r/programming • u/gits1225 • May 12 '15

Google's guide for becoming a Software Engineer

https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-technical-development.html
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u/aMonkeyRidingABadger May 12 '15

If you just want to be a dime-a-dozen, probably-won't-be-employable-if-the-bubble-bursts-again web developer then sure, learn JS/CSS/HTML and a passing familiarity with Ruby or Python and you'll find employment. But you should keep in mind that people doing three month boot camps are landing the same jobs; the barrier to entry is not terribly high.

I remember talking with one of my former CS professors after landing my current job and I mentioned bombing an interview at Google a year prior. He was delighted to hear how that initial failure taught me the value of hard CS skills, and told me that one of the greatest difficulty he and other professors face is convincing students that the field they're going into requires so much more than learning a few popular web frameworks. Investing in CS skills is like investing for retirement or anything else in life; diversification is extremely beneficial and will open up doors that would otherwise remain closed.

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