"Are you suggesting these are bad things? I think they're positive however, it varies wildly across different locations and demographics."
I didn't think I suggested these were bad things. Perhaps I was just over-generalising. I was just pointing out (badly) that my observations from living in Newcastle are different than my observations living in Southern California. I agree that they are positive.
I agree with all your points. I worked in the entertainment industry when I was in L.A. Now, I work in tech as a software engineer. I feel my professional prospects were a bit stronger in the U.S., and I still prefer living in Oz.
I also feel like there was more pressure to "keep up with the Joneses" in SoCal. Mind you, I live in Newcastle, so I kinda avoid the housing problem that we have in Sydney and (now) Melbourne.
A number of reasons:
1. Safety. I don't hear gunfire on New Year's Eve, like we used to in L.A. and some places I lived in Orange County as well. Someone getting shot is almost national news here.
2. Government support. If I lost my job I wouldn't have to worry about how to pay for health services. We're a healthy family, but peace of mind is great.
3. Government support. My 7 year old was diagnosed with mild ASD, ADHD and Dyslexia in Kindergarten. The National Disability Insurance Scheme has helped us pay for Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology and Psychology. She has very much thrived here, and we are grateful for it.
4. Professional environment. This might be anec-data (all of it might), but mine and my wife's workplaces are very flexible when it comes to taking care of family matters.
There are TONS of things I miss about living in Southern California (it still feels like home in many ways, good Mexican food, Disneyland, running my AC non-stop all Summer!, etc), but, for us, the pros outweigh the cons.
I moved to Newcastle, Australia from the US (Los Angeles) about two years ago. I was shocked when I received my energy bill.
Australians in general are hesitant to use their AC or electric heaters, opting to just layer up when it's cold or try to use fans in the summer. Many (most?) households don't have clothes dryers, using clotheslines instead.
I would like to see how much energy the average Australian household consumes. I'm not sure how much consumption would go up if power got cheaper, but mine sure would... I really dislike being cold inside my own house. That said, I much prefer living in Australia to the U.S., especially while raising a family.
Bound Round | Web Designer/Developer | Sydney or Newcastle, Australia | ONSITE (Mostly), https://www.boundround.com, 70k - 90k DOE
Bound Round is looking for a designer who can code, or a coder who can design. You'd be joining a small, fun team and have lots of input in many aspects of the business. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills will come in handy.
Bound Round Pty Ltd | Sydney or Newcastle, Australia | ONSITE | Hiring: Front-end Software Developer | Compensation: Up to 85k (package), DOE
At Bound Round, we help traveling families find, review and book tours, activities and excursions. We’re a fast-growing, fun, well-funded startup that’s been doing this for over 4 years now, with no signs of slowing down.
We’re looking for a front-end software developer to join our growing team. The successful candidate will work alongside colleagues in a cross-functional team to solve our most difficult product challenges.
REQUIREMENTS: - 2+ years web developer experience. A keen eye for visual design and a passion for creating fantastic user experiences. HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap. Familiarity with JS Frameworks (Angular, React, Ember, etc), Adobe Creative Suite. Version control systems (Git). Email coding, testing and development (MailChimp, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign).
NICE TO HAVES: Familiarity with Ruby on Rails, iOS.
Contact me, Donovan, at [email protected] with a resume and cover letter if interested!
Bound Round Pty Ltd | Sydney (Frenchs Forest) OR Newcastle, Australia | ONSITE Hiring: Mid-level Software Developer Compensation: Up to 90k (package), DOE
At Bound Round, we help traveling families find, review and book tours, activities and excursions. We’re a fast-growing, well-funded startup that’s been doing this for over 4 years now, with no signs of slowing down. This is an on-site/local position, but there will be opportunities to work from home.
We’re looking for a full-stack Ruby on Rails / JavaScript developer to join our growing engineering team. The successful candidate will work alongside colleagues in a cross-functional team to solve our most difficult product challenges.
- Participate in all stages of the product lifecycle - planning, strategy, brainstorming, development
- Be empowered to create change. We’re always open to doing things better and your voice will be heard.
- Help us scale as the company grows. Architecture, stability and scalability are important to us. Help us get it right.
