#Retraining into CS Career during disability leave.

9 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

normal reef
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First I'd like to explain the situation because I feel it might be a unique circumstance.

I am a graphic designer with some background in web dev and I'm curious what else is out there as I'm mostly familiar with web dev.

This is not a pity post so I will keep this part brief. I have Stage IV cancer that is being being treated. It's progressed pretty badly but I've finally began to have a response to a new treatment in a clinical trial and the doctors and myself feel pretty good about the treatment. I could be doing this trial for years potentially and I will have a pretty big surgery at some point in the process.

The point is that I will be on disability for at least a couple years where I'm not really able to work due to side effects of treatment but I also have a lot of free time. I have been thinking about using this time to retrain myself for a career in CS

I have played around with HTML/CSS/JS and PHP and Ruby and even made a few web apps as projects several years ago. I attended a post grad program in UX and Web Dev but there were no job prospects for me in my area so I fell into graphic design to leverage my artistic skills. Now with WFH being more of a thing I thought now might be a good time to make the switch.

I guess I'm wondering what are some non web dev CS careers that hire remote and do they care about a degree? I know with web dev it was all about your portfolio and your projects so a degree wasn't needed but I was unsure about other CS careers.

There are MOOCS and courses for everything imaginable in CS and I just wasn't sure what direction to go in. Obviously my previous knowledge of web dev makes that an easier transition but given the time and opportunity I have I don't want to miss out on a potential career path that I might not know about.

I loved learning full stack web dev because I liked having hands in all the parts of the app but I wasn't sure if anyone is able to break into webdev as a fullstack dev to start.

Thanks for reading!

feral hinge
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I wouldn't say that web dev is all annoy portfolio; that's very common for designers, shows up sometimes for front-end devs, and is more common if you're applying to a non-tech company (ie they can't evaluate you other than by looking at something you built).
Web dev makes a lot of sense given your background, and the jobs are plentiful, so I wouldn't be avoiding it unless you actually dislike it.

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Something like the Odin Project is probably a good place to start

digital tusk
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you could get an internship position at some point probably. idk about breaking in without a degree it's all anecdotal success stories that really depend on your situation and connections

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i did it but i had connections so it isn't really a replicable path & im also working on getting my degree asap while i work here so i can move on somewhere bigger

normal reef
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Totally know what you mean, everyone's path is different and at the end of the day it probably involves someone taking a risk on someone with no experience and no degree.

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I liked web dev I just wasn't sure if there was a path in CS that was more WFH friendly or easier to get into without a degree.

digital tusk
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you can put in resume applications to front end positions, your graphic design experience might carry you enough to get hired especially in design areas possibly. If you have a lot of free time unemployed u could always get start at online university while u wait for a job.