If you are already 35 years old, this is not a reason not to start studying! Of course, when you have years of valuable experience in another industry behind you, it’s not so easy, but it’s not at all hopeless. We have an excellent example - Ilya from Odessa decided to retrain from an industrial climber to an industrial programmer at exactly this age. And he succeeded. Read one of the most fascinating and thorough success stories on JavaRush!
Background
I want to share my story because I feel a moral obligation to the wonderful people who created this resource and to the community that it gave birth to. I would like to thank the creators in some way, and I would like to encourage the “Javarashites” who have not yet achieved their cherished goal and reinforce them with a good portion of motivation! The bottom line: I've been working as a programmer for two weeks now, and this is largely thanks to Java Rush .
I am 37 years old, married, two children 6 and 3 years old. For the last 15 years I have worked as an industrial climber (high altitude climber). The work, as you understand, has a little less to do with programming than nothing at all.
By and large, the job is not bad, the air is fresh, it forces you to keep yourself in “ shape ,” you have enough free time, you are your own boss. And not bad for the money ( in season ). BUT :
It has a pronounced seasonality. That is, for 3-4 months a year there is practically NO work .
NO prospects. Having worked in this field for 15 years, I realized that in the next 5–10 years it is very unlikely that anything will change ( at least for the better ).
The children began to grow up, and there was clearly not enough money...
It just started to get boring... 15 years is a very long time, anything will get boring.
So, in May 2013 , I weighed all the pros and cons and came to the conclusion that it was time to change my job... And to one that was devoid of the shortcomings of the previous one. That is:
there is work all year round;
good growth prospects;
significantly higher salary ( if not immediately, then in the future );
interesting work for which I have an inclination.
I had a penchant for programming. True, in practice, this only resulted in the fact that at school I wrote a little in BASIC, and even less in assembly language ( on the ZX-Spectrum , aka Sinclair was once such a cult computer ). The disadvantages of the “ high-rise ” during my studies turned out to be a plus for me: all the free time that I had in abundance in the spring and especially in the winter, I could usefully spend on learning programming. Programming is a flexible concept. I Googled, weighed the prospects... and my choice fell on Her Majesty Java .
Studies
My first book on Java was “ Java Programming for Children, Parents, and Grandparents ” by Yakov Fain . I’m not sure whether to recommend this book to beginners; perhaps there are better books, but at that time it was interesting and quite understandable to read. I carefully worked through the practical examples given there, which gave me the necessary minimum of practical skills for further advancement. I finished reading the book and decided to look for courses. In-person courses were expensive, and I wasn't sure they were worth it. And at that moment I remembered that while working on the book, somewhere (on habrahabr, it seems) I came across articles about JavaRush. And everything started to happen... After reading and working through the book, I cracked the first 10-12 levels like seeds, it was even too easy. But still interesting. Then it became more difficult and even more interesting.
I completed the levels strictly sequentially, i.e. I read the lecture, and while my understanding was fresh, I solved the problems for it, and did not move on to the next lecture until all the previous problems were solved, with very rare exceptions. So I got to level 20 with 3-5 unsolved problems.
If you have problems solving problems, of course, communication on the forum helps a lot, and at the same time, by helping other forum users, you yourself improve your skills! About six months later, I decided that it was time to try my luck and try myself at an interview. I googled resume examples, friends sent me several resume examples, I also wrote to Sepp ( head of Java Rush , editor's note ) and he gave me some tips and templates for a resume. I compiled it and sent it to Sepp for review; he appreciated it. Next, I posted my resume on popular job search sites, compiled a list of addresses of HR departments of the largest IT companies in Odessa , which had vacancies for Java Developer ( not only “ juniors ”). There were about 20 of them . I immediately set aside half of it just in case in case I screwed up everywhere, and sent out my resume for the other half.
