Requirements

To follow this path, you must:

• be self-motivated
• know how to learn
• create time to learn
• have a computer and an internet connection
• choose a project to work on
• have a mentor
• hang-out with software engineers

The Objective

Our objective is to get you to one of the following outcomes:

1. you're able to get a job at a good company as an entry-level software engineer, or
2. you've realized that being a software engineer is not for you, without wasting a lot of money

At the end, you'll:

• have a public project on github that showcases your ability to do end-to-end software engineering
• be able to talk like a software engineer
• have end-to-end experience on a software project
• know the tools that software engineers use
• be able to touch-type code at 40+wpm
• have a basic conceptual & theoretical foundation on which to operate
• have industry connections that may help in your job search

Step 1 - Choose a Project, a 'Stack' and find a Support System

• Choose a project - one where you can use the same language on the front-end and back-end. I recommend one of the following:
  • For a web-based project: javascript/node
  • For a mobile app project: android/kotlin
• Choose a mentor - an existing, senior-level engineer who is willing to spend time with you on a weekly basis to review your work and provide guidance
• Make connections - with local & global groups (meetups, etc)
• Get some reading material - a copy of Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Step 2 - "Hello World"

Theory:

• Read and understand the first 3 chapters of Code

Practice:

• Acquire basic familiarity with the tools of the trade
  • git
  • github
  • IDE/Editor
  • Runtime environment
• Get your app working end-to-end
  • "Hello world" backend
  • "Hello world" frontend

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This is a work-in-progress; I've not yet written down the rest of the steps. But it essentially consists of iterating on your project in small, bite-sized chunks, gradually adding-in databases, deployments, project management tools, etc. I plan to get around to writing the rest down someday, but, in the meantime: your mentor should be able to help you with this.