I've been coding 12+ hours a day, everyday for the past 9 months. I've been to the final round of 5 interviews but I wasn't chosen, I was offered a job from Docker only to find out they don't hire out of my country. I have an interview tomorrow and hoping this one goes well. Landing that first job is truly a grind..

I've been writing code for almost 50 years. Writing software is a joyous thing if you love it and a day of programming slips by quickly. The more languages and design techniques you learn the more they intertwine with previous ones you already know. However if programming doesn't come naturally and learning new skills is a chore, writing software can be a torturous career path.

Self taught developer here with 11+ years of experience and without any CS background. Decision to become a software developer was the best thing I've ever made in my life. I have a good and on demand job, good salary and, of course, stable job position considering the current situation with C-19. I can work remotely from everywhere around the globe. So, if you have any doubts about "to be or not to be" - definitely "to be"

Damn, Johnny Sinns really has done everything!

Unfortunately, a lot of people will realize that once they’re on stable ground in the various technologies they need to do the job, one of the hardest parts of the career is that you’ll be asked to do things that don’t make a lot of sense based on vague requests from people who don’t know anything about programming. The soft skills are a huge part of it.

I am a developer for 23 years and I disagree on a few things. Learning to program is not hard. But hta is not what the market expects. The issue is that the market treats developer as a single capacitation/job when it is a whole class. It is like being an engineer. There are engineers for buildign bridges, engines, tires, textile fibers, cables, everything and they are NOT proeficient in each other fields. The hard part is that they expect you to be 3 or 4 professionals at same time.

Thanks for being real and honest. I'm 51 and want to change careers from insurance to web development. I know a little html and css from a class I took 12 yrs ago. Its hard to learn now and with KZfaq in information overload. I was trying to learn in order to get a job, but after your video, I'm going to learn it as a hobby. I like the creativity that web development brings, but being 51, it would take too long.

I'm sure I'm not saying anything new, but thanks for this no-b.s perspective and insight! Too many KZfaqrs are out yea giving bs 'advice' and unrealistic expectations! I'm so sick of it! Thank you and keep more vids like this coming!!

This has nothing to do with being self-taught. This is just a job that requires you to LOVE TO LEARN. If this is not you, then you will always be miserable as a programmer, because the constant learning to keep up will NEVER stop. As a matter of fact, if you plan to climb the ranks, it will increase! If you'd gone the schooling path, you would have graduated to find out that most of what you learned is already obsolete. The people who thrive as developers are those who look forward all day to that 3-4 hours that they get to learn whatever is needed, or if nothing is needed at that time (rare), then just whatever... If this isn't you, find a career based on whatever makes you happy, even if it means a pay cut. There is no amount of pay that is equivalent for enjoying work. Don't let yourself find this out as you near retirement. There are no do-overs. : )

Thanks so much for this video Dorian!!!! Literally needed to hear every single word of this. I’ve been self teaching myself front end end for almost 5 years and literally couldn’t eve build a static web page until I decided to map out my path, set up a dedicated schedule find a strong community of supporters that didn’t require a crazy expensive Boot Camp and most of all yes spend my time weirdly investing on learning this stuff…it’s a real investment and no video is going to get you where you want to go. So yes it’s hard like you said but possible. This literally has fueled me to not give up no matter how long it takes, it’s a journey more than anything.

You are inspirational. 30 years ago in college i learned pascal, c, fortran and whatever. No internet, Had no idea what coding a fibonacci sequence was, so i dropped it. I was immature. Fast forward I got into networks. It's getting old, but it still pays ok. Got back into programming, data structures, because if i'm going to sit in front of a computer for 8+ hours a day, I might as well enjoy it until i retire. Looking at Crud Apps, it seems really straight-forward, but as you say, booooring. Who knows, who cares, whatever, if what i end up doing makes money. if it doesn't, it's still fun. Thanks for your sharing

I'm a working software engineer and this video is so true. Even when you learn a stack, when you switch jobs you'll take time ramping up. And a healthy life shouldn't be all about coding, so it's best to not strive to be a software engineer social media celeb if you also have a full-time job...and we gotta exercise moderately too, with all the sitting and shoulder strain we do.

