The Mindsets You Need To Change If You Are Looking For A Mid Career Change As A Software Developer
I am into week five of my 26 weeks SkillsFuture funder Java course and I have noticed some of the senior adult learners have challenges catching up with the course.
I am not that surprised as when I was interviewed for acceptance from the course, all they did was asked if I was using a Windows PC.
If you are quite senior and looking at a mid career change into software development by starting on a programming course, here are some tips to help you understand the mindsets you need to change when attending such courses.
Stop Saving All Your Files On The Desktop
If you have been saving all your file on the desktop in your non-developer career, you should look to stop this habit.
Before starting on the course, spend some time to understand the file management system, be it for Windows or MacOS, as you will be saving lots of small working files as you learn software development.
During this course, there were a few senior learners struggling with saving files in a proper file management system. One had two user folders with the same name. After downloading the file, the senior trainee will then complain why the file cannot be found even though it was in the download folder. After spending 15 to 30 mins of the course time, we found out that it was in the download folder of a different user of the same name.
Don't Save Your File In All Caps With Spaces
Saving files in all caps with spaces will really show how senior age-wise you are. While this format might help you understand the file, since it is your own file saving system, the spaces and caps will be a problem when you do server side programming.
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During the begining of the course, this may not be an issue as you are working off the local host on your PC/laptop, but once you do server side programming, you are going to have a big heading with the spaces.
It Is Ok Not To Have Okay Code For First To The Nth time
This is the biggest challenge with senior adult learners. During the course, it is quite noticable that a few of them are looking to get the same exact code with the instructor as the instrutor is explaining and demostrating how that line of code works.
They rush to copy and paste, often ignoring the most important part of how the code works, or even not thinking through the code structure.
Even after we have finished the first part introduction to web development using HTML5, Javascript and CSS, it can be identified that some of the senior learners still do not know the difference between <head> and <body> in html, and why you can only put CSS in <head>.
However, the most important skill as a programmer is debug your own code errors. One of the common errors is a missing closed bracket or a missing semicolon. In modern day IDEs, this could with a curly underscore to show what you are missing. Or you could look at the browser console to identify javascript errors
By learning how to find your own coding errors will only make you a better programmer.
For the non-Singaporen readers, the SkillsFuture I mentioned earlier is a Singapore movement that provides opportunities for all Singaporeans to develop to their fullest potential at different stages of their lives. Each adult Singaporean above 21 is given SkillsFuture credits that offsets the full amount of the training course.
Aaron, having read this, it really inspired and pushed me to go further in my career transition phase! I am inspired and motivated further! What i can say is, i admire you for making such a move as it is really not easy... harder than most things you could go through in life! I myself am in the middle of such a career transition (into software development).