Transitioning into tech

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Foorius

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Just wondering if anyone has been able to transition into the tech industry (no/light coding) from pharmacy while keeping their salaries and not having to go back to school. I was thinking of making a career change but am not sure where to look at in the tech sector.
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That will be a really hard transition.
I went back to school and I took a role of heavy stats/coding with a comparable salary in retail, at least in the very early stage of the career. I got to wfh since day 1, and qol has been amazing so far.

Not saying it's not possible, but if you can't code proficiently, so many opportunities will pass you by tho.
 
Try completing everything on this website Programming by Doing
If you can do everything here, it basically equates to 3 years as CS major at a uni. The rest is going to be learning about data structures, software development cycle(software engineering stuff), database management, possibly algorithms if you are having trouble writing clean code, etc. I suggest you look into what courses are required to get a degree in CS at any uni. Then try to learn as much as you can based on those courses. Maybe think about buying some courses on Udemy to learn.
Then I suggest you learn how to use Git/Github and doing some serious projects. Look into what company you may want to work for and try to make a project that is related to their line of work. Without a degree or certificate, its going to be quite tough to stand out so projects are going to be important for you.
Good luck
 
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DagS132 said:
Try completing everything on this website Programming by Doing
If you can do everything here, it basically equates to 3 years as CS major at a uni. The rest is going to be learning about data structures, software development cycle(software engineering stuff), database management, possibly algorithms if you are having trouble writing clean code, etc. I suggest you look into what courses are required to get a degree in CS at any uni. Then try to learn as much as you can based on those courses. Maybe think about buying some courses on Udemy to learn.
Then I suggest you learn how to use Git/Github and doing some serious projects. Look into what company you may want to work for and try to make a project that is related to their line of work. Without a degree or certificate, its going to be quite tough to stand out so projects are going to be important for you.
Good luck
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I took a look at the website. NO, it's nowhere near 3 years of cs major in college. It might be a gentle 1st year intro to programming course, but it's just one course after all.

Btw, I am in a full-fledged MSCS program, and from what I see, the tech landscape has become quite competitive these days. The days of just having some personal projects on github can land you interviews is long gone! In today's tech job market, people who have got great offers at tier 1/2/3 companies in Silicon Valley, NYC and Seattle are all cs majors graduating from target schools with several internships/years of experience.
 
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Foorius said:
Just wondering if anyone has been able to transition into the tech industry (no/light coding) from pharmacy while keeping their salaries and not having to go back to school. I was thinking of making a career change but am not sure where to look at in the tech sector.
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I am trying to do same right now but don’t want to go to school for it.
 
metformin800 said:
I am trying to do same right now but don’t want to go to school for it.
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That's a daunting task, and I have to admit that. 5 years ago that might be possible. Now that's very difficult to pull off. These days Google interviews always ask HARD leetcode question, always with no exception from people I talked to! 5 years ago, that's predominantly MEDIUM and maybe just 1 or 2 HARD ones. And they will always ask system design questions, for which I think will be tough for any self-taught programmers lacking hands-on big project experience.
 
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letsquitpharm said:
That's a daunting task, and I have to admit that. 5 years ago that might be possible. Now that's very difficult to pull off. These days Google interviews always ask HARD leetcode question, always with no exception from people I talked to! 5 years ago, that's predominantly MEDIUM and maybe just 1 or 2 HARD ones. And they will always ask system design questions, for which I think will be tough for any self-taught programmers lacking hands-on big project experience.
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Yeah totally agree, heard from family members Who are in tech. I want to do data science so I can try in tech companies and also health insurance, pharmaceutical companies. I looked up boot camp and masters program tution for data science and they are same so it’s better to do masters than do boot camp in my opinion. I am still evaluating my options, I am so looking up certifications. Right now my goal is to get something with whatever skills I have, I don’t want to spend any penny on school right now. I am applying anywhere and everywhere. I have gotten some interviews and so many rejections.
 
letsquitpharm said:
I took a look at the website. NO, it's nowhere near 3 years of cs major in college. It might be a gentle 1st year intro to programming course, but it's just one course after all.

Btw, I am in a full-fledged MSCS program, and from what I see, the tech landscape has become quite competitive these days. The days of just having some personal projects on github can land you interviews is long gone! In today's tech job market, people who have got great offers at tier 1/2/3 companies in Silicon Valley, NYC and Seattle are all cs majors graduating from target schools with several internships/years of experience.
Click to expand...
I should elaborate. Doing everything on that website will get you through 3 years of cs major in college with ease. You won't have to study or really try that hard on school projects/assignments.

