今日推薦開源項目：《操作系統 SerenityOS》
今日推薦英文原文：《Why Self-Taught Programmers Should Not Have a Minority Complex》
今日推薦開源項目：《操作系統 SerenityOS》傳送門：項目鏈接
推薦理由：Serenity 是一個圖形化的類 Unix 操作系統。界面設計十分復古，結合了1990年代計算機設計的美學和21世紀計算機的高效率。
今日推薦英文原文：《Why Self-Taught Programmers Should Not Have a Minority Complex》作者：
原文鏈接：https://medium.com/better-programming/why-self-taught-programmers-should-not-have-a-minority-complex-e9d95b14d8d9
推薦理由：自學編程也有其優勢，很多時候能力比學歷更重要。
Why Self-Taught Programmers Should Not Have a Minority Complex
Skills and motivation do a better job than certificates
The demarcation line between the self-taught folks and 「normal」 programmers with a degree became slightly discriminating. This article encourages the former ones to raise their heads and wear that self-taught title with pride.The perceived lack of theoretical knowledge behind the programming languages is often seen as a disadvantage and hindrance for a developer career. Where does the bias come from? Most probably, it originates from the conviction that each developer career must have a software architect title as an ultimate goal. Having said that, I am not saying that a self-taught coder can never become an architect, but just that it is not true that every developer has to become the highest-ranked visionary.
Some people just want to stay craftspeople and get better and better with every small figurine that they finish. The hindrance does not exist. As a self-taught programmer, you are valuable.
You Have Proven That:
You can learn
It is difficult not to say all these banalities about developer career being a rapidly changing occupation with a lot of learning that you have to be ready for to simply pursue this career path.Technologies that were innovations just a couple of years ago — are legacies nowadays or disappeared without leaving any considerable hints. But to bridge these couple of years, a developer has to pick up new things quickly.
Who dares to say that you can』t do that?
You do not need supervision
Neither at work nor in learning. You have been your own mentor, supervisor, teacher, and professor. You have selected your learning materials and composed your learning plan all by yourself.You did not need faculty to remind you about exams and term papers. OK, you did not have to write any either, but still. Practicing and your first job was your toughest exams, and you passed them successfully.
You have inner motivation
As you were still learning to code, you did not need a tutor to remind you about your homework. Experienced headhunters working for clients who value good programmers will keep that in mind.Indeed, a university degree means a lot of past work and motivation, too. But university students are given tutors, schedules, plans, ideas, literature lists, library accesses, PowerPoint slides, etc.
You managed to break through without it all. Be proud of yourself.
You never confuse working hard with expecting too much
Companies tend to use pathetic wordings in their job announcements stating that they only accept strategically thinking developers (i.e. developers with a lot of architecture-related knowledge). But in reality, each company needs people who just get the work done without radiating with ambition.Besides, in many practical situations, working under pressure means an ability to turn off the strategic perspective and just fix a bug here and now. Although a lot of bug fixing may be a sign of bad architecture, strategical thinking and perfectionism often blur and prevent good developers from working toward a big result in small and calculable steps.
The Rise of Microservices
It is another good reason to be a self-taught programmer. More and more enterprises turn their backs to allrounder platforms — as they have proven to require a lot of customization to align with the needs of one particular company.Instead, enterprises rely on agile architectures consisting of many smaller one-purpose components. And since developer jobs still outnumber the candidates, this may be a perfect niche for self-taught coders.
A 「real」 developer may feel claustrophobic working on a restrained microservice application. For a self-taught person, it will be easier to focus on it without worrying too much about the bigger picture. The microservices can talk with each other freely without creating any mutual influence. This fact allows the isolated development of single mini-applications. But each microservice must do a good job. For this, we need developers and coders that can feel comfortable with short-term tactical tasks.
Become an Entrepreneur
If you still feel that headhunters or graduated colleagues watch you down, just fire your boss. Only really bad developers are left without a job these days. Freelancing platforms barely ask you about your study certificate. Neither do customers that you will find through agencies mediating temporary project workers and employers.And if you do a good job, the word will spread about it.
Alternatively, consider working with other self-taught programmers. People tend to think about entrepreneurship as a rare miracle, but, although it is not easy, being a businessperson is just another job.
Go and Get a Damned Certificate
Many platforms offer their own certifications. AWS ones are the hottest now. More niche platforms, for instance, Salesforce, have certificates and exams matched with different career stages and more narrow job profiles. Some platforms provide exhaustive free learning materials in all possible forms — written, visual, quizzes, and other fun things — to make their certifications more doable and attractive.AWS and other big players become closed universes, and to enter one, a very specific skill set is required. Their certifications start to play an even more significant role for intermediate career stages than university degrees.
An Afterward: Find People Who Trust You
Personally, I have met a lot of people who did not trust my expertise, and there always seemed to be a thousand reasons for this: self-taught, female, Russian, too young, etc. At one particular moment, I stopped to look for the reason inside myself.But before it happened, I used to explain that my coding experience comes from the university, although I mostly learned it by myself. Later in my career, I met people who did not drill into my way of acquiring knowledge but simply trusted my results.
I regret that I used to focus too much on legitimizing my skills rather than building more connections to those colleagues who did not need any formalized proof.
Today I am strongly convinced that a certificate or its absence should not mark us as insiders or outsiders.
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