MS Computer Science student here. Overall, I think I'm mostly satisfied with my degree so far (I graduate at the end of this year). It's far from perfect, the classwork itself really hasn't been that challenging for me. Even the professors constantly remind us that you have to practice everything you learn outside the classroom to reinforce the concepts you learn. I sought a lot of advice from friends and family in the business if this was worth it. They told me that a college degree has FAR MORE value to employers than a bootcamp that promises to make you a Full-stack developer in 16 weeks, which is something I was also considering. I think they were right about that and I'm glad I took that advice.
Yes, I agree with that experience too. Even talking to boot camp friends. Definitely far from perfect, but so far I think it’s the best path into the field.
I’m going to double major in computer science and physics. I’m 42 and the most I have ever made is $23 an hour, I make much less now. Planning on fulfilling my life long dream of being a computational astrophysicist. From the looks of it I need to learn C, C++, Fortran, and Python.
@@AndreTJones dope man! That’s awesome! If I were in your shoes, I would hunt down someone in your dream job and ask them this question. I don’t know what the day to day job would look like there, but I would caution having confidence on just learning languages and make sure you spend your time wisely
As a guy with 15 YOE recently laid off, I decided to go back to school to complete my BSCS that I never finished back in the day. Nowadays it's a must to check the box to get past the HR ATS but it's also a HUGE waste of time. The things I'm doing are outdated compared to real-world practices you learn on the job. My advice for anybody considering this field is to skip the expensive fancy schools and attend your local state university or an online school.
This is solid advice. I hope my message of making sure it’s financially sound, it makes sense. A 120k CS degree is NOT necessarily better than a 40k one
Yes, but every engineering team I’ve ever been on has drowned in work. There’s one more equation you’re forgetting. Increased productivity = Faster and more business value (grow business faster, and experiment more)
I was a CS major from 2018-2024. I thought I loved CS only to find out this year that it was stressing me out so I ditched it for IT. I hope I made the right decision
A lot of guys say they’ve landed software development/engineering jobs without any degree. How realistic of an expectation is this? Do you absolutely, positively need a degree?
No, you don’t. But the probability has changed drastically. 2010-2020, the software headhunting was blazing hot. So many stories popped up of people only coding for 3 months and started working at FAANG. That’s not true anymore. The talent hunt has cooled down a LOT. So you can still land these jobs without degrees, sure, but it’s gotten WAY harder and you need to prove yourself in a much bigger way.
Hey, I’m currently debating on whether or not I want to get into computer science or statistics with machine learning specialist. I was wondering if I went with the statistics route if I could still get a role of software dev in the future?
You absolutely could. But keep in mind mapping out your career is hard to do until you get into it. I’ve seen people jump into development from so many different backgrounds. However, no matter how you do it, you have to do the work and learn and train to be able to do the work professionally.
The biggest issue won’t be that software engineer jobs are going to vanish, it’ll be that they will vanished in certain areas of the world like the USA, where the jobs will be outsourced.
That’s been happening for 30 years, and will continue to do so. AI alone won’t overcome the challenges of using an offshore team for your company. I’ve managed those teams. I don't see this point as a unique or pressing issue
I'll be out of highschool next year and was thinking of going to school for a bachelor's in CS, I have always been interested in technology and math. However, it seems that it is incredibly difficult to get an entry level job and i just dont think i would want to deal with that. I still have a while to decide but i've been devating doing CS for a while now.
