I'm in my 20s and considering going back to school to get established in a real career. How do I know if I have the innate intellectual potential to become a computer programmer or engineer? In high school I did nothing; in community college I got an A in pre-calculus and a B in calculus, but never went on to do anything academically. If I had the ability, would I necessarily be aware of it by now?
you're not going to know unless you actually try to program something
with that said, it's not that hard to be good enough to make money from it. computer programming is like the easiest way to be an entrepreneur/self-employed
so go try it out!
go get a For Dummies book. maybe like Python or HTML. I dunno.
it kinda depends if you're looking at doing web development or something like distributed processing or machine learning... with my computer science degree in mind, i don't believe formal education is necessary to do web development (which is what i did for a few months post-graduation). as someone with a degree, i can say i would get frustrated knowing unschooled programmers were better than me.
you don't need to go to school, but find a good teacher, read some blogs, and get some experience. HTML, CSS, and, JavaScript are your basics, then look to learn something like PHP, Ruby, or Python, but i think getting a good teacher or mentor will be your best step
I wouldn't worry too much about "innate intellectual potential". There are so many different types of engineering jobs that you don't have to be super intelligent to do something well. If you want to go into research though, you may need to demonstrate some creative thinking. I've generally found that hard work and motivation are much more important in engineering.
For programming, have you ever tried it before? I say this because it is my experience that most programmers either "get it" or they don't. Programming seems to be one of those fields where you have really good programmers or really bad programmers and not much in between. Give it a try for a while to see if you get a feel for it. Python or C are probably good languages to start with. (A lot of people will recommend Javascript, but I would caution against that as to really become good at it requires mastering some higher level programming abstractions that aren't in any beginning CS courses.)
If I had the ability, would I necessarily be aware of it by now?
You may have simply not, to use a phrase that my elementary school teachers liked, "applied yourself" enough. If you really bust your ass you might find out that you are a lot "smarter" (i.e. better at school wok) than you think.
Seriously man, just take a class or two and see if you like some of the stuff. Good luck whatever you decide to do.
I wouldn't worry too much about "innate intellectual potential". There are so many different types of engineering jobs that you don't have to be super intelligent to do something well. If you want to go into research though, you may need to demonstrate some creative thinking. I've generally found that hard work and motivation are much more important in engineering.
For programming, have you ever tried it before? I say this because it is my experience that most programmers either "get it" or they don't. Programming seems to be one of those fields where you have really good programmers or really bad programmers and not much in between. Give it a try for a while to see if you get a feel for it. Python or C are probably good languages to start with. (A lot of people will recommend Javascript, but I would caution against that as to really become good at it requires mastering some higher level programming abstractions that aren't in any beginning CS courses.)
Learning C would quite literally the exact opposite of what a beginner would want to do to get into programming; holy crap man. A beginner learning C would have to not only learn the syntax of the language, but manage their own memory, function pointers, etc. Unless you are writing code that operates right down to the metal and has to be extremely performant a high level language (and accompanying abstractions) is a way better and more productive place to start.
Python is definitely a good one especially if your interests lie in data science and analytics; no quibbles there.
Anyone cautioning against Javascript has no idea what they're talking about IMHO; just about everything on the web runs on javascript now. Express, Node, etc are all written in Javascript, Typescript is an extension of javascript, etc. It's the best curly-brace language with which to start and a precursor to C# or Java if you want to go there.
And there are plenty of 'in between' level programmers out there; I see them all the time in my work. Some have what it takes to be mentored into senior roles, some don't and plug along writing marginal code, but good enough to keep getting paid. The truly bad ones don't last long.
As an aside, if you have literally zero experience in programming understand that there is a great deal more to being a successful programmer than just coding. It's also about understanding the ecosystem of tools and technologies in which your code will run, understand how to effectively test code, understanding test driven development (love it or hate it, companies want it), etc. Also in the mix should be an understanding of data structures and database technologies, the difference between relational databases such as MySQL or SQL Server, and document-centric databases such as MongoDb. MongoDb and MySQL are also free though getting everything running can be a challenge if you've never done it before. You'll also want to get a github account and understand how source control works as well. More and more employers aren't even bothering with resumes; some will be asking for access to your github account so they can see what you're actually working on, commits, etc.
Also high on the list are communication skills and ability to work with business SME's, ability to work with remote teams, and being quick on the uptake with respect to whichever business domain you find yourself in.
For someone such as yourself I think going back to school and taking comp sci courses is putting the cart before the horse. Job #1 is determining whether you have an aptitude for it, and also (and this is MASSIVELY important) whether or not you enjoy coding and especially problem solving/fixing and locating bugs. There are loads of online courses, some free, some not, where you can start playing around with simple coding concepts, and which will also provide guidance on how to get your local machine set up for development. Download Visual Studio Code; it's a free open source editor, super powerful, and you can pretty much write code in any language with the correct plugins. And if at some point you find yourself wanting to dig deeper or work toward a more advanced degree nothing would be stopping you from taking some comp sci.