As for your second part, try telling some of these pharmacists that. They all keep claiming you don't need a cert, degree, or projects to land an interview. Some don't even realize you have to meet certain qualifications just to enter a bootcamp. One guy here even claims he got a job just for traversing a binary tree or something extremely simple.
 
DagS132 said:
I should elaborate. Doing everything on that website will get you through 3 years of cs major in college with ease. You won't have to study or really try that hard on school projects/assignments.

As for your second part, try telling some of these pharmacists that. They all keep claiming you don't need a cert, degree, or projects to land an interview. Some don't even realize you have to meet certain qualifications just to enter a bootcamp. One guy here even claims he got a job just for traversing a binary tree or something extremely simple.
Click to expand...
I am guessing you are talking about me. I remain steadfast on my position. Going back to school for cs is useless. Trust me. I have a MSCS and it didn't help me. None of that education matters if you can't pass a coding interview. None of the employers I have interviewed with care about my degree or brought up where i went to school in an interview. One of my colleagues in tech is a high school grad that only did a boot camp.
 
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alpha12 said:
...None of that education matters if you can't pass a coding interview...
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This is your only point that you keep referring back to. This statement is true for all situations, not just with a degree.
 
alpha12 said:
I am guessing you are talking about me. I remain steadfast on my position. Going back to school for cs is useless. Trust me. I have a MSCS and it didn't help me. None of that education matters if you can't pass a coding interview. None of the employers I have interviewed with care about my degree or brought up where i went to school in an interview. One of my colleagues in tech is a high school grad that only did a boot camp.
Click to expand...
I don't know if you ever talked to a FAANG recruiter, but I did, and I know quite a lot of people in my program who already had years of experience but never heard back from their apps to tier 1/2 companies prior, until they are midway thru the program.

The truth is, if you don't have a cs degree and/or years of experience, like most of these pharmacists here, you won't even pass the recruiter filter, let alone phone screen and on-sites lol.
 
DagS132 said:
I should elaborate. Doing everything on that website will get you through 3 years of cs major in college with ease. You won't have to study or really try that hard on school projects/assignments.

As for your second part, try telling some of these pharmacists that. They all keep claiming you don't need a cert, degree, or projects to land an interview. Some don't even realize you have to meet certain qualifications just to enter a bootcamp. One guy here even claims he got a job just for traversing a binary tree or something extremely simple.
Click to expand...
For the first part, I skimmed through the topics, I don't know if we have different standards or something, but I found the topics exceedingly basic, no divide&conquer and dynamic programming??? No data structures like stack queue trie hashmap? These essential ds&algo topics are usually covered in year 1 just to tell you that......maybe in your program they were taught much later? But the cs majors I know were taking topics like operating system, compilers, ML, HPC by their 3rd year.

For the 2nd part, I can speak on my own experience. I didn't get a single interview until I was 2 semesters into my MSCS program. I was mostly self-taught by moocs prior and was competent enough to implement ML and reinforcement learning algorithms like knn and q-learning from scratch...but still absolutely not even one interview until I listed my ongoing degree on my resume.
 
letsquitpharm said:
I don't know if you ever talked to a FAANG recruiter, but I did, and I know quite a lot of people in my program who already had years of experience but never heard back from their apps to tier 1/2 companies prior, until they are midway thru the program.

The truth is, if you don't have a cs degree and/or years of experience, like most of these pharmacists here, you won't even pass the recruiter filter, let alone phone screen and on-sites lol.
Click to expand...
DagS132 said:
This is your only point that you keep referring back to. This statement is true for all situations, not just with a degree.
Click to expand...
In tech jobs you don't need a degree.
 
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alpha12 said:
In tech jobs you don't need a degree.
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I don't know what you are talking about. Maybe for some small BFE startups desperate for workers, that may be the case. But their pay is also likely **** btw. I have not personally met or heard anyone who has no formal cs training got past HR resume screening in the last 2-3 years for positions at a major tech company.
 
DagS132 said:
This is your only point that you keep referring back to. This statement is true for all situations, not just with a degree.
Click to expand...
The problem is, if an applicant has no relevant working experience or any cs/related degree listed on the resume, he/she won't even get any chance for a tech interview, even if that person solved 1000+ leetcode questions.

It's like all pharmacists can pretty much learn on the job for an oncology position, but without PGY-1/2, there's a very slim chance of such candidates getting an interview even, let alone the job.
 