I don't think it's hard. After 3+ years of working as a fullstack dev I canot fully relate to your experience. I agree that first 1-2 years was like learning 24/h but after smashing some magical barrier I can see that everywhere we are using different programming languages to do exactly the same but with different syntax, we are using new shinny frameworks to do the same but different syntax, we are using another new tool that in reality is not new, it's just the same thing but named differently... Learn the FUNDAMENTALS, and after that, it's not that hard, please do not slide on the surface, go deep, there is the answer. People tend to overcomplicate things.

Thanks for keeping it real. I came into this with preconceived ideas and your videos help to remind me to stay grounded.

Awesome! Love this video. As the title says, Real Talk! I have had a lot of “peaks” and “valleys” learning and have thrown out the notion for a quick route haha. Thanks for the content!

Love your videos man! I’m self learning myself as well, spending 3 hours a day after work learning how to code. Definitely had times where I needed to just step away for the day and recuperate.

I really appreciate you giving us the reality of the industry/learning path. I was going into this with a optimistic and semi-lackadaisical approach but this video provided me with some perspective and resolve, thank you

Developer for more than 10 years here. I love how sincere and honest you are. best video I have watched in a while

You are inspiration plz. Don't stop making these type of content

Amazing. Clean, fun to watch and SO educational. Great job! Thanks you so much!!!!

Stumbled on your videos while trying to research about programming/coding. And I just want to say thank you for keeping it real. It's really hard to learn to code (for me at least) considering I graduated with IT degree back in way years. And after working in different industries for a long time and trying to go back and re-learn coding/programming by myself just to have a better future, I can say it can be really lonely and frustrating(and I'm only trying a udemy course right now about web dev)And yes, right now my goal is to get a job and have a better life for me and my love ones so I guess I just need to push through and hopefully it works out. Again thank you for keeping it real and being honest about it, since most of the vids i find at social media shows you can learn coding/programming easily within 3 months and it makes me doubt myself and frustrated thinking I'm not cut out for this. TBH, most of the time now i just want to call it quits but seeing your vids like this and thinking i need to do this for a better life for my family...I just need to push through... THANK YOU

Thank you for the honesty!! I've been trying to learn to code for almost a year and in between, I've been quitting and starting again. Weirdly enough you being so honest about it motivates me.

Thank you thank you. Just what I needed to hear. And I'm still excited about learning!

THANK YOU.... I needed to see some honesty. I just subbed your channel.

Thank u for being so real and honest. I started my career in web design back in 2000 after finishing a degree in computer information systems. I have been wanting to start teaching but haven’t put together my first video yet. As I have gone a somewhat standard route I like to hear what others have done. The opportunities to learn coding has expanded exponentially. So many options and age, time and career interest all play a factor in what may be best. I just love how u give people the truth. I was wondering if i say what I really felt which can be negative it may turn someone away who may truly be interested in getting into coding. Gosh. So much to think about. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Man I honestly feel all of these struggles right now. I'm still into this industry for a year now specially when I was still freelancing before but now I'm in an agency. Still same with struggles. Love your content man, very relatable. 👏🏼

Thank you for your honesty. Rare virtue to find nowadays in social media. I'm starting to learn to code as hobby. I want to be able to participate in Kaggle competitions. Wish you the best of success in 2022.

Great content, thank you for being honest. Many act like it is super easy for someone without a tech background to get a job and start with no experience at all and just a boot camp.

This is a very good video. Feels like you gave an honest picture of your path. I’m a 26yo who just finished my bachelor in art history, thinking about changing career path. Luckily, I live in sweden where this is possible. Just applied to an COmputer Science-programme at my local college. Thanks for giving your view in this topic!