The stack: Ruby on Rails 4.2x, PostgreSQL, AWS (S3 and CloudFront), Sidekiq / Redis, JavaScript & jQuery, Algolia Search, Hogan.js
Qualifications:
- 2+ years shipping web applications to production
- Familiarity with Ruby on Rails
- Solid JavaScript skills (bonus points for Angular.js)
- HTML5/CSS3
- Experience with integrating and consuming third-party APIs
- Ability to communicate effectively
- Experience with TDD/BDD
- Ability to write elegant, readable code
- Attention to software development fundamentals
Contact me, Donovan, at [email protected] with a resume and cover letter if interested!
Bound Round Pty Ltd | Sydney (Frenchs Forest), Australia | ONSITE
Hiring: Mid-level Software Developer
Compensation: Up to 90k (package), DOE
At Bound Round, we help traveling families find, review and book tours, activities and excursions. We’re a fast-growing, well-funded startup that’s been doing this for over 4 years now, with no signs of slowing down.
We’re looking for a full-stack Ruby on Rails / JavaScript developer to join our growing engineering team. The successful candidate will work alongside colleagues in a cross-functional team to solve our most difficult product challenges.
- Participate in all stages of the product lifecycle - planning, strategy, brainstorming, development
- Be empowered to create change. We’re always open to doing things better and your voice will be heard.
- Help us scale as the company grows. Architecture, stability and scalability are important to us. Help us get it right.
The stack:
Ruby on Rails 4.2x, PostgreSQL, AWS (S3 and CloudFront), Sidekiq / Redis, JavaScript & jQuery, Algolia Search, Hogan.js
Qualifications:
- 2+ years shipping web applications to production
- Familiarity with Ruby on Rails
- Solid JavaScript skills (bonus points for Angular.js)
- HTML5/CSS3
- Experience with integrating and consuming third-party APIs
- Ability to communicate effectively
- Experience with TDD/BDD
- Ability to write elegant, readable code
- Attention to software development fundamentals
Contact me, Donovan, at [email protected] with a resume and cover letter if interested!
Bound Round Pty Ltd | Sydney (Frenchs Forest), Australia | ONSITE | Hiring: Mid-level Web Developer | Compensation: Up to 90k (package), DOE
Bound Round helps families with kids find, review, and book online tours, activities, and excursions.
Qualifications:
- 2+ years shipping web applications to production
- Familiarity with Ruby on Rails
- Solid JavaScript skills (front-end frameworks a bonus)
- HTML5/CSS3
- Experience with integrating and consuming third-party APIs
- Ability to communicate effectively
We would also like to see:
- A really nice person :)
- Experience with TDD/BDD
- Ability to write elegant, readable code
- Attention to software development fundamentals
- Track record of collaboration and leadership in agile software methodologies
This is a super opportunity for someone who wants to get on a fast track to a leadership position. You'd be the second engineering hire, so you'll have lots of input on what needs to be implemented and how.
Our stack currently consists of:
Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Heroku / AWS, Redis, JavaScript, jQuery, Hogan.js (templating built on Mustache.js)
Contact me, Donovan, at [email protected] with a resume and cover letter if interested!
Switched careers and got my first gig as a junior developer at 41 years old. Now 43 years old and a 3/4 of the way through a CS degree as well, still working full time as a software developer (and loving it). Never too late.
+1 to coding bootcamp. I attended one and was employed within a month of graduating. I think a CS degree is important, so I'm getting one as a part-time student now, while employed full time as a developer.
Note, skylark said "high profile coding bootcamp." This is important! Properly vet any schools you apply to. Chances are if the application and acceptance process is trivial, the bootcamp may not be "hard" enough, if that makes any sense.
I started learning to code in mid-2013 (I knew some HTML, but no real programming language at the time). I have been a professional web developer since mid-2014. While learning, I was working full time and have a wife and young daughter. It takes a lot of perseverance more than anything. If you have gotten bored with CodeAcademy, you should try other resources and find a track that suits your learning style. This is kind of cut-and-pasted from a previous comment I made to another poster, but this is the track I took:
1. Code Academy - Finish completely the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery and Ruby tracks. I like Ruby because there is an incredible support structure (both online and in person) for those new to programming.
2. Read (and do the exercises in) Chris Pine's "Learn to Program"
3. Read (and do the exercises in) Command Line Crash Course (easily found via Google Search)
4. Read (and do the exercises in) Learn Ruby The Hard Way
5. Go through most, but not necessarily all of the courses on RubyMonk.org
6. Do all of the exercises from Test First Ruby (testfirst.org/learn_ruby)
7. Do a lot (but not necessarily all) of the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery (and jQuery AJAX), SQL, and Ruby courses on Team Treehouse. If you're interested in design, go through those courses as well.
