Whether you have a college degree or not, anyone — literally anyone, including you, can make money from coding — provided you have an internet connection.
You Don’t Need a Degree
Let’s face it: in the modern world, there is a huge value for having a formal degree in a particular domain. Whether it’s engineering, finance, law or even drama, everything seems to require a degree.
But I’m telling you that you don’t need any kind of degree to learn coding — and ultimately make money from it. Take it from me, a guy who has studied electronics for his Bachelor’s in the last four years. I’d always had a deep interest in coding and computer science, but my entire college education was based on electronics.
Then 2020 happened, which, if you haven’t forgotten, is synonymous with COVID-19. While college remained indefinitely shut and the world went into lockdown, I began to learn coding in the free time that I had.
Was it tiresome? Of course. But was it worth it? Hell, yeah it was! I landed two internships because of the skills I’d acquired, one at Samsung (PRISM) and the other one at MITACS Canada.
And they sure as hell paid well.
Facts and Figures You Can’t Deny
The IT and software industry is currently an exponentially expanding hub of opportunities. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the following graph, plotting a trend between the weekly salary growth of software developers vs all other occupations.
Software developers have had a steep growth in salaries compared to other professions — almost double the growth in comparison. And this trend is expected to continue, with the demand for software specialists to increase over the coming years.
What YOU Can Do
Now that I’ve convinced you that you absolutely don’t need a formal degree to get your feet wet in the world of coding, let me tell you what you will need:
1.An internet connection: If you don’t have one, get one. Period.
2.1–2 hours of dedicated time daily for a few months: Remember, you’ll be competing with people who do have degrees in computer science, and to stay above the competition, you must put in the effort. There are plenty of online courses — you just have to choose what you want to learn. Popular career options include software testing, web development, security specialist etc. Let me tell you that not all courses are paid — I have learned web development completely through YouTube and Google.
3.Code, code and code: The more you code, the better you’ll get at it. Work on mini projects, intended to refresh and refine your skills and help you get accustomed and habituated to focusing in front of a computer screen.
Let’s say you take software testing as your preferred career path. There are plenty of free and paid online courses that can help you acquire the skills you need. Most jobs require some form of certification to get qualified — and a lot of paid online courses provide such certifications, making it important to choose a course wisely which may end with an exam that you have to pass for obtaining the certificate. After that, you can start applying. Software testing has a huge potential, with salaries averaging around $90,000.
While it may initially seem geeky and intimidating, it’s easy once you get the hang of it. My Dad, coming from a background of Pure Sciences, can code. My Mom, who despised Mathematics and Engineering up until now and had never even heard of languages like Java, C++, Python, is now learning Object-Oriented Programming. Anyone, including you, can code.
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Technology