No this is not going to be one of those, ‘I learned computer science in 3–6 months and you can too’ blogs. This is a realistic look at a person going from one career and switching to another. This is my story of how I am learning to code and how college can sometimes truly be a scam. I do want to give a huge shoutout to CodeNewbie for helping me understand that everyone's journey is different and that you can truly pursue a passion at any step of your life. Maybe one day when I’m super famous and stuff I can have my episode on the Podcast ;) .

Intro to College — A Bad Investment

Full disclosure upon graduating with my first degree, I applied and was accepted into Oregon State University’s Computer Science Post bacc which I attended for one summer semester. I had completed Computer Science I and Discrete Mathematics before funding for my work was no longer available. In all honesty, OSU’s program is one way to get into computer science but I realized that like many out there, it’s an expensive route if you don’t have the financial backing for it.

Two Realizations From My First Semester

1. The courses were overly saturated with information that could be easily covered in a weekend’s hackathon or an evening on Youtube.

2. University provides structure, but it is not special. There is more than one way to learn to code!

For anyone who wants to begin their journey, I suggest these great youtube resources (FREE!) that are the equivalent of OSU’s two courses I took. Seriously… I watched these videos and thought to myself… this has to be a joke. You can learn everything from higher education ($4,392.00 per semester approx.) for free online.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc&t=513s — Comp Sci I

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SpuBqvNjHI — Discrete Math

Journey to Developer

Regardless if OSU’s courses are worth it or not, I still need a way to finish my education. I know from my undergraduate degree that classrooms and universities are good ways to learn for some. For me, I truly learn best outside of the classroom at my own pace. I love learning in an environment that is not being controlled by someone else. I love being able to take my time to review material and watch material from more than one person. I enjoy hearing content being taught in more than one way. I am realistically too broke to pay for more courses and or a coding boot camp, so off I go to learn everything from the magical place that is the internet.

It’s been officially three weeks since I left the OSU program, but I wanted to share with everyone my journey. I want to show (through my journey) that you do not need a boot camp or a degree to get into the tech industry. My goal is to be v very transparent, and show everyone my mistakes and understandings as I continue my journey to becoming a software developer!

Review

Although I did give two great videos above, here is a bit of a breakdown of what I learned in university for those that feel that the video may not be enough.

Computer Science I

Language: Python

• basic syntax

• variables, data types, arithmetics, casting

• conditionals (if, else… ) & iteration

• functions

• recursion, classes & objects

• string manipulation & lists

• list, tuples, sets, & dictionaries

• object-orientated programming OOP

Discrete Structures

• Logical Form and Logical Equivalences

• Conditional Statements

• Predicates and Quantified Statements

• Direct Proof and Counterexamples

• Indirect Argument: Contradiction & Classical Theorems

• Set Theory: Definitions & Element Method of Proof

• Properties of Sets and Disproofs, Algebraic Proofs

• Sequences and Summations

• Weak Mathematical Induction

• Strong Mathematical Induction

• Recursive Definitions

• Counting Rules: Multiplication and Addition Rule

• Pigeonhole Principle

• Permutations and Combinations

• Combinations with Repetition

• Graphs

• Handshake Theorem

• Connectedness: Trails, Paths and Circuits

• Shortest Path Algorithm

Computer Science