Hi Dorian, thanks for this realistic view of programming! I am glad I stumbled upon it :) It makes sense to think about what kind of job I'm realistically suited for and how programming would look years down the road.

Every word is gold. This is so true, all of it! Especially the part where you talk about how much work you MUST put into it. There is no easy way, you have to dedicate yourself to it and you have to bear with your tears and sweat. Because if you want to be good, not just getting away with disastrous code, this shit is tough.

I really love your down to earth, straight talk style in your videos. Thank you, and please keep it up.

Thank you for this. I've been having trouble learning advanced JavaScript and almost stopped entirely, but this helped me realize that I'm supposed to run into roadblocks because this isn't supposed to be easy, its all part of the journey.

I went the self taught route for several months to prep myself for a coding BootCamp. For people who lose motivation it will be REALLY hard to go the self taught route. A coding BootCamp gets a lot fo slack for many things but it gives you a structured learning process with accountability from your peers and teachers. You have a set schedule you MUST attend. You work in teams and follow agile methodologies. Just these things things I've stated you can't learn/do by yourself(obviously). Bootcamps work for me and it is an accelerator to obtain a job in tech. After completing my 9 month BootCamp, I got a job in a now post series B unicorn startup.

This is straight truth. Thank you so much for sharing this in a completely honest and realistic way without being discouraging. I don't think it's right when everyone is blindly encouraged to try to learn to code. It was one of the most difficult things I ever did in my life and I love how you point out. In the end it's a job, it's not really all that glamorous. It's a good job and in demand and well paid but it's still a job where you sit at a desk all day.

This is very inspiring! Thanks for sharing your story man

I was a production manager at a furniture manufacturer, and that was pretty much stressful, now I'm learning to code, in Python, towards data science, and I had my first meltdown or burnout. Programing burnouts are hell on wheels, but I'm not ready to give up. You are right, age rushes things, I feel we act the same: regular job, family and coding

Thanks for this video. I am doing some research to see if this is a career change I want to make. I was looking for the "ugly" and not some rose colored lense. I also feel encouraged because I am not deterred by most of what you are saying. I expect it to be hard, and I expect to test my self discipline. I think I am at the right time in my life to give it a go, wish me luck.

Thanks for the advice and recommendations.

Great video - amazing to see this subject honestly presented.

coding is a production job. if you've ever worked an assembly line, you know what it feels like. sometimes there's a bit of creativity, but mainly that's when you are learning and stuff is new, or maybe if you're working in a new tech space. once you've been doing it a while, like you said, it can be a grind of same ol' same ol'. i did websites for a little more than 15 years and then hit burnout hard. there's a part of me that wants to get back into it because i do love the problem-solving aspects of it, but i don't know if i ever will.

love your content , you are an inspiration . I follow you and im not gonna spend a dime to learn web development or any programming stuff , there are lot of free content avail in open-source like you always say. Keep rocking .

Its nice to hear that side of coding as well specially for the newbies like me. This has me prepared for what will be in the future

Damn man. At the right time. This is what I needed to hear. Thank you for that.

You’re alongside my top 5 favorite coding related people on KZfaq. You’re such an inspiration, whenever I get overwhelmed I come to your videos and I truly appreciate you taking out the time to encourage us. You have a gift of motivating like Eric Thomas and Tony Robbins, your energy is captivating 🌸

I'm a programmer I'm graduated in computer science and after 8 years of job as programmer in a big company I am still experiencing these things that you speak of, great video. You are right. It's a hard long way beeing a programmer but... if you like it, don't give up! :)

Appreciate the transparency about the material things. Also the last bit of the rant about trying to get into anything with the "easy route" can truly be applied to anything. Sitting here at the start of my coding journey, but glad that I can truly feel deep down I'm not intrinsically motivated by status or wealth in this endeavor; can't say I had the same mindset pursuing past endeavors. Take care

Man, such a true insight. You description was so true to the actual stuff.

