Well, the battle rages on.
Can you really get a job in tech without a degree?
Is a bootcamp really worth it?
And what about all these self-taught developers?
That can't be right, can it?
The usual questions, which path is better?
Self-taught?
Bootcamp?
Degree?
I hear lots of people talking about this topic and I pretty
much disagree with all of them.
Is a bootcamp every bit as good as a degree?
Nope.
The only real truth is the way to mastery is practice practice practice.
You cannot substitute time.
You can put all of the ingredients in a bowl, but if you don't give it
time to prove, you're never going to end up with the same product.
The content is often great for bootcamps, but you have to pay the piper.
So, you can finish school and go straight into work, straight into that junior
development role and start learning.
Or you can go to university, get a degree, and eventually you're
going to arrive at the same place.
Now, who's better?
Now I would argue it's the person that's been working in the role for
the last few years, rather than the person that's been at university.
You cannot beat experience, ever.
What everyone is arguing about is whether the bootcamper is equal
to the university graduate without the requirement for the time.
Nope, never, sorry.
Unless, and there is an unless, you have actually spent the time and
then you just went to the bootcamp to get that piece of paper, to get
that qualification, to please, or appease the recruiters and employers
that you're going to be applying to.
You have to pay the piper.
There are no excuses.
So, what about these self-taught charlatans?
Well, it's no different.
It's time.
There is no substitute for time.
The big difference in this case is drive and I would argue that the self-taught
developer has a lot more drive.
They did it off their own back.
So if we consider the scenario where all of these paths are all going to
converge and everyone arrives at the same place in time, which way would you go?
I know which way I'm going to go.
Again, that key thing is time, time at the keyboard, time fixing problems,
time developing apps, websites, or whatever it is you're into.
It's time immersing yourself in code.
There's a quote I saw from a Shaolin Monk though I have no idea where it
originally came from: "There are two mistakes along the way to self-mastery:
not starting and not going all the way."
So, for each of these paths as developers, you've all started.
Now, it's time to go all the way.
It's time at the keyboard.
So if time is the only thing that matters, well, time and commitment, then when
this all plays out, who eventually wins?
Well, the answer is any of them, but if you look at what's really
happening on the ground, none of them.
Regardless of how and where you spend your time, if you do put in the time and
the effort and then arrive, then what?
Then it comes down to marketing.
Can you showcase your skills?
Can you evidence your skills?
Can you evidence them in a way that is recognized and valued by the people
you should be considering as your audience, recruiters and employers?
Most cannot.
And I actually include myself in this, but then along my path, something happened.
I moved from being a developer, 20 years I'll have you know, to being a recruiter.
I knew it all, or at least I thought I did.
Turns out I knew nothing.
This marketing of oneself is a different game and developers
suck at it, but it is the game.
The argument about who is best and which path is better is actually a distraction.
So don't fall for it.
What you should be doing is learn your craft.
There's no way around it.
And then once you've learned your craft, once you feel comfortable,
once you start to feel confident, then you should learn the game.
Do you disagree?
Leave me a comment.
I'd love to read it.
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