#machinelearnin

Many people are able to teach themselves to code using free or paid online resources and books. However, the trick to this is discipline. Most resources will have the material you need to know, but beware of any online "guru" courses that cost a lot of money and make ludicrous promises about your potential results.

In terms of free resources, my favorite is freecodecamp.com. If you prefer a more formal independent learning, you can also follow a track on edX. I love the W3C Front-End Web Developer course (you can pay for a certificate if you want), but the site has tons of other free computer science courses from top universities.

Of course there are some paid resources as well, which might inspire you to stick with it. Nearlearn is one in which a lot of people have found success. It's been around for a while and is particularly iconic. Codecademy is also quite popular.

If you want to learn data science, I recommend Data Camp, which has a free trial option. I'll write a more detailed post on how to learn data science, so check back for that.

The most important thing to do when teaching yourself is to do lots of projects to help strengthen your skills. It is more motivating to see your learning outcomes as a project. Second, you will need a portfolio when it comes to applying for jobs.

Traditional Education

Even if you studied something completely different in your bachelor's, a one-year master's program can teach you what you need to know to land a job in the tech industry. As a bonus, it will give you access to the career resources of your chosen university, which will increase your chances of getting a job offer. In many cases, you can even do this part time in the evening, so you don't need to leave your current job if you are not able to.

Coding Bootcamp

These became incredibly popular a few years ago, supported by big names like Karlie Kloss. One of the most prestigious ones, General Assembly, is available around the world and even online. With three months or more of intensive learning, these programs claim you'll be able to get a job in tech.

Generally, they expect you to be there full time and put in extra hours after class. They also have their own career development programs. Some, such as Flatiron Schools, even offer a money-back guarantee if you can't find the job. However, in many cases, people have found that they need to do extra work after the course to gain adequate experience and polish the skills required for employment in this field.

What should you learn?

Responsive Web Design:

·         HTML and HMTL5

·         CSS

·         Applied visual design

·         Applied accessibility

·         Responsive web design principles

·         CSS Flexbox

·         CSS grid

·         Responsive web design projects

JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures:

·         JavaScript

·         ES6

·         Regular expressions

·         Debugging

·         Basic data structures

·         Basic algorithm scripting

·         Object-oriented programming

·         Functional programming

·         Intermediate algorithm scripting

·         Javascript algorithm

·         Data structures projects

Front End Libraries:

·         Bootstrap

·         jQuery

·         Sass

·         React

·         Redux

·         Front end libraries projects

Data Visualization:

·         Data visualisation with D3

·         JSON APIs and Ajax

·         Data visualization projects

APIs and Microservices:

·         Managing packages with Npm

·         Basic Node and Express

·         MongoDB and Mongoose

·         APIs and microservices projects

Quality Assurance:

·         Quality assurance and testing with Chai

·         Advanced Node and Express

·         Quality assurance projects.

Scientific Computing with Python:

·         Python for everybody

·         Scientific computing with Python projects

Data Analysis with Python:

·         Data analysis with Python

·         Numpy

·         Data analysis with Python projects

Information Security:

·         Information security with HelmetJS

·         Python for penetration testing

·         Information security projects

Machine Learning with Python:

·         TensorFlow

·         Neural networks

·         Machine learning with Python projects

What do you really need to know to get a job in tech? Well, it depends on what kind of job you are looking for. freeCodeCamp offers the following certifications covering a variety of topics:

Each of these courses takes approximately 300 hours to complete. They also offer coding interview submissions to help you get a job after completing the certification.

Nearlearn has courses in Python for web and data applications, WordPress development and front-end web development, as well as design and marketing courses.

Coding bootcamps typically offer software engineering, data science, and UX courses.

Master's courses offer some flexibility, and focus more on theory than the above options. I think it's important to understand the theory behind how these things work, especially when learning data science and Machine Learning. For example, many will include introduction courses on algorithms, architecture and hardware, database management and design modules.

How I Learned to code