As someone who is also a self-taught programmer I want to say well done. That’s not an easy road. I will say this, I am now 15 years in to my journey. It’s always hard there’s always a challenge and you never get to the end of what you need to learn. For those of us that love the profession it’s that challenge that is what keeps us coming back. If there wasn’t a consistent challenge and if there wasn’t always a hill climb I don’t think I’d still be doing this.

Thanks. I need this hard talk. You are absolutely right about how glamourous the KZfaqrs make it out to be. Like every job out there, it has its downsides and the fact you basically spend all day every day in front of your screen has got to be soul crushing. No way I'm gonna take that route.

I really appreciate you being honesty. This video was for me. Thank you man!

The most sound Coding advice I have heard on the web. You have really encouraged me because I was feeling really cloudy about things but you made it clear. Thanks 🙏🏾

Learning to code was absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever purposely set out to do. I went the self-taught/boot camp route. I can confirm that a lot of the success stories that boot camps advertise i.e. got a job at FAANG after a 3 month boot camp had previous degrees in STEM fields. I was not one of those lucky folks but there are other opportunities from which to climb the ladder once you’ve entered the industry. It never gets easy but it’s rewarding if you like the work.

The best thing to do as programmer is to find a hobby/interest you have and you see there is a lack of a website/software/tool whatever. And do it. You can do the full stack from designing the database to choosing the tech stack, from writing the backend, designing the UI to doing the front end, configure azure pipeline and CI to hosting. Make your own testing strategy. And do all this trying to write the cleanest code ever, doing the cleanest architecture ever and if you feel like it refactor the 10th thousand time. This is your project, and yours only. Use it to experiment with technologies and design ideas. I am doing this and this pet project shows me every time I work on it, that I love being a developer.

Brutal truth and absolutely honest picture. Thank you..

Thank you for being so honest dorian. I feel like this has been very helpful for me moving forward

As someone with a long career in IT, I can say this is spot on. Great video! To everyone seeing this hoping to be a $$$$programmer$$$$$ don't be disheartened. Lot's of it is cool. Yes it will be a job. Yes there will be a lot of boring job parts. But there will also be really cool things to learn and really amazing people to learn from. And the $$$$ can be a real thing IF you put in the grind to get there. There are no quick routes only solid grind and even once you have a job, you never stop polishing and perfecting your skills and staying up to date if you want to continue on that $$$$ trajectory.

This video resonates so much. I had to distance myself from some of my peers in my fullstack program because they would cheat or take the lazy way out through our projects. If it’s one thing programming has taught me is grit. You need a lot to be successful.

All jobs are glamorous if you are good enough. Great video. As a self taught guy myself, i definitely agree with many parts of this video. Especially the learning new things and running into barriers (going on 12 years myself)

Man the sheer amount of honesty in this video touched me to the core!. you are right I need to work on my skills more. Thanks.

0:43 the kind of room and setup I want!!!......So happy to ser you grow..... started from the bottom now we here......I was among the first 5 subscribers...now we at a family of 25k..... Let's go!!!!!!.....it will soon be a million

Good video! I've started learning coding at age of 35, combining with regular job. It was very hard and demanding, but after ~1 year I was lucky to get my job as a developer, but still learning new things almost every day. If you are in the beginning or middle of this path, don't give up, you can do it!

Great perspective, Dorian. Appreciate this

Thanks buddy you always keep me pushing

Hard but worthwhile

I got my first job as a programmer when I was 31 years old, 10 years ago. Self taught, I still struggle in technical interviews although I've worked as a senior and lead dev for many years.

Thanks man. Your videos are helping me a lot on my path.

this is a great video as someone whos currently learning to code. its like a motivational video thank you!

