There are various ways to get into software development, so it can be hard to know where to even start. Here’s my suggested, general approach:
It is essential to consistently network, and to add code to GitHub as you learn. Even from the first bits of code you write, these can be added to GitHub to practise using GitHub and writing code regularly. Once a bit more familiar with coding and using GitHub, a huge bonus, if possible, would be to learn a bit about how to review code in general and on GitHub, and to get your code reviewed by someone else learning to code, or to review someone’s code on GitHub, and to show that you are able to use GitHub in this way. Code reviews are a big part of software development but are often not covered in college courses.
It’s also essential to get good at using search engines well to find information on anything you are unfamiliar with or get stuck on as you learn - for example, you may search for something like “how to add code to GitHub” if following the above tip and unsure of how to begin. Or you may even want to start with “what is GitHub”.
Springboard is an excellent resource for longer-term college courses (free or you pay 10% of the fee) – generally conversion courses to transition to tech – lots of part-time and online options to facilitate working full-time at the same time - this is how I moved from my languages and customer support background to become a full-time software developer.
CS50 is a brilliant free introduction to computer science from Harvard – most people in my software development diploma supplemented their learning with this and it’s the main course I recommend to people moving to software development (CS50 Understanding Technology is a nice course that could be done first to ease into it from a non-technical background).
Web development is a great topic to study at first if interested in transitioning to software development, and Udemy has loads of great courses which get discounted to about €13 every few days so you can just wait for a sale and sign up at that price.
This is a brilliant starting point for learning software development.
Codecademy is similar to FreeCodeCamp but not all of it is free, so I would not use it as a main resource, however, this sorting quiz is useful for getting an idea of if you’d be suited to becoming a software engineer, UX designer, product owner or project manager, etc.
eCollege has some thorough free courses, e.g. in Java and Python, but also the likes of Photoshop and Microsoft Office – aimed at people working full-time.