3 Tips for a Career Change to Coding

Most modern jobs that pay well require you to spend years in school and get into student debt. This drives most people to pick an occupation early on before they have the experience and the self-knowledge necessary to make an informed decision.

Resulting in many working Americans being unhappy or indifferent toward their chosen professions and looking for a change. Luckily, high-quality San Diego, CA coding schools can turn coding beginners into experts in months versus the years it takes at traditional universities. 

If this is your situation, or you’re exploring your career options in the tech industry, read on to the end of this article. We’ll provide you with three tried-and-true tips on transitioning into a coding career. Then, keep reading to learn more. 

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How do I start a new career in coding?

We’ve said it before, and we’ll repeat it: programming is the future occupation. Whether you’re making apps or websites at a private company or working in the field of computer science education, knowing how to write code is always a great skill to have.

If you’ve never coded before or you’ve only done it as a hobby, the easiest way to become a full-time programmer is to land a job as a front-end developer. These developers are tasked with building the website features end-users interact with directly, such as web forms, drop-down menus, etc. 

Here are three tips on how to transition into web development: 

1. Find top-of-the-line training and go all-in

Choose a first-rate code academy and enlist in an intensive programming bootcamp. These bootcamps are designed to teach you everything you need to start your coding career in months.

Your coding bootcamp of choice should:

  • Include at least three months of lessons
  • Include a month-long internship at an honest tech company
  • Teach you the basics of web development (HTML, CSS, etc.)
  • Train you in multiple coding languages (e.g., JavaScript, Rails, etc.)
  • Have a quality curriculum and a structured schedule
  • Include pair programming training
  • Offer remote lessons

2. Write technical blog posts about coding

Doing this will help you position yourself as a coder and increase your understanding of programming topics. Still, it’ll also give your potential employer an in-depth look at how you approach your tasks and solve problems. Finally, this will also show everyone how serious you are about building a career in coding. 

3. Contribute to a project

Working as a developer almost always includes working with both coders and non-coders. By getting involved with an open-source project, you’ll be exercising your coding muscles and building a portfolio. Still, you’ll also be showing prospective employers that you can function as part of a team. 

Working with other people will also teach you to:

  • Break up features into easy-to-understand chunks for other programmers to work on
  • Resolve merge conflicts in code
  • Use Git & GitHub to collaborate with other programmers

Where can I find a first-rate coding bootcamp in San Diego?

Changing careers is never an easy thing to do. In addition to mastering a whole new skill set, you’ll likely also have to work a full or part-time job to support yourself until you can land a job in your new industry. 

The good news is that it’s possible to start your coding career in only four months. As the leader among reputable San Diego, CA, coding schools, LEARN academy provides students with immersive coding lessons and a 1-month coding internship at a tech company. 

Located right next to Gaslamp Quarter, we are entirely able to turn a complete coding newbie into a working web developer in just a few months. So reach out to us today if you’re ready to start your new career as a coder!