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letsquitpharm said:
For the first part, I skimmed through the topics, I don't know if we have different standards or something, but I found the topics exceedingly basic, no divide&conquer and dynamic programming??? No data structures like stack queue trie hashmap? These essential ds&algo topics are usually covered in year 1 just to tell you that......maybe in your program they were taught much later? But the cs majors I know were taking topics like operating system, compilers, ML, HPC by their 3rd year.

For the 2nd part, I can speak on my own experience. I didn't get a single interview until I was 2 semesters into my MSCS program. I was mostly self-taught by moocs prior and was competent enough to implement ML and reinforcement learning algorithms like knn and q-learning from scratch...but still absolutely not even one interview until I listed my ongoing degree on my resume.
Click to expand...
Yea I said it will get you through your first 3 years easy with little to no studying. And yes, it is basic and thats the point. Most students aren't really that good at the basics so there is a lot of struggling that goes on when doing the projects, even after learning concepts/theories. Anyone can learn the concepts but if you don't know how to do any of these basic things without thinking, there really isn't much you can do. At least for me, I was able to just skip lectures and quickly read powerpoints to do everything.

For the second part, I am not arguing with you. I always told everyone how much more valuable a degree was over a cert and how much certs were of value over no education. Some of the pharmacists here keep telling me about stories of their uncles friends aunt's nephew telling them how to get a job in tech and how degrees are useless.
 
DagS132 said:
Yea I said it will get you through your first 3 years easy with little to no studying. And yes, it is basic and thats the point. Most students aren't really that good at the basics so there is a lot of struggling that goes on when doing the projects, even after learning concepts/theories. Anyone can learn the concepts but if you don't know how to do any of these basic things without thinking, there really isn't much you can do. At least for me, I was able to just skip lectures and quickly read powerpoints to do everything.

For the second part, I am not arguing with you. I always told everyone how much more valuable a degree was over a cert and how much certs were of value over no education. Some of the pharmacists here keep telling me about stories of their uncles friends aunt's nephew telling them how to get a job in tech and how degrees are useless.
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Mediocre cs students are far less likely acing leetcode style tech interviews anyway. If they have any difficulty going thru some of the most basic stuff in a mind-blowingly easy cs program, like those in the website, I don't know how they can ever pass an on-site tech interview.
 
letsquitpharm said:
Mediocre cs students are far less likely acing leetcode style tech interviews anyway. If they have any difficulty going thru some of the most basic stuff in a mind-blowingly easy cs program, like those in the website, I don't know how they can ever pass an on-site tech interview.
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Most students don't really know how to debug properly. In most, if not all, of the discords I am in the students are literally printing out statements before and after some method they are trying to test.
Also, I don't think you checked out that website thoroughly. One of the first projects given on that website is an address book. Its not as simple as placing objects into an array, arraylist, or maps. Although these projects use very basic coding, at least it covers all of the basics. I mean, you might as well get mad at any student that went into pharm school that got less than a 90 PR for the AA category on the PCAT if you are criticizing this website.
 
I like the idea of teaching yourself with online courses/programs, which could potentially set you up for school, then getting a degree if needed while still working as a pharmacist. I may go down that route.
 
DagS132 said:
Most students don't really know how to debug properly. In most, if not all, of the discords I am in the students are literally printing out statements before and after some method they are trying to test.
Also, I don't think you checked out that website thoroughly. One of the first projects given on that website is an address book. Its not as simple as placing objects into an array, arraylist, or maps. Although these projects use very basic coding, at least it covers all of the basics. I mean, you might as well get mad at any student that went into pharm school that got less than a 90 PR for the AA category on the PCAT if you are criticizing this website.
Click to expand...
I was not critical of the website. I appreciate all online resources that try to bridge knowledge gaps, and that's how I got started.

What I was not comfortable with is the idea that demonstration of very basic cs knowledge on a public repository, like github, can effectively land someone job interviews. I tried, and I failed. I watched many others tried and failed too. It was so tough to stand out that way, and most tech recruiters aren't coming from a tech background. Getting a tech job without a cs degree/working experience once made me feel like applying to hospital jobs without PGY-1/2. Theoretically it's possible, but in reality people have seriously attempted it know how slim of a chance that is.
 
letsquitpharm said:
I was not critical of the website. I appreciate all online resources that try to bridge knowledge gaps, and that's how I got started.

What I was not comfortable with is the idea that demonstration of very basic cs knowledge on a public repository, like github, can effectively land someone job interviews. I tried, and I failed. I watched many others tried and failed too. It was so tough to stand out that way, and most tech recruiters aren't coming from a tech background. Getting a tech job without a cs degree/working experience once made me feel like applying to hospital jobs without PGY-1/2. Theoretically it's possible, but in reality people have seriously attempted it know how slim of a chance that is.
Click to expand...
I agree. But try telling that to these pharmacists that tell people to avoid school or telling people bootcamp certs are worth more than a degree. They don't seem to want to back down with their stance despite never printing hello world into console.
It honestly reminds me of parents still telling kids pharmacy is a good career due to high demand.

