Where to start your IT career?

Question

IT education

I am 30. He has worked in the automotive business all his life. Now I'm excited to try myself in the IT field. Having studied the Internet for a bit, I didn’t quite find answers to the following questions:
- with whom is it better to start in the field of IT, to understand whether it’s mine (stopped at programmers and testers)
- what programming language should be studied in order to work in parallel with mine at the initial stage today's work (it is necessary to feed the family, but there are reserves to painlessly change professions). On the internet, I found something like PHP or Java
- is it worth going to courses or is it better to study it yourself from books and the Internet
- and in general, where would you start your career now when you first came to the IT field?
I found an interesting site on JAVA, they teach this language in a playful way with practical exercisesjavarush.ru/. Maybe someone who visited him give a review, I still like it and everything is clear.

Answer 1

I am 30. I started my career in IT at the age of 27.
I have an IT higher education, but life turned out so that during my studies I found a job not in my specialty, which immediately began to bring in a good income (advertising production: outdoor advertising, printing). One "beautiful" day, after 10 years of work, I realized that I had reached the ceiling and I was not at all interested in further developing in this direction. Then I started looking for things to do.
I perfectly understand the fears and thoughts that are spinning in the head of a person already with his family. At 16-22, all these questions do not bother you at all - you are still young, free from obligations and to some extent not financially burdened ... Let's talk a little :) I will answer the most-very questions: Isn't it too late?
“Isn’t it too late?”, “Where to start?”, “How will other people/friends/colleagues look at me?”, “And what income and after how much time can I expect?”, “Where can I get time for wife/kids and school? and a bunch of others...
No. It's never too late! Sounds trite, but it works.
We urgently need to forget how old you are and operate only with the concept of life experience. And his 30 is already in order. The brains are not yet "rusted", the body is not yet junk.
BUT you need to immediately agree - any IT field requires CONSTANT self-improvement and the study of new material. ANY.
To begin with, I identified two areas of IT for myself in which rapid progress is possible in a short time and fairly quick employment. 1C programming and web programming. It is right
They were selected after a thorough analysis of the local labor market + low entry threshold + the possibility of rapid progress. I doubted for a long time, read forums and articles, what would I finally choose, but in the end the direction of web programming won. Two criteria became decisive: the possibility of remote work on foreign exchanges and the lack of binding to a specific narrow technology. In financial terms, 1Sniki gets more at the initial stage, but over time, the Web pulls ahead.
Many have written above that it is necessary to learn the basics of the basics. Break down the whole theory. Understand OOP principles and design patterns., BUT ... time + family + money impose some limitations. It seems to me that the main goal is to change the scope of activity, i.e. to achieve result. Yes, in the beginning there will be terrible "solutions" and "terrible noodle-like shit code", BUT the programmer who does not continue his training PERMANENTLY is bad. But learning already at work under the guidance of more experienced comrades is MUCH easier.
Let's make a reservation right away that there are fundamentally two different directions: "front-end" and "back-end". "Front-end" is simpler and friendlier for very beginners. Its study will allow you to quickly reach the main goal . Therefore, I will continue to consider this direction.
. Yes, yes, of course, then you can study the "back-end" and even completely switch to it. Can be combined, obv.
One more thingdigression : Pre-Intermediate English level. This goes without saying. In any case, you have to read, listen and understand.
So on the topic of the question.
I recommend starting with: htmlacademy.ru - perhaps the best Russian resource for beginners. Interactive tasks from the very beginning. All core courses are free. A paid subscription gives you access to advanced courses - I recommend buying this subscription after completing all the basic courses. There are two paid monthly "intensives" - very good and worth the money.
I recommend going through the rest of the resources in parallel with the HTML Academy, starting somewhere after the 7th course:
www.codecademy.com - in English. In addition to the HTML&CSS course, you can try JavaScript and jQuery + good introductory "back-end" courses
https://dash.generalassemb.ly - in English. They are interesting because they imitate the execution of a real order on freelance.
There are a bunch of other resources and courses, but this is enough to get you started.
In any case, you will have to learn JavaScript. The www.codecademy.com + learn.javascript.ru already mentioned above will help in this matter .
And most importantly - more practice. Apply your knowledge.
Make up psds, at least for the sake of practice and portfolio. Screw something simple on jQuery to them.
If you devote at least 1 hour a day to study, then you can completely do everything.
I learned like this:
- at work there was an opportunity to read and do small classes during the day (half an hour in total)
- another hour already at night, when everyone is sleeping at home.
- on weekends he got up early and on Saturday, two hours before everyone was asleep, he repeated everything done for the week, and on Sunday he summed up the results and planned the next week.
We'll have to sacrifice serials and some bad excesses - there is always something. Always discipline yourself the first time. You can blog or set a goal on smartprogress . The main thing is to practice regularly. even 15 minutes a day is already a big plus.
It is also very important that your family knows what you are striving for and what you are doing.
Everything here is VERY individual. It all depends on diligence and desire.
You can roughly estimate the "speedy passage of this quest":
1) material investments: 30-32 tr. two intensives (basic and advanced) and a monthly paid subscription to htmlacademy.
2) temporary investment: 5-7 months for courses and intensives from htmlacademy + 2-3 months for the basics of JavaScript and jQuery
or try yourself on freelance exchanges.
2-3 progress will go much faster. And consequently, income will increase.
Perhaps at first there will be some difficulties, but it seems to me that in any case, basic human qualities + professionalism are valued. And if you consider that by the age of 30 you already have a fairly rich life experience, then I don’t think that there will be problems.
Something like that :)
Good luck. And most importantly, remember - it all depends on you. From your desires and your diligence.

