Daughter has decided to study to be a software engineer.

[Anju]

Yeah, groups like these are definitely worth a look. See also:

Django Girls is a one-day workshop about programming in Python and Django for women

Join us and become a female developer! Build your first website in Python and Django in a friendly, safe environment.

djangogirls.org

Women Who Code - Empowering women to excel in tech careers

Women Who Code is on a mission to empower diverse women to excel in technology careers. We support engineers, developers, data scientists, architects, designers and other technologists with the resources and community to stay in tech and level up.

www.womenwhocode.com

I'll add any others as I think of them. Apart from the learning stuff, also a very good way to make useful contacts.

While there is some sexist shit (and it's a lot lower key than it used to be), most tech companies are desperate to hire women so in some ways that's in her favour. They're not lowering the bar, I'd say, just realising that you can get good people who've got into it through less traditional routes (ie without having a CS degree). Which is good for everyone I'd say -- helps dilute the tossers a bit...

Thank you.

 

[Anju]

As some have said, there's always at least one arsehole in any workplace.

Why, only this morning, I had to deal with one (he likes to order me about. I am professional but direct. No doubt my name is mud).

Yes, no shortage of arseholes in all walks of life.

 

[Anju]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, insights into the area she's looking at and the resources you have shared.

It's really helped motivate our daughter and it feels like she is on the right path after a long time where she's been in a bit of a dark place.

 

[equationgirl]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, insights into the area she's looking at and the resources you have shared.

It's really helped motivate our daughter and it feels like she is on the right path after a long time where she's been in a bit of a dark place.

If she has any questions and wants to talk to a woman directly, I'm happy to receive PMs from her.

 

[iamwithnail]

Hiya, software engineering lead here. (No comp sci degree - law and politics)

Some good advice here in the thread already, and I’d be highly wary of the training and placement companies.

The python community, particularly the Django community in London is super friendly, there’s a monthly meet-up for it.
Language choice will largely be driven by what sort of stuff she wants to do and what kind of company she wants to work for.

What follow are some generalisations, everyone’s mileage may vary:

startups tend towards python or Ruby on Rails. Python is ime easier for beginners to learn, easy to learn, as hard as any of the others to master though. It’s also used heavily in data science.

larger corporate places tend more towards java, or .net stuff (c# and the like). If she’s interested in going to work in a big bank or similar, that’s the route I’d go down.
Those are primarily back end languages. If she’s interested in mobile app development, pick one of Kotlin (Android) or Swift (iOS); not much between them in terms of market atm. Everywhere needs both.

not having a comp sci degree will absolutely rule her out of some jobs that require it - trading firms and the like. There are computer science problems and business problems. Most companies have business problems they’re trying to fix with code. That’s what I do. If you have a comp sci problem, I’m not the person for it. I’d say about half of our team of engineers are self taught. Happy to speak or offer any interview practice! I’ve hired about eight software engineers this year, about thirty the last few years.

 

[Anju]

If she has any questions and wants to talk to a woman directly, I'm happy to receive PMs from her.

Thanks, I will pass that on to her.

 

[Anju]

Hiya, software engineering lead here. (No comp sci degree - law and politics)

Some good advice here in the thread already, and I’d be highly wary of the training and placement companies.

The python community, particularly the Django community in London is super friendly, there’s a monthly meet-up for it.
Language choice will largely be driven by what sort of stuff she wants to do and what kind of company she wants to work for.

What follow are some generalisations, everyone’s mileage may vary:

startups tend towards python or Ruby on Rails. Python is ime easier for beginners to learn, easy to learn, as hard as any of the others to master though. It’s also used heavily in data science.

larger corporate places tend more towards java, or .net stuff (c# and the like). If she’s interested in going to work in a big bank or similar, that’s the route I’d go down.
Those are primarily back end languages. If she’s interested in mobile app development, pick one of Kotlin (Android) or Swift (iOS); not much between them in terms of market atm. Everywhere needs both.

not having a comp sci degree will absolutely rule her out of some jobs that require it - trading firms and the like. There are computer science problems and business problems. Most companies have business problems they’re trying to fix with code. That’s what I do. If you have a comp sci problem, I’m not the person for it. I’d say about half of our team of engineers are self taught. Happy to speak or offer any interview practice! I’ve hired about eight software engineers this year, about thirty the last few years.

Thanks. Language choice does seem to be one of the trickier things to decide. She's checking some out at the moment in conjunction with thinking about possible project ideas.

 

[Riklet]

Top 10 most in demand jobs for 2021.

Software engineer high on the list. Best paid and def in demand. Learning more about cyber security etc in the process surely a winner too.

 

[Anju]

Top 10 most in demand jobs for 2021.

Software engineer high on the list. Best paid and def in demand. Learning more about cyber security etc in the process surely a winner too.

Thanks, It would be nice for her to get into something with decent pay. There are some depressing base average salaries in that list.

 

[equationgirl]

Thanks, It would be nice for her to get into something with decent pay. There are some depressing base average salaries in that list.

Ooh that reminds me, she should look at the gender pay gap information on any companies she's interested in, that will tell her about career progression or if it's just the junior roles that women get hired into..

 

[Anju]

Ooh that reminds me, she should look at the gender pay gap information on any companies she's interested in, that will tell her about career progression or if it's just the junior roles that women get hired into..

Thanks, that's a great idea.