I have over 25 years experience working with IT systems, particularly in scientific informatics, programming Windows and systems analysis. Like many professional programmers, I didn't start out studying computer science. In fact, my formal CS education has been minimal. I trained as a chemist and was all set for a career in research, until, one day I realised I'd was fed up with it all and needed a break.
During that time that research students call 'writing up', I'd found out I was rather good with computers and enjoyed getting them to do ever more challenging things. I enjoyed it so much I bought my first PC, a single processor '386 with a thirty megabyte hard disk! I also purchased what was the first ever copy of Visual Basic and settled down to teach myself how to program Windows.
Twenty five self-taught years lapsed and I had a solid track record in professional software development, particularly in scientific informatics. I managed projects now but I still write software for sheer pleasure and interest. I keep my hand in by running the Chemistry Add-In for Word (Chem4Word) project in my spare time.
I'm by no means a 'natural' but I enjoy what I do and my experience shows that anyone who is keen and committed can build a satisfying and rewarding career in software, even without formal training. It's a lot easier than you think, providing you know where to find the best training materials.
Communicating, collaborating and sharing my knowledge has always been a personal passion. Twenty years ago, when I started, there was nothing like Udemy and I had to teach myself from scratch. Now this exciting platform helps people like me to spread our expertise around. I hope you find my courses both enjoyable, inspiring even. Your new career can start right here!