Programmer with just under 15 years of experience checking in. Your advice seems pretty sound to me overall. I just want to underscore your point about CRUD applications being boring after a certain point in time. I hit that point because I realized I prefer more specialized domains but my earning potential was higher by staying in web dev - so here I am still building CRUD apps and saving up cash for . Figuring out where you want to go and how to get there while keeping in mind what the job market wants is no small task. But everyone should be keeping that in the back of their mind, at least after they land their first job (imo, it's a pretty big shift between those two mindsets)

I'm a self taught one either and for the first one and a half year I was closed anything but to practicing code. I practiced averagely ten hours a day and all week. Then I could barely hired by a digital agency as a front end developer. It's hard man I can just say that, if you want to be a self thought, be aware of that. I did it in 2013 so today it's harder than before to get hired.

Once you get Sciatica you know you nailed it !

Thanks for making it real, and reminding us that it isn't just us struggling when claims like in YT videos misguide you into believing it is quick and easy. And realizing this, inspires us to press on amid the difficulties.

Great video. I was trying to jump on this self-taught path but after I stop coding for 2.5 months, I kinda lost my motivation. I still sit in front of my laptop when I have time but will mostly wander somewhere else after awhile. It feels so much better before I took my break but now I kinda lose it. Can you give me some tips on how can I get my game back? Thanks

I've been learning by myself how to code for a year and a half. Now I've been employed as a dev in a software company for a year. It's hard. It's very damn hard, every day, ever second. But I hope it will get easier by time, eventually.

Needed to hear this today, thanks bud

Thank you for being honest and real about it. Your channel is great!

everybody in my bootcamp that got a job immediately afterwards cheated their way through and most ended up getting found out later. that's another thing to keep in mind, the people who seem like they are WAY ahead of you might have taken a ton of shortcuts, because many of them have.

It's so nice to still see some honesty words on KZfaq. We highly appreciate that! Tks a lot.

awesome... you spoke my mind clear and loud thanks for the video

I'm with you man. It is hard always mentally and phisically. And this "become programmer in 4 weeks and after that all sunshine and rainbows". This overhype is total BS.

I've even trying to be a web dev for 13 years. I have an AA in web development and programming. I work in a warehouse... So this video is super real and if I can add some advice from my failure - you have to be consistent and it's exhausting. I've let like 3 domain portfolios go as well as probably about a dozen of projects. Even if it's just about an hour a day towards learning/practicing/researching, make the most of that hour.

Great Advice you always drop the fire knowledge.

honest video! Managing frustration is the biggest challenge.

Yeah, coding professionally can take some of the joy out of it. I try to keep coding exciting by always having a side project.

As a self-taught programmer working with Java/Spring Boot/Angular, I can say, Sir, you're right on a spot! I've started to learn programming with 39, with a full-time job and two kids on my back. I'm 42 yo now, and I work as a programmer for the last 10 months. It's a nice job, that makes you cry out of despair every now and then.

Thanks for your honesty. I am a fresh software engineering graduate and I am still getting into web and mobile development. It's been a year for me coding and learning web/mobile dev (not full time tho) but what I learned from your video is to set my goals higher! I already love programming and every single detail in software. Again, thank you for being honest, not like the others trying to sell people products or make them the products. Liked and subscribed to your channel! Keep your honesty and your good work! Good luck to you!

I just started learning to code,..This WEEK. *Send help* these are motivational words. Thanks Dorian. I'll be sharing my devlogs on my channel(for self-motivation)

I started out at a consultant company that believed anyone could learn to write code. There was a 20 week fast-paced "cycle", and upon graduating, you would be a full-time developer for that consultant company... My "cycle" started with 16 people. Only 6 graduated. Of those 6, only 2 are still employed as a developer today, myself, and one other. The one other is now working as a front-end developer for Microsoft, while I'm working on starting my own software business. That was 2013. Development is hard work and definitely not for everybody. If it were easy, all 16 would have graduated and would still be developers today.

