I taught myself to code.  Now I'm a software developer.  Here's how I did it.

In 2015, I set out to change careers from entertainment production to software. I created a custom curriculum of online courses, county college courses and IT certifications that eventually lead to a position as a full stack software developer in April 2019. Here is how I did it.

I started out doing the HTML/CSS course on Codecademy back in 2013. It was fun! I remember thinking it would be a tolerable profession to just type all day. Over the next year I started getting really curious about the electronics I was fixing in my day job as a theater electrician. While on a national tour, I was fixing a lot of moving lights and bitter that I didn’t understand the underlying fundamentals of the electronics. I was just swapping out modules, wiping sensors and changing ballasts. My ego needed to know more, and I was starting to realize my chosen profession was not one I wanted to pursue long term.

When that tour ended, I moved to Florida to “reassess my life goals” – that’s actually what I told everyone, I’m not kidding. I lived off my well earned unemployment money and brooded over where I was going in life. Eventually exercise, fishing and drinking got old and I set new goals. I wanted to build a hackintosh to understand what made up a personal computer. Since I’m an overachiever, I decided that before I built the pc that I’d get a computer technician certification through CompTIA. To really get the fundamentals down. At the same time, I was devising a plan to get a masters degree in computer engineering. I had the entire plan laid out as to what undergrad courses someone with a communications degree would need to take to be accepted into a master of science program.

After four months in Florida, I was sick of the strip malls and flat landscape and ready to pursue life’s next chapter. I had my CompTIA A+ certification, all the knowledge I needed to build my hackintosh, and a plan to go back to school and change careers. I moved back in with my mother in NJ and the rest is history. Well, kind of. Eventually I realized institutionalized education was overrated. I was learning more in my online courses and certifications than I was in the county college courses. The online courses were cheaper and more fulfilling. It took me three more years on a custom curriculum to convince myself I was ready to change careers.

In 2017, I got a job doing weekend IT support at a major hospital. I worked there for 18 months while freelancing in NYC as a production technician. In June 2018, I worked 31 days straight. Weekdays at Lincoln Center as a project manager and weekends at the hospital doing IT support. One day in NYC, a colleague made an off handed comment on the state of the world and said something like, “we better all do what makes us happy now,” and then he walked off. I decided that moment I’d be moving to Los Angeles in October after I completed a gig I’d had lined up already. And that’s exactly what I did at the end of October 2018.

I spent five months freelancing in Los Angeles as a production technician while applying to different software jobs and continuing my studies. I took a course on full stack development on Udemy called MERN Stack Front to Back. Then one day, working a load in at the Kirk Douglass Theater in Culver City, I made a bold move during my lunch hour and replied to a Craigslist add for a C++ developer. I didn’t have much experience in C++, but I was feeling confident that day. During the interview process I later learned that the job was mainly full stack coding in Javascript MERN stack, and the call for C++ developers was a screening process in confidence. Go figure.

Here’s a list of the courses I took in the order I took them. I started with Codecademy in 2013 and took my first job in IT in 2017.

1. Codecademy – HTML and CSS tutorials. I discovered I enjoy typing and following patterns!
2. CompTIA A+ – self study for the CompTIA A+ exam. I found a pdf of this book online and committed four hours a day for about six weeks. I did the math, worked out how long it would take to read the book and have two weeks to study. Then I set the exam date to hold myself accountable.
3. Harvards CS50 on EdX – Toughest course in the entire curriculum, absolutely worth my time, especially at the beginning of my journey.
   1. Touched on all the things. C and pointers, GUI, Fullstack Php and MySQL application with API calls for real time stock prices
   2. This is the one course I absolutely recommend for anyone pursuing a software career.
4. C++ For C Programmers – An crash course in Object Oriented Programming and learning a new syntax.
5. Calculus 1 (County college course) – Had to pass a prerequisite exam to bypass the algebra requirement for the college. Annoying institutionalized education red tape already. Annoyed.
6. Calculus 2 (County college course)
7. Engineering Physics 1 (County college course) – extremely difficult, applying mathematic principles doesn’t come naturally to me.
8. Engineering Physics 2 (County college course) – Here I realized I am not fluent in math and am not interested in circuit analysis or design. Started questioning my pursuit of a masters degree here.
9. Computer Science 1 (County college course) – Waste of time after CS50. Learned Java as a plus, but OOP concepts already understood from CS50 and C++ course. I ended up helping peers learn rather than learning more myself (But when one teaches two learn… ).
10. Discrete Mathematics (County college course) – My favorite math course! I loved discrete math. Felt applicable to computer science and to life in general, this would be the best way for me to eventual understand how to apply math and become fluent.
11. Pen Testing with Kali Linux – I didn’t take the 24 hours exam for official certification. I didn’t understand the fundamentals of enterprise networks enough to feel I was retaining the information and did not want to be another ‘hacky hacker’. I received credit for my final project and used my experience as CEUs to renew my CompTIA A+ certification. The course was only $500 at the time…
12. Job as a level 1 IT Support Specialist at a hospital – I consider this job part of my studies. I was introduced to enterprise network environments, IT ticketing systems and on premises data centers.

There isn’t one clear road to success! This was my journey. Get creative, follow your passions and don’t let fear stop you. It wasn’t easy and there were many tears shed. Especially when learning pointers. I think my entire brain rewired before that concept made sense. Also, in hindsight, I learned many subjects out of order. For instance, I pursued a certification in ethical hacking before having a clear understanding of networking architecture in large enterprise environments. But I would not change my journey at all. It forced me to really understand the concepts presented in each course. I had to teach myself. I didn’t have any professors with office hours to consult, and I am so grateful for that challenge. I am extremely confident in my ability to learn new concepts and problem solve with an open mind.

Where to next? I’d love to get a PhD one day, but I’m not convinced the credential will be worth the financial strain. I’ll just keep that goal in the back of my mind and see what life brings. For now, I continue to challenge myself with new certificates, online courses and engaging side projects.

Love yourself.
-Britt