what I learned from working at Big tech
for eight years is that you don't really
need a computer science degree to become
a software engineer for example one of
my colleagues was a U.S Navy officer his
first job after completing including
boot camp a software engineer at
Microsoft what if your degrees in
literature doesn't matter you just need
the right skills and commitment to set
foot in the industry knowing what I know
today what would I do differently if I
could go back in time how would I
optimize my path to becoming a software
engineer today I'll share the fastest
way to go from zero to a full-time
software engineer for free the entire
curriculum is available on my website at
powerkingdom.com just for context I'm PK
a software engineer in Seattle I used to
work at Microsoft Amazon and eBay to
learn to code you must first decide on a
programming language there are many
languages like C C plus plus Java and
JavaScript but for beginners I recommend
python for two reasons one it's the most
beginner friendly language one of the
top reasons why people give up coding
early is not because they can't do it
but but because they started with the
wrong language my mother language is
Java but if I recall the countless hours
finding its syntax I would never choose
it as my first language in coding syntax
refers to the grammar of a programming
language computers do not understand
even the slightest grammatical error
which is why a language with easy syntax
is crucial for beginners in Python is
int for example this is the code for
printing hello world in Java this is the
equivalent of python this Simplicity is
why I made a squid Game parody of how
python could even save people's lives
some argue that you should jump straight
to more serious languages like C and C
plus however I'm afraid I have to
disagree C plus plus is notorious for
its calm looted syntax learning it first
is the best way to lose interest in
coding C also has a steep learning curve
with many beginners struggling with
Concepts like pointers and memory
management but again you can avoid them
with python as a beginner coder you
should focus on how coding works not how
the language Works don't make the
mistake of learning another language
prematurely either concentrate on
becoming proficient with one first
Master at programming language and you
realize that all of them are virtually
the same the second reason I recommend
python is its popularity in the industry
it's wide usage in various business
sectors such as web development machine
learning and data science opens up
multiple job opportunities after all if
the programming language isn't practical
how will you get a job right now that we
know python is the right choice let's
discuss how to learn it as I explain in
how I would learn to code the best way
to learn to code is always to do it
think of it this way you get better at
soccer by playing soccer and not
watching someone else play likewise
there's only so much you can learn just
by watching videos and reading textbooks
you must follow along write the code
yourself do the exercises and so on I
recommend this YouTube channel
freecodecamp.org
it's one of the best places to help
learn to code for free their courses are
easy to follow and taught by the
industry experts I learned many
different languages and Frameworks from
their videos too start with their full
course on python for beginners you can
learn the fundamentals of python without
any prior coding experience once you've
completed the tutorial it's time to hone
your skills by building projects I
already explained why this is essential
in my past videos I'll reiterate them
briefly here number one growth you'll
learn significantly by doing so imagine
building the mini Amazon Facebook and
Reddit you'll begin to understand how
they work at a high level and be
empowered to solve more challenging
problems at hand number two experience
it'll introduce you to how soft Rangers
work in the real world the writing code
debugging Googling and finally copy and
pasting that's precisely what a day in
the life of a software engineer looks
like minus working line down number
three resume by working on your project
you automatically build your own
portfolio put them on your resume with
links to your GitHub Board website for a
detailed guide on how to craft an
effective resume check out this video
you can also download a copy of my
resume from my website then the next big
question is what kind of project should
you build again learn with free code
camp start with the 20 beginner python
projects here follow along writing the
code yourself until you fully understand
once you've completed the course it's
time to build more complex stuff you can
add more features to the small projects
you worked on earlier or make something
fun like games from a text RPG to Zelda
style games in Python there are various
free tutorials on YouTube personally I
made three games including an
award-winning one and a personal finance
website for more project ideas including
how I built my website check out this
video cool you've learned python build
projects and crafted a superb resume it
should be applied for jobs right away
it's wrong everything up to this point
will help you land what we call a coding
interview a coding interview is a
technical challenge where a candidate is
asked to solve a coin problem many
companies including Fang love to play
these games to evaluate you some people
neglect to prepare for them arguing that
coding interviews are irrelevant to your
daily work however that's not a prudent
strategy as you'll have to play by this
rule one way or another now then how do
you prepare for coding interviews study
DSA data structures and algorithms
simply put DSA as the fundamentals of
computer science coding interviews are
applications of its Concepts where can
you learn DSA for free you guessed it
free code Camp they have a complete
python course on data structures and
algorithms for beginners having cracked
many fan interviews including Googles I
can assure you that this video is
everything you need to crack yours now
that you've learned the concepts it's
time to put them into practice the best
platform to prepare for coding
interviews is lead code this is where
all the software Engineers including
industry professionals have Fang come to
sharpen their skills Lee code is awesome
because you can write code and test your
Solutions directly on their website many
of the problems in their database are
real interview questions too when you
visit the code for the first time the
sheer number of problems can be daunting
I mean there are nearly 2500 it's
overwhelming I know but that's why I
created a video on how to use Lee code
effectively to help you get started
refer to it for a detailed but I'll
share the two don'ts from the video one
don't solve random problems instead
grind the questions on the same topic
until you get a click on the patterns
two don't spend more than 45 minutes on
a single problem if you can't figure it
out look up the solution however learn
from it then come back to the same
question until you can solve it without
help you're ready to apply for the jobs
if you can solve a medium problem in 45
minutes to help you study I created a
liquid cheat sheet along with the study
guide and help resources on my website
for free now let's take a look at the
Timeline oh by the way I put together a
curriculum or everything we discussed so
far on my website for free just follow
the pages in order in summary Learn
Python build projects study DSA and
finally solve lead code if you do the
math that's nearly 20 hours of video
time on free code cam tutorials alone
which is pretty good to be honest
University Computer Science lectures are
generally 45 hours of class time per
semester you're learning the essentials
in just 20. in addition to the tutorials
I recommend you build at least two high
quality projects spending about 40 to 60
hours each once you have your project
and resume ready move on to lead code
there's no fixed timeline for Lee code
but I suggest you solve at least 150
questions before actively applying for
jobs alright we discussed the fastest
way to become a software engineer for
free if you're still unconfident and
prefer an affordable alternative
consider giving springboards coding
bootcamp a try you can get a thousand
dollar discount off their curriculum
with my promo code pirate king before I
close let me make this clear I try my
best to give you the easiest path
forward but that doesn't mean coding
itself is easy take it seriously if you
don't want to give up Midway
realistically if you're determined and
commit to coding at least two hours a
day I'm confident you can successfully
become a software engineer within 6 to
12 months remember the best way to learn
to code is to do it to start coding now
like And subscribe now I'll see you at
the next one bye
[Music]
don't stop