100%. I met an AWS architect who told me his story of learning to code. He was a cab driver who took a software executive home one night and on the drive asked the guy what he did. He said he ran software teams/products and the taxi driver got some advice on how to move industries. The executive said check out a coding bootcamp. The taxi driver did, saw the cost, and decided he would learn on his own. He basically pulled the listed skills that the bootcamp taught and found free courses that focused on each of those.
He did it all via self learning. Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own but these types of courses exist and will continue to exist as a free or low cost option for those people. Then there are the rest of us who have 15 paid courses that we will never start :)
> Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own
I'd disagree. Sure online learning tools such as CodeAcademy and free videos on YouTube are useful and can provide a great leg up. But I know quite a few folks who pivoted their careers from non-programming jobs back in the 90's and none of these learning aids were available. We just used books, vendor documentation and whatever random stuff was available on the fledgling web and usenet groups to get us going.
I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
I feel like I learned willpower and attention (directed focus towards a goal) by playing online RPG games which required grinding for EXP and leveling.
> I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
Self-studying from scratch to the level where you're a valuable hire requires falling in love with the work. I don't think anybody has the willpower to work through, think through and internalize all the stuff we work with daily if they don't find it at least a bit fun, and a lot of people don't. It does take a "special" individual, though not in the sense that they're better than anyone else.
For people without mentors or exposure to the craft, they often have no idea why or where to start. They don't even know enough to select a book to start with. Add to that the immense complexity they face just to get python or .net working.
When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
> For people without mentors or exposure to the craft, they often have no idea why or where to start.
I think you missed my point. My point was that it doesn't take being a "special" person to get started. These days all you do is type "How do I learn to be a programmer" into google and you'll get a general gist of where to begin. The assumption that people are that utterly helpless makes my mind boggle.
> Add to that the immense complexity they face just to get python or .net working.
Ok, I'll let you get away with .NET, but getting python installed and starting it from the command line is not immensely complex. Even my brother who is technology averse managed to do this without even asking for my help.
> When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
You were lucky, when I were a lad, the computer turned on and presented me with a monitor ROM prompt, then I had to work it out from there ;)
A similar line of thought made me think about the usefulness of apps like Duolingo. People who learned languages back then did it with textbooks and most serious learners still do. Do we really need new methods other than spaced repetition (of which software is a slightly more efficient version of flash cards)?
I think most of us 'old' people taught ourselves and I'm certainly not special. It just takes an interest in whatever you're doing. Before the Internet we had the manual to read, and that's about it.
With the Internet, it's real easy to lose focus and bounce around between topics.
He did it all via self learning. Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own but these types of courses exist and will continue to exist as a free or low cost option for those people. Then there are the rest of us who have 15 paid courses that we will never start :)