New Programmer Learning Curve to Fulltime

Question

I know there are a lot of variables in learning speed and experience just give me what you'd consider the norm

1. What do you believe is the average time needed (years or months wise) for a beginning programmer with no other languages yet to be able to get an entry level position as a developer?

2. I desperately want out of my current career field, but need to be able to support my family. I'm in Houston, good economy, pulling in about $45k with bonuses of about $10k (so $50-55k).... pretty decent for being in a "non professional" position I'd say. How many years of experience would it take before I'd get to that range in programming with C# in a market like Houston? Everyone throws around big numbers all the time, but in the realistic economy, I want to know if I should expect years and years of scraping the bottom before I end up getting back up to at least that level as a newer programmer.

I need the pro's opinion. I've done my googling, but its muddled and not specific to C# developers.

Answer 1

If you're asking these questions, you should read Peter Norvig's Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years.

Answer 2

Well, Greg is right but if you want to learn enough to get a decent job, it is doable in maybe a year if you are really serious and have an aptitude for it.

Check out: http://www.learnvisualstudio.net

If that stuff doesn't blow your mind and you are still interested. Keep at it. Try to learn as much as you and read the O'Reilly C# books. Starting salaries in the programming field, as far as I know, in the US are still pretty good, particularly for .NET. If you really immerse yourself in it, you could get to a point where you could contribute to projects. There are many smaller programming shops that might be willing to give you a chance. But it won't be easy. You'll have to learn a lot. And that's just to get to the relatively low bar of being able to get a job. Once there, you can really start on Greg's "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" stuff. :)

Just my advice.

Answer 3

Unless you have a genuine interest in programming I wouldn't go into the field. The only people I know who get real job satisfaction and are really accomplished programmers/software engineers are the people who really love it.

Having said that, the majority of engineers working out there don't fit this criteria, so it's relatively easy to look good by just being vaguely competent.

I can't vouch for Houston rates, but that is a pretty entry level salary in London. If you have no experience then your going to have to have some sort of fresh 2-3 year qualification for someone to take you on. Then if you can convince someone to take you on as a grad type position you could probably get that rate. 3 years after that you can start considering yourself a journeyman and the rates will become decent, another 3 years after that you're a proper engineer (as long as you've been challenging yourself and making sure you keep getting better).

At that point 8-9 years after starting you can start to get really decent money. It does depend on the roles you've been doing. If you can get into places where you are working with really good people it helps you grow much faster.

Answer 4

I started as a Developer in an enterprise environment at 44k and good benes.

The position required 3-5 yrs experience and a degree. I'm 24 with no degree and just took a few programming classes back in high school. I had some non-software IT internships. Did many odd jobs that I didn't list. Fired and left a whole bunch, but kept moving.

My main expertise is repairing computers, IT help desk stuff. But I always had a love for software and attempted, but never finished some personal projects. I went through the exhaustive interview and never lied about anything. They picked me.

I'm working on my degree and company is paying for it. I'm learning Java and C# on the fly did some work with Java and now working on C# stuff. Learning is a must and is constant. Apply everywhere, you never know.

Answer 5

You mention in one of your comments that you work in debt collection. Maybe you could look for jobs in debt collection software.

Broadly speaking there are two types of knowledge that programmers need to have: general programming knowledge and domain knowledge. If you were to look for jobs in companies that do debt collection software, then you would already have a great deal of relevant domain knowledge, which would make you a lot more attractive to employers.

Besides programming jobs, there are some other roles in software houses that might suit you. (I don't know, I'm just throwing ideas out there.) For instance QA, or support engineering. It's also possible that those could provide an "in" for getting into programming.