So I graduated with a BA degree but I've been seriously considering doing a Master's in CS. Of course, I have to take prerequisite courses so I'm still thinking over it. I've tried self studying but it's hard with so many information online. I like the University classroom experience. My main concern is if I will struggle in these classes, I want to make sure I understand the material and pass the classes. However, I do think a degree is worth more than attending a coding bootcamp, especially now with a more competitive job market. 🦄
Completely agree. I also would like to advise you to be kind and make friends with absolutely everyone in all your comp sci classes. All these people will go do cool things and learning from them and gaining connections from these people are worth just as much as your skills. Just be kind, genuine, and connect with people. That’s half the game man
@@cody_codes_youtube Thanks for the advice! I am planning on doing online classes but the University is in-state so I may be able to walk over there and meet up with students if it's allowed. I believe there's coding meetups even outside University too so I plan on doing that once I understand coding more. Here's a unicorn 🦄
NO - Get a CS degree if it's important for you to have one and it's not a financial/time burden.But to get a job? NOPE! 50% of my engineer coworkers had 0 tech background and had a job bc a friend/fam member hooked them up. 25% went to a bootcamp and the rest had some kind of college education. I had all my C/C++/Unix/Assembly language assignments from college (if you know C you know something 🤣) in my Github BUT that meant NOTHING. Until I took a local bootcamp I was helped by the bootcamps recruiter - they were hooked with local banks and companies and thats how I broke in the industry.
Oh I know C! Yeah 100%, you have the right point. I’m actually going to be putting up a video next week about this topic: how you approach getting jobs changes your outcomes. Which is to reiterate what you’re saying: almost everything runs around networking with people, and the connections they have.
i think to get a job today it's really important to get a degree, the company i'm in doesn't even response to bootcamp coders and i never saw 1 bootcamp guy in the companies i have been, mb it's cause i'm from europe and degree here are so important for employers
I’ve 10 years of experiences in the retail e-commerce space working on a combination of site operations/merchandising/project management and fulfilment. Does it make sense to get a CS degree (online course, not on campus) just to better market myself with the ability to take on additional duties eg. web production, project management/delivery, data analytics and AI implementation? My goal is to better equip myself/become a unicorn as I don’t really specialise in anything. Knowledge from the CS degree would come in handy as it is literally what e-commerce is about but do I need a degree for it or I can just learn what I need (if I can even pin point what it is). I do prefer a degree though. The thing is I’m working full time and will require a student loan ….
@@aaaakita5534 that is a deeply personal decision. I am willing to say that having the skills of coding is like a super power to nearly every white collar job. You understand how tech works, you aren’t afraid of real data and can pull directly from the database. You can automate some boring parts of your work. You can help and guide teams who are building software solutions. It’s very difficult to say whether it will or will not pay off. But one thing for sure is you will walk out with real skills that will be desired for many years
@@cody_codes_youtube Thanks for the immediate response! Agreed with everything you said, it would be a desirable skill to have, eg. Making me the only person in the team that understands what the engineer is saying about an issue with the fulfilment allocation algorithm lol! The issue is mainly on the workload and finances. I have a liberal arts degree I am not even sure if I can handle something that is so math heavy.
im a 40 y old electrical engineer now and i like my job now. if a nearby university offers me a free course for a computer engineering degree ill take it
I wonder if this situtation is unique to CS field or if this is happening to all B.S. or higher level jobs. WIth growing technology needs and use and a population that is getting more unhealthy and older best fields seem to be Medicine and Tech to be honest. Computer Science being a major part of Tech it is probably still way better than most other careers out there when it comes to getting a job assume but correct me if I am wrong. I am one of those people who don't seem to have a very strong passion on a career but medicine and computer science always got my attention so I hope one day I can get into a company that utilize AI to make advancements in medical field like alphafold or that crazy retina scan thing where the retina scan alone can show you bunch of diseases you have or if you are likely to have in the future etc.
Depends on what kind of cybersecurity. That’s a HUGE field. Also, the degree only matter so much, because it will just be the foundation of your learning journey. Whatever flavor or area of cybersecurity will take several more years of specializing and learning on top of a college degree
I am about to graduate from a top-25 public university with a Business Information Technology Degree with a computer programming minor. I meet all of the qualifications for a degree in CS in graduate school because of extra courses I took to ensure I met the requirements. Is it worth it to get a MS in CS (Finances would work)?
I mean, it's a completely personal decision. That's hard for me to say. Depending on the financials and the goal, I think it would definitely set you apart in your skills and knowledge going into the field if you wanted to get into some serious engineering. There are a lot of things in Grad school that I did not finish and could have benefited from. I just will never say a hard YES or hard NO because the cost on your education is a real factor.
