Bobby Davis - Breaking the Code: Five Steps to a Life-Changing Software Development Job

Three years ago, a teacher at Western Alamance Middle School invited me to speak to her class on career day. She wanted me to introduce her students to the software development industry. Before my turn to speak, representatives from many other fields spoke positively about their work. They were, to a person, successful by most accounts, but none of them could deliver the speech I was about to give.

The last speaker sat down, and I stood up in front of those young, aspiring students to tell them the truth I knew they needed to hear.

Im sure all of the jobs youve heard about today can lead to success. There are, after all, many ways you can achieve your career ambitions. However, only one job, software development, can maximize your opportunities in the modern economy.

Once you learn to code, software development can be your ticket to any life you want to live. With a coding job, you can make as much as you want and live where you want. You can work for any company on the planet. If you want, you can even take over the world.

Silence fell over the room as that idea sunk in. Then, I gave them a real shock.

I can tell you with supreme confidence that the next Mark Zuckerberg is sitting in a classroom exactly like this one right this minute. All it takes to achieve Zuckerbergs kind of success is a good idea and the ability to code. With that, you can become the next tech billionaire.

Some of the class laughed out loud in disbelief. For them, Facebook had always been a tech giant, and Zuckerberg forever lauded as a visionary. They felt that they were as likely to be the next Mark Zuckerberg as the next Harry Potter. Even the teacher couldnt believe it.

Most of us forget that Facebooks origins are far from grand. As recently as 2004, Zuckerberg was just another 20- year - old undergrad, sitting in his dorm room, wishing he was out enjoying the parties around campus. However, instead of spending his evenings watching TV like most bored college kids, he developed the first iteration of a social networking platform he called FaceMash. His aim, at that point, wasnt to take over the world or change how we communicate; it was to meet more girls.

The worlds most popular social media site developed out of that lonely Harvard students desire to become more popular. With that simple aspiration and some decent coding skills, Zuckerberg went from a nobody to one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world.

Facebook wasnt an ingenious insight into society or the human condition. College students have been looking for novel ways to find dates for decades. Im sure plenty of Zuckerbergs own classmates were sitting around that same semester, wondering where the party was. The only difference between them and Zuckerberg was that he could code, and they couldnt.

The rest is history.

Summing up my career day speech, I told those middle school kids, The economy of today runs on software. When you learn how to code, you open the door to every opportunity because every business needs your skills. Whether you want to be Zuckerberg or just have the best job on your street, it all starts with learning how to code and how to get into this industry.

The American dream still exists; its just written in code.

The world of software development is extensive enough to accommodate everyones dreams. The next world - changing tech entrepreneur is already at work using coding skills to realize their ideas and sell them to the world. At the same time, there are thousands upon thousands of well - established companies across this country looking to make their new software developer the best - paid employee on their payroll. Every industry in every town in America needs coders to create apps and websites for them. And they need those positions filled urgently. Once you have the skills and know - how to navigate the software development industry, you can have your pick of these positions.

Moreover, success in this field doesnt require genius - level skills and insights. Because the modern world runs on software, you no longer have to be a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to become an overnight tech millionaire or to find a steady $120,000- a - year job with a 401(k).

With a good work ethic and decent coding skills, you can work in the job you want, for the company you want, at the wage you want, in the place you want.

Over the last two decades, the job market as we used to know it has begun to disappear. The old jobs we thought we could rely on, in industries such as manufacturing, mining, and construction, are gone. Thanks to automation, other big employers in retail, transportation, and customer service may soon follow. Its a new economy, and many of us are feeling left behind.

You dont need to fear this new job market; its full of opportunity. However, this opportunity now lies in a different industry. And, believe it or not, thats a good thing.

The old jobs in manufacturing and service didnt care about your creativity or intellect. They paid you a decent (though hardly spectacular) wage for using your physical abilities. The brainy person who fixed factory equipment in previous generations wasnt the most highly regarded or the highest paid employee on the floor. The IT department that kept the phones working at call centers twenty years ago was just as underappreciated as the people on the phones.

Nowadays, that brainy person runs the entire software development shop for the company, and they are rewarded handsomely for it. Learning how to code opens up a world that you may not have known even existed, a world in which you are the most in - demand employee in town. You no longer have to be trapped in any job or location; you no longer have to settle for unfulfilling work where no one appreciates you.

At Coder Foundryour boot camp that specializes in teaching novices how to codewe constantly and consistently place new software developers in lucrative, fast - advancing positions. Every month, we introduce individuals to the potential that has been waiting for them.

Many of our students are career - switchers people who have spent years underemployed, underpaid, and under - fulfilled in jobs they had once thought of as safe or steady. Among these same students are naturally introverted individuals that society has labeled slackers or lazy. That label is wrong. These individuals arent lazy; they just have personality types more suited to working independently, unlike extroverts. Before finding out about software development, they didnt see a way into profitable positions that would suit their natural interests, so they never tried.