For a lot of people, learning programming will be like quitting smoking, becoming celibate, and going full vegan all at the same time. It is that hard. Code boot camps want to sell you the supposed magic that makes it easy. It is not easy and they have every incentive to lie to you about it being easy. Programming well is the Dark Souls/Bloodborne of life. So if that appeals, go for it!

Good on you brother for sharing your journey with honesty and sincerity!

thanks for your channel, just found this at my start, best advices i have heard so far

Do you think one can get a part time remote job as a jr developer? Like 4 hrs a day?

2years into the job and I’m still a junior which is fine but it does take it’s toll cause you sometimes believe you are better than you think and everything you said is exactly what happened to me, it’s brutal.. and once I started working in a job for the first time it was the most stressful experience of my life! But I still love it! Hang in there everybody!

Thank you. This video came from nowhere/recommendations and it was really helpful to make me understand how things could be if I'd stay on this path. I want to learn how to code, I don't know a shit because I've been always more interested in hardware than software but the need is there. So this will be a hard and long path I guess. Greeting from Mexico.

Thank you! Needed this!

Hey Dorian, I'm the first commenter (maybe). this is amazing content, thanks for sharing, really appreciate your effort. I need advice from you, and that is. how can I feel that I'm ready for job apply? I'm a self-taught react developer. could you please help me out?

Been coding for for 15 years now, started life late in life. I decided I waned to learn and had the opportunity to do it so i did a degree in software engineering. It's a decision I often regret. I got a job in a big multinational that is populated with young fanatics who are brainwashed to think the company is the most important thing in the world and think you're weird for treating your job like a job and not a lifestyle. It's like working in a cult. When I was young, coding was a black art done by the elite geeks who made serious money. Now they are developing AI assisted IDEs to make everything easier. They're even teaching kids in school to code so that when they hit the market the money will drop out of programming and these kids will become the equivalent of "building laborers" in terms of pay and conditions. Speaking of pay it's not all people say it is, the company I work for outsources a lot of its work to cheaper countries with the constant threat of layoffs here to keep the workers inline and grateful to have a job. Last week HR sent out a link to a website telling people how it's three times harder for people over 50 to get a job, that's me then. Interesting fact, in the 15 years I'm in the company I've seen only one person make retirement age. The rest got made redundant. I've never seen an industry so hell bent on making itself redundant, automation and AI is the new thing. So people can be "freed up" to do other things is the sales pitch but you can also free them up to leave. As for the five interview thing, if a company is so full of itself that it requires 5 interviews walk away! It will be hell to work in! Software engineers are at fault here, we do the 5 interviews! We waste 5 hours of our lives in the hopes we can work in some hell hole sold as a shining example of a "great place to work". We should just walk away then they'd have no choice but to limit them. but we don't. The propaganda these companies go on with is crazy. "Look we have videos games and a pool table" - touch them and your marked for getting fired. It's not all it's sold as.

This was brilliant to hear!! Other you tubers touch on this but haven't talked about it in depth. I'm currently learning CSS and HTML. I find it hard to absorb and when I execute what I have learned I have to refer back to previous lessons!! It's really frustrating , I want to practice more but I don't have the time because of work. My current job is self taught and that too was extremely difficult to learn and was a similar experience to what you have explained here. I really appreciate the honesty of this video!! Thank you for removing the "Rose tinted glasses" I always thought it all seemed a bit to glossy!! great video and channel 👏👏👏👏👏

Hi, Self taught programmer and programming team leader of 10 years now. That's what i love about this profession, it'll always be challenging to some extent, and that's great :) Keep at it!

I try to learn. But I procrastinate.I enjoy when I figure out problems. Sitting and looking at screen is not problem, more like I don't do what I should. I know that I should block everything and focus. Atop.of that I have parents on my head, that constantly telling me that "you are addicted". It makes it harder. But I feel it is stuff I can do and enjoy. At least more than any low skill job I can take now. I know my problems and I know I need to fight them. And I know it takes time and work.