Anybody who has never studied coding at uni, only herself/himself and now has a professional job in this area?

Question

How long time did it spend to reach this? What language(s) did you learn?

Answer 1

I did mathematics at uni and got into coding on my own. I first learned Python because I was trying to learn how to write scripts for Civilization 4. I did it on and off for 3 or 4 years, not really as a serious pursuit. When my last job wasn't working out I did a course on Udemy to learn C# and applied to coding jobs, eventually falling into Java. In the month or so before applying for coding jobs I intensively did courses, interview practice questions and exercises and tbh I learned as much in that period as I did the previous 3 years. I did actually spend time on here too, did the Java course the weekend before my interview lol (was looking for C# initially).

It did take a lot of effort, and I'd say the mathematics degree really helped because it's a very similar thinking process. I highly recommend messing around with your own stuff, try different mini projects, don't scale too big. Make a text adventure. Make a rudimentary inventory system etc (as separate projects) to learn about different ways of doing things. When you learn new things, revisit them and see how you can improve them. Do practice questions online, they are easy to find and are how you will make progress, by having problems to solve. you'll hit roadblocks, so google to work out how to get unstuck. Doing is the best way to learn :)

Answer 2

Thank you very much for your long answer. I am an economist in the public sector since almost 3 years. I think this isn't what I want to do in my all life. That's why a half year ago I decided to change. I was always interested in logic things (in my sector things is rare logic:) ) and figures. A half year I started to take change seriously, registring to this site, making challanges every day, learning new languages (but first of all I want to make stronger my Java skill), and reading a lot.
Once again thank you very much for your answer and time.

Answer 3

I did some Pascal coding in uni that can be considered as have no coding at all:). And has a not CS or IT related degree but I am working in IT for 6+ years.