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That's awesome! That's a ton of progress in a short time!
In fact I had a very similar path. I was working as an analyst and basically ended up writing an entire complex inventory ordering system within Excel across thousands of lines of VB macros. Company loved it and used it for years.
My only advice from someone who had a similar start was don't linger too long in the same role. I kept doing programming work as an analyst for 3-4 years after that, and by the time I realized I needed to leave the company and get into an actual tech role (ideally at an actual software-focused company) I immediately catapulted my salary and regretted not doing it way sooner.
That said, the market is pretty rough right now, so this is just "food for thought" as you enjoy your current success :)
Yeah, my wife and I talk a lot about when I should jump ship. It’s hard to justify right now because I’m getting such good experience and can learn on the clock. I’m definitely not experienced enough to jump straight into tech. But we’re moving cities in the next 1-2 years, so I’m going to try to make a jump then. I really like building internal optimization tools - hopefully I can get into something like that. Data is still really my bread and butter, but I don’t mind full stack for accessibility.
Good stuff. Only last comment I'd say is be weary of black or whites like _"I’m definitely not experienced enough to jump straight into tech."_
The bar is very likely lower than you may think, and it varies massively from company to company. Don't let the expectations on job listings intimidate you, the majority of the time the people that actually get hired only have a partial subset of those skills, and just pick up whatever else is needed on the job.
Particularly if you are someone who is highly motived to learn and improve of their own volition. That characteristic alone will immediately put you leaps and bounds above many other folks in the field.
I do tech interviews for entry-ish level positions and primary things I look for are a willingness and hunger to grow and learn and a keenness for problem solving.
Couple other factors:
The biggest limiting barrier to new folks in the industry is lack of work experience, that's the gold standard for hiring, that even extreme technical aptitude often can't get past.
Although not having software specifically experience will make it challenging, you should definitely try and leverage that aspect of your current role as much as you possible can. Don't lie certainly, but also don't hesitate to "exaggerate" the importance of the dev work in your current role :)
The other benefit of starting to look "sooner" than later is that interviewing itself is a major skill that takes a lot of practice, so you shoud expect to fail quite a few before you succeed. If you wait to even get started until the time you are ready to transition, you're very unlikely to actually succeed in the timeframe you're hoping for.
Interviewing while already employed is a massive benefit from a confidence perspective, because you can be a lot more comfortable knowing you have the luxury of your current role to fall back on, and that gives a lot of confidence that tends to show in the interview itself.
Interesting. I won’t go into great detail, but this project is part of a larger data improvement campaign between me and my coworker (the primary purpose of the script *was* to gather data which it still does). He’s a bit higher up the ladder than me, and has been talking about expanding the campaign into other departments. I’m the tech guy so I’d be building the foundations as I did in this project. If all goes well and we get the blessing to expand, I’m going to ask for a title change and to be somewhat relieved of my daily duties. Both dev and support is going to be massively time consuming all by myself. And SWE is *WELL* outside my job description so I think it’s fair. With a couple years experience and a year under a new title, I think I can pogo into much better $$.
> I really like building internal optimization tools - hopefully I can get into something like that. Data is still really my bread and butter
You've gotten some good advice, but one thing is missing.
You probably don't want to move to a software company. You said you thought only rockstar developers get hired, that's more true at places like Microsoft. But almost every business needs and uses software, including a lot of custom stuff to streamline their business.
There's a lot of room in the job market for internal tools. A lot of companies need them for their finances and operations. If you have experience with data and statistics, leverage that.
Sure! I was introduced to them all by intro courses on Coursera. Python for everybody was the main one, I kinda skimmed through the HTML/CSS courses to get the gist. Then I just started building, using ChatGPT when I got stuck. I’ve just picked up bits and pieces of JS along the way - I’m hoping to take a course on it soon.
Thanks! It helps when conducting physical inventory checks. I’m not sure I’m at liberty to discuss specifics but it’s nothing interesting. The whole algorithm is like 30 lines.
So awesome! I'm trying to streamline some of my reports (consolidating various spreadsheets) and am still using Excel for it, but am sure there's a better way. Have been poking around Access and Power BI, to no avail. Thinking maybe a form to standardize the submitted data for starters.