@@cody_codes_youtube Dude I seriously appreciate you taking the time to respond. I was blessed enough to receive some grants and help financially from my parents and I will be coming out of undergrad debt free or close to it and could potentially have very little debt after graduate school. I love the technical side of things. I am going to pursue graduate school at my current undergrad because they have great programs in a top research and job area for engineering of all kinds(don't want to into the research side of things).🤞🏽
Great information, I just graduated with a bachelor's degree in supply chain, transportation, and logistics management. Looking to be more data driven, any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
I honestly can’t speak to this, I’m sorry! I would get that first job, and really dive into how the position could be improved with data. You probably can’t make those changes as an entry level, but maybe some day…
Here's a unicorn from me too. 🦄😊 And I also would like your perspective, if you don't mind. I'm so old (early 50s), but I still want to maybe freelance in Web development, since getting employment is probably out for me. I have an associates degree (not in CS). Is self-learning even a realistic option for me? I've (sort of) built a website of my own using WordPress's block builder and a pre-made template, but will anyone really hire me off of nothing but a portfolio of websites I built myself? Or am I just kidding myself? What would be your advice for someone like me?
So sorry it took me a while to respond! BTW, so old isn't in the 50s, you still have a lot of working life in you! And there is a real world where you can have employment too. Yes, it will be harder and Yes, this industry suffers from ageism. There's no doubt there, but if you're able to provide VALUE to someone or some business, and you're able to talk to them as a human and someone who wants to help the business, then you are super valuable. Let your skills speak for themselves and freelancing is definitely something that can be done if you have the skills and patience for it. I wouldn't write you off!
Hey Cody! 🦄 Could really use some advice. I’m 27 and feeling completely lost in life. Back in 2021, I was struggling to make money. I went through a coding bootcamp with high hopes of landing a job as a web developer, as I never got my bachelors yet. After two straight years of job hunting with zero success, I completely burned out and quit coding altogether. I ended up just picking up a job as a server to make ends meet with bills. Now I’m thinking about going back into tech and pursuing a CS degree to finally get that diploma I’ve been missing for so long and I've developed a lot of shame around this. But I keep hearing that CS degrees are becoming useless online, and I’m torn. I’ve been trying to decide on a bachelor’s degree since I was 21, and here I am at 27, still with no direction and a lot of fear regarding student debt that's keeping me stagnant. Any advice?
Absolutely. Getting a degree is a very personal decision. Because of the finances and time commitment. Because of that I can’t tell people what to do. But I can tell you a few things. Nearly everyone who talks about a comp sci degree as being useless is coming from the angle of “I made it without a degree!” Or “I have one and I don’t use it!” Both these statements are garbage. Our job market no longer is friendly to self taught devs. It’s 100x harder to get a programming job without a degree. The boot camp can help, but even then, a lot of jobs will not even look at your resume, because they already have plenty of candidates that do have a degree. I’m in the camp that a degree is best, but it’s hard because of the cost and the time commitment. Just having a degree does open a lot of doors and removes one more reason for a job (in any field) to ignore you. Having a degree shows you can commit to something and prove you can do hard things, and explore other ways of thinking. I hope this helps
Don't opt to go into something that is barely making it, go into something where there is incredible demand, like the trades or housing building right now. I went for CS in 2015, I would NOT go nearly a decade later aka today, as the ROI was FAR better at my time of decision almost 10 years ago...
I appreciate your take, even if I disagree with it. A lot of people are talking about the trades and there is definite demand there, but as someone who has several family members in the trades, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Some things to consider are the commutes, the time spent working long days, the wear and tear on your body, the lack of flexibility, and the growth trajectory is not what it's cracked up to be. A lot of people say the trades pay so well, but those are the hardest jobs and sometimes the best paths are starting your own outfit, which is more of a 'running a small business' than just 'going into the trades'. That's my take on it, and the ROI for engineering is still there, but it's not as ludicrous as what it used to be 10 years ago. 10 years ago, when we had 0% interest rates, there was so much fat in the industry that people got paid ridiculous amounts to sometimes do no work.
