To wonder if there are any programmers here to tell me if I've done the right thing?

[BinarySearchTree]

I graduated a few years ago with a humanities degree and then went on and spent 2-3 years in London doing a variety of things arts-related - but could never get stuck into anything I enjoyed, and frankly found lots of the people I worked with a bit unpleasant.

Moved country with my DH a year ago and started a 1-year 'conversion masters' in Software Development. I do love it, but I'm now having a bit of a wobble and wondering if I've done the right thing in terms of getting employed after. I've been looking at some statistics and it seems like there's a surprisingly high unemployment rate among comp sci grads - even those with a 3/4-year UG degree.

Are there any programmers/developers here that did this sort of thing and found it difficult to get into the industry?

Which country are you in, OP?

UK - one of the home nations.

Developer here - depends on your area! I'm full stack and we seem to be in abundance.

There's a massive job shortage. Employers aren't fussed about your degree, but they are going to want to see evidence of your work. Turn up with a portfolio of minor projects, some stuff on Github to show off, evidence you enjoy coding in your spare time, little bits and bobs you've made, and pass the technical interview.

Employers would rather see evidence than just the degree alone. The issues with the comp sci degrees are that they're very theory-based with not enough practical work, and this is leading to some of them finding it hard to find work if they don't have some practical evidence to show, or they cannot problem-solve in a technical interview. A Software Development conversion sounds a lot more realistic in the workplace and should avoid some of those issues.

Back-end really, not so keen on front-end. Which is partly why I'm worried!

It depends on what kind of coding you want to do.

The developers I have managed are consultants in a particular software package, so they also do a lot of the requirements analysis and design work. That obviously requires specialist training and experience, mostly gained via working at management consultancies prior to moving into contracting or perm within industry.

If you want to focus more in the digital area - websites, apps etc - you can get away with fewer business analysis skills, although it very much depends on how each development company is set up. You can get a foot in the door via networking, particularly as a woman - there are forums and events targeted at female techies. Knowing about data analysis will also be a huge plus these days.

niangua that is actually really reassuring, thank you. I know you're right about the evidence/portfolio-building! I have a couple of student projects on Github, but a) am still finding it really difficult to get the confidence to put my work out there, and b) have absolutely no time because it is such a practical course.

But yes, you are right - I definitely need a kick up the bum on that front.

Intransige is that really true - about getting my foot in the door via networking, because I'm a woman?

I actually sort of feel there's a lot of talk about encouraging women into STEM positions, but the talk doesn't really turn into anything more concrete.

I know of at least one London based company trying very hard to hire and nurture female coders (Thoughtworks) and there are also female networking events - women who code etc.
www.techworld.com/picture-gallery/careers/women-in-tech-best-uk-meetups-3631857/

Women are better coders so it makes sense.
www.quora.com/Are-women-better-coders-than-men

Come to NI! We're crying out for developers and doing really interesting work. Proper tech boom over here.

I'm not a programmer but I'm a product manager who works with them, and yes, get your code on show on Github. It's the LinkedIn for techies. Don't be shy. Especially if you are back end and can't show shiny websites.