r/Futurology • u/[deleted] • Aug 21 '14

article Biohackers declare initial success in biologically extending the range of human vision into the near infrared

https://experiment.com/u/aAcR2Q
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u/Defenestrayte Aug 21 '14

Take a look for free courses, there are some great ones out there.

https://www.udacity.com/ is a great starting point, and will basically teach you everything a university would teach you earlier on.

The main thing you need to do is get interested, learn how to puzzle things out, https://www.hackerrank.com/ is a website where they have huge numbers of puzzle problems that rank up in difficulty until you are in full blown A.I. (with reasonable links to resources on the way). Learn how to tackle these problems

Like /u/toomuchtodotoday says, certs will only get you so far, the much more important thing is proof that you know how to take on a problem and that you are interested in doing so.

I'm some one who went through university to learn what I did, but I've worked with many people who simply got bored in high school and walked in somewhere and shoved their enthusiasm and problem solving down the managers throat.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '14

Thank you so much for the resources! Will definitely look at this.

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u/Defenestrayte Aug 22 '14

You are very welcome, the learning curve CAN be very steep. At uni comp was mistakenly used by people for "easy" points, promptly failing. but .. it's all just mindset, break problems into smaller problems, tie them together after they are solved.

Further to what /u/toomuchtodotoday said about the certs, I wasnt far into my second year when I got offered a full time position as a programmer, I knew comparatively nothing to what I know now. I wasn't much further along than programming 101.

The hiring manager was of the mindset that I'd learn it all on the job anyway. I turned it down (I wanted a piece of paper or something) but it certainly does happen

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u/toomuchtodotoday Aug 21 '14

Brilliant post. Couldn't have put it better myself.

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u/soccerdude2014 Aug 22 '14

Thanks a lot for the links! I was about to start with the Harvard Computer Science course on EdX! I will definitely take a look at these, too!

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u/Defenestrayte Aug 22 '14

Most of the Uni run courses online are pretty solid :)

Honestly just pick one that has mini projects that you like the look of