Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Many people are hung up on their ears." Is it realistic to get a job as a programmer after completing the course?

From copy-paste: In many ways, the idealistic article of 2014 - the time of peak demand for the profession of a programmer. And, nevertheless, realistic notes slip through it. Such paragraphs, where the truth "hits the eye", I have highlighted. 

An alluring salary - up to $ 4,000, a colossal demand - there are 5 open vacancies for one programmer. Such arguments are given on the sites of today's popular courses, which promise to make a person an irreplaceable IT specialist in a short time. Programmer's bread has never seemed so easy and accessible. 

In 2014, according to the results of the first half of the year, the average salary in the IT sector was 17,188,372 rubles, or about $ 1,620. With such a middle, the "ceiling" seems completely transcendental. It is not surprising that more and more people are willing to retrain as IT specialists.

In addition to the specialized faculties of universities, programmers and testers today are trained in numerous educational courses. Their duration rarely exceeds 2-3 months. During this time, students are invited to go through one educational level, for example, to get acquainted with the basics of programming in C ++, Java or PHP. 

Further training, you can continue or try to find a job. Some training centers guarantee employment, others are limited to general phrases from the category: "Every year the demand for programmers is growing", "In case of successful completion of trainings, we make every effort to help with employment." On average, the price of one course ranges from 1.5 to 3 million  

Screenshot from the computer academy website computer engineering starting salary

It is curious that a number of training centers do not specialize in training IT specialists. Along with programming courses, you can go through a design, beauty or handicraft school. Standing apart are training programs from leading IT companies in Belarus, which have a clear specialization and focus on internal personnel needs.

Bad experience: "I swam somewhere in the middle"

Dmitry Burak, 29, graduated from BNTU with a degree in information technology engineer. He worked as a storekeeper, sales manager, and a few years ago he got a job in the technical support of an Internet provider. I decided to take programming courses to "test my abilities for affordable money." I chose one of the most popular areas today - "the basics of java programming". The whole course lasted 40 hours - 2 lessons per week. 

- I thought: what if I immediately start to understand everything cool and in a year to earn three mowers, - Dmitry ironically. - But it turned out that it is unlikely. I, of course, reached the end of the course, because the money had already been paid. But somewhere in the middle he "swam", generally stopped understanding what they were talking about. Perhaps more time should have been devoted to this. 

Dmitry recalls those who attended a course with him in one of the most popular programming languages ​​today. The group brought together representatives of various professions: an ambulance doctor who got a job in one of the companies as a tester a month before the start of the course, a sales manager with a forgotten engineering education, a system administrator who is "tired of climbing under tables", an experienced programmer who owns other languages ​​and wishing to pull up java. The male company in the first classes was diluted with her presence by a young girl, but by the end of the first month, says Dmitry, she disappeared. 

At the end of the courses, all students passed the final test extremely poorly. After the retake, Dmitry Burak was no longer interested in the results. Assessing the time spent on the courses, he admits that the knowledge gained was not useful in life.

Nevertheless, the interlocutor does not consider the classes useless for everyone. 

- Who really wants to learn, it makes sense to apply. Our teacher, for example, was always online on Skype. It was possible to seek advice at any time. As for employment, we were immediately told that it was not enough to pass the basic level. Now, if you take three courses, pass the exam well, then employment is possible.

Future programmers: "I'll probably agree for 6 million"

For successful examples, we went straight to the courses. The Bigsoft training center, unlike most other IT courses, does not guarantee compulsory employment for graduates. It offers training in a number of areas: testing, java programming, JavaScript and AJAX basics, PHP basics, Android development, etc. We talked with the audience and learned how they plan to use the knowledge gained in practice. 

Most of the audience in which they studied java programming turned out to be corporate clients - they were sent to courses from the company in which they work. Only a few people came to study on their own.

Dina Nazarchuk  is a 3rd year student of BSUIR. She is programming at the university, but decided to independently deepen her knowledge of the java language. 

- It is the most popular and frequently used development language today. At the university, our course has just begun. I would like to develop further, that's why I came here. I don’t think about salaries yet. 

Alexey Lysenok  is a 3rd year student of BSU. I came to the conclusion that the material given at the university is not enough.

- Self-education in this area is necessary. I am not working yet, but I am going to search soon. Salary is not the most important factor for me now. I can start at $ 200 or $ 300. 

Artem  graduated from BSUIR with an engineering degree, now he is working on assignment at Integral. I am categorically not happy with the salary, so I decided to look for myself in another area. As soon as the development is over, she plans to get a job as a programmer. He does not want to advertise his plans to the management yet, so he refused to be photographed. 

- I am familiar with programming in HTML and CSS, but I want to learn higher-level languages ((from the paster) this is not a damn programming language - this is a markup language and cascading style sheets. Where is this person now? Interesting even).We can say that I'm starting from scratch. At school I liked programming, I decided that it interests me, that I can and want to work in this area. When I entered the university, unfortunately, I was thinking about something else ... Starting salary? For 6 million, I will probably agree. 

Future testers: "Ready to work for $ 300, but not for long"

At the testing courses, there were significantly more people who decided to retrain. Many of them refused to be photographed and to give comments:  "We have another job, you never know how life will turn out."

Olga,  21, is studying to be a biologist. She does not plan to work in her specialty. I decided to go to the IT sphere on the advice of friends. Owns the computer at the "user" level. 

