This article is aimed especially at those who are considering learning programming because they've heard a lot about programmers earning 15k, young tech geniuses, that a good programmer must be a math prodigy, the idyllic life of remote work, and so on.
In reality, it's all these myths that may be holding you back from trying and starting to learn.
I hope to dispel any doubts 😉.
I'll be earning 15k+ right from the start
This is one of the most repeated myths for people who know a programmer who earns 15k.
Well, okay, the truth is that in almost every industry, if you have experience and are a specialist, you can also earn that much.
At the beginning, you need to expect much lower salaries, and for juniors, these are usually amounts ranging from 2.5 to a maximum of 5 thousand.
In reality, it all depends on your skills and the value you bring to the employer.
It’s a fact that in the IT industry, you can advance quickly, which translates into higher pay.
According to the "IT Job Market in Poland in 2020" report published by No Fluff Jobs, the average salary ranges from 13-18k PLN net for B2B contracts and 9.5-14k PLN gross for employment contracts.
*** For juniors, the average salary ranges: 4000 – 7000 net for B2B and 4000 - 6200 for employment contracts.
As you can see, juniors earn decent money too, and with the acquisition of knowledge and skills, salaries increase rapidly.
In my opinion, this is a very fair approach, and I also like that in the IT industry, salary ranges are often listed in job offers.
You're too old to learn programming
Nonsense – there are many examples of people who decided to switch careers after many years in their own field.
During various courses, I’ve personally encountered people who are much older than me and are also learning programming.
In reality, it’s never too late to learn programming – it’s all about your mindset, motivation, and dedicating enough time to understand various concepts, syntax, principles, and more.
But, like anything else, small steps will get you to your goal.
More and more often, we hear about people who decided to retrain after 30 or 40. Often, these were people from completely non-technical industries. I myself come from a military background, and now I want to become a programmer.
Does age really matter? When you go to a specialist, do you ask them their age? No, you just need the knowledge, skills, and projects to showcase, and then you’ll get the job.
I need to be good at math to become a programmer
I think this myth simply comes from a lack of knowledge and maybe not the best memories from school desks or IT classes.
In reality, from what I know, in high-level languages, logic and algebra are usually sufficient. The rest is really just logical thinking and problem-solving.
It all really depends on what you will be doing. If you want to develop games, then I think this myth might be somewhat true.
However, when it comes to creating web applications, websites, and many other things, you don’t need to be a math genius – you’ll manage.
After all, that’s what Stack Overflow and plugins/add-ons to make work easier are for.
You need a computer science degree to become a programmer
There’s a common belief that you need a degree, preferably a master’s, to become a programmer.
Certainly, it looks good on a resume, but it’s not the deciding factor in whether you’ll become a programmer.
There are companies that state this requirement in their job postings, but for most, it doesn’t matter because, as I’ve mentioned before, the most important thing is your skills.
Put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter – would you choose someone with an impressive portfolio, a lot of knowledge, and skills but no degree, or a candidate who just drifted through university, finished it, but has nothing else to show?
For me, it’s clear. Of course, the best case is to graduate from a reputable university, have high qualifications, and have many projects on GitHub.
I believe that if you’re reading this, you probably didn’t study computer science, so don’t worry, just keep learning and doing your thing.
If you need proof, search online – there are plenty of examples. Bootcamp companies are masters at showing that "they can turn anyone into a programmer in six months" – more on that later.
Finishing a course is enough to get a job in IT
And this brings us to another extreme – the belief that completing a course will magically land you a job.
Once again, it's all about skills – do you think that after just skimming through a topic, anyone would pay you for your lack of skills? Of course not.
There's no way you can acquire all the necessary knowledge for a specific position that fast. For some, it takes half a year, for others three years, but I think you know what it depends on – COMMITMENT.
If one person studies for 3 years at 5 hours a week, and another studies for 10 hours a day for half a year, as you can see, the numbers speak for themselves. Although, in my opinion, learning in less than a year is an amazing achievement.
Don’t believe the Bootcamp headlines promising a job after a half-year course costing "only" 12k. If you have the means and the course seems promising, go ahead. In my opinion, it can be done cheaper, but who’s to stop the wealthy?
Focus on learning – the more time and effort you put in, the sooner you’ll achieve your goal of landing your first job.
Programming is a job only for men
It’s true that men dominate this field, but there are also many women who are excellent programmers.
It’s easy to notice that I’m addressing you in a masculine form because men are the majority, and I’m writing as if I’m talking to a buddy.
If you’re a woman and wondering whether to start learning programming because it’s a "man’s job," let me correct that misconception right now.
Look at sites like wake up and code run by Joanna Otmianowska, where she shares her thoughts, knowledge, and shows that women excel in this field.
Another place worth visiting is a blog run by Rita Łyczywek, flynerd.
There are many other female coders sharing their experiences – just search online.
Don’t look for excuses; these women show that it’s possible – take them as an example.
You need to find the perfect programming language to succeed
Very often, people who want to start learning programming ask the famous question.
Which programming language should I choose? Or which programming language should I learn first?
The truth is, there is no perfect language, and there are many programmers who started with one language and now work with completely different ones, and that’s common.
The reality is that the choice of your first language doesn’t decide anything because it’s about learning how to program, not just the syntax of a specific language.
When you learn programming, you learn to think in a certain way.
Once you understand what variables are, how loops work, functions... then when you want to switch to a new language, sure, it’ll take some time, but you’ll already know the concepts, and you’ll just have to learn the syntax.
Comparing learning a programming language to learning a foreign language: vocabulary = syntax. That’s only a part of the language. When learning a language, you learn grammar and various rules, and it’s the same in programming languages.
Once you grasp the general concepts, learning the next language won’t be as hard as learning the first because you already understand the overall "grammar" – it’s just about learning the specifics of the new language and the syntax.
In my opinion, it’s worth starting – I chose Python but quickly switched to the typical frontend path of HTML, CSS, and JS... and in the future, I want to learn other languages.
If you think you need to find the one language, below are some suggestions:
- Marcin Lasota’s project Which Programming Language
- An article on FreeCodeCamp titled "What Programming Language Should I Learn First in 2021? [Solved]" with the famous programming languages map.
Once you learn something, you’ll be making that dream 15k
The IT industry, like many others, requires continuous learning and expanding your skills.
In this industry, progress is so rapid that what was relevant a few years ago is now an outdated technology being phased out.
Of course, this isn’t the case everywhere, but for example, in the world of Frontend or the entire browser/Internet ecosystem, this dynamism is noticeable, and if you want to be good at what you do, you need to be ready for continuous learning and gaining new knowledge.
Think about which doctor you’d go to if you had a specific issue: the one who attends conferences, does specializations, earns certifications, and is a respected expert in the field, or the one who just finished medical school and stopped learning?
If you think you’ve mastered a language or technology, you’ll soon realize how much more there is to learn.
If you want to delve into psychology a bit, look up the Dunning-Kruger effect. In short, people who know little think they know everything, while experts tend to underestimate their skills because they’re aware of how much more there is to learn.
Summary
As you can see, there are many myths surrounding programming that might be holding you back.
In this post, I wanted to address most of these negative ones and inspire you to start learning.
Sometimes you just have to do what Nike’s motto says: "Just
Do It" – don’t overthink it because that won’t bring you any closer to landing your first job.
You already know that success largely depends on you, so all that’s left is to wish you persistence and consistency in learning programming 😉.