It really depends… some companies require them. Sometimes they are good to structure your learning. But just because you get certs doesn’t mean you immediately get work
This reminds me ofbthe time when calculators came out lol 🤣. Companys started firing engineers lol 😅. Then ended up retiring them. Same rhing happening with AI and software engineers right now.
@@cooper1056 I would believe this story if I heard of any one (of the dozens of engineers I talk to daily) say they got laid off in favor of AI. Or heard of any company replacing people with AI. I don’t hear or see that anywhere in the professional world
Degree worth getting simply because the industry controlled by people who has it. Also, degree shows you're able to learn on steady pace for a long time.
I think there is good reason people want it. And yeah, it shows commitment and it verifies you can do hard things and you should have some fundamental knowledge
I am NOT going to subscribe until you tell me where I can get my own mini rubber finger..........................................................................................................................................?
Don't worry about AI ! There is so much bad code out there that it would take a century to fix it all. It takes a human to understand human-made shitty code.
I don't normally comment, but the content of this video is so good I'm going to. I might even use Grammarly (AI/ML) to fix my grammar. I wish I had watched this back when I was getting my first jobs. It would have been useful to me. I ran across it because I was interested to see what other people like me are doing about layoffs in technology, and I see that @codycodes is targeting web development, so he is different from me. I am more of a full-stack engineer. I have degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences. I've worked for a couple of small startups and for four (4) larger companies. I had to quit two jobs to go work on an advanced degree and then I've been laid off three times since. I did one consulting job which was not very satisfying, probably because I worked doing simulation tools (software), and the consulting job was Q&A for hardware. To say it a different way, it was NOT what I was training for when I was a full-time engineer. Pay attention to what Cody is saying in this video! Thank you, Cody, for taking the time to do the video. I hope many young engineers (software and otherwise) benefit from it. Cheers! Todd B. p.s. I'll give you a frog instead of a unicorn to prove I'm paying attention. :-) 🐸(I prefer the Apple version of the frog emoji over the open-source/Microsoft/Google version, so I'll throw in some socks: 🧦)
@@Basil-the-Frog haha. 🐸! What wonderful feedback! I know exactly what kind of background you have, as I’ve done defensive work too for some embedded systems. Thanks for posting and taking the time to watch!
@@cody_codes_youtube Defensive work? DoD? My most recent full-time job was writing a deep-packet inspection engine for a complex industrial network protocol called DNP3. It took me a year to complete. After I finished, the entire group was moved to India, but I remained here. That was in February 2000. I should probably change my TH-cam name to my real one. I'm Todd Bezenek. p.s. In the year's worth of work, I missed one (1) bug that the 18-person team in India caught. Shoot! :-/ And an old-school heart:
🦄
FIRST UNICORN!!!! Thank you for watching!
MS Computer Science student here. Overall, I think I'm mostly satisfied with my degree so far (I graduate at the end of this year). It's far from perfect, the classwork itself really hasn't been that challenging for me. Even the professors constantly remind us that you have to practice everything you learn outside the classroom to reinforce the concepts you learn. I sought a lot of advice from friends and family in the business if this was worth it. They told me that a college degree has FAR MORE value to employers than a bootcamp that promises to make you a Full-stack developer in 16 weeks, which is something I was also considering. I think they were right about that and I'm glad I took that advice.
Yes, I agree with that experience too. Even talking to boot camp friends. Definitely far from perfect, but so far I think it’s the best path into the field.
@@cody_codes_youtube Why Not do both?
@@196940oz both would be a very expensive endeavor!!
I’m going to double major in computer science and physics. I’m 42 and the most I have ever made is $23 an hour, I make much less now. Planning on fulfilling my life long dream of being a computational astrophysicist. From the looks of it I need to learn C, C++, Fortran, and Python.
