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Graduating highschool and wanting to work as a programmer, advice? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm a junior in highschool and will be graduating next year, and the degree that makes the most sense to me is computer science. I've always loved using and tinkering with technology, and learning about it when I can.

I've taken the CS50p course as an introduction to coding, and have really enjoyed the problem solving nature of programming. I just don't know what the industry is like, and people keep saying the job market for CS majors is terrible. so I'm not 100% sure that a computer science degree would be right for me. any advice?

update: I've gotten a lot of good advice from comments and have decided to start a personal project of some sort, to test the waters and see if this is something I can do and enjoy as a hobby outside the CS50p course. thanks to everyone who responded!

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Only way to get hired with your credentials is with some serious networking. In your local area, look for code/tech meetups and talk with people. Look for "Code and Coffee" on meetup or facebook or something (though I must warn against caffeine consumption for teenagers!). You'll most likely have to look for an internship rather than a Junior Dev position at first, which is typically the pipeline that companies use to hire Jr Engineers.

Another option is to look for "Tier 3 support" or "Integrations engineers". Often, companies will look for people with minor coding skills to work directly with clients to help implement the company product for the client (for example, adding some custom widget to their wordpress site, new features for their salesforce instance, etc.)

These engineers don't create the company product but they do get some experience scripting things and often they can use this position to transition to a full time engineering role. In my experience, these roles have far lower requirements to entry