I'm a self-taught programmer. When I was 8 I would check out BASIC books from my school library and type them into our Apple IIe during recess. My parent's got me a programmable graphing calculator with BASIC to encourage me, and I was married to it for a few years.
Later my parents got a 486 and I got into the wide world of DOS/W3.11 gaming.
In high school I learned how to build computers and install linux. I bought C++ Primer Plus but I never made it past Chapter 4 or so. C++ was way too complex for me. I drifted away from programming.
When I was about 27, I got a job as an entry level Linux sysadmin and built all sorts of systems. I touched a lot of code and changed and wrote all kinds of scripts, rekindling my interest in programming. After I got canned, I ditched administration and poured my efforts into web development.
I impressed a web design freelancer enough to get him to use me on his bigger projects. We were going to start a business together but I got cold feet and pulled out. I've been bouncing around different web development jobs ever since.
I don't see much value in Computer Science and don't personally value such degrees very much. It might become useful to me at some point but every time I start to look at CS course work, my eyes glaze over and I want to just go build something. So much of it seems to just boil down to "be careful what you put in your loops".
What's going to get you jobs is being able to do stuff. Knowledge is secondary to action. Get out and do stuff. What's going to allow you to retain your sanity is knowing how to do stuff without adding unnecessary complexity. So go over every project and do a post-mortem, buying books to shore up your understanding.
You don't need someone to teach you how to program. You just need the drive to teach yourself.
Later my parents got a 486 and I got into the wide world of DOS/W3.11 gaming.
In high school I learned how to build computers and install linux. I bought C++ Primer Plus but I never made it past Chapter 4 or so. C++ was way too complex for me. I drifted away from programming.
When I was about 27, I got a job as an entry level Linux sysadmin and built all sorts of systems. I touched a lot of code and changed and wrote all kinds of scripts, rekindling my interest in programming. After I got canned, I ditched administration and poured my efforts into web development.
I impressed a web design freelancer enough to get him to use me on his bigger projects. We were going to start a business together but I got cold feet and pulled out. I've been bouncing around different web development jobs ever since.
I don't see much value in Computer Science and don't personally value such degrees very much. It might become useful to me at some point but every time I start to look at CS course work, my eyes glaze over and I want to just go build something. So much of it seems to just boil down to "be careful what you put in your loops".
What's going to get you jobs is being able to do stuff. Knowledge is secondary to action. Get out and do stuff. What's going to allow you to retain your sanity is knowing how to do stuff without adding unnecessary complexity. So go over every project and do a post-mortem, buying books to shore up your understanding.
You don't need someone to teach you how to program. You just need the drive to teach yourself.