@@AndreTJones dope man! That’s awesome! If I were in your shoes, I would hunt down someone in your dream job and ask them this question. I don’t know what the day to day job would look like there, but I would caution having confidence on just learning languages and make sure you spend your time wisely
As a guy with 15 YOE recently laid off, I decided to go back to school to complete my BSCS that I never finished back in the day. Nowadays it's a must to check the box to get past the HR ATS but it's also a HUGE waste of time. The things I'm doing are outdated compared to real-world practices you learn on the job. My advice for anybody considering this field is to skip the expensive fancy schools and attend your local state university or an online school.
This is solid advice. I hope my message of making sure it’s financially sound, it makes sense. A 120k CS degree is NOT necessarily better than a 40k one
The problem isn't AI = No developers
The problem is
AI = Increased productivity
=
Increased productivity = Far less demand
Yes, but every engineering team I’ve ever been on has drowned in work. There’s one more equation you’re forgetting.
Increased productivity = Faster and more business value (grow business faster, and experiment more)
I was a CS major from 2018-2024. I thought I loved CS only to find out this year that it was stressing me out so I ditched it for IT. I hope I made the right decision
@@aaronaustrie here’s the thing. Your decision now is not forever. These ideas aren’t final. You can always pivot again as you grow as a person
A lot of guys say they’ve landed software development/engineering jobs without any degree. How realistic of an expectation is this? Do you absolutely, positively need a degree?
No, you don’t. But the probability has changed drastically. 2010-2020, the software headhunting was blazing hot. So many stories popped up of people only coding for 3 months and started working at FAANG. That’s not true anymore. The talent hunt has cooled down a LOT. So you can still land these jobs without degrees, sure, but it’s gotten WAY harder and you need to prove yourself in a much bigger way.
Being able to go back and spend a couple of years geeking out about how compilers work or something would be amazing.
Yeah dude! Deep knowledge is a fun adventure. It may or may not pay off as a job later, but either way, I never shun people for learning!
I recently found your channel and I have to say, I'm so grateful for your insights. Thank you!
You’re welcome and thank you for your kind words! I’m looking forward to helping more and more people
Hey, I’m currently debating on whether or not I want to get into computer science or statistics with machine learning specialist. I was wondering if I went with the statistics route if I could still get a role of software dev in the future?
You absolutely could. But keep in mind mapping out your career is hard to do until you get into it. I’ve seen people jump into development from so many different backgrounds. However, no matter how you do it, you have to do the work and learn and train to be able to do the work professionally.
The biggest issue won’t be that software engineer jobs are going to vanish, it’ll be that they will vanished in certain areas of the world like the USA, where the jobs will be outsourced.
That’s been happening for 30 years, and will continue to do so. AI alone won’t overcome the challenges of using an offshore team for your company. I’ve managed those teams. I don't see this point as a unique or pressing issue
I'll be out of highschool next year and was thinking of going to school for a bachelor's in CS, I have always been interested in technology and math. However, it seems that it is incredibly difficult to get an entry level job and i just dont think i would want to deal with that. I still have a while to decide but i've been devating doing CS for a while now.
I think it’s important to know that just because it’s computer science, does NOT mean that you’ll be a web dev. There are many ways to use the degree
So I graduated with a BA degree but I've been seriously considering doing a Master's in CS. Of course, I have to take prerequisite courses so I'm still thinking over it. I've tried self studying but it's hard with so many information online. I like the University classroom experience. My main concern is if I will struggle in these classes, I want to make sure I understand the material and pass the classes. However, I do think a degree is worth more than attending a coding bootcamp, especially now with a more competitive job market. 🦄
Completely agree. I also would like to advise you to be kind and make friends with absolutely everyone in all your comp sci classes. All these people will go do cool things and learning from them and gaining connections from these people are worth just as much as your skills. Just be kind, genuine, and connect with people. That’s half the game man
@@cody_codes_youtube Thanks for the advice! I am planning on doing online classes but the University is in-state so I may be able to walk over there and meet up with students if it's allowed. I believe there's coding meetups even outside University too so I plan on doing that once I understand coding more. Here's a unicorn 🦄
@@paolaanimator yeah dude! Just make friends. It’s wild how far that alone will take you.
