Web development/app development career?

[sundizz]

Anybody have any insight into these as a career? I am getting close to finishing my masters and starting a career in accounting (at age 28, taught for the past few years) but have no idea if my heart is in it.

I kind of want to spend 1 year just straight learning how to do web development, and android app development. Is it possible to learn enough in a year to begin a legit career in it?

[nathanjizzle]

Anybody have any insight into these as a career? I am getting close to finishing my masters and starting a career in accounting (at age 28, taught for the past few years) but have no idea if my heart is in it.

I kind of want to spend 1 year just straight learning how to do web development, and android app development. Is it possible to learn enough in a year to begin a legit career in it?

nah man, computer programming has plenty of 4 year nerds coming out of school at age 22. why would anyone hire a 29 year old with 1 year of computer programming over the before mentioned.

ofcourse you can do it as a hobby, and sell your apps and services if they are good enough.

[sundizz]

nah man, computer programming has plenty of 4 year nerds coming out of school at age 22. why would anyone hire a 29 year old with 1 year of computer programming over the before mentioned.

ofcourse you can do it as a hobby, and sell your apps and services if they are good enough.

Are you in the industry or this is just your opinion?

[jcsrplumply]

I don't really know but the competition is really tough, but you have more of a chance to make android app development as your career than the first one you've mentioned.

[embersyc]

I have a 2 year degree in graphic design and work in software engineering (In automotive infotainment software) alongside people with 8 year computer science degrees.

Learn object orientated programming, try a little bit of everything, don't pigeonhole yourself in one technology. Learn web, graphics, and have a good understanding of traditional software and mobile and you'll do fine.

There are a ton of jobs in the field if you have a diverse skillset.

[D-FENS]

I have a 2 year degree in graphic design and work in software engineering (In automotive infotainment software) alongside people with 8 year computer science degrees.

Learn object orientated programming, try a little bit of everything, don't pigeonhole yourself in one technology. Learn web, graphics, and have a good understanding of traditional software and mobile and you'll do fine.

There are a ton of jobs in the field if you have a diverse skillset.

Great advice. I know of a guy with no formal education who has been creating whole sets of business graphics for restaurants in Illinois. If you practice and develop your skills, then offer some free work to smaller companies, you can build up a good portfolio pretty quickly.

[Draz]

Finishing your masters and don't know if it's right for you? Are you kidding me?

[shaq2000]

It's a field where experience is generally valued more than your degree. I also kind of made a switch, although much sooner. I did my undergrad in business, but all throughout school I was programming in my spare time and doing side projects for some cash. But it's something that I've known and loved for a while. Learned my first language as a high school freshman and had an internship that turned into my first real job by junior year, building basic websites with some flash. (AS 2.0 at the time)

If you've had an genuine interest in it, I say go for it. But if you've gone as far as a masters in accounting without so much as teaching yourself a language, you might get burned out pretty quickly. I love it and even I get burned out with some of the things clients request and find myself wishing I could just work on personal projects.

[KevinNYC]

Anybody have any insight into these as a career? I am getting close to finishing my masters and starting a career in accounting (at age 28, taught for the past few years) but have no idea if my heart is in it.

I kind of want to spend 1 year just straight learning how to do web development, and android app development. Is it possible to learn enough in a year to begin a legit career in it?
Do you think you will like programming?

Having technical knowledge probably will not hurt you. You may not end up as a developer per se. There are several computer packages out there that deal with accounting. I would target one of those companies. You could end up being the liaison between the technical folks and and what they call the subject matter experts (SMEs). Look up what an IT project manager does (it's another set of skills to learn however,)

Coding skills are in great demand however, so it probably worth it to get started.

You could end up as someone who installs and maintains accounting software

[nathanjizzle]

Are you in the industry or this is just your opinion?

both ni99a

its a great tool to have to be able to program. learn it, use it as a hobby but dont expect a career out of it untill youre really good, definitely not in a year, try 3-4 years then someone might hire you once you built a portfolio of apps and written programs.

[johndeeregreen]

Finishing your masters and don't know if it's right for you? Are you kidding me?
This. You ****ed up. Bigtime. The best advice here is to force yourself to enjoy a career in what you've pumped 6 years of your life and tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars into. Sorry to break this to you.

[mr.big35]

Anybody have any insight into these as a career? I am getting close to finishing my masters and starting a career in accounting (at age 28, taught for the past few years) but have no idea if my heart is in it.

I kind of want to spend 1 year just straight learning how to do web development, and android app development. Is it possible to learn enough in a year to begin a legit career in it?

your fvcd up if you think accounting is not right for you. its too late no one wants to hire 30 year old for web development. its better if you just work in a factory.

[sundizz]

Lol at everyone saying I wasted my time in my masters program. I'm going to graduate with a 3.95+ GPA and with offers from basically every firm. And yes, I've spent a lot of money on it (70k). However, it's given me a chance to really develop great habits, learn a lot, expand my mind, and given me the strength to believe in my work ethic. Money will come and go. Also, student loans are awesome. You have 25 years to pay it back. As any reasonably intelligent person knows, cash flow >>>> debt to your quality of life. The US has $17 trillion in debt, but it doesn't really change the life quality of the citizens.