First interviews
I won’t say that I was bombarded with invitations, but in the end, in a month and a half, I went to half a dozen interviews. Some turned out to be more or less successful, some not so much. There were two or three test tasks, which I completed with varying success, and one interview in spoken English. I passed it successfully, but didn’t get to the technical interview: another applicant was ahead of me. I also almost got into the so-called “benchmark” at Luxsoft: I passed the tests and interview, but at the last moment, when I read the contract, I changed my mind and refused. In short, they teach you for three months and pay you a stipend of $300 . If they like you, they offer you a job as a junior ( $ 500 ). After 9 months they can raise your salary, but, as it turned out from the contract, if you do not attend courses or after the courses you want to change your job within a year or two, you are obliged to pay them compensation for training in the amount of $2,500 . I found such conditions unacceptable and refused. I also refused another vacancy: it seemed to me that I would have no prospects there.
But the main thing is that I gained very valuable experience in interviewing. After each interview, I had a much better idea of what awaited me at the next one, approximately what questions I would be asked, and what answers would be expected... It’s not that the same questions are asked at all interviews, but many questions are asked almost always.
And after each interview, I made myself a small list of questions in which I “swimmed”, and then found clear answers to them. In general, going to interviews is really useful, regardless of the results...
Internship
Around the same time ( autumn - winter 2013 ), Java Rush wrote to me in a personal message with an offer to participate in the “ Real Project ”. To be honest, after they listed the technologies used in it ( Spring , Hibernate , GWT , MySQL , Maven , Git ), I was a little scared, since for the most part I heard these words out of the blue, or even for the first time . I thought that I had nothing to lose, I had time to participate, and agreed.
At first it was really HARD, but after a week or two, after reading books and articles, I delved into the work of the existing code deeply enough to write something myself and make my first commit.
I was very lucky with the guys on the project. There were four of us : Timur (Timur), Zhenya (Groomsh), Seryoga (SergeyKandalintsev) and me . We supervised our project directly from JavaRush. Timur worked mostly on the backend, Zhenya worked on the front end , Seryozha worked on the database , I worked a little on the front end , and a little on the back end . A couple of months later, we became the first team to successfully complete a real “Real Project” , which is now used by all Javarashites - this is the “Ratings” project ( in the new version of JavaRush this project is no longer used ). To say that “The Real Project” gave me a lot is to say nothing! In addition to the obvious increase in valuable knowledge, an even more important understanding came to me: Java is far from the only necessary skill, although it is fundamental. Java is the ABC of programming, but in addition to the ABC you need to know spelling rules, grammar, syntax, construct sentences correctly, have a rich vocabulary... And in programming you need to know and be able to use many frameworks, patterns and development tools, and also know where to look solving problems and answering your questions. After the real project, I became interested in more advanced technologies, and deepened my understanding of those already known to me... My interests went beyond the boundaries of “pure” Java Core . And also - a new, solid item appeared in my resume in the “Work Experience” column with a description of the cool and fashionable technologies that were used in the project.
Further ordeals
The internship ended, I began a new working season in high-rise... Free time became scarce, the issue of changing profession faded into the background. However, I devoted almost all my free time to programming: I wrote various “mini-projects”, sometimes solved problems in Java Rush , monitored vacancies, and at the end of autumn I signed up for free courses at the IT office DataArt . The courses themselves turned out to be too general: I learned almost nothing useful there. But as part of these courses, students were asked to break into teams and write a “Project” . The project consisted of writing an online testing system, with user registration, a user part ( taking questionnaires ), and an admin part ( creating questionnaires and managing accounts ). I ended up in one of four teams, and later it turned out that I practically wrote the project myself. In about a month ( while working at a high-rise ), I myself wrote a quite passable, as it seems to me, web application, based on the same technologies and patterns that we used at the Java Rush internship ( plus jsp, Spring Security, and something else ). If anyone is interested, I can post a link to an open repository with the project’s sources...
The height has been taken!
In December, I was invited for an interview at one office. They told me that they would call me when they made a decision... “ Well, everything is as usual,” I thought then. “If you didn’t take it right away, then there’s little hope .” But a month later, after the New Year, I wrote to the HR manager of this company and asked about my fate. To my surprise, she replied that the vacancy was still open and the decision had not been made yet...