Answer 2

It is too early for you to think about any particular language or technology. Learn the basics first. For example, now the OOP paradigm is used in almost all compiled and interpreted programming languages. Therefore, first you should read a couple of books on the main OOP paradigms, study design patterns, the basics of algorithmization, and data structures. In general, the basics of programming.
Therefore, this knowledge will give a more or less clear idea about the technologies around and the programming languages ​​used. Moreover, with these skills, it will be enough for you to learn one PL with a C-like syntax in order to switch to another if something happens. Also, you already have a good idea of ​​​​what this or that PL is used for. And you will already have plenty to choose from.
Actually, when you have decided on the PL, start studying it. But in any case, do not impose on courses \ video lessons such as a Specialist, etc. (more on this - read on). Another starting point for choosing a language / technology can be studying the job market. Although this factor does not reflect reality at all.
Did you choose YP? Learn it to a more or less intermediate level. Master the main technologies\libraries\frameworks applicable to this language. Why is this? Let's take C# as an example. Knowledge of the language itself does not carry such value as knowledge of the .NET framework and skills in working in the same ASP.NET, WPF\Silvelight, etc.
Remember, you will not be able to master the language and its technologies at 146%. As practice shows, 20% of specific knowledge is enough to solve 80% of all problems ( Pareto's Law ).
Now a little about the specific, namely books.
To get started, I would recommend reading the "Basics of the Basics", for example:
Object-Oriented Thinking
Design Patterns Object-Oriented Design
Techniques. P...
Object-oriented analysis and design...
After that, you can proceed to the specific literature on a particular language / technology.
I think you will decide on this list yourself when you pick something for yourself.
If you are thinking of signing up or watching courses online, for example, by the same Specialist, STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY !
Let me give you an example from my bitter experience. It was in 2011 and I first heard about this Specialist and naively believed that they really make "specialists" there. Such respected people as Borisov and Tarasov, in whom there are a lot of all sorts of certificates, simply inspired confidence and interest in all this. I ended up watching 50 hours of HTML + CSS. No result. These 50 hours did not cover even half of the knowledge that I had previously gleaned from books. Okay, let's move on. I sat down for 2 levels of JS for 30 hours + 6 hours of jQuery. And then all my rosy ideas about the Specialist were instantly destroyed. Future specialists fled from the audience after a couple of incomprehensible words, teachers confused elementary concepts, everything was told in a blunder and in any order. As a result, this course did not cover even 20% of the material from Nicholas Zakas' book on JS.
If you're really in need of courses, you'd be better off using the video tutorials by Lynda , Tutsplus , etc. These resources in a couple of hours will acquaint you with the basics of the subject and direct you on the right path.
As for books, as was correctly noted by the userstyle :
That is, if you have insurmountable difficulties when reading the first book on my list, then this means something.
And, of course, you must be confident and persistent!

