quarter or semester, feel like I can handle it, return and do fine for months, then it all collapses again. Maybe I can't handle the bullshit? Does this mean I can't handle a real job either? If I can't handle school, do I deserve to work shitty jobs for the rest of my life? I have been taking Adderall, Ritalin, or Concerta (just time release Rit) for years, almost 7 years. Contrary to my username, I don't drink very often or use drugs other than cannabis often, although Adderall may as well be considered a drug, amphetamines aren't a joke.

People often tell me that a degree shows that I can handle the stupid shit academics put you through. What if I'm the kind of person they are trying to weed out? Does that mean I shouldnt ever work with computers? I just want to find a place or career path that I fit into. I want to work somewhere between the idea someone has and the software someone uses, somewhere along the way, it doesn't matter where, it doesn't even matter if it pays well. I guess I'm just looking for hope without school.

1 u/mwolf 12 Aug 2015 22:44

The harsh answer is you need more than just an affinity for programming to be a good software engineer. But I think there's hope for many types of people in the software engineering field.

Attend some career fairs at the school you've attended and see whats out there. Explain where you are academically and what sort of courses/programming you've done.

Depending on how far along you are in schooling, you can apply and interview for internship positions.

Don't be selective. Throw your resume at every internship you can find and apply and pester people with emails. I never thought I'd be doing GUI but I got a really nice offer. I had done a lot of C/basic C++ before but had no idea how to GUI before I walked into the internship. They didn't care, they let you learn as you did progressively bigger software tasks for them. I've never learned more than when just starting a new job or at an internship. Maybe it will go extremely well and you'll find motivation to continue schooling (and if they like you, part time work instead of retail during a semester). My friend is currently degree-less, working towards an associates in CS and has a part time job doing software dev. So positions do exist out there that you want.

The important message is, don't be discouraged, as long as you're willing to work and learn, there is a place for you somewhere.

Also, absolutely not does having trouble in school mean you're unfit to do CS. I failed almost all my classes one semester because I got depressed and discouraged and fell off the horse. but everywhere I've worked or interned, it is a whole new environment from school. You have days at work where you get imposter syndrome and feel like you're lying and you can't hack it but as long as you be open about struggling, and demonstrate that you're trying to find a solution to your problem your managers/teammates will be kind and helpful with more than you think, and give you the time you need as long as you aren't consistently failing to perform.