Конференция "Бизнесът в действие" (УНСС, март 2014, организирана от AIESEC)

1. How to Become a Software
Engineer and Start IT Business?
Guidelines for Future Software
Engineers and Technological StartUpers
Svetlin Nakov
Technical Trainer
www.nakov.com
Software University
http://softuni.bg

2. 2
 Become a Software Developer
 Step 1: Define Your Goals
 Step 2: Find Resources
 Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice!
 Step 4: Join the Community
 Step 5: Start a Job in the Industry
 Start IT Business
 The Lean Startup Principles
Table of Contents

3. Become a Software Developer
Learn to Code and Start a Job
3

4. Step 1: Define Your Goals
What Kind of Developer You Want to Become?

5. 5
 What kind of software engineer you want to become
(what position)?
 Software Developer
 Designer / Front-End Developer
 Developer Support Engineer
 Software Quality Assurance Engineer (QA)
 Business Analyst / Requirements Engineer
 System Administrator / IT Specialist
 Project Manager / IT Manager
Defining Your Goals

6. 6
 What technology you want to learn?
 Web Development
 PHP / Zend / CakePHP / Symfony / MySQL
 C# / ASP.NET MVC / Web Forms / EF / SQL Server
 Ruby / Rails / Sinatra / MySQL
 Python / Django / MySQL / PostgreSQL
 Java / Java EE / Servlets / JSP / JSF / JPA / Oracle
 JavaScript / Node.js / MySQL / MongoDB
 HTML5, JavaScript / jQuery / AJAX / REST / JSON
Defining Your Goals (2)

7. 7
 What technology you want to learn ?
 Mobile Development (Smart Phones / Tablets)
 iOS / iPhone / iPad / Objective C /
XCode / Cocoa Touch
 Android / Java / Eclipse
 Windows Phone / Silverlight / C# / Visual Studio
 Blackberry / C / C++ / Java / HTML5 / WebWorks
 Cross-Platform Mobile Frameworks / PhoneGap / Titanium / Rhodes
Defining Your Goals (3)

8. 8
 What technology you want to learn?
 Server-Side Development
 Java / Java EE / Spring Framework /
Hibernate / JPS / JAX-WS / JAX-RS / Oracle
 C# / .NET Framework / WCF / WWF /
ADO.NET Entity Framework / SQL Server
 Database Development
 Oracle / SQL Server / MySQL / PostgreSQL /
Stored Procedures / ETL / Reporting / DBA
Defining Your Goals (4)

9. 9
 What technology you want to learn?
 Game Development
 2D / 3D Graphics / C++ / OpenGL / DirectX /
XNA / Geometry / Physics / AI / Networking
 Mobile Games
 Facebook Games
 Embedded Development
 Microcontrollers / Real-Time Systems /
RTOS / Embedded OS / C / C++ / Assembler
Defining Your Goals (5)

10. 10
 Is your desired technology / position
accurate to the modern trends?
 You might want to be a spacecraft
developer but do you find any job openings?
 You might become a 3D game developer but check whether this is
a perspective profession
 Prefer technologies and positions
with high demand in the industry!
 E.g. Web developer / iOS developer
/ .NET Developer / Java developer
Defining Your Goals (6)

11. Step 2: Find Resources
Join Courses, Follow Tutorials, Watch
Videos, Read Books, Articles, Blogs, etc.

12. 12
 Finding teaching resources for learning
the technologies you want
 Join courses
 Free / paid / live / online
 Watch video tutorials
 Follow tutorials
 Just search in Google
 Read books
 Read articles / blogs
Find Training Resources

13. 13
 Software University – http://softuni.bg
 High-quality training, profession and job for
software engineers + higher education diploma
 C#, Java, HTML5, JavaScript, PHP
 Plans: free, online and onsite
 Telerik Academy – academy.telerik.com
 Free software development courses + videos
 HTML5, C#, algorithms, ASP.NET MVC, mobile development, cloud
development, SEO, software engineering, QA, high-quality code, …
Free Courses for Developers

14. 14
 Telerik School Academy – schoolacademy.telerik.com
 PHP, Web, HTML5, JavaScript, C#, .NET, databases, SQL, SQL
Server, MySQL, ORM, ADO.NET EF, WPF, embedded systems, …
 Kids Academy – telerik-kids.com
 Free C++ programming courses
 For 9-13 years old children
 Web Design, HTML, JavaScript
 http://tiny.cc/frontend-videos
Free Courses for Developers (2)