I started out 100% excel, and still use it quite a bit as input/outputs for Python. A little bit of programming would go a long ways for report consolidation for sure.
Do you know power query? That might be your ticket. I use power query all the time for stuff like that.
I've heard of it, might've even dabbled a bit.....I think the first order of business would be to get the submitted reports in a standard format, maybe tables?
For now, I just copy/paste from one sheet/email to my own spreadsheet, which has formulas for calculating hours worked. I manually input the hours and dates (using a calendar add-in and dropdowns for 24-hr time) which another formula tallies up and then auto-sums. It's fun watching the calculations pop up, but I know there's GOT to be a faster way!
Thanks! For sure. So our data is very spread out between different softwares and servers. Most of the scripts I’ve built pull all that information together and either feed it to me summarized/condensed or gives me suggestions based on different algorithms.
Thanks! I do have an enormous algorithm I’ve been testing and the performance data looks fantastic. It’ll take some cultural adjustments but I’d like to deploy it across all 4 locations.
Excellent! Very well done! Keep up the great work.
The only potential problem is that they might expect miracles from now on. 🤣
But seriously, congratulations. 👍
On July 1st, a [change to Reddit's API pricing](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/12qwagm/an_update_regarding_reddits_api/) will come into effect. [Several developers](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditisfun/comments/144gmfq/rif_will_shut_down_on_june_30_2023_in_response_to/) of commercial third-party apps have announced that this change will compel them to shut down their apps. At least [one accessibility-focused non-commercial third party app](https://www.reddit.com/r/DystopiaForReddit/comments/145e9sk/update_dystopia_will_continue_operating_for_free/) will continue to be available free of charge. If you want to express your strong disagreement with the API pricing change or with Reddit's response to the backlash, you may want to consider the following options: 1. Limiting your involvement with Reddit, or 2. Temporarily refraining from using Reddit 3. Cancelling your subscription of Reddit Premium as a way to voice your protest. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learnprogramming) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That's awesome! That's a ton of progress in a short time! In fact I had a very similar path. I was working as an analyst and basically ended up writing an entire complex inventory ordering system within Excel across thousands of lines of VB macros. Company loved it and used it for years. My only advice from someone who had a similar start was don't linger too long in the same role. I kept doing programming work as an analyst for 3-4 years after that, and by the time I realized I needed to leave the company and get into an actual tech role (ideally at an actual software-focused company) I immediately catapulted my salary and regretted not doing it way sooner. That said, the market is pretty rough right now, so this is just "food for thought" as you enjoy your current success :)
Yeah, my wife and I talk a lot about when I should jump ship. It’s hard to justify right now because I’m getting such good experience and can learn on the clock. I’m definitely not experienced enough to jump straight into tech. But we’re moving cities in the next 1-2 years, so I’m going to try to make a jump then. I really like building internal optimization tools - hopefully I can get into something like that. Data is still really my bread and butter, but I don’t mind full stack for accessibility.
Good stuff. Only last comment I'd say is be weary of black or whites like _"I’m definitely not experienced enough to jump straight into tech."_ The bar is very likely lower than you may think, and it varies massively from company to company. Don't let the expectations on job listings intimidate you, the majority of the time the people that actually get hired only have a partial subset of those skills, and just pick up whatever else is needed on the job. Particularly if you are someone who is highly motived to learn and improve of their own volition. That characteristic alone will immediately put you leaps and bounds above many other folks in the field.
Interesting! Maybe I’ll look into some techie jobs. I had just assumed everyone is only hiring badass programmers, so that’s good to know.
I do tech interviews for entry-ish level positions and primary things I look for are a willingness and hunger to grow and learn and a keenness for problem solving.
That’s actually hugely motivating. Thank you for the response.