NO - Get a CS degree if it's important for you to have one and it's not a financial/time burden.But to get a job? NOPE!
50% of my engineer coworkers had 0 tech background and had a job bc a friend/fam member hooked them up. 25% went to a bootcamp and the rest had some kind of college education. I had all my C/C++/Unix/Assembly language assignments from college (if you know C you know something 🤣) in my Github BUT that meant NOTHING. Until I took a local bootcamp I was helped by the bootcamps recruiter - they were hooked with local banks and companies and thats how I broke in the industry.
Oh I know C!
Yeah 100%, you have the right point. I’m actually going to be putting up a video next week about this topic: how you approach getting jobs changes your outcomes. Which is to reiterate what you’re saying: almost everything runs around networking with people, and the connections they have.
i think to get a job today it's really important to get a degree, the company i'm in doesn't even response to bootcamp coders and i never saw 1 bootcamp guy in the companies i have been, mb it's cause i'm from europe and degree here are so important for employers
I’ve 10 years of experiences in the retail e-commerce space working on a combination of site operations/merchandising/project management and fulfilment. Does it make sense to get a CS degree (online course, not on campus) just to better market myself with the ability to take on additional duties eg. web production, project management/delivery, data analytics and AI implementation? My goal is to better equip myself/become a unicorn as I don’t really specialise in anything. Knowledge from the CS degree would come in handy as it is literally what e-commerce is about but do I need a degree for it or I can just learn what I need (if I can even pin point what it is). I do prefer a degree though. The thing is I’m working full time and will require a student loan ….
@@aaaakita5534 that is a deeply personal decision. I am willing to say that having the skills of coding is like a super power to nearly every white collar job. You understand how tech works, you aren’t afraid of real data and can pull directly from the database. You can automate some boring parts of your work. You can help and guide teams who are building software solutions.
It’s very difficult to say whether it will or will not pay off. But one thing for sure is you will walk out with real skills that will be desired for many years
@@cody_codes_youtube Thanks for the immediate response! Agreed with everything you said, it would be a desirable skill to have, eg. Making me the only person in the team that understands what the engineer is saying about an issue with the fulfilment allocation algorithm lol! The issue is mainly on the workload and finances. I have a liberal arts degree I am not even sure if I can handle something that is so math heavy.
@ it’s not math heavy. Sure you take math courses, but the job doesn’t have a lot of math in it at all
im a 40 y old electrical engineer now and i like my job now. if a nearby university offers me a free course for a computer engineering degree ill take it
@@anton_c8gur nice! Electrical engineering can transition pretty well into software. I’ve worked with electrical engineers in the past
@@cody_codes_youtube i am actually trying to start self study. but i forgot most my engineering knowledge😅 due to my properry management job
My son will start his university life in Sep. Now is considering what offer/program to accept. This helps. Thanks
I’m glad! Thank you for watching!
I wonder if this situtation is unique to CS field or if this is happening to all B.S. or higher level jobs. WIth growing technology needs and use and a population that is getting more unhealthy and older best fields seem to be Medicine and Tech to be honest. Computer Science being a major part of Tech it is probably still way better than most other careers out there when it comes to getting a job assume but correct me if I am wrong.
I am one of those people who don't seem to have a very strong passion on a career but medicine and computer science always got my attention so I hope one day I can get into a company that utilize AI to make advancements in medical field like alphafold or that crazy retina scan thing where the retina scan alone can show you bunch of diseases you have or if you are likely to have in the future etc.
Yeah, it’s a wild time to be alive in the workforce. For better or worse!
I want to work in cybersecurity is cs or cis good
Depends on what kind of cybersecurity. That’s a HUGE field. Also, the degree only matter so much, because it will just be the foundation of your learning journey. Whatever flavor or area of cybersecurity will take several more years of specializing and learning on top of a college degree
I am about to graduate from a top-25 public university with a Business Information Technology Degree with a computer programming minor. I meet all of the qualifications for a degree in CS in graduate school because of extra courses I took to ensure I met the requirements. Is it worth it to get a MS in CS (Finances would work)?