15. 15
 PHP & MySQL
 http://tiny.cc/php-mysql-academy
 C# Programming and Algorithms
 http://tiny.cc/csharp-videos
 ASP.NET MVC Development
 http://tiny.cc/aspnetmvc-videos
 ASP.NET Web Forms Development
 http://tiny.cc/aspnet-videos
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 http://tiny.cc/seocourse-videos
Free Courses for Developers (3)

16. 16
 Mobile Development
 http://tiny.cc/mobile-dev-videos
 iPhone Development
 http://tiny.cc/iphone-dev-videos
 Android Development
 http://tiny.cc/android-videos
 Databases and SQL
 http://tiny.cc/databases-academy
 http://www.db-class.org
Free Courses for Developers (4)

17. 17
 High-Quality Code
 http://tiny.cc/quality-code-videos
 Game Development
 http://tiny.cc/game-dev-videos
 Java Programming
 http://tiny.cc/java-dev-videos
 MIT OpenCourseWare
 http://tiny.cc/mit-ocw-dev-courses
 Stanford Open Engineering Courses
 http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx
Free Courses for Developers (5)

18. Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice!
Work on Real-World Practical Projects

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 There is only one way to learn programming and software
development
 Most people learn the basics of programming in 5-6 months to
1 year (8-10 hours / day)
 To learn coding well you need to write
30 000 – 50 000 lines of code (at least)
 To become an expert you may need
3-5 years (full time – 8-10 hours / day)
Learn by Practice
Practice, Practice, Heavy Practice!

20. 20
 To become a good developer you need to:
 Solve few hundreds of programming tasks
 E.g. all exercises from the Intro C# book –
introprogramming.info/intro-csharp-book
 Create few larger practical projects
 E.g. create your own simplified Facebook or develop your own
accounting software
Practice Every Day for Years
Practice programming every day for few years!

21. 21
 Creating real-world projects is essential!
 Watching videos / reading books in not enough
 Work on practical projects every day
 For Web developers
 Learn Web design, HTML and some CMS system
 Learn ASP.NET MVC or PHP or Ruby or Python
 Create your own web site / blog
 Create at least 5-10 web sites and applications
 Create your own Facebook / Flickr / YouTube / …
Create Real-World Projects

22. 22
 For desktop developers
 Learn C#, databases, SQL, EF and WPF
 Create your own video player / Minesweeper,
Tetris / calculator / Windows explorer / Paint
 Create your own accounting software /
warehouse management / retail system
 For game developers
 Learn C++, OpenGL and 2D / 3D graphics
 Create your own Popcorn / Xonix / Tetris
 Create your own 3D striker game
Create Real-World Projects (2)

23. 23
 For mobile developers
 Learn some of the mobile platforms
 Android / iOS / Windows Phone / Blackberry
 Along with the languages, APIs and tools
 Create at least 5-10 simple applications
 E.g. Tetris game / calculator / alarm clock / gallery
viewer / mp3 player / video player / text editor
 Create at least 2-3 more complex applications
 E.g. chat server + mobile client / foursquare app
Create Real-World Projects (3)

24. 24
 For embedded developers
 Learn to program for 2-3 embedded platforms
 E.g. Arduino + Atmel AVR + PIC
 Learn C language, the tools and APIs
 Learn to control peripheral devices
 E.g. GPIO (input / output pins), buttons, displays, SD card, RS-232
serial interface, USB interface, timers, sensors, networking, RFID,
Bluetooth, …
 Create 4-5 practical projects: e.g. traffic lights, card based access
control system, MP3 player
Create Real-World Projects (4)

25. 25
 For server-side developers
 Server-side development is not for beginners!
 Try to start a job and study at work
 Two possible tracks
 Java + Java EE + ORM Frameworks + Oracle
 C# + .NET + ORM + SQL Server + WCF + WWF
 Learning server-side development is a big effort
 Once you learn programming, it will take 3-5 years to learn server-
side development
Becoming a Software Engineer

26. 26
 For database developers
 Several possible tracks
 Oracle / SQL Server / PostgreSQL / MySQL / cloud databases
 First learn SQL, database design, database transactions and
database reporting
 Get familiar with database administration
 Get familiar with BI (business intelligence),
data warehouse systems, etc.
 Start a job and learn at work!
Becoming a Software Engineer (2)