I would also not necessarily turn my nose up at a coding boot camp; while you will NOT emerge from one of these ready to be an outstanding professional programmer you will definitely get exposure to a ton of technologies and will do enough to determine your aptitude and desire. They can be a little spendy but some of these programs cover a lot of ground and offer an amazing overview. If you're going to be good at this, you really have to love it. Silly to spend huge amounts of your precious time staring at a computer screen just because the profession seems sexy and/or you can make pretty decent money.
Lastly, I would pay attention to how good AI tools are getting at writing code. I've been out of the business for a couple of years after a successful 16+ year career (enterprise application integration, database design and dev, etc) and I can tell you I'm SHOCKED at how good these tools have gotten in just the last year and a half. I used to always think it would still take human beings to interact with business SME's to communicate complex business rules and processes, but the more I see regarding it's capabilities the less sure I am that programming by humans as we know it today is even going to be a thing in the next 10 years. If you think I'm exaggerating look how far AI tools have come in just the last year, and fast forward 10 more. You KNOW that if employers can stop paying big salaries to the meat they will do it in a heartbeat. That one is still tbd but it's important to consider at your age.
I wouldn't worry too much about "innate intellectual potential". There are so many different types of engineering jobs that you don't have to be super intelligent to do something well. If you want to go into research though, you may need to demonstrate some creative thinking. I've generally found that hard work and motivation are much more important in engineering.
For programming, have you ever tried it before? I say this because it is my experience that most programmers either "get it" or they don't. Programming seems to be one of those fields where you have really good programmers or really bad programmers and not much in between. Give it a try for a while to see if you get a feel for it. Python or C are probably good languages to start with. (A lot of people will recommend Javascript, but I would caution against that as to really become good at it requires mastering some higher level programming abstractions that aren't in any beginning CS courses.)
Learning C would quite literally the exact opposite of what a beginner would want to do to get into programming; holy crap man. A beginner learning C would have to not only learn the syntax of the language, but manage their own memory, function pointers, etc. Unless you are writing code that operates right down to the metal and has to be extremely performant a high level language (and accompanying abstractions) is a way better and more productive place to start.
Python is definitely a good one especially if your interests lie in data science and analytics; no quibbles there.
Anyone cautioning against Javascript has no idea what they're talking about IMHO; just about everything on the web runs on javascript now. Express, Node, etc are all written in Javascript, Typescript is an extension of javascript, etc. It's the best curly-brace language with which to start and a precursor to C# or Java if you want to go there.
And there are plenty of 'in between' level programmers out there; I see them all the time in my work. Some have what it takes to be mentored into senior roles, some don't and plug along writing marginal code, but good enough to keep getting paid. The truly bad ones don't last long.
As an aside, if you have literally zero experience in programming understand that there is a great deal more to being a successful programmer than just coding. It's also about understanding the ecosystem of tools and technologies in which your code will run, understand how to effectively test code, understanding test driven development (love it or hate it, companies want it), etc. Also in the mix should be an understanding of data structures and database technologies, the difference between relational databases such as MySQL or SQL Server, and document-centric databases such as MongoDb. MongoDb and MySQL are also free though getting everything running can be a challenge if you've never done it before. You'll also want to get a github account and understand how source control works as well. More and more employers aren't even bothering with resumes; some will be asking for access to your github account so they can see what you're actually working on, commits, etc.
Also high on the list are communication skills and ability to work with business SME's, ability to work with remote teams, and being quick on the uptake with respect to whichever business domain you find yourself in.
For someone such as yourself I think going back to school and taking comp sci courses is putting the cart before the horse. Job #1 is determining whether you have an aptitude for it, and also (and this is MASSIVELY important) whether or not you enjoy coding and especially problem solving/fixing and locating bugs. There are loads of online courses, some free, some not, where you can start playing around with simple coding concepts, and which will also provide guidance on how to get your local machine set up for development. Download Visual Studio Code; it's a free open source editor, super powerful, and you can pretty much write code in any language with the correct plugins. And if at some point you find yourself wanting to dig deeper or work toward a more advanced degree nothing would be stopping you from taking some comp sci.
I would also not necessarily turn my nose up at a coding boot camp; while you will NOT emerge from one of these ready to be an outstanding professional programmer you will definitely get exposure to a ton of technologies and will do enough to determine your aptitude and desire. They can be a little spendy but some of these programs cover a lot of ground and offer an amazing overview. If you're going to be good at this, you really have to love it. Silly to spend huge amounts of your precious time staring at a computer screen just because the profession seems sexy and/or you can make pretty decent money.
Lastly, I would pay attention to how good AI tools are getting at writing code. I've been out of the business for a couple of years after a successful 16+ year career (enterprise application integration, database design and dev, etc) and I can tell you I'm SHOCKED at how good these tools have gotten in just the last year and a half. I used to always think it would still take human beings to interact with business SME's to communicate complex business rules and processes, but the more I see regarding it's capabilities the less sure I am that programming by humans as we know it today is even going to be a thing in the next 10 years. If you think I'm exaggerating look how far AI tools have come in just the last year, and fast forward 10 more. You KNOW that if employers can stop paying big salaries to the meat they will do it in a heartbeat. That one is still tbd but it's important to consider at your age.
Hope this helps a little.
Aaaaaaannnnddd just now I notice the original post is 11 years old. Ha!