And it's one of the simplest, easiest things to get into.
Note, I'm not saying that it's easy to be awesome as a developer. It takes time, study, and dedication. But of all fields, it has one of the the lowest barriers to entry of any field, in great part due to the generosity of the community, the desire of that community to share and spread knowledge, and their by-nature ability to use their talents to democratize and disseminate this information.
A couple nights ago a friend from outside the field was talking to me about possibly changing careers, and I told him that I would share with him some insight into how I would advise any adult to start if they showed any interest in the subject matter today. Note, with kids, I might start a little differently (Legos, Arduinos, and Scratch, oh my!).
I'm amazed at the free resources out there, so I'd start with them. This is in no way an endorsement of any of things I've mentioned here. I'm not affiliated with any of these organizations
http://www.codecademy.com/ - free resource to learn interactively what coding is like.
http://code.org/learn - Directed more at kids, but if you are completely new to the concepts, spend some time here.
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm is where you find MIT opencourseware. Bazillions of classes on stuff. You could easily start at the programming stuff and go from there.
ChicagoCodeCamp is a free community conference held one Saturday in April. Meet people, network, learn cool things. There are lots of local user groups and so many people are available to help you out in getting started.
http://www.pluralsight.com/training - Oh, the amount of professional training and content you get here is amazing for how little you pay. Per hour of training, it might as well be free.
With such a low barrier to entry, and given how much work there is out there of many different types, why don't more people do it? Why is there still unmet demand in the industry?
Well, it's hard work to do well. There are vast differences in developer skill level. There are differences in demand for different types of skill. Also, while I say that anyone can learn the basics, it takes an attention to detail, an ability to focus on mundane details, an ability to think procedurally and logically.
Some people find that kind of work taxing, or boring, or just plain can't do it, but I'm not so egotistical to believe that the people in the industry are the only ones that are capable of doing this kind of work.
Of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to be part of the education of the community. I want diversity in my community. I want more kids getting interested in STEM. To that end, I am a proud organizer of That Conference. We are a community-driven, polyglot conference that is held annually at the Kalahari resort. $399 gets you three days of sessions, networking, and good fun. Come out and join us. Tickets go on sale 5/15/14!
Some people find that kind of work taxing, or boring, or just plain can't do it, but I'm not so egotistical to believe that the people in the industry are the only ones that are capable of doing this kind of work.
Of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to be part of the education of the community. I want diversity in my community. I want more kids getting interested in STEM. To that end, I am a proud organizer of That Conference. We are a community-driven, polyglot conference that is held annually at the Kalahari resort. $399 gets you three days of sessions, networking, and good fun. Come out and join us. Tickets go on sale 5/15/14!
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