DH1987 said:
I like the idea of teaching yourself with online courses/programs, which could potentially set you up for school, then getting a degree if needed while still working as a pharmacist. I may go down that route.
Click to expand...
Uni's offer short programs for returning students. I am doing a 2.5 year program. It was this or 4 years of pharm school
 
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DagS132 said:
I agree. But try telling that to these pharmacists that tell people to avoid school or telling people bootcamp certs are worth more than a degree. They don't seem to want to back down with their stance despite never printing hello world into console.
It honestly reminds me of parents still telling kids pharmacy is a good career due to high demand.


Uni's offer short programs for returning students. I am doing a 2.5 year program. It was this or 4 years of pharm school
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Bootcamps certs and degrees are both worthless. All that matters is knowledge. If you need a degree for that then go for it. I really think a lot of this stuff you can teach yourself. That is all the companies care about. pass the coding interview and you are in.
 
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alpha12 said:
...All that matters is knowledge. If you need a degree for that then go for it...
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"Yes hello? I am applying to your company and I just wanted to let you know I have knowledge. I know my resume lists no degree, certs, projects, or any sort of work experience but knowledge is more valuable than all of those combined. So when will I get my interview?"
I mean, at this point you are trolling since you don't even practice what you preach.
 
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DagS132 said:
"Yes hello? I am applying to your company and I just wanted to let you know I have knowledge. I know my resume lists no degree, certs, projects, or any sort of work experience but knowledge is more valuable than all of those combined. So when will I get my interview?"
I mean, at this point you are trolling since you don't even practice what you preach.
Click to expand...
No one cares about degrees. All people care about is if you can pass a coding interview. If have knowledge you will get a job. No one will care how you got it.
 
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alpha12 said:
No one cares about degrees. All people care about is if you can pass a coding interview. If have knowledge you will get a job. No one will care how you got it.
Click to expand...
Let me know who you work for. Seriously, I can refer 50+ great candidates to your company right now who have been leetcoding at least 500+ problems but have no degree or no cert just some personal projects. I can guarantee you they will pass the majority of coding interview questions you throw at them, except maybe some very tricky HARD project euler type of questions.

How does it sound? I give you some names and contact info, and you will keep the referral bonus. It will be a great deal for sure, are you onboard?
 
letsquitpharm said:
Let me know who you work for. Seriously, I can refer 50+ great candidates to your company right now who have been leetcoding at least 500+ problems but have no degree or no cert just some personal projects. I can guarantee you they will pass the majority of coding interview questions you throw at them, except some very tricky HARD project euler type of questions.
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Great. They should apply to Google. They will easily get in.
 
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alpha12 said:
Great. They should apply to Google. They will easily get in.
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Nope, they got rejected again and again. For whatever reason, why don't you step up and make some money from referrals? It will be easy money for you and you will help those guys tremendously.
 
alpha12 said:
What makes you think I am trolling? Pointing out your silly strawman?
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You can"t even back up your claims man. I am working as a bioinformatics data scientist/data engineer and I know a hell lot more people who are in a top 10 MSCS program, working now as SDEs and are more capable than me but still failing to "easily get in Google". If you are not trolling, I don't know a better word for that.

Your perpetual argument of "degree/certs are useless, just passing coding interviews will get people jobs" really turns me off. Are you even working in the tech field? Who do you work for? And what's your current job title? If you are not trolling, you really make me wonder if we are living in the same country.
 
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letsquitpharm said:
I know a hell lot more people who are in a top 10 MSCS program, working now as SDEs and are more capable than me but still failing to "easily get in Google".
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You are making my point for me.
 
I saw the thread and was thinking this was about a pharmacy intern who was going to drop out of pharmacy school to be a pharmacy technician.
 
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BidingMyTime said:
I saw the thread and was thinking this was about a pharmacy intern who was going to drop out of pharmacy school to be a pharmacy technician.
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LOL NOOOO. I already graduated pharmacy school, recent started non pharmacy health care job. 😁
 
I was contemplating pursuing a third career in IT. Taking the ITF+ exam soon just to get my feet wet, followed by A+, Network+, and Security+ in time.

I thought a bootcamp would be useful for someone trying to expedite their learning. I don’t care so much about a graduation certificate as gaining the knowledge and passing the certs.
 
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