How to Become a Software Developer: The Top 6 Myths You Should Stop Believing Now

If you are thinking to become a software developer, here is a good news for you. You won't believe that, becoming a software developer has become so much easy nowadays, in comparison to how it was just few years back. Isn't that amazing?

Despite of this fact, people still have some misconceptions about software developer career. Such myths are stopping them to pursue their dream career in the software world. Wouldn't it be a good idea to clear out such myths and understand the reality? It is essential to take the right path forward to become a successful software developer.

Journey of thousand miles begin with a single step. If you take the first step in the right direction, you are all set to reach your destination. In spite of knowing this, the biggest challenge is to take the first step itself. The wonder is, we may have a lot of myths in our mind before starting anything new, and sometimes it is stopping us from growing. Isn't that true? Think about it.

Are you wondering, what are such myths people have about becoming a software developer? Do you want to know the reality about it? Okay, let's get started. Let us look at 6 such myths and clear out these misconceptions with the reality. Ready?

MYTH #1: College degree is a must to become a software developer

REALITY: Degree is not important. Skills & Knowledge is.

It's a traditional way to have a college degree first before starting your career. However, in the recent years, trend has changed. Although, having a college degree has it's own perks, however, it is not a must to become a software developer. If you have a passion to become a software engineer, you can even self-learn programming to start your career as a software developer. The most important thing is, you must have the skills and knowledge to perform your role as a software developer. Although, college degree with flying colors can help you enter in the tech industry easily and get a corporate job. However, even if you don't have the college degree and if you have the required knowledge, you can easily get started as a software developer and even start freelancing with it.

MYTH #2: I need to memorize all the syntax to become a software developer.

REALITY: You need to have the concepts clear. Syntax can be googled as well.

While learning in our schools & colleges, we have to memorize the things to perform well in our exams. However, it's not the scenario with coding. You do not have to memorize the programming language syntax by heart. Instead what you need to have focused on is, have a clear understanding about what syntax you probably will use. Once you know that, and even if you don't know the exact syntax, google is always there to help you. This approach could be helpful in your initial days of learning. Once you practice coding more and more, you will start memorizing the syntax as well without any extra efforts. Isn't that cool?

MYTH #3: I have to learn X programming language first to learn how to become a software developer.

REALITY: You can start with your choice of programming language.

People always say that X programming language is the best for beginners. You should always learn X programming language first if you want to become a software engineer. However, that is not the reality. There isn't any mandate to learn any specific programming language first if you want to become a software developer. There are plenty of programming languages available. You should assess them as per your interest and the type of software developer you want to become. Take some time and choose the best programming language that works for you.

MYTH #4: I need to have a high-end computer to become a software engineer.

REALITY: You need to have passion to learn coding.

Don't worry if you don't have a high-end computer. It is not going to stop you from learning to code and become a software engineer. Although you will need a computer for hands-on programming practice, however, it needs not to be the high-end costly computer. As a beginner, the main focus should be to learn problem solving, developing logic and reasoning skills, learning the programming language and practice it as much as possible. And, for doing all these, high-end machine isn't a necessity. Hence, be relaxed and get started with what you have.

MYTH #5: It requires a lot of time to learn how to become a software developer.

REALITY: With your passion to learn, you can even be a job ready programmer in as short as 3 months time.

Time required for learning to code is completely dependent upon an individual. If you want to become a software developer without college degree, it is in your hands to decide how fast you want to learn programming. Learning to code is a game of passion. To become a job ready programmer, you don't have to learn everything in one go. Instead, you have to learn the basic skills to perform a task end to end for the given job. Become job ready, and then go deeper in learning programming further. So, if you have question such as How long does it take to become a software engineer? The answer is, with the passion to learn, I have seen many people who became job ready programmer as short as in 3 months timeframe. This isn't a hardcoded timeline and it varies per the the individuals. However, it certainly gives a motivation that you don't have to spend years learning to code to become job ready software developer.

MYTH #6: I heard that, AI will have effect on the demand of software developer.

REALITY: The need for software developer is evergreen.

With the ever increasing adoption to the online world, the demand for software developer is a necessity of an hour. Even with AI, the need for programming is not affected as per my viewpoint. Software world is a full of opportunities and you should stop bothering about the demand of software developers. There is always a demand for skilled, knowledgeable software engineers. 

Final Thoughts

It has been always said that, If your eyes are on the goal, challenges doesn't matter. The moment you loose your focus from the goal, challenges will start bothering you. Hence, if you want to pursue the career of software programming and want to become a software engineer, throw away any myths from your mind. We have discussed 6 such myths and also discussed the reality of it. Hope that was useful. There may be many such myths you may have in your mind. However, throw them away and start focusing on learning to code with passion, dedication and with best of the hard work you can. No one can can stop you become a software developer. 

If you found this article useful, do share your thoughts and feedback at techfundas.in@gmail.com. I would love to read them. Wish you all the very best to become a successful software engineer.