That's one of the biggest concerns I have to be honest, I've seen so many different courses and qualifications and it's hard to know which of them are useful or meaningful to employers. I'm currently doing a free introductory course to Python just to see what it's all about, and see if programming is something I enjoy.
Thankfully I've always been a quick learner and enjoy being hands on with stuff, so that's not a huge concern.
I'm a bit late to the thread and not sure if I can add much value, but how are you getting on with the Python course? Have you tried some of the online web dev technology courses, too? Something like React/Typescript/HTML/CSS or related tech stacks? Having a look at those might give you some flavour as to what it's about and whether or not it's for you. Depending on how much time you have and how brave you are feeling, maybe grab a copy of MS Visual Studio Community (free) and start looking at some simple C# stuff. In for a penny...
If you have any questions about software development/engineering then feel free to fire them over. I started coding when I was around 7 years old (it's all I wanted to do - especially making video games) and I've been developing software for 35+ years now. I worked as a full-time employee in a few different roles (mainly games, 3D/special effects, defence/cyber) before starting my own software dev business 7/8 years ago. It had got to the point where I could not climb any higher up the ladder in a technical role without moving towards management and I didn't want that as I love the hands-on development aspect above everything else. You'll often hear about the technical ceiling that many devs hit - whereby employers are reluctant to pay you more as they feel the extra salary should be justified by moving you more into a management role (which I think is a very old-fashioned way of working/thinking). Why not fairly compensate and encourage skilled engineers if they are bringing value and adding worth to your business/products? I've had the pleasure of working on small/homebrew stuff to multi-billion pound contracts - either as a software hack or in a formalised software engineering capacity - and experienced a wide range of working environments, methodologies, etc. I am fortunate to say that I still enjoy the challenge of coding each day now as I did on day one. I've also been fortunate enough (maybe not the correct words!) to experience a plethora of development languages over the years - from assembly to C++ to Lisp to some really obscure shizzle - and often called upon as a mentor to guide and advise those coming up through the ranks.
TLDR; I've got a bit of knowledge and experience of the software dev world if you've got questions.
stealing this guys thread a little here, but how are you guys finding Ai is changing things?
From my side it seems to be changing everything. I’m doing a bit with co-Pilot integration at the moment and in general I can’t even begin to imagine what this s**t is going to be like in 10 years if it keeps on the vertical path of evolution it is at present !
I'm finding it to be a bit of a double-edged sword. I love working with it, the tech and the algorithms. The results can be surprising and unexpected, and a lot of the time they can be utter garbage (given insufficient training data, training periods, unbalanced/biased learning networks, etc.) It's pretty cool, and its use could be far-reaching (far more than we have seen currently). Of course, it has been around for a while but it's really starting to go mainstream now and the latest generation of learning, training and steering algorithms really are something special. Honestly speaking, a bit unnerving in many regards, too.
On the flip side, I'm seeing a massive increase in the use of ChatGPT for source code I'm asked to review or look over, a lot of it from the younger developers on the projects I'm working. I don't have an issue with the use of the tech... my concern is that inexperienced (or lazy) devs seem to take it as gospel and use it without really understanding what it's doing. That's a dangerous precedent to set, especially on commercial and sensitive projects where money, lives, infrastructure, etc. can be adversely affected with potentially catastrophic effects. And then there is the whole question of security around its use and what users of AI are submitting to these systems in terms of the queries and questions they are posing. My current client has a series of meetings involving myself and a few others in order to monitor how AI is being used and the potential threats (for want of a better word) it poses. On the flip side, we also discuss the benefits that AI could bring to so many areas... but the priority is always risk mitigation, threat elimination, etc - you have to err on the side of caution and not use it blindly. It's an incredibly powerful tool.
