Ask HN: Bio degree going into programming, advice?

[yoamro]

I'll try to keep it short and sweet. I was a bio major in undergrad and just finished a masters in Medical Physiology. I've always been interested in programming and I've decided to go in that path in the hopes of working for a company. I've been learning at a rapid rate and and am mostly interested working in iOS development in the biomedical field. Assuming I build a strong portfolio, will I be able to get the positions I want without a formal CS degree? I also would love any steps/resources you suggest would help me in this journey!

[tetonraven]

Yes! I never got a CS degree (or any degree, actually) and I've been professional programmer for more than 20 years. I've also been in the position of interviewing/hiring developers and never paid any attention to degrees. I think it's more about what you can do (or have done) and the way you approach development; a curiosity for continuous learning and improvement is way better than a degree. That said, I'm not too current on getting into the field but there is a lot of demand right now and if you can use personal learning (or a bootcamp sort of thing) plus demonstrated work to get your foot in the door, you're on your way. Good luck!

[Nelkins]

My major was in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and I've been working as a programmer in NYC since I graduated (May 2013). I took a few programming courses in college but don't have a formal academic CS credential.

My experience has been that once you get your foot in the door, your degree doesn't matter. I got my first job on Craigslist. It was a shitty work environment and paid 45k (which in NYC ain't much), but I needed experience (and proof of income to move out of my mother's one bedroom, ha). Fast forward to today, I've just received an offer from a fast growing startup for 120k. Compared to what the best folks in NYC are making it's not that high, but not bad considering where I started.

My advice is that while things will be a bit harder in the beginning, staying hungry and ambitious and doing your best to constantly learn will have you quickly outpacing those who don't have the same level of drive. My policy at the jobs I've held has been to volunteer for every single task that I can. I don't even think about it anymore; if there is something that needs doing late at night or on a weekend, I just say yes. I probably don't need to do this as much anymore, but I think it helped me seem more useful when I started, especially since in the beginning there were pretty big gaps in my CS knowledge. Between that and reading Hacker News obsessively I've become the go-to guy for many projects (seriously, I attribute a significant amount of my career success to reading about new technologies on HN).

Also, for what it's worth, I don't have any kind of public portfolio and I've never had anyone ask for one. I'm sure it couldn't hurt though.

Good luck!

[aburan28]

If you live on the West Coast having domain knowledge from biological sciences/genetics background is advantageous. Not so advantageous on the East Coast/Washington DC area from personal experience

[humbleMouse]

Apply to big healthcare companies. They will highly value your domain knowledge and you could probably get a dev job just having your degree.

[tetonraven]

Oh. And definitely bringing that domain knowledge (medical) is an advantage to getting into your first programming gig.