Is it worth dropping -almost- everything to code?

[AT-LOWDeSu]

I guess the question i'm asking is if I spent 8+ hours every day going from a fairly low level of programming to a presumably high level-- would 3ish months be enough to land a basic programming job? Or is school really the only way to get there?



Notes:



1- I don't plan on dropping out of school or skipping it. I recognize that in the long term school is the best solution. But I currently live with family and have some time to focus on Work/Programming, and for financial reasons school isn't 100% possible atm. So since i've already got an off semester, I thought this might be a worthy way of spending it.



2- I don't expect it to carry me all the way. I'm mostly looking for an in to the industry and a way out of working at Best-Buy making very basic pay with basic benefits. Something more 'livable' if you may.



Second Question: If you do think it's a reasonable idea to drop games/recreation, standard studies and many social activities for a period of time to get a jump into the programming world-- what do you think my focus should be on?



I'm thinking Python, Java, HTML, CSS, Javascript and possibly some C++ or Swift. (Maybe Flutter or Kotlin?). I'd also need to learn a bit of Lisp/Scheme. (Mainly for exploring algorithms).



But i'm also worried about learning more about the CS basics. Should I focus more on the straight coding, or more on learning about networks and other parts of the industry? I'm afraid I won't be prepared for some of the other details.



Of course another big thing will be learning the algorithms. I've got a subscription to Brilliant.org which covers a lot of algorithms and computer science fundamentals, a subscription to https://www.algoexpert.io/questions which covers 65 major interview questions (basically efficiency/sorting/algorithm practice) and SICP. (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.)



Edit: Looking at most of the job descriptions they all ask for BA or MA's. But I always through programming was different. Is it just to scare away unqualified employees? Or will they actually cut someone if they don't have the degree, even if their understanding of the code/past projects shows they know their stuff?

 

[Oypoui]

Why don't you start by a side project ? You don't need to drop anything at the beginning.
Just need to find an idea.

To improve efficiently, you could trade some of your playing games time on building projects time.
Coding is quite fun so you might enjoy it as much as playing games.
It is too radical to just drop your relaxing time playing games. It is just a matter of control.

I consider programming as a skill / tool to build things.
So what you learn in school will probably help you to build great solution.

I am certain you will get a job with your degree and your projects.

 

[FAST6191]

Must have missed this at the time.

As far as getting a job, or paid as the case may be.

3 months of PHP? Sure. Probably not going to be making the next great CMS with that but plugins for those and custom installs for people, as well as smaller custom scripts and sites, maybe even a migration or two. Absolutely.

3 months of Java? If you are good or otherwise have a reasonable grounding I can see something happen.

3 months of assembly or C? Probably not so much unless you have some serious grounding and some savant like skills. It would be more plausible for electronics and control systems than more hardcore areas as they are usually quite basic, people often have basic needs and won't require super hardcore maths most of the time (not that regular programming really does).

Job adverts are one way to go. Another is those small gig websites, such a thing will allow you to make a decent portfolio which is probably of far more value in the end. There are also qualifications you can take, though programming can be a bit more tricky than network hardware or OS installation/deployment type things. You can go the other way and solve problems for people -- everybody uses computers and most people don't have anything resembling a custom solution to their problems. Some people will do bootcamps but many of those are "take your money and give you some paper" setups so look into things.
Degrees themselves... I think that Google quite famously making their employees take a C test before they are allowed to play says most of what I would care to there, even more famously including the inventor of the C language ( https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/21/ken_thompson_take_our_test/ ).
Most listings will probably still try to have such a thing as a requirement and I can't say it won't make some things a bit easier but it is usually quite easy to tell if something is being done, and most people won't be able to tell bad coding. Please don't be one of the people that makes bad code that I have to fight with after you moved on to others though -- make it reasonably scaleable, variables where there might be use for them and otherwise make clean code (it has been said that any comment is an admission that the code it covers is not clean/obvious). Similarly take a bit of time to drum in security into your head -- why we use salt and hash things for passwords, the nature of types, why we limit/constrain/sanity check things, to always consider where the data is being manipulated...

Further exception. If my accountant could write some python (that is to say someone with another useful skill set) then that is a whole different thing, and for the sake of accountants out there VBA macros don't count. This is seemingly not where you are coming from though.