I mean, it's a completely personal decision. That's hard for me to say. Depending on the financials and the goal, I think it would definitely set you apart in your skills and knowledge going into the field if you wanted to get into some serious engineering. There are a lot of things in Grad school that I did not finish and could have benefited from. I just will never say a hard YES or hard NO because the cost on your education is a real factor.
@@cody_codes_youtube Dude I seriously appreciate you taking the time to respond. I was blessed enough to receive some grants and help financially from my parents and I will be coming out of undergrad debt free or close to it and could potentially have very little debt after graduate school. I love the technical side of things. I am going to pursue graduate school at my current undergrad because they have great programs in a top research and job area for engineering of all kinds(don't want to into the research side of things).🤞🏽
Of course, and that’s awesome! I paid my whole way, and it cost me 117k after all the interest. So that was hard.
Great information, I just graduated with a bachelor's degree in supply chain, transportation, and logistics management. Looking to be more data driven, any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I honestly can’t speak to this, I’m sorry! I would get that first job, and really dive into how the position could be improved with data. You probably can’t make those changes as an entry level, but maybe some day…
@cody_codes_youtube Thank you for your insight and quick response time. I am subscribing now!
@@kourtneyalbert2937 no problem friend! I just want to help
Here's a unicorn from me too. 🦄😊 And I also would like your perspective, if you don't mind. I'm so old (early 50s), but I still want to maybe freelance in Web development, since getting employment is probably out for me. I have an associates degree (not in CS). Is self-learning even a realistic option for me? I've (sort of) built a website of my own using WordPress's block builder and a pre-made template, but will anyone really hire me off of nothing but a portfolio of websites I built myself? Or am I just kidding myself? What would be your advice for someone like me?
So sorry it took me a while to respond! BTW, so old isn't in the 50s, you still have a lot of working life in you! And there is a real world where you can have employment too. Yes, it will be harder and Yes, this industry suffers from ageism. There's no doubt there, but if you're able to provide VALUE to someone or some business, and you're able to talk to them as a human and someone who wants to help the business, then you are super valuable. Let your skills speak for themselves and freelancing is definitely something that can be done if you have the skills and patience for it. I wouldn't write you off!
Hey Cody! 🦄
Could really use some advice. I’m 27 and feeling completely lost in life. Back in 2021, I was struggling to make money. I went through a coding bootcamp with high hopes of landing a job as a web developer, as I never got my bachelors yet. After two straight years of job hunting with zero success, I completely burned out and quit coding altogether. I ended up just picking up a job as a server to make ends meet with bills.
Now I’m thinking about going back into tech and pursuing a CS degree to finally get that diploma I’ve been missing for so long and I've developed a lot of shame around this. But I keep hearing that CS degrees are becoming useless online, and I’m torn. I’ve been trying to decide on a bachelor’s degree since I was 21, and here I am at 27, still with no direction and a lot of fear regarding student debt that's keeping me stagnant.
Any advice?
Absolutely. Getting a degree is a very personal decision. Because of the finances and time commitment. Because of that I can’t tell people what to do. But I can tell you a few things.
Nearly everyone who talks about a comp sci degree as being useless is coming from the angle of “I made it without a degree!” Or “I have one and I don’t use it!”
Both these statements are garbage. Our job market no longer is friendly to self taught devs. It’s 100x harder to get a programming job without a degree. The boot camp can help, but even then, a lot of jobs will not even look at your resume, because they already have plenty of candidates that do have a degree.
I’m in the camp that a degree is best, but it’s hard because of the cost and the time commitment. Just having a degree does open a lot of doors and removes one more reason for a job (in any field) to ignore you. Having a degree shows you can commit to something and prove you can do hard things, and explore other ways of thinking.
I hope this helps
Don't opt to go into something that is barely making it, go into something where there is incredible demand, like the trades or housing building right now. I went for CS in 2015, I would NOT go nearly a decade later aka today, as the ROI was FAR better at my time of decision almost 10 years ago...
