Hello everyone, my name is Igor, while I was studying on Javarush I was very supported by success stories, so I want to tell you mine. My path to programming was long, winding, and of course I would like to go straighter. But what’s done is done, and now I’m where I once only dreamed of being.
2007-2009. School. Let's start with the fact that even as a teenager I was interested in programming. I went to extra. computer science classes, during school lessons 80% of the kids in my class copied or asked me to solve exercises, and I was happy to help them. In the eleventh grade (2009-2010), I had to figure out which exams to take, and then I made the wrong decision. I, like everyone else, went to social studies (well, a lot of institutes accept it), but did not go to computer science - the teacher did not conduct preparatory electives and I decided that I myself would not prepare for the exams. (wrong, Igor!) 2010. Study time (to become a marketer). In the first year we again have computer science and again 80%, but not of the class, but of the stream, passed laboratory tests with my help. There were thoughts of transferring to a programmer, but I thought: “the subjects there are different and this is a different faculty, which means, probably (I never knew for sure), budget places are not redistributed between them.” (wrong again, Igor!) After completing the computer science course, I stopped coding, but regularly thought about it. 2011-2015. Beginning of work. I worked in different places, I wasn’t afraid to change them, I liked learning new things. I managed to be a pizza delivery guy, a sales consultant, a call center specialist, and a sales manager. Each position was interesting in its own way (yes, even the courier), but as soon as I got used to the work, I became bored, a worm was gnawing from within - “Well, Igor, this is not what you want, you won’t be able to work here all your life.. "And on October 29, 2015, coming from another working day, where I visited clients, held meetings and offered to buy something that did not inspire me at all, I realized that I could no longer live like this. The worm got the better of me, I ordered myself a paper book Head First Java (in Russian). It was then that I took my first step into IT. 2016. Around-IT. When I started studying, I dreamed that I would be able to get a job as a junior somewhere in May 2016, i.e. in about six months, having learned everything that is required. The reality turned out to be completely different - by May I had just finished Head First. In the summer I was swayed towards Android, but the too fast free intensive course discouraged me (although I certainly learned something there). The Geek Brains courses, unfortunately, also didn’t give much; I knew almost everything from Head First. And at the end of 2016, Santa Claus brings a very cool gift - discounts on JavaRush, which by that time I had completed the free part of. I take advantage of this gift - I pay for the course for a year. It is important to say that in the middle of the year I left my job as a salesperson and became a second-line technical support employee, which helped me a lot. At my new job, I, albeit a little, communicated with developers, delved into application logs, reproduced bugs and set tasks. I was really closer to the world I was so desperately striving for. 2017. JavaRush. I spent most of this year here (I don’t remember exactly, but it seems about 10 months), reaching level 29. After which I saw that the rest of the lessons were going over the top, I decided that I didn’t need it and went to do my own project - to write a bot for a telegram, in which I wanted to try to work with a database (later I indicated a link to this bot in my resume). Even this year, I changed my position from a support employee to a product manager, and got a team at my disposal, with whom we created a chat for the company’s website. I became even more immersed in the software development process, saw how programmers really work, learned about task setting, work flow, agile, scrum, daily meetings and much more. I already actually worked in IT. But I still wasn't a programmer. The year ended with working on a bot and participating in the adventofcode.com online competition. 2018. Success. After my bot started working, my family and colleagues said that it was quite good, thanks to this I finally gained enough confidence and went to several interviews. It turned out that they were waiting for me at the market, which made me incredibly happy! But in my current company, where I worked as a product manager, they offered to move to a new position, to which I agreed. And since March 1, 2018, for 4 months now I have been officially a programmer! What I learned from my two-year journey:
Don't despair. I had periods when I felt that nothing would work out; breaks in classes sometimes lasted up to a month. But if there is a desire in your heart, you need to go back to the computer and code, code, code.
Try not to be interrupted. After month-long breaks, it took several days to remember what I already knew. Even if you wanted to devote 2 hours to programming today, but have already lost one and a half of them on the Internet, study for at least half an hour and do not reproach yourself for procrastination. It's 100 times better than if you didn't exercise at all because you're maintaining a continuous cycle.
Go into the IT field. If your life situation allows it, then it’s worth getting a job where you can intersect with development. This helps a lot. I think 50% of the success was that I worked together with the programmers.
Try to go for interviews regularly. I went 2 months after the start of training (too green) and then after 2 years (possibly earlier). Realistically, I could get an internship position after six months at Javarush (about a year and a half from the start of training).
Follow your heart. If you feel that you are not doing what you want, look for opportunities right away, don’t wait - change your destiny. I did it, a bunch of guys from success stories did it, and you can do it.
I wish you success! (And I went to study Spring.) PS List of materials. I write what was really useful to me.
Books:
Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates - Head First Java;
Bruce Eckel - Java Philosophy;
Gerber Shildt - Java 8, Beginner's Guide;
Robert Laforet - Java Data Structures and Algorithms;
Alan Bewley - Learning SQL
Video courses:
Timur Batyrshinov - Hibernate
Chad Darby (Udemy) - Spring & Hibernate for Beginners (watching now)
GO TO FULL VERSION