27. 27
 For business analysts
 Not for beginners – learn business
and IT, start a job and practice at work
 For software architects
 Not for beginners – learn software development and practice 8-10
years everyday (full time)
 For software project managers
 Not for beginners – learn to develop software
and practice 7-8 years everyday (full time)
Becoming a Software Engineer (3)

28. Step 4: Join the Community
User Groups, Mailing Lists,
Seminars, IT School, IT University

29. 29
 To be a developer, you must
join the development community
 Join Software University initiatives
 Enter in the best High School / University
related to your goals in your area
 Join to the user groups in your area
 Take part in their seminars and events
 Regularly visit the forums related to your goals
 Join the mailing lists related to your goals
Join the Community

30. 30
 To be a developer, you must
join the development community
 Visit regularly any seminars and
conferences related to your goals
 Join the local hacker space community
 Join any other community organizations
 Take part in all related programming contests, tournament s and
Olympiads
 Create a blog and share your knowledge / establish your own events /
courses / organizations
Join the Community (2)

31. 31
 initLab (hacker space in Sofia) – initlab.org
 varnaLab (hacker space Varna) – varnalab.org
 SofiaDev .NET user group – sofiadev.org
 Java users group (Sofia) – java-bg.org
 Oracle user group – bgoug.org
 Sofia JavaScript user group – sofiajs.org
 Ruby on Rails community – bgonrails.com
 Drupal Bulgaria – drupalbg.org
 Joomla Bulgaria – joomla-bg.com
Developer Communities in BG

32. 32
 Photoshop Bulgaria – photoshop.bg
 SQL & BI Bulgaria – bgsqlgroup.com
 BG PostgreSQL Group – bgpug.groupsite.com
 Silverlight Bulgaria – silverlight.bg
 NLP Club Bulgaria – nlpclub.devbg.org
 SharePoint User Group Bulgaria – sugbg.org
 Azure User Group Bulgaria – azure.bg
 Flex User Group Bulgaria – flex.riabg.org
 C++ Bulgarian User Group – cppbg.devbg.org
Developer Communities in BG (2)

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 Scrum Bulgaria – scrumbulgaria.org
 Linux Bulgaria – linux-bulgaria.org
 Linux for Bulgarians – linux-bg.org
 iPhone Bulgaria – iphone-bulgaria.com
 Solaris BG User Group – bgsug.filibeto.org
 Bulgarian Association of Software
Developers (BASD) – devbg.org
 Nakov.com Portal for Developers – nakov.com
Developer Communities in BG (3)

34. Step 5: Start a Job
Start a Job in the Software Industry
Learn and Practice at Work

35. 35
 The best way to learn real-world software development:
 Working on real-world commercial projects is essential to gain
practical skills and experience
 The best developers learn their job at work
 Start by learning programming at home / class
 Start as junior developer and trainee
 Become regular / senior developer / team leader
Start a Job as Developer
Start a Job as Developer!

36. Start Your Own Software Company
Guidelines for Startupers
36

37. 37
 My recipe for IT startupers
 First gain experience
 At least 5 years in the IT industry
 Starting a company is not for beginners!
 Start a company and fail it  to learn how not to do it
 Join a really successful company  learn how others do it
 Start you own company  find your way to do it
Start Your Own IT Company?

38. 38
 You already have paying customers
 Start an outsorcing company to serve them
 Hire additional people, grow your team
 You already have a product with real customers
 Establish a product development company
 You have a really genius idea for a new product
 This is very risky! Everyone have a generous idea, right?
 Follow the lean startup principles, first verify the idea
Reasons to Start a Company

39. ?
http://softuni.org/courses
How to Become a Software
Engineer and Start IT Business?

40. License
 This course (slides, examples, demos, videos, homework, etc.)
is licensed under the "Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International" license
40
 Attribution: this work may contain portions from
 "Fundamentals of Computer Programming with C#" book by Svetlin Nakov & Co. under CC-BY-SA license
 "C# Part I" course by Telerik Academy under CC-BY-NC-SA license

41. Free Trainings @ Software University
 Software University Foundation – softuni.org
 Software University – High-Quality Education,
Profession and Job for Software Developers
 softuni.bg
 Software University @ Facebook
 facebook.com/SoftwareUniversity
 Software University @ YouTube
 youtube.com/SoftwareUniversity
 Software University Forums – forum.softuni.bg