I'm like you except I skipped college and went straight into the working world. It's entirely possible to do without an education but you have to get creative with how you acquire that initial experience, in my case through volunteering to do basic IT work before landing the first job and then some minor open source contributions to move into the devops space. Sure I'm probably not making $300K/year at the Big 4 any time soon but I've done well enough to afford a nice apartment rental in the Bay Area without roommates or student loan debt and save so I consider that doing just fine all considering.
How old are you, if you don't mind breaking some OPSEC?
Making it quick, I'm a 20 year old native who's having a troubling time keeping optimistic and feeling 'locked out' from the job market around here. I've only been doing front-end engineering for a non profit for a few years now since High School, but everything still feels so far away and impossible to me, especially because I didn't go straight to college, so I've just been wondering if I'm just not trying hard enough or if I'm actually locked out until I build a decent resume...
You need a decent resume. I graduated with a math degree and couldn't get a software engineering job until going back and getting a CS degree. I'd already been programming for years. There was another guy from my class that had to do the same too.
26, I was about your age when starting out full time. If you're feeling locked out locally you might consider moving if you can, I sent my resume to companies across the country until it finally landed somewhere decent which also helped with the search. Resulted in a move to Texas from California for a bit and was worth it.
A few questions ... are you applying to places ? or just feeling locked out ?
Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ? sometimes moving might help
I'm assuming the front-end engineering is paid ? Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?
Lately, no, last I've actually tried was all last year, but I've been wanting to get back on it with everything I've learned this year.
"Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ?"
Yes, Oakland, quite near San Fransisco.
I've been thinking I might have to end up moving one day, I wouldn't hate it but even then I must imagine that other 'tech areas' around America have that same kind of competition where people are moving out for work. My work is indeed paid.
"Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?"
Good question, I'm not actually sure but you've managed to get me on it. I've been relying on Github for a portfolio because people've always told me that it's about having a Github accessible and a decent resume...