Answer 3

I am 30. Mechanical engineer by education. Until the age of 26, after graduation, he worked in mechanical engineering, both at large factories and in small consulting firms, which were fed at the expense of the same factories on the supply of tools and equipment.
Until then, starting from the third year of university, I thought that mechanical engineering was not my subject. Just like you, I thought IT was my calling. Drawn to intellectual work. At first I sincerely thought so.
For almost four years, he worked on retraining and becoming a Programmer. I walked the sacred path of the habra community, following its ideals) Algorithms, design patterns, UML and design. Focused on Java SE and EE, Web. At the same time I "mastered" C++, php, asm (x86), later Dart, some other technologies and platforms.
I chose cross-platform initially, since I am a supporter of free software, and I could not choose platform-dependent things (because in commerce, in 99% of cases, consumer computers are filled with MS Woe).
I even entered the second higher education remotely, at TUSUR. True, there was little sense, so he left after a year of "training".
At the age of 26, before it was too late, as I thought, I finally made a breakthrough. Changed job. I got a job in the IT department of a non-software corporation. Here I took a sip of all the IT dirt in full. Although there were also pluses, I learned something from that place of work professionally (writing large and complex SQL queries, stored procedures and functions). It was a typical IT department of a typical non-software organization. We were developing an information system for our own needs (ERP / CRM / SRM / ... etc.), a bit of admin. In general, it was the first place in my IT career. Stayed on it for less than a year. Next was a bookstore. Then, finally, a software firm specializing in broad-based business applications.
In general, this was enough to understand that professional development is not my calling. Now I am very pleased that I realized this in time, that I did not force it, doing the work, which, to put it mildly, is not to my liking.
In all three firms, I was doing essentially the same thing, albeit using different tools and languages. When he left his last job, he already had a strong aversion to business applications. Here I was finally convinced that most commercial IT projects are stupid and useless. And from glamorous sites with a "clearly designed design" it just makes you want to puke. For example, here is one of the tabs currently open in my browser: link. This is an example of normal design (although the realization of this came not so long ago). Only information, without any charms that take place in an enterprise, and helping salespeople to sell another accounting system. In general, I will not dwell on the stones of the IT path that I came across (after all, toster is a resource whose audience is programmers or students of IT specialties, so as not to cause the anger of others).
Now I'm working again in mechanical engineering, a specialist of the highest category)) But programming is everywhere with me. My extra hands are GNU Octave and plain C. I solve all the problems that I meet creatively. Computational experiments and processing of experimental data, neural networks - in Octave, parsers of program texts for CNC machine tools with program control, large calculations on all cores - in C. These, of course, are not everyday tasks, because they poorly reflect the essence of my technological work. But Octave is needed daily, hourly, almost every minute.
Recently, I began to dig into low-level programming and embedded systems. It is very exciting. But it's not for sale (at least not in the same way that "business automation systems" are sold).
It was a long introduction to say: don't go the IT way, the "men at the monitor" way. You won’t be particularly fed up with freelancing. Modern web designers and front-end workers should take their hands off, do not stand in line with them. In any case, mastering a new platform and technology at a professional level is hard work. I don’t know how I would do it now, having a family and a child: now it has become unrealistic to sit through the evenings.
But what can be offered if the desire is serious? Combine. Like a trend of interdisciplinarity in science, like intersectoral integration in business - find an idea how to apply one to the other, how to combine car business and programming so that they become convenient, first of all, for yourself. Do not put an end to the auto repair experience (and going into IT, you will need to go headlong into it, as some have noted here). Supplement your experience with new infusion, new knowledge. And if you come up with something, you can share it with the open source world)