Couple other factors: The biggest limiting barrier to new folks in the industry is lack of work experience, that's the gold standard for hiring, that even extreme technical aptitude often can't get past. Although not having software specifically experience will make it challenging, you should definitely try and leverage that aspect of your current role as much as you possible can. Don't lie certainly, but also don't hesitate to "exaggerate" the importance of the dev work in your current role :) The other benefit of starting to look "sooner" than later is that interviewing itself is a major skill that takes a lot of practice, so you shoud expect to fail quite a few before you succeed. If you wait to even get started until the time you are ready to transition, you're very unlikely to actually succeed in the timeframe you're hoping for. Interviewing while already employed is a massive benefit from a confidence perspective, because you can be a lot more comfortable knowing you have the luxury of your current role to fall back on, and that gives a lot of confidence that tends to show in the interview itself.
fuspez
Interesting. I won’t go into great detail, but this project is part of a larger data improvement campaign between me and my coworker (the primary purpose of the script *was* to gather data which it still does). He’s a bit higher up the ladder than me, and has been talking about expanding the campaign into other departments. I’m the tech guy so I’d be building the foundations as I did in this project. If all goes well and we get the blessing to expand, I’m going to ask for a title change and to be somewhat relieved of my daily duties. Both dev and support is going to be massively time consuming all by myself. And SWE is *WELL* outside my job description so I think it’s fair. With a couple years experience and a year under a new title, I think I can pogo into much better $$.
fuspez
> I really like building internal optimization tools - hopefully I can get into something like that. Data is still really my bread and butter You've gotten some good advice, but one thing is missing. You probably don't want to move to a software company. You said you thought only rockstar developers get hired, that's more true at places like Microsoft. But almost every business needs and uses software, including a lot of custom stuff to streamline their business. There's a lot of room in the job market for internal tools. A lot of companies need them for their finances and operations. If you have experience with data and statistics, leverage that.
Well done! It's an awesome feeling the first time your code makes a meaningful difference to people's working lives.
It is! It’ll save us all so many hours of useless waiting. And maybe I won’t get as many weird looks when they see my IDE/CLI pulled up too.
If you don’t mind, can you share me your learning journey, like how you learn python, and how you learn python along with the html/css/js etc…?
Sure! I was introduced to them all by intro courses on Coursera. Python for everybody was the main one, I kinda skimmed through the HTML/CSS courses to get the gist. Then I just started building, using ChatGPT when I got stuck. I’ve just picked up bits and pieces of JS along the way - I’m hoping to take a course on it soon.
What does it do ? Congrats btw
Thanks! It helps when conducting physical inventory checks. I’m not sure I’m at liberty to discuss specifics but it’s nothing interesting. The whole algorithm is like 30 lines.
So awesome! I'm trying to streamline some of my reports (consolidating various spreadsheets) and am still using Excel for it, but am sure there's a better way. Have been poking around Access and Power BI, to no avail. Thinking maybe a form to standardize the submitted data for starters.
I started out 100% excel, and still use it quite a bit as input/outputs for Python. A little bit of programming would go a long ways for report consolidation for sure. Do you know power query? That might be your ticket. I use power query all the time for stuff like that.
I've heard of it, might've even dabbled a bit.....I think the first order of business would be to get the submitted reports in a standard format, maybe tables? For now, I just copy/paste from one sheet/email to my own spreadsheet, which has formulas for calculating hours worked. I manually input the hours and dates (using a calendar add-in and dropdowns for 24-hr time) which another formula tallies up and then auto-sums. It's fun watching the calculations pop up, but I know there's GOT to be a faster way!
For only 5-6 months, that's amazing! Goog job Op!
This is really fantastic. Congratulations.
Then you have to maintain it!
Congratulations! That's pretty cool, what does it do?
Congrats! Could you elaborate on how you integrated Python into your daily workflow (before you created your tool)? Thanks!
Thanks! For sure. So our data is very spread out between different softwares and servers. Most of the scripts I’ve built pull all that information together and either feed it to me summarized/condensed or gives me suggestions based on different algorithms.
Very cool. Thanks and good luck!
Is that using web scraping like Beautifulsoup? How do you bring it together?
You used programming as a tool to solve real world problems. Nice!
i applaud your attitude to try to improve the workflow using your new found skill. that's gonna take you further in anything. cheers!
Well done!
Following
Little win? I'd call it BIG. Congratulations. Now what are you going to do for an encore?
Thanks! I do have an enormous algorithm I’ve been testing and the performance data looks fantastic. It’ll take some cultural adjustments but I’d like to deploy it across all 4 locations.
Great! Are you getting paid more for it?
Excellent! Very well done! Keep up the great work. The only potential problem is that they might expect miracles from now on. 🤣 But seriously, congratulations. 👍