Steps to Start a Career in Computer Science

As an HR professional, I've seen candidates who invest in upskilling significantly outperform others in interviews and salary negotiations. Let me give you a comprehensive roadmap: Step 1: Skills Gap Analysis Current State Assessment: •⁠ ⁠List all your current technical and soft skills •⁠ ⁠Review your recent performance appraisals for feedback •⁠ ⁠Ask trusted colleagues or managers about your strengths and improvement areas •⁠ ⁠Compare your skills with job descriptions you're targeting Market Research: •⁠ Study 15-20 job postings in your target role/industry •⁠ ⁠Identify the most frequently mentioned skills •⁠ ⁠Note the "nice to have" vs "must have" requirements( use platforms like naukri) Step 2: Prioritise Your Learning High-Impact Skills to Focus On: 1.⁠ ⁠Technical skills- that appear in 70%+ of your target job postings 2.⁠ ⁠Certifications - commonly mentioned in your industry 3.⁠ ⁠Soft skills- like leadership, communication, project management 4.⁠ ⁠Industry-specific tools* and technologies Create a Learning Priority Matrix: Divide them into Urgent + Important, Important but not Urgent and Nice to have Step 3: Choose Your Learning Methods For Technical Skills: •⁠ ⁠Online Platforms: Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, LinkedIn Learning •⁠ ⁠Free Resources: YouTube, FreeCodeCamp, Khan Academy •⁠ ⁠Hands-on Practice: Create personal projects, contribute to open source •⁠ ⁠Industry Certifications: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce, etc. For Soft Skills: •⁠ ⁠Communication: Join Toastmasters, practice presentation skills •⁠ ⁠Leadership: Take on cross-functional projects at your current job •⁠ ⁠Project Management: Get PMP, Agile, or Scrum certifications Step 4: Create a Realistic Timeline While doing that try to learn everything at once as it's better to master 2-3 skills well than to have surface knowledge of 10 skills. Step 5: Document Your Learning Be it in the form of Portfolio/GitHub, Certifications, Blog/LinkedIn Posts, Metrics Step 6: Practice and Apply Maybe ⁠volunteer for projects that use your new skills or ⁠Mentor junior colleagues (develops leadership skills) or join professional communities and forums Step 7: Skill Validation ( Do it before Job Applications) •⁠ ⁠Take practice tests for certifications •⁠ ⁠Get feedback from industry professionals •⁠ ⁠Join relevant LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions •⁠ ⁠Attend virtual conferences and webinars Hacks: Pomodoro Technique, Weekly learning goals Final Pro Tip: Start learning while you're still employed. It's easier to learn without job search pressure, and you can immediately apply new skills at your current job, making your experience more valuable.

After creating my software development roadmap, I wanted to share a straightforward path for those starting their journey: 1. Start with Python as your first programming language. It's versatile and beginner-friendly. 2. Move on to web development basics: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This will give you a solid foundation in front-end technologies. 3. Learn a web framework like Django (Python-based) to understand back-end development. 4. Dive into database management, starting with SQL (MySQL or PostgreSQL). 5. Get comfortable with version control using Git and GitHub. 6. Study data structures and algorithms - crucial for problem-solving and interviews. 7. Explore cloud basics with AWS or Azure. 8. Learn about containerization with Docker. 9. Pick up DevOps practices and continuous integration/deployment concepts. 10. Throughout this journey, work on your soft skills like problem-solving, communication, and time management. 11. Build projects and contribute to open-source to apply your skills practically. 12. Start applying for internships or junior developer positions to gain real-world experience. Remember, this path isn't set in stone. Adjust based on your interests and industry demands. The key is consistent learning and practice. What has your learning path looked like?

What would I do today if I recently decided I wanted to start a career as a software engineer? This topic has come up in a couple different spaces I'm involved in, so I wanted to put my thoughts out here. These are the steps I recommend whether you're a college student, considering a boot camp, or just taking the self-taught route, although the process will be a bit different for each depending on the phase of life you are in. First, find out which domain is interesting to you. Do you want to build websites? Do you love munging data? Are you more behind the scenes? Love science? Math? Tech has it all. Find a few areas that seem interesting to you based on your personality and learn more about them. Once you've found what interests you, you need to figure out what skills you need to learn in order to land a job in that field. I'm not saying to go learn the skills - I'm saying to just figure out what they are. Start by looking at companies in your area (they're more likely to hire you), look at job postings online, and try to message some devs. I've found that most are pretty friendly. "Hey I see you're a front-end developer, what tech stack does your team use? I'm trying to figure out what I need to start learning." Most would be receptive to that. After you narrow down a few key technical areas to start learning, start learning! Start small - learn the mechanics. Try to get stuff installed on your computer and print out some numbers. Don't jump right into tutorials that you blindly follow. Be uncomfortable for a little bit. Learn something basic, then change it up a bit and try to do a little more on your own. Once you've spent a week or two feeling like, "what the hell did I get myself into?" You've begun! You'll feel like that a lot. (I still feel like that sometimes). At that point, start a tutorial. Build a small project. This project won't get you a job. Now build 10 more, but after you're second one, join a community and try to find a mentor (I'd recommend Code Connector :D). The community will be your single biggest asset while you are learning, because there are usually a lot of people in there who will help you grow. Dive in and get to know people, and keep building those 10 projects. None of those 10 projects will get you a job. I'll reiterate that. After you start to feel comfortable with the smaller projects, implement an idea. You like pokemon? Build something around that? You like dogs? Build something around that. This one should be a bit more real. Try to learn how to do things correctly on this one. If it sucks and you're really struggling - that's good! You should! It means you're growing. You should sit in that for awhile. You should really try to understand this project. At this point, you're getting closer. You might sit in that state for 6 months, or a year and a half. It's a hard road, but it's a fun job. If you ever want to talk about getting started, shoot me a message! Hope this helps. #softwareengineering

There’s one mistake I see over and over again. College students think they need more time to prepare. They say: → “I’ll apply next semester.” → “I need to finish this course first.” → “I’ll build a portfolio later.” Here’s the truth no one told me: You’re never going to feel ready. So you might as well start before you think you’re ready. If I were back in school today, here’s what I’d do: → Pick one project and build it all the way through → Don’t jump from tutorial to tutorial. Find one problem and solve it end-to-end. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be real. → Post your work on LinkedIn → Don’t wait until it’s polished. Post your progress. Your thinking. What broke. What you learned. That’s how people get to know you. → Talk to professionals, not just professors, DM people. Ask questions. Invite someone for a 15-minute coffee chat. Most won’t answer. Some will. That’s all you need. → Build in public, even if it’s uncomfortable → Document your journey. Not to go viral but to stay accountable. To build clarity. To get feedback from people doing the job you want. → Learn the tools companies actually use SQL. Python. Git. Basic cloud. You don’t need to master it all, but learn enough to not get lost when you land your first job. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. But if you’re the most consistent, you’ll be surprised how far that takes you. #DataScience #CollegeToCareer #LearningInPublic #EarlyCareer #LinkedInForStudents #CareerAdvice #BuildInPublic #StudentLife #JobSearchTips #LinkedInNews