Answer 4

Good afternoon, if you say that which programming language you should learn, in 90% of cases they will tell you, they say, "Teach what your soul is, what you like, etc." Let's hope they don't throw me slippers) If you need to combine your work with work in the field of IT, I would advise you to focus on freelancing (remote work), it seems to me that it is most convenient to combine it with regular work, and you can work at home on weekends, but if if you are still interested in freelancing, then you will be advised here to use php and python and ruby, but in any case, whatever you choose from this, it will be right) take it and try it) good luck to you)

Answer 5

First you need to learn the basics of programming, anything will do (Ruby, Python, Java, PHP). Then, take any language and study it for 2-5 days to get to know each other. After you try everything, listen to yourself, remember what you liked the most. Choose based on this.
Also, check out the vacancies.

Answer 6

IT is not only programming, if we are talking about WEB. If you go from simple to complex, you can try to open your own mini-site based on well-known CMS. There will be problems (always) that need to be addressed. But here the result is visible, which gives impetus to further work.

Answer 7

He has worked in the automotive business all his life.

I think you should not rush into programming. You have a very interesting profession and I think you have a lot of experience in a popular topic. On this you can make an info business on the Internet and it will be the same IT. ! Not as an advertisement, but just for inspiration, try to look at the success stories of people here - puzat.ru/istorii-uspexa . Perhaps this is luck, I myself did not participate in marathons, but it seems that in the video, ordinary people who, as you decided to come to the IT world, made websites on popular topics and began to mow the loot. I think in this direction you definitely have more success than sitting down for books on programming. At least it's worth a try, and programming (and testing) in this way will also hook you and at least understand whether you need it or not.

Answer 8

Before you change your profession so abruptly, if I were you, I would think, how will you sell yourself to companies in a new capacity? It's never too late to learn and develop while the brain is working (of course, it's easier to do at 20-25). But now the ball is ruled by Ichar managers, who don’t always let a specialist with experience pass, but here you are “a goal like a falcon” - in such a profession you need to cut off 2-3 years (not counting the years of study) so that they start taking you seriously. Put yourself in the place of a leader who will receive 30 kids from the auto business, a beginner in IT? And if you are already assessed by the head of the IT department on a real test, I am silent. Therefore, soberly assess the timing of entry into the profession, it’s not for you to learn to be a photographer in a couple of months. If you do not think it over right away, then you will be disappointed or such offices as, for example,www.cnews.ru/reviews/index.shtml?2015/05/18/595645 On the other hand, you can probably make money too, but of course there is no talk of real IT work there. The question is what do you want to achieve in this area? Although I think you yourself understood everything and already left this idea))

Answer 9

For example, in our city two types of programmers are in demand: web designers and 1C programmers (where without them). And that's it ...
And the following situation turns out - the designer of me is crappy, all these buttons, menus and sliders - well, fuck them.
Well, 1ass. - Here I involuntarily recall the phrase of one user from the Internet
"And I thought that you need brains ...
And then it turns out that the crust will come down ...."
I mean that in this area either nubari or real pros - which dick you will become because of these accounting things.
So it turns out that with knowledge of php, c#, js (and experience, mostly related to the web) in my city, there is absolutely nothing to catch.
I feel after university I will have to work as a system administrator or freelance, well, or at a construction site

Answer 10

And how would you start your career now, having come to the IT field for the first time?

Answer 11

100% you must first learn how to solve at least half of these tasks and at least a third of these + html / css basics. and then learn frameworks and work, work, work...

Answer 12

First, study Stephen Davies' book: C++ for Dummies. Then take on any technology that you like best.

Answer 13

Take any language and write. Everything will be Coca-Cola.
ps
I heard in ads