I appreciate your take, even if I disagree with it. A lot of people are talking about the trades and there is definite demand there, but as someone who has several family members in the trades, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Some things to consider are the commutes, the time spent working long days, the wear and tear on your body, the lack of flexibility, and the growth trajectory is not what it's cracked up to be. A lot of people say the trades pay so well, but those are the hardest jobs and sometimes the best paths are starting your own outfit, which is more of a 'running a small business' than just 'going into the trades'. That's my take on it, and the ROI for engineering is still there, but it's not as ludicrous as what it used to be 10 years ago. 10 years ago, when we had 0% interest rates, there was so much fat in the industry that people got paid ridiculous amounts to sometimes do no work.
Some people like to have a life after 40 and not die from terrible environments that come with trade jobs.
@@faisalk.7520 100000%
what about CERTIFICATIONS in software engineering
It really depends… some companies require them. Sometimes they are good to structure your learning. But just because you get certs doesn’t mean you immediately get work
@@cody_codes_youtube ok thanks
This reminds me ofbthe time when calculators came out lol 🤣. Companys started firing engineers lol 😅. Then ended up retiring them. Same rhing happening with AI and software engineers right now.
@@cooper1056 I would believe this story if I heard of any one (of the dozens of engineers I talk to daily) say they got laid off in favor of AI. Or heard of any company replacing people with AI. I don’t hear or see that anywhere in the professional world
Degree worth getting simply because the industry controlled by people who has it. Also, degree shows you're able to learn on steady pace for a long time.
I think there is good reason people want it. And yeah, it shows commitment and it verifies you can do hard things and you should have some fundamental knowledge
I am NOT going to subscribe until you tell me where I can get my own mini rubber finger..........................................................................................................................................?
Amazon!! My dude! I need to bring those out more!
Don't worry about AI ! There is so much bad code out there that it would take a century to fix it all. It takes a human to understand human-made shitty code.
Dude yes. Good thing I actually love breaking down old confusing and crappy code! I’ll do that forever!
I don't normally comment, but the content of this video is so good I'm going to. I might even use Grammarly (AI/ML) to fix my grammar.
I wish I had watched this back when I was getting my first jobs. It would have been useful to me. I ran across it because I was interested to see what other people like me are doing about layoffs in technology, and I see that @codycodes is targeting web development, so he is different from me.
I am more of a full-stack engineer. I have degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences. I've worked for a couple of small startups and for four (4) larger companies. I had to quit two jobs to go work on an advanced degree and then I've been laid off three times since. I did one consulting job which was not very satisfying, probably because I worked doing simulation tools (software), and the consulting job was Q&A for hardware. To say it a different way, it was NOT what I was training for when I was a full-time engineer. Pay attention to what Cody is saying in this video!
Thank you, Cody, for taking the time to do the video. I hope many young engineers (software and otherwise) benefit from it.
Cheers!
Todd B.
p.s. I'll give you a frog instead of a unicorn to prove I'm paying attention. :-) 🐸(I prefer the Apple version of the frog emoji over the open-source/Microsoft/Google version, so I'll throw in some socks: 🧦)
@@Basil-the-Frog haha. 🐸!
What wonderful feedback! I know exactly what kind of background you have, as I’ve done defensive work too for some embedded systems. Thanks for posting and taking the time to watch!
@@cody_codes_youtube Defensive work? DoD?
My most recent full-time job was writing a deep-packet inspection engine for a complex industrial network protocol called DNP3. It took me a year to complete. After I finished, the entire group was moved to India, but I remained here. That was in February 2000.
I should probably change my TH-cam name to my real one. I'm Todd Bezenek.
p.s. In the year's worth of work, I missed one (1) bug that the 18-person team in India caught. Shoot! :-/ And an old-school heart:
I’m sorry but the little hand is very distracting 🤚
@@enyinnaukattah2083 I love it. Haha
no, you shouldnt lol
Haha. To each their own.
Per request 🦄
Thank you for taking the time to watch the video! I appreciate it
Also 🦄
Yeah buddy! I just responded to your emails too!
@@cody_codes_youtube oh cool man!