Everywhere you turn, people are looking for coders. In offices and boardrooms, at your neighborhood bar, and around the family table, people have ideas wanting to become websites, data needing to be analyzed, and processes waiting to turn into a mobile app. Building a product requires many people — including designers, product managers, marketers, and content creators — but finding coders is always at the top of everyone’s list because they are so scarce.

On the supply side of the equation, learning to code and then getting a job can feel overwhelming. However, there have never been more ways to learn how to code, including on your own, in school, at a coding boot camp, and on the job. And companies of every size and type are hiring developers.

Getting a Coding Job For Dummies will help you make sense of all the options and show you ways to get that first coding job.

About This Book

This book is designed for the person with little to no experience with coding jobs. In plain English, you discover why coding jobs are so popular, which technologies to use when coding, ways to learn coding, and how to launch your career. The topics covered include the following:

• How coding became such a hot topic and big industry
• Types of coding jobs
• Options for learning to code, including coding boot camps
• Coding technologies used to build websites, analyze data, and create mobile apps
• Building a portfolio and a network
• Interviewing your way into your first coding job

As you read the book, keep the following in mind:

• Skip around as much as you like. The book can be read from beginning to end, but if a topic interests you, start there.
• At some point, you will have questions or something will not make sense. Do not fear! Many resources are available to help, including support forums, free tutorial websites, others on the Internet, and me! Using Twitter, you can send a public message to me at @nikhilgabraham.

Foolish Assumptions

I do not make many assumptions about you, the reader, but I do make a few.

You do not need to have previous programming experience. In this regard, you need to be able to read, type, and follow directions. I explain as many concepts as possible by using examples and analogies you already know.

Before trying to get a coding job, you will spend some time learning how to code. Chapter 5 shows you some basic code examples, and Part III outlines options and resources for learning how to code in greater depth. If you don’t have any coding knowledge, keep in mind that it will take at least a few months to learn enough to be able to get a coding job.

You’ll need a computer running the latest version of Google Chrome if you want to complete the coding examples. Chrome is a free browser and the examples in the book and in the external resources have been tested and optimized for the Chrome browser, although they may also work in latest version of Firefox. Using Internet Explorer when learning to code is discouraged because its support for coding languages varies and it doesn’t always work as expected.

I assume that you have access to an Internet connection. You can read almost all the book without an Internet connection, but you need an Internet connection to access external learn-to-code resources, such as the Codecademy website. Many listed resources are free and can be used without downloading or installing anything.

Icons Used in This Book

Here are the icons used in the book to flag text that should be given extra attention or that can be skipped.

This icon indicates useful information or explains a shortcut to help you understand a concept.

This icon explains technical details about the concept being explained. The details might be informative or interesting but are not essential to your understanding of the concept at this stage.

This icon marks a concept that likely has been explained before. It’s flagged to reinforce what you’ve already learned.

Watch out! This icon indicates common mistakes and problems that can be avoided if you heed the warning.

Beyond the Book

Online resources are available in addition to the ones in this book:

• Cheat sheet: Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/gettingacodingjob for tips while job searching and during your interviews.
• Extras: Additional articles with extra content are posted for roughly each section of the book. You can access this additional material by visiting www.dummies.com/extras/gettingacodingjob .
• Updates: You can find any updates or corrections by visiting www.dummies.com/extras/gettingacodingjob .

Where to Go from Here

With all the administrative stuff out of the way, it’s time to get started. Remember, you can start at the beginning or jump to whatever section interests you the most. Congratulations on taking your first step to getting a coding job!