Another month passed, and now, at the end of January, she called me asking if looking for a job was relevant for me, to which I “relentlessly” replied that yes, I’m still looking. To which she replied that I had already found her, since I suited them!
The feeling, of course, is indescribable, when you are told this over the phone, your wings just grow! To understand this, you need to experience it yourself. This is what I wish for you in the near future! My first job was participation in the development of a large ERP project - an application , long-term construction. The application turned out to have a lot of specific nuances, so the Kiev development company needed a programmer not far from the customer - in Odessa , where I live. The application is written in GWT + ExtGWT + Spring + Hibernate + MySQL , and a bunch of supporting minor libraries. It just so happens that this is exactly the technology stack that I studied and have some experience with. Among the minuses, I will mention that the project is old, and it uses old versions of libraries and outdated design approaches, and they are so outdated that they are practically not subject to updating. It also turned out that I would be alone to finish finishing off the results of 3-4 years of work by other programmers! Of course, I expected that, like any junior, a more experienced team leader would be assigned to me, he would also be a mentor-adviser who would guide me and review my code. But fate decreed otherwise; I was entrusted with a job designed for an experienced independent developer. “Since this is the case,” I thought, “it would be nice to immediately ask for an increase in salary.” And he raised the original figure by $200 . This did not cause any indignation on their part. I won’t give specific numbers, I’ll just mention that the salary significantly exceeded my expectations. In addition, I only had one ( and not three, as usual ) month of probation. They registered me, as usual, through SPD ( this is a common practice for programmers) .
Technologies that will be useful to you in your work: personal experience
Knowledge of databases, SQL ( MySQL ), jdbc , Hibernate , Jpa , network technologies html , jsp , servlets , xml , Tomcat is very desirable, perhaps even REQUIRED . Knowledge of basic JavaSE patterns ( the so-called GOF patterns ) is required; at least a superficial knowledge of Spring , SpringMVC , the Maven project builder , log4j logging , and JUnit unit testing will also be a HUGE plus . You need to be able to work with version control systems, Git for example. Sometimes they ask or give test tasks on web services ( SOAP, REST ). Along with all this, knowledge of Java core should be, if not impeccable, then at least very confident.
First impressions
After the first two weeks, I started to delve into the code, and now I know that everything will work out...
I would like to immediately note that working as a programmer is still not a resort; it is, first of all, a job for which you need to get up in the morning and return in the evening. But this work is much better than many others. It has interest, money, and prospects. And it’s especially nice when you were able to achieve this yourself, with your mind, work and perseverance. I was able to change my life, and in many ways you are the master of your own destiny.
The only thing I'm afraid of is that laziness will prevail over me. That having achieved a certain result, I will become lazy and stop growing professionally. But I still really hope that this won’t happen. Once again I want to thank the creators of this wonderful resource! And to you, Javarashite, I want to wish you perseverance and patience on your chosen path, as grandfather Lenin said: “You are going along the path of the village, comrades!” =) and not yet indulge your own laziness, and most importantly “NEVER GIVE UP”. The one who walks will master the road!
Afterword: two years later...
...decided to write a continuation of my “Success Story”. There are three reasons for this:
The administration asked me =);
I still believe that this particular resource played a key role in my “getting into IT”;
I remain confident that motivation is also one of the key factors in this matter, and one of the best motivators is the success stories of real people who were in the same exact situation as you, a Javarashite. Because I know from myself that at times one’s hands simply give up... and for many they never rise again. It's a really difficult path, but it's worth it!