8. Do a lot (but not necessarily all) of the JavaScript, jQuery and Ruby courses on CodeSchool.com
9. Learn about version control through Git and Github (there are many online tutorials, as well as on CodeSchool and Team Treehouse)
10. Read (and do the exercises in) The Rails Tutorial (www.railstutorial.org). Do every single thing in this book step by step. Then do the entire book again. Then do it again.
11. Build stuff using the knowledge you have gained. Use Google and Stack Overflow to help you when you get stuck.
12. Attend as many local meetups as you can find that are in the topics you are studying.... you'll find lots of nice people willing to help. There are even learning meetups for specific languages and frameworks.
13. Attend a 10-12 week bootcamp. Research the hell out of them before you decide to go to one. Chances are if the interview to get into them is easy, the bootcamp will probably not provide you with enough ammunition to get a real job afterwards. Most of them that are worth anything will have probably wanted you to have a lot of the knowledge that I've described above before attending.
That was enough (barely) for me to get a job as an entry-level developer. I'm kind of doing it backwards, but I've also gone back to Uni part-time to get my degree in CS. I've now finished courses in C, Java and some semi-advanced mathematics.
After almost a year and a half as a developer, I know 10x as much as I did last year, and I still don't know squat :) I think that's a big part of the reason I love it.
I'm finishing an Associate’s Degree in CS at SMC this Spring. At SMC, I've taken Intro to CS, C programming, Java I, Web Programming I (HTML and CSS), PHP Programming, Database Concepts and Applications, Assembly Language Programming and Computer Architecture.
I am currently enrolled in Java II and Web Programming II (JavaScript).
My view might be skewed, as I was already a professional web developer before attending SMC, but I found the majority of the web-related coursework to be somewhat trivial and hard to directly apply to building any real-world applications.
As far as more the more ‘core’ CS related material is concerned (C Programming, Assembly, Computer Architecture, etc), I have really learned a ton, and plan to learn a ton more (as I’ve found the first ton learned is actually not that much!). I also highly recommend Database Design and Applications.
If your goal is to get a CS Degree, SMC (or any other reputable community college) is a great place to start.
If your goal is to be able to build applications and have a decent understanding of HTML, CSS JavaScript and maybe another widely used web language such as Ruby (and Rails, respectively), I would recommend this track, provided you have the self-motivation to do it:
1. Code Academy - Finish completely the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery and Ruby tracks. I like Ruby because there is an incredible support structure (both online and in person) for those new to programming.
2. Read (and do the exercises in) Chris Pine's "Learn to Program"
3. Read (and do the exercises in) Command Line Crash Course (easily found via Google Search)
4. Read (and do the exercises in) Learn Ruby The Hard Way
5. Go through most, but not necessarily all of the courses on RubyMonk.org (Metaprogramming is an advanced topic that you may not need to handle this early)
6. Do all of the exercises from Test First Ruby (testfirst.org/learn_ruby)
7. Do a lot (but not necessarily all) of the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery (and jQuery AJAX), SQL, and Ruby courses on Team Treehouse. If you interested in design, go through those courses as well.
8. Do a lot (but not necessarily all) of the JavaScript, jQuery and Ruby courses on CodeSchool.com
9. Learn about version control through Git and Github (there are many online tutorials, as well as on CodeSchool and Team Treehouse)
10. Read (and do the exercises in) The Rails Tutorial (www.railstutorial.org). Do every single thing in this book step by step. Then do the entire book again. Then do it again.
11. Build stuff using the knowledge you have gained. Use Google and Stack Overflow to help you when you get stuck.
In term of meeting people with similar interests, I have found that a community college is probably not the best place. I would attend local meetups, as those folks are genuinely passionate about the topics, are there to learn and meet people and can probably be more useful to you if you are trying to learn software development.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin ... And anti-vaccine folks are not ignorant, they are way more dangerous than that.
I didn't think I suggested these were bad things. Perhaps I was just over-generalising. I was just pointing out (badly) that my observations from living in Newcastle are different than my observations living in Southern California. I agree that they are positive.