I have an internship already accepted for summer, and will (likely) get an offer to continue full-time with the same firm for late Fall of 2015. I will likely stay with accounting, but simply wanted to explore some other stuff while I still have the chance to before I start full-time work. Doing something generic never makes people wealthy. If I could expand my skillset to some sort of finance/accounting + tech stuff then having that niche ability is what would make me valuable in the long run. Some great suggestions in this thread to explore further. Thanks.

It's a lot of time between now and then. The past few months I've taken a semester off school to focus on founding a web based startup. It's getting close to completion but it is really frustrating me how useless most web developers are. Even the one I have right now is good and has 15+ years of experience, but I still wouldn't consider this person amazing at what they do. Honestly, I feel like with a year of learning I could do significantly better work. I think I have a reasonably good eye for design, an ability to communicate well with companies/people, and that entrepreneurial mindset that would work well in that sort of role.

I guess I just really am enjoying this web/development/apps/etc and wanted to see what people thought. There are programs like AppAcademy that bootcamp you in under 10 weeks.

[Bosnian Sajo]

I guess I just really am enjoying this web/development/apps/etc and wanted to see what people thought. There are programs like AppAcademy that bootcamp you in under 10 weeks.


And yo ass wasted 8 years mastering accounting just to find out this is what you wanted to do? :oldlol:

[magic chiongson]

it's being outsourced to other countries

[ace23]

Finishing your masters and don't know if it's right for you? Are you kidding me?
This. Lol

[mr.big35]

so the accounting is a waste now

[sundizz]

And yo ass wasted 8 years mastering accounting just to find out this is what you wanted to do? :oldlol:

Who takes 8 years to learn accounting? I'm almost done and it has been 2 years...and I was working full-time (teaching).

Education is never wasted if your broaden your horizons.

Anything work knowing is usually learned on the job. Education programs just give you the tools to know how to speak the language. The exception being...coding/web development/software and app development/big data etc. It is why it intrigues me. You can continuously build on your knowledge.

I just don't know if I could sit at a computer for 6 hours a day writing actual code though. It sounds "fun" learning it to me, but whether the reality of writing code all day to build something doesn't necessarily appeal to me.

And yeah, outsourcing is the way to go. If I did it I wouldn't generally write code myself. I'd do the design and communication with clients and outsource the code writing part of it. Then, I'd "manage" the code to make sure it is written well. I'd have to have a good understanding of coding myself though before trying to manage others coding efforts.

From my experience with outsourced teams...they are terrible at design, and even more terrible at client side communication.

[Raymone]

Have at it.

http://codebabes.com/

http://www.gizmodo.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/code-babes-2.png
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDrrIUujxsw

[sundizz]

Thanks for the above..it is a bit lol but actually kind of good quality videos.

If my goal is:
a) Learn to build awesome websites

and

b) Learn Android app development (don't have a Mac, so no iphone for now)

what skills/languages/things should I learn and in what order?

For example:

-HTML
-CSS
-PHP
-Bootstrap?
-HTML5 Boilerplate
-Java
-Android App development

Basically, there are a lot of great free and paid resources on the web. I just have no idea in what order/what to learn.

I'll have about 3 hours a day that I can just 100% focus in on what I'm doing. I'll probably do that for a month and see how interested I still feel about all this.

[Kiddlovesnets]

I think its a very promising career, with plenty of job opportunities for both programmers and entrepreneurs. I love web development myself, although its more like a hobby than a career now I wont deny the possibility for me to move to that direction someday, if I am not contented with the job I get in my current field.

[Bandito]

If it is what you want to do just do it. Is not like your masters is going to go away.

[Bandito]

Thanks for the above..it is a bit lol but actually kind of good quality videos.

If my goal is:
a) Learn to build awesome websites

and

b) Learn Android app development (don't have a Mac, so no iphone for now)

what skills/languages/things should I learn and in what order?

For example:

-HTML
-CSS
-PHP
-Bootstrap?
-HTML5 Boilerplate
-Java
-Android App development

Basically, there are a lot of great free and paid resources on the web. I just have no idea in what order/what to learn.

I'll have about 3 hours a day that I can just 100% focus in on what I'm doing. I'll probably do that for a month and see how interested I still feel about all this.
For android start java and some c++ as most apps run on java.

[Draz]

The truth is. In this economy and generation, not everyone is doing what they like and love. It's about what you do to support yourself and your family. Some people make the wrong decisions and do what they love only to live paycheck to paycheck. Others, aren't satisfied and are disliking every day of work, yet can afford to live fashionable.

If you feel it isn't late to revert to what you love, and financially it isn't a problem, then shoot for the stars. Don't let that hold you back. You find a career in your 20s, in your 30s you should well be on your way to starting your career.

If either is what you want to do, attend trade school after you finish your masters and learn something worthy of your time. It'll be faster and you would have hand on skills. Money wouldn't be a problem.