So here are my answers to the questions: How did your life generally change after you got a new job and how did you feel at that moment? Well, of course it has changed... First of all, the eternal “time-money” balance has changed. There is noticeably more money, significantly less time... There is finally enough for “daily bread”, but it is not yet possible to save for a “rainy day”. Although, I’m sure, if you try a little hard, you’ll be able to save $200-500 a month (this despite the fact that I’m the only one working in a family of 4 people, my wife has the opportunity to take care of the children in peace). Stability, confidence in the future, or at least some illusion of it has appeared... Describe your work. What do you do, what do you study, what are the processes of interaction with the team? I am currently working for my second company, Electric Cloud. This is an American company, the product is not simple - a DevOps tool for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery, something like Jenkins, only much larger, and a purely commercial product. In addition, it is already quite ancient, full of legacy code (outdated code, editor's note), which needs to be maintained, bugs fixed, and sometimes new features written. In a word, the zoo of technologies is such that mother don’t worry! You have to deal to a greater or lesser extent with Java8, GWT, JS, PHP, Perl, HTML, CSS, Spring, Hibernate, JUnit, Mockito, Maven, Perforce and these are just the main ones... The first few months I saw the light easily, then I got used to it. Working conditions are standard. Five days a week, 18 working days a year - vacation (plus all public holidays). The schedule is largely free; if you wish, you can work from home. However, I prefer the office, where the atmosphere is more work-like. Most often I work from 12 to 19-20 hours. We have Scrum updates every day ( Scrum is a methodology for flexible software development, editor's note), and once or twice a week we have meetings in the evenings with our American team leader. What heights in your career have you already achieved and what other mountains do you plan to move? From time to time I look at good vacancies in companies that interest me. Very rarely, but it still happens, I go for interviews. I already realized that finding a place with a good salary is easier than finding a place with a good project. And to do both, you need to try very hard. And also, I am increasingly realizing that I did not enter this profession by chance, but earned it through my work and perseverance, although a certain degree of luck, especially at first, must certainly take place, and also: I very much doubt that I will change it . By February, my commercial development experience will be two years old. If you evaluate my level according to generally accepted concepts, it seems to me that it is something like Strong Junior or Regular Middle. However, this assessment is very subjective, except that I am sure that it is not Senior yet. Any parting words for those who are still at the beginning (or middle) of their journey? I sincerely wish everyone who believes in themselves to achieve their goal, and I hope my example will contribute to this. I repeat: this is not an easy path, no matter what anyone tells you, and very few of those who started achieve their goal. But many more people can do this! It’s just that most people lack something in the middle of the path: motivation, desire, perseverance, faith in themselves and their strengths. Many come up with sophisticated excuses and no longer achieve their goals... So believe in yourself, don’t give up halfway (small breaks of course don’t count =)), and you will succeed! As the ancient Greeks said, “It is not the gods who burn the pots.” “Programmers are not born,” remember this (JavaRush motto, editor’s note)? And finally, one more piece of advice: pass the INTERVIEWS! This is the most direct road. I once heard the phrase at an IT event: “I have never met a person who went to 20 interviews and was not accepted.” How many interviews have you already attended? I know that you can answer me:
I’m not ready yet, I still need to learn...
Well, no one is calling me...
So: these are all rotten excuses too! I got my first job (with a salary of $1100) after level 21! True, at that time I already had some experience in GWT, Hibernate and Spring, gleaned from my JavaRush internship. But they didn’t ask about this at the interview; almost all the questions were about Java Core and a little SQL. So don’t be afraid, look for vacancies, go for interviews! Sign up on LinkedIn, Gina, job search sites - wherever you can! Track the latest vacancies and respond to them! “Knock and they will open for you,” flood all the IT offices in your city with letters with your resume, and you won’t have to wait long for an invitation to an interview. Lots of options! So the shortest course of action is:
I completed 20-30 levels of JavaRush, plus learned a little SQL and JDBC. If you also have the basics of Spring and Hibernate, then you’re completely in trouble.
I typed out a resume using examples, registered on specialized sites, posted it, then bombarded all IT offices with spam with my resume. Believe me, you won’t be left without feedback, many will simply write back saying that they will keep you in mind, and some will definitely invite you for an interview.
Every interview, even a complete failure, brings you significantly closer to your goal! Because at each next one you will feel more prepared and confident. And 80% of people ask the same questions almost everywhere.
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