- I have already transferred to the correspondence department, biology for me is an alternate airfield. I want to get a job immediately after completing the course, that is, after 2 months. We, of course, were immediately warned that there would be a lot of competition and that you need to work hard to be hired. The starting salary to start with is $ 300. I'm ready to work for this money, but not for long, ”the interlocutor laughs. - This is just the third lesson, I still have an understanding, I assess myself well. But the more you learn, the more you realize that you know nothing.

Oleg Salei , 24 years old. He studies at BNTU at the correspondence department, works as a loader. I tried to learn programming on my own. But on the courses I preferred to study testing. 

- I will unlearn - and I will immediately try to get a job. Until I gain experience, I'm ready to work for $ 300-500. But, of course, I'm not ready to live on this money for several years. I think the salary will grow much faster. 

Valentina  (name has been changed) agreed to talk, but refused to be photographed. She designs communication networks, but sees no future prospects in her profession. 

- The salary ceiling in my area is 1.5 thousand, I earn less, but not 500. The ceiling in testing is much higher. The minimum I am ready to start with is the same "five hundred". I know where I am going, familiar with the job of a tester. In 2 months I plan to try to find a job. 

Beginner programmer salary starts at $ 200

It turned out that the director of the training center,  Igor Shumsky  , once also retrained from an accountant to an IT specialist, having completed such courses. But he could not get a job. For some time he worked as a freelancer, and then decided to start training IT specialists himself. 

Perhaps one of the reasons for the creation of the courses was the resentment for the deception that I had to go through in due time. They did not pay attention to me in class. Since I had never been connected with IT before, it was hard for me, I wanted the coach to devote more time to me. 

Igor Shumsky opened his training center in 2011. As a trainer, I invited an active programmer with 10 years of experience in using the java language, who developed the program. 

- We opened when there was an economic crisis in the world, and a lot of people poured into programming courses. Of course, among them there were many who did not understand at all what it was, what it was for, and went to the courses solely for material reasons. In the first six months, we noticed that somewhere between 20-30 percent of people are eliminated, that is, they simply do not reach the end of the courses. Therefore, our task was to reduce the number of random people to a minimum. Today, in our group, only a few do not reach the end of classes.

Igor Shumsky assures that, despite the possible promises of the coaches, after passing the first level (2-3 months) it is practically impossible to get a job. He compares the basics of programming to learning the alphabet. To work successfully, you need to know not syntax, but technology. According to the specialist, for this you need to pass at least 3 levels - the basics, an advanced course and an IT laboratory (practical work). And even this does not guarantee successful employment: a person must be highly motivated, with well-developed logical thinking. But sometimes one level is enough for testing.

A separate issue concerns salaries. People who come to the courses are often sure that in a few months they will be able to count on a thousand dollars or more. The specialist gives his figures. 

- I know that many people are hung up on their ears. In reality, if you have good English, have a technical education and have successfully completed the courses, you can get a job as a programmer for about $ 400-500. And the age is desirable to be up to 30 years. Without technical education and language, salaries can start at $ 200. A tester who has retrained from another specialty, without good knowledge of English, can also count on a maximum of $ 200-300 (from the start). If there is English, it can be $ 400-700. 

Igor Shumsky emphasizes that there is no need to be afraid of these numbers, because we are talking about the start of a career. 

- Our graduate, who finished java courses a year ago, started with a salary of 300 dollars in a large international company. Exactly one year has passed. He now has $ 1,600. But this is a person who is deeply motivated, that is, he is constantly studying, receiving additional education. We had builders, accountants, economists who later managed to find work. And there are those who later got a job as a programmer, quit their jobs and returned to the sphere from which they left. It should be understood from the outset that not everyone can work as programmers. I always advise those who are far from the IT sphere to start their career in the profession with testing.

Success example: "I was ready to go to work for free"

Tatiana Zhvalik , senior tester at iTechArt. An economist by education, she graduated from the national economy in 2008. By distribution, she worked in a department store, first as a salesman, administrator, then as an accountant. I did not see any prospects for myself in trade, so in 2011 I decided to change my field of activity. I heard about the profession of a tester from friends. He believes that programming requires very deep technical knowledge and it is better to get it at specialized faculties. 

After 2 months of testing courses, I sent out CVs to various companies. She was invited to EPAM with a proposal to go through a test laboratory with subsequent employment (regular courses, but already free). Tatyana Zhvalik was lucky: after the interview she was immediately taken to the project. About a month has passed since the end of the courses - this result surprised even the trainer of the training center.  

- I got on a financial project. And since I am an economist by education, the manager thought that I could do this job. And it also seems to me that during the interview, it was read on my face that I was ready to work even for free, if only I was hired. 

Tatyana Zhvalik started at $ 400, which was slightly less than the usual accounting salary. Six months later, she was promoted to "mid-specialist". And six months later, she moved to the iTechArt company, where she had already "grown" to a senior tester and received decent money for it. 

- A person should understand that at the very beginning he does not know anything and does not know how, and he still needs a long time to study. I went to all the trainings that I was signed up for, took any job at all, just to gain experience, tried to read specialized literature at home. In fact, efforts in this area never go unnoticed. But everyone's wages are growing differently. If a person expects that he will simply press one button and his salary will be raised every six months, then this is not so. You need to work a lot on yourself. 

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