Does it sound too good to be true? I always said that if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. But there are those rare moments that real life turns out better than fiction. I can tell you without a doubt that…
Anyone can get a $300,000 job without a degree and without much experience.
But how? That is a $300,000 question. LOL Basically, because of supply and demand.
I’m going to brag here for a tiny second: what I excel at the most… is seeing the forest through the trees — meaning, I am really good at seeing the big picture, and thus, I’ve always been awesome at STRATEGY.
So what have I experienced and seen that makes me so confident — that anyone can get a high-paying job without a college degree and with maybe 1-4 years of experience?
The tech industry is ever-evolving and emergent tech is always around the corner.
Because of this constant thirst for the latest and greatest, software engineers have been conditioned that they need to stay cutting edge and learn the new stuff constantly — even in college.
What is a System Migration and Why Does it Pay So Well?
So what happens to the old stuff? The old system? Outdated, legacy systems? Well, companies are not as quick to upgrade as you might think.
It’s like a new car. Everyone knows that the second you drive off the lot with a new car, its value has depreciated quite a bit, and unless you’re Kim Kardashian, you’re not going to buy a new car as soon as it’s outdated. The same goes for companies, but it’s even more complicated.
They invest a lot of money into systems and tie their business models into them. To migrate to a new system every time something new comes out can get super costly and not cost-effective. So they wait.
Some wait waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long — namely, The Government. We have systems in the U.S. Government that are older than me, and I’m going to be 42 this year! The U.S. unemployment system is written in COBOL and do you know why stimulus checks were delayed? Because of a shortage of COBOL programmers!!! Thanks goes to a TikTok viewer for tipping me off to this story.
These systems are written in languages that nobody learns anymore. With old programmers either retiring or (this is morbid) dying, how would a company maintain its old system? Let alone upgrade it?
Well, I’ll tell you how… because of consultants. Consultants who charge a TON of money to upgrade, migrate, transform, or modernize antiquated systems.
Why would a company or the government do such a thing? Hire expensive consultants? The same reason why most of us don’t change our own oil in our cars. It’s actually kind of easy, just a pain in the butt to get to parts in modern cars. I took Intro to Auto Mechanics back in college for funsies. I changed the oil and tire on a red 68 Mustang. It was so easy!!! 🙂
Anyhow, I digress. LOL so why do you go somewhere else to change your oil than do it yourself?
Because of SCHEDULE, QUALITY, RISK, and COST — that’s why.
1) Schedule – You don’t have time. Maybe you’re a parent or maybe you just have a hectic schedule?
2) Quality – You’re not a pro at changing oil. You could do it, but you may not do a good job of it.
3) Risk – Again, not being a pro, you might do it wrong, and you run the risk of ruining your car, if you do it yourself. You can’t tighten the oil pan too much or too little — there’s a sweet spot!
4) Cost – Even if it’s cheaper for you to change your own oil, you’d rather spend the money to have a pro do it because of all of the above.
The same rationale goes for consultants who do migrations, transformations, modernizations, and upgrades. It’s more cost-effective and everything-effective for a company to outsource this work to consultants. Why would they have their in-house tech team do this work, do it slowly, and do it wrong, when they should be making or saving money for them?
They wouldn’t. They’d rather hire someone like you to do that work… and pay you a ton!!!
So how do you become a developer, engineer, or programmer? How do you learn enough code to get hired?
Long-Term Objective
This is my strategy for getting hired and retiring early.
Short-Term Objective
Learn this old or rare stuff to leverage yourself into a coding job!
My Syllabus and Schedule
For $300K jobs, go to the JOBS FOR YOU PAGE
Month 1 Goals (still in progress)
1.) Learn how computers work, what software developers do, and the history of computer science by watching the PBS’s CrashCourse Playlist on Computer Science – Great for Super Beginners!!!
2.) Train your mind to think like a Software Engineer. Play the Blockly Games to understand programming fundamentals.
3.) Learn actual coding with the KIDS version of software lessons!!! Yes, I said Kids. Microsoft Small Basic — Microsoft developed this for age 9 and up.
4.) Once you’re comfortable, play the Coding Game to learn how to write more code. Use repl.it to write simple scripts and see results immediately.
UPDATE: I watched the PBS CrashCourse videos to make sure they were good quality content and well, TBH, I really wanted a refresher — it’s been a while since I’ve had to learn this stuff! 🙂 I got halfway through all the Blockly Games and then uggggghhhh, life came crashing down.
My toddler got expelled from his fancy pants daycare preschool for “disruptive behavior” (he’s a 4-year-old toddler… they’re all animals! ), so I had to find him a new place. Then, I got excited about finding $$$ government and solar jobs on and posted new TikToks on them.
Then, I started a Jobs For You Page. And then, my mom friends who first wanted to do this with me slowly lost wind. Not really their fault. Life happens. One got an incredible job offer — hooray! There’s a whole lot more that happened and that always happens, but I’ll spare you the details.
The point is this: I get de-railed, offtrack, sidelined, and de-motivated — just like you… just like everyone. It’s abnormal to be a machine and have this insta-perfect life, where things go exactly the way you expect them to go.
Life is not a movie. It’s not an Instagram post. Perfection isn’t real. What’s real is this: You will make mistakes, but don’t give up. Never give up.
I am getting back to learning to code now. It’s taking longer than I anticipated, but I will do it. It took me 10 years to get my Bachelors. Hopefully, it won’t take me that long. I’m my father’s daughter. It took him 13 tries to get his Contractor’s License at age 50-something. But he did it.
The only difference between you and a mega successful person is that they get up after they fall. That’s it…that’s the secret. They don’t take “No” for an answer, even from themselves…
I’ll add more to this blog regularly so subscribe on the sidebar to stay connected with me so you get notified of updates.
There are multiple paths towards success — this is just one of them. I want to see you succeed, so never give up. Success is right around the corner. Just keep going! ❤
For more valuable tips, don’t forget to check out the rest of them here and the videos. Stay connected with me for more career advice and more job alerts — subscribe to my newsletter below, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. I want to see you succeed!!!
