How to Prepare for a Career in Computers

Dayum. That topic! We got serious here. But then let's be honest with ourselves, we need to at some point. If you're one of those intelligent (but unlucky) peeps who decided to pursue a career in Computers, this one's for you!

Should I?

So you've gone ahead and selected this field. But would you maybe in the future decide to back out? That's the first thing you need to ask yourself. Does it actually interest you or are you going in blindfolded just because it's a thing now?

If the answer to any of this is yes, you should maybe reconsider or think real hard before going in further.

How do I start?

• Understand the field: Look into it and research everything possible. Understand what it is about. Look at what area of computers interests you.
• Select a direction: Computers in itself is vast. There's many aspects to it (Hardware vs Software). You need to select a direction in which you'll be heading forward. Choose what you want to do.

Be careful in this, it's your future at stake. You need to be clear about what you want to pursue.

What next?

Prepare for it.

If you have selected something Software related, go learn how to implement it.

• Look at market trends and select an appropriate tool to learn.
• Learn to build logic.

Just learning isn't enough! Like everything else, practice makes perfect. Practice. Practice. Practice!

Hardware vs Software

Computers has mainly 2 aspects to it, the hardware or the software side.

You need to decide what you like—the machine itself or what the machine actually runs on.

Hardware is what we see around a computer and what we interact with.

Software is what is inside the computer and what governs how the hardware is used. Software is what we generally term as coding even though that's not all to it.

Frontend vs Backend

For those of you coding pioneers out there, there's a huge question: What do you want to be part of—the Frontend or the Backend of a software?

The frontend is what you see whereas the backend is what goes on behind what you see.

Let's take an example. Google—looks simple, pretty and amazing with buttons, that's the frontend. What happens when you press those buttons and links is handled by the backend.

You need to decide what you like—do you like making things look pretty or would you rather go for the logic behind things?

Don't get confused, that's the key. Once you've decided something it's okay to change your decision, but don't make it a habit. Explore all parts and then decide your next steps carefully.