I started lurking here about three years ago while doing some research on how to best get started with a career in software. A lot of the topics that get discussed here were/are over my head. It was very valuable to see these conversations and try to "translate" them. I've learned a lot here about development as well as what the industry is actually like. I'd like to think I'm going into this with realistic expectations.
For anyone who is curious about how I got here, this is roughly how I did it:
2015 - Graduated with BA in History.
2018 - Started self teaching how to program, got an office job and automated everything I could.
2019 - Took four semesters of night classes to meet the math per-requisites for my local CS program.
2020 - Took a butt load of CS classes while working.
2021 - Finally convinced my company to let me help the software team (part-time).
July 2021 - Partner gets job out of state, apply for dev jobs in that city even though I hadn't finished my degree.
August 2021 - After a long interview process, accepted an offer for my very first software development job!
I feel like Hacker News was a big part of guiding me down the right path and am very thankful it is exists.
