Hello everyone
Im a health professional and have been one for 14 years and would like to get into IT. I was thinking of learning programming. Iv started to self learn Java as per a relative who is a cloud engineer. What are your thoughts on this? What resources should I use or languages should I learn? How do I get a position as a junior developer and work my way up? Currently am using Sololearn app to learn Java.
IT is a big field, programming is a sub-set, but still a big field in itself.
Assuming you want to be a programmer, its really hard to know what the big languages will be in, say, ten years.
However, Java is not one I would have picked - it seems to me to be pretty much dead already (but, I am not a programmer myself, so I could be wrong). I can't think of any Java applications that I see in use any more (maybe I am not paying enough attention though), and I don't think I have installed Java runtimes for anyone for five, maybe ten years, whereas twenty years ago it was one of those things we pretty much always installed when setting up a new PC for users.
If you are wanting to get into serious programming, then my outside view is that the C-languages seem to be used a lot, and Python is pretty big nowadays. If you wanted to focus in on web-technologies, then you could learn HTML / CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.
Another option would be to focus on databases - MariaDB and PostgreSQL seem to be on the up, but again I am no expert in that at all.
Not sure if that helps in any way - maybe just ignore me!
Alan.
I guess it depends if you want to work front end, back end or full stack
One option, it may not be the best option, but one that I've seen play out a few times in the past, if you wanted to get your "foot in the door" and could afford to take a potential pay cut, would be to start "at the bottom" in terms of a technical helpdesk/service desk role. I know of organisations that will hire with nothing but customer service experience (Which sounds like you'd have plenty of) and offer training to get up to speed. Now that's not going to make you into a programming superstar overnight, but what it would do is create opportunity for you to upskill and network. I've come across situations where a team wanted a small application built to interface with existing systems to read and display details such as mailbox quota or account expiry, or already have applications that aren't supported due to staff movement and are looking for someone to update or improve them. There'd also likely be opportunities to build relationships with others in a field you want to get into within the wider industry, such developers or programmers.
That's a long-winded approach that I'd probably be more likely to recommend to someone fresh out of school or who quit uni because they didn't like it, but it's certainly doable and poterntially opens up as many doors as you'd ever need to grow and develop but can require some patience.
Would you mind telling us what city or region you are based in? Someone might know someone who knows someone who could help.
All good comments above. I'm in software, have been for over 20 years.
Java definitely is still in use, but not in the desktop world. It's used in mobile (Android) and back end systems, and isn't going away any time soon. But there are "better" languages that will open more doors.
Python has already been mentioned: this is good for data analytics and machine learning, among other things, both huge and growing fields.
C# is very much mainstream and you'll never be out of a job if you know it. It's my bread and butter but it's not for everyone.
Rust and Go are both growing and might be worth a mention.
Web development is, in my opinion, its own little world and while "full stack" positions are often advertised, typically devs are much stronger in either front or back end. If you want to do web development, get a good grasp of JavaScript then take your pick of Angular or React. Or learn both. That will get you 80% of the way in the web world.
Overall, just find a job doing something however junior the role, preferably something you enjoy, and you can move into other areas and progress from there.
Good luck!
As for getting a starting position, It's pretty common to see grad roles being listed which are through the Callaghan r&d grant program. Basically Callaghan will pay for a 10 week internship, so a win-win. You get experience and the company doesn't have to pay your salary.
You can find out more here. Though do note its for grads, so you'd need to be in your final year of a bachelor.
Otherwise as noted above you can start from the bottom at service desk and work your way up via learning through the company, upskilling and/or internal hiring.
You might find it easier to get into Python or Ruby. Also learning bit of HTML & JavaScript goes a long way.
Go and see on seek for junior programming roles for languages you like to learn, so you can gauge your self what are the current trends here.
Learn .NET (C#), HTML5, JavaScript and dabble in its popular frameworks (React, Vue, etc.), TypeScript, CSS, SCSS. This is all used in web, mobile, and cloud software development and will make you a full-stack developer with the option to choose front-end or back-end development if you don't want to be full-stack. If you can pick these up, it won't take too long to get paid a decent salary.
I agree with most of the comments above. One more option for you if you are not familiar with fundamentals of development.
Have you thought about doing DevOPs in Cloud computing like in Azure, AWS, Google Cloud? As you have less background in development, might as well try this. Lots of opportunities out there and everyone is moving to Cloud so there is future. Not that difficult to get going. Lot's of online courses available as well.
Personally, I won't recommend java at this stage as it is dying softly. Legacy application requirement will be there but you might get cornered over time.
Depending what's important to you (easy of use, salary cap, most jobs on offer etc), gain insights on what might be right for you from the latest Stack Overflow Developer Survey here: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/
Even if you don't end up in a programing role, still knowing how to program is a massive advantage. Everything is moving towards automation so even non programer roles will be expected to know some low code to automate routines.
I taught myself to code when I was a teen decades ago before tutorials and useful articles on the internet. It's actually fairly easy to pick up with trial and error regardless of what language you choose as long as you keep the right mind set. You'll feel lost at first but it will all make sense down the line just keep going.
An important thing to note is that syntax errors/bugs are very much an expected thing, everyone makes them so don't feel as if you are doing something wrong if you have buggy code. Almost all code starts as a buggy mess and it gets pruned into something that works. To put it into perspective the build number in most software versions shows how many times a project was compiled, it's common for that to be in thousands to tens of thousands, meaning that's how many times the code was modified and then tested before it was finally "right" and got released.
I'm a big fan of diving in head first to learn something so a great way to start is just to take something you want to make or something (anything) you do on your PC you want to automate and code a solution for it. If you don't know where to start Google/Stack Overflow is your friend. Getting in the thick of it will get you up to speed much faster compared to just following tutorials.
Once you have a project you've made create an account on Github and upload it there so you can link to it on your CV as proof of your coding skill. All the best!
As a warning, don't take a university compsci course.