Feedback on possible career ideas

[TheRedHare]

Hi all, so I've been trying to think of strategies in order maximize income, become very skilled in a craft, and have autonomy.

For starters, I'll say that I don't want to be a manager of any sort, at least one that doesn't have any technical skills. I find management to be boring and exhausting. This isn't to say that I don't like people or that I'm afraid of hardwork, I just don't want to be a manager.

Seeing how I've gained experience within the software world, I've decided to choose that as my field of expertise. I really enjoy it, like the challenge it brings, and get along with most of the people in the industry.

This brings me to my question: At the moment I have a B.S. in Business Admin and I'm interested in pursuing a duel enrollment of Comp Sci w/ either a masters in Comp Sci or Information Systems. Now, I'm already in a crap ton of student loan debt, so I don't think I'll be doing this anytime soon, but I'm thinking of the long term here. My plan is to try and be an expert programmer, w/ great credentials to market myself as a freelance/ 1099. I'm thinking of being the guy that comes in and builds software for other companies, or as a hired gun to help other projects. I know a few really good programmers who do this, and I would like to do the same. The way I see it, Software doesn't seem to be going anywhere for quite some time, and finding good programmers that also have really good soft skills are very rare and highly valuable. I'm thinking that even after I reach FI, I'll be able to take on jobs that pay well, whenever I want the extra money.

Also, trying to learn programming on my own has been pretty tough, so I'm looking into going to my local technical school and taking a Java Cert in order to network and learn in a structured environment. The cost is about 2k for the program.

I currently work as a Software Support Analyst and I do a mix of QA and System Admin work, but no real programming. The software is built in Java, and a lot of companies still use Java, so I figured it might be a good idea to go ahead and start taking programming classes in Java. Once I have built up my skills enough, and have a good understanding of the product, I figured I could switch into a dev role at work.

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks!

[daylen]

Barely anyone actually programs anymore. They just modify existing code.

[TheRedHare]

Barely anyone actually programs anymore. They just modify existing code.

I mean, this is true. However the last project I worked on was with a team of well seasoned programmers who built an entire use tax system for an accounting company. But yea, I agree, it seems like a vast majority of coders just modify existing code.

Another idea I forgot to mention above is the ability for entrepreneurship, If you make a good enough product you could use it to generate income, or just sell it to someone else.

[Chris]

I'm interested in pursuing a duel enrollment of Comp Sci w/ either a masters in Comp Sci or Information Systems.
I'm already in a crap ton of student loan debt, so I don't think I'll be doing this anytime soon, but I'm thinking of the long term here. My plan is to try and be an expert programmer, w/ great credentials to market myself as a freelance/ 1099.

Not a bad plan.

Why would you pursue another degree? For programming -- and especially for freelancing -- it's results that matter. You can learn by doing. If you are specialized in a particular software pattern or framework, you become valuable. If I were you, I'd grab some books, start fooling around, maybe take an online course or two. See what's hot on Upwork or Topcoder. Have a look at the cookbook style books, so you can learn how things are done the "right way".

[phil]

@TheRedHare, why did you find it tough to learn programming on your own? There are tons of resources for learning Java out there for free (or at the cost of a book purchase) if you could overcome that. Is the certification you mentioned the official one by Oracle (OCP)? As far as I know that is the only generally recognized one. I definitely recommend doing it early on because it gives you a good foundation to build on and it serves as a good test for whether your plan is the right one for you.

Do you think there might be any opportunities at your current employer to (gradually) transition into becoming a programmer? Maybe you could mention it to your manager and who knows.

Barely anyone actually programs anymore. They just modify existing code.

This is an exaggeration. Yes, most programmers work on existing code bases, but it is not as if most of the work consists in replacing individual lines of code by others. New functionality is added, designs are overhauled, etc. Also as RedHare pointed out, there are certainly greenfield projects out there. The better you are, the pickier you can be, so don't be too worried about this.