Coding courses to start a career

I am not certain but I can rule out mobile and games. Desktop or data are more of an interest to me. The coding I have been doing recently is around data and related user interfaces.
 
Last edited:
Why do you need something formal? Do you have a STEM degree? Or indeed any degree?

Courses don't need to be accredited to help get you a job though some online certificates might not be worth much more than simply stating you know X (udemy certs can be from literally anyone, coursera and EDX tend to be from good universities but can be watered down, they're generally cheap though), some bootcamps work with large employers and so are a known quantity for them... though if economic times are hard that might be riskier as they are expensive (could cost a few thousand) and bootcamp hires are "unconventional" vs regular graduate hires.

Udacity nano degrees might be a kind of happy medium between the shorter coursera & EDX courses vs a bootcamp, they're priced in between those two things too.

You could look at some distance learning degree modules if you want academic accreditation, if you already have a degree then maybe a graduate certificate or diploma might be sufficient... also if you were to sign up for a full degree part-time there is nothing stopping you from applying for jobs when part way through it, just list the modules you've already completed and when you're due to complete the full degree etc..

There probably are some vendor-related programming certificates if you want something quick, I guess that could be an option though I'm not sure what they're like.

I do have a BSc degree.

I suppose what I am asking is how to people get into junior or trainee roles? If additional funded education is not necessary what does get you in the door? I have read up that employers like to see portfolios but I am not too sure how I go about starting one. I am wary of paying thousands for courses that recruiters do not see as worthwhile. Is there any value in doing the free online courses if looking to initially get a junior or trainee job?
 
I do have a BSc degree.

Is it in a subject that requires some numeracy or some basic stats at least? Perhaps use that and get some sort of data analyst role if you've already been doing that stuff? (Not all jobs that involve programming are specifically programming roles.)

I suppose what I am asking is how to people get into junior or trainee roles? If additional funded education is not necessary what does get you in the door? I have read up that employers like to see portfolios but I am not too sure how I go about starting one. I am wary of paying thousands for courses that recruiters do not see as worthwhile. Is there any value in doing the free online courses if looking to initially get a junior or trainee job?

I guess whether the cheap or free online courses have much value is down to you, can you learn whatever it is you're looking to learn anyway? Look at some job specs for the sorts of roles you're interested in, how much is covered by the sort of data-related work you're doing currently?

Further education could get you into the door depending on what you want to do and how ambitious you are, you might look at an MSc for example, it depends what you want to do I guess, you mentioned data if you were to try for some "data science" roles then an MSc would be useful, roles termed "data analyst" tend to not require as much knowledge though there can certainly be overlap.
 
I do have a BSc degree.

I suppose what I am asking is how to people get into junior or trainee roles? If additional funded education is not necessary what does get you in the door? I have read up that employers like to see portfolios but I am not too sure how I go about starting one. I am wary of paying thousands for courses that recruiters do not see as worthwhile. Is there any value in doing the free online courses if looking to initially get a junior or trainee job?

Is there any software or tools you use at the moment that have a certification path.

Popular ones in data right now would be things like;
Aws/Azure certs for SQL database admin, data pipelines/etl etc
MS power BI certs if your looking at data visualization

IMO, these would be better to have than some random boot camp or online course but depends on what area you are looking to get into

Also if you have a job in mind check out job postings to see what the requirements are or people with that job title on LinkedIn to see what qualifications they have
 
I've been considering learning to code on a few occasions now. I've done some basic coding in my current jobs, using stuff like visual basic in excel, and some bespoke reporting tool scripting. A couple years ago I did a free online course in python.

The problem that I have with it, and I don't really see answered on any of these types of threads, is knowing what to code.

Coding is a means to an ends. You need a problem to solve first. I think I could code something if I had a problem to solve, but when you first learn to code what do you do with it - there is no problem to solve? It's like giving someone a blank sheet of paper and saying write something. Ok, what do you want me to write?
 
The problem that I have with it, and I don't really see answered on any of these types of threads, is knowing what to code.

Coding is a means to an ends. You need a problem to solve first. I think I could code something if I had a problem to solve, but when you first learn to code what do you do with it - there is no problem to solve? It's like giving someone a blank sheet of paper and saying write something. Ok, what do you want me to write?

That depends what you want to do and that's not always the situation, plenty of people code because they have a need to do so not just for the sake of it.

Plenty of online courses have problems, mini projects etc..? New grads looking to be hired often grind out leetcode type problem sets.

If you're interested in data science then things like https://www.kaggle.com/ are an obvious place to look.
 
That depends what you want to do and that's not always the situation, plenty of people code because they have a need to do so not just for the sake of it.

Plenty of online courses have problems, mini projects etc..? New grads looking to be hired often grind out leetcode type problem sets.

If you're interested in data science then things like https://www.kaggle.com/ are an obvious place to look.

Yeah I always see those type of things as quite academic really. Something you would do to pass a course not in the real world. But if that's what it takes, then it's a lot of work with no guarantee of a job at the end. Got to love doing it I suppose.

The Python course I did wasn't very good. It focussed on some rather strange (to my mind) methods to do long division in code and work out remainders. Hardly seemed like there would be a real world application for that.

Leetcode needs a login. Could you post one of the easiest most basic problems so I can see what sort of level it is?
 
Yeah I always see those type of things as quite academic really. Something you would do to pass a course not in the real world. But if that's what it takes, then it's a lot of work with no guarantee of a job at the end.

Well for jobs that require leetcode/algo type problems as part of the interview process you don't have much option even if it isn't necessarily directly applicable to the job itself.

Leetcode needs a login. Could you post one of the easiest most basic problems so I can see what sort of level it is?

I'm talking in general, there is also hacker rank or just griding out similar problems from relevant textbooks. There are different levels on that website you can see some of the problems without a login, they have them under different topics and with labels of easy medium and hard:


See also:

That isn't to say anyone who wants to do something involving programming needs to be able to do that stuff but rather just for some employers (such as the big US tech firms, some successful startups etc..) it is a part of the interview process.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom