Can I Learn Software Engineering On My Own?

While you can learn some things about software engineering on your own, it is a challenging subject and most people prefer to take a class, especially if your plan is to start a new career.. You can scroll through YouTube coding tutorials, sign up for self-paced classes, and watch the videos at your leisure for an introduction to the topic, but what if you have questions? Trying to teach yourself software engineering takes longer than signing up for an in-person or live online class, and it is difficult to know if you are getting the most up-to-date information. Also, many people find they need the structure of a class with a live instructor to hold them accountable for finishing their work.

Advantages to Self-Teaching Software Engineering

One advantage to teaching yourself software engineering is convenience. You determine your own schedule. You can watch self-paced materials whenever and wherever you want. If you have a full-time job, you can watch videos at home after work and on the weekends. If you need to take a break for a few days, you can do that because you set your own schedule.

You can teach yourself software engineering for free. You can watch YouTube videos and find tutorials on learning to code with HTML, CSS, and Python without paying. If you need something more in-depth, self-paced classes are generally less expensive than courses that have a live instructor. While this may save you money, it will cost you in terms of time. An experienced instructor has been working in software engineering for a number of years and will steer you in the direction you need to go. They are familiar with web development best practices and how to avoid common rookie errors.

Software Engineering Self-Teaching Tools

If you are interested in learning more about software engineering, video tutorials are a great way to get started. You can pull up a video on Python while you eat lunch or learn about JavaScript libraries in the evening after you get home. You can go at your own speed and watch the video as many times as you need to grasp the information. 

Noble Desktop offers many free videos on its website, like Intro to React or Intro to Node.js. The videos are each about an hour long and are presented by experienced web developers. 

The Odin Project offers free tutorials on web development, like Intermediate HTML and CSS, Advanced HTML and CSS, JavaScript, and Python. These are prerecorded tutorials, blogs, and courses with projects and a community of developers to interact with.

On-demand classes are self-paced like free tutorials, but you have to pay for them.

You can watch these prerecorded video sessions anytime and anywhere. They are usually accessed through a subscription platform, some of which offer a limited free trial period. 

If you are highly motivated, you can learn this way, according to your own schedule. 

On-demand subscription courses tend to be less expensive than in-person and live online sessions. The business social media platform LinkedIn offers LinkedIn Learning with thousands of classes on many different topics for $29.99 a month or $239.88 a year for an individual. The subscription becomes active after a one-month free trial. Coursera costs $59 per month or $399 per year with a one-week free trial. Skillshare also offers a one-month free trial and a monthly membership for $32 or an annual membership for $168. 

Drawbacks to Learning Software Engineering on Your Own

One drawback of attempting to learn software engineering by yourself is that you don't have a live instructor to answer questions, which can slow down the process. Also, it can be difficult to tell how up-to-date the information is. Tools and best practices change frequently, and old information can slow down your learning process. An experienced instructor will teach you the best way to develop websites and and write software and warn you of the common pitfalls.

Another possible issue with learning software engineering on your own is that you don't have anyone to hold you accountable. You are entirely responsible for watching the videos and completing the assignments. Some on-demand classes have asynchronous teaching assistants you can contact via email, but this takes more time than simply asking a question in class. Learning on your own can feel isolating and many people give up when they get to an area they don't understand.

Alternatives to Learning Software Engineering on Your Own

When you want to launch a career as a Software Engineer, you don't have to do it on your own. You can choose a college degree or complete a certification course at a professional training center. Colleges and universities offer degrees in computer science and information technology. Some people also choose a minor in mathematics. Some community colleges also offer software development certificates.

Professional training centers offer bootcamp and certificate-granting programs for people who want to build technical skills. Classes meet in person or live online, on a part-time or full-time schedule. These classes are geared toward people who want to build their own digital products or want to start new careers as Software Engineers or Full Stack Web Developers. Software engineering classes cover numerous coding languages, version control, libraries and frameworks, and testing and debugging. 

You will also need to decide which learning environment works best for you. If you prefer in-person classes, you can usually find those in larger cities or at community colleges. These are traditional classroom sessions with an instructor and students in a classroom or computer lab. If you can't find a class that meets in person, you can choose a live online class. These courses run at the same time as an in-person session with some students logging on through a video conferencing platform. Online students can ask questions and talk to other students during breaks, work together on group assignments, and get help from the instructor if they need it. You can access a live online class from anywhere that has internet access.

The length of software engineering courses depends on the focus of the course. Bootcamps are intensive classes focused on one topic, like Python or JavaScript. These classes usually last two to three days. Certificate courses include classes on several different topics and are designed to get you ready to change to a career in software engineering. These courses last several weeks to months.

Classes from professional development or training programs, like Noble Desktop, vary widely from school to school. A three-day introductory Web Development with HTML & CSS class includes eighteen hours of instruction for $975. Noble's Software Engineering Certificate course costs $10,995 and runs for six months. The Python Developer Certificate includes 138 hours of instruction for $4,995. Thinkful offers a full-time web development course for $16,000 and General Assembly offers a 12-week Software Engineering Immersive for $16,450. These are either in-person or live online classes with a live instructor in the classroom or remote over a platform like Zoom.

Learn Software Engineering with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Software Engineering Certificate can give you the skills you need to start a new career in the software development industry. This program is divided into four sections: front end development, React Development, and Django (Python) Development. In this program, you will learn the most pivotal skills needed to secure a career in software and web development. The assignments in the course are designed to help you create a portfolio of projects, and the course also includes interview preparation, practice responding to common interview questions, how to polish your resume and LinkedIn profile, and tips for applying to jobs. 

Noble's Full Stack Web Development Certificate covers developing every aspect of a digital application or website. You’ll learn how to program the visual appearance of a web application (the front end) and the infrastructure that allows it to function (the back end) to create complete websites. In this course, you’ll learn how to use programming languages like HTML/CSS and JavaScript to program memorable, interactive websites. You’ll also use the MERN tech stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js) to add databases, APIs, AWS and other server environments, and interactivity for those web applications. The Full-Stack Web Development Certificate provides students with a robust programming education that can help them break into the in-demand world of web development, software engineering, and computer science.

This is a project-oriented course that teaches students how to code a website from scratch. By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a portfolio of working web applications that you can take with you onto the job market. This course also includes portfolio and job search help. You can also attend Noble's SQL and WordPress Bootcamps for free as part of this certificate course.

If you prefer, you can take these Noble classes included in the certificates one at a time. Web Development with HTML & CSS covers building websites with HTML & CSS; creating multi-page websites with text, images, and graphics; styling with CSS; and uploading files using FTP. 

Advanced HTML & CSS includes important CSS concepts like positioning, advanced selectors, and relative type sizing. You will also learn to work with multiple background images, transparent color using RGBA, CSS gradients, and shadows. The course also covers creating animated effects with CSS transitions and transforms.

Flexbox, Grid, and Bootstrap covers laying out and aligning website content with CSS Flexbox. Learn CSS Grid to layout websites and Bootstrap to build layouts quickly.

JavaScript for Front End teaches you to make dynamic and engaging websites with JavaScript and GreenSock. Learn the basics of JavaScript and how to use free pre-made JavaScripts to add functionality. Create animated slideshows and build animated image enlargers.

Noble's Python Programming Bootcamp covers built-in data types and their behavior and Control Flow Statements, the programming essentials used across many languages. You’ll also learn how to professionally structure your programs and solve real-world challenges by creating objects in Object-Oriented Programming. In addition to covering these core programming concepts, we’ll also discuss the most common coding interview questions and demonstrate the best programming practices used by professionals. Throughout this course, you’ll practice these new skills by working on programming exercises with instructor guidance. By the end of this course, you’ll have a portfolio of projects and code samples on GitHub to show to employers.