--- title: 4 Uneasy Steps to Become a Software Engineer | daily.dev description: A self-taught developer who landed roles at Amazon and Google without a CS degree shares a six-month blueprint for breaking into software engineering. The four... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/4-uneasy-steps-to-become-a-software-engineer-qol7nytza twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 4 Uneasy Steps to Become a Software Engineer | daily.dev og:description: A self-taught developer who landed roles at Amazon and Google without a CS degree shares a six-month blueprint for breaking into software engineering. The four... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/4-uneasy-steps-to-become-a-software-engineer-qol7nytza og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/QOl7nYtzA.png og:image:alt: 4 Uneasy Steps to Become a Software Engineer og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 4 Uneasy Steps to Become a Software Engineer **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A self-taught developer who landed roles at Amazon and Google without a CS degree shares a six-month blueprint for breaking into software engineering. The four steps are: learn Python as your first language, stop watching tutorials and start building by typing code yourself, create real projects and host them on GitHub, and prepare for technical interviews by studying data structures and algorithms via a free Udacity course before practicing on LeetCode. The post also emphasizes treating rejection as a numbers game and detaching self-worth from interview outcomes. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What programming language should I learn first if I want to become a software engineer without a CS degree? Python is recommended as the best first language because it reads close to plain English, is versatile enough to avoid learning new syntax for every project, and requires minimal lines of code to accomplish tasks. Switching from Java to Python for technical interviews reportedly doubled one self-taught engineer's interview performance, since less time is spent typing boilerplate syntax and more time solving the actual problem. _daily.dev surfaces practical language comparisons for developers mapping out a self-taught path into software engineering._ ### How do I prepare for data structures and algorithms interview questions without a computer science degree? A free four-week Data Structures and Algorithms course created by Google and hosted on Udacity, taught in Python, covers maps, trees, graphs, and sorting algorithm implementation, and is described as enough to put a self-taught learner on par with a CS graduate. After completing it, practicing LeetCode questions filtered by difficulty, starting with easy and progressing to medium, solved within 45 minutes, is the recommended next step before applying for full-time roles. _developers building interview readiness track free DSA resources and practice strategies on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [7 Software Engineering Fixes To Advance As A Developer](https://daily.dev/posts/7-software-engineering-fixes-to-advance-as-a-developer-xqulbvkxn) · Planet Python · 32 upvotes · 1 comments - [Before I Switched From My 9–5, I Did This](https://daily.dev/posts/before-i-switched-from-my-9-5-i-did-this-bjz1uux7l) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How I learned to code for free and made a lateral career move](https://daily.dev/posts/how-i-learned-to-code-for-free-and-made-a-lateral-career-move-2zard4h2o) · All Things Open · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/4-uneasy-steps-to-become-a-software-engineer-qol7nytza) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"4 Uneasy Steps to Become a Software Engineer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-uneasy-steps-to-become-a-software-engineer-qol7nytza","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-uneasy-steps-to-become-a-software-engineer-qol7nytza"},"datePublished":"2026-07-18T00:17:22.119Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T08:31:44.909Z","description":"A self-taught developer who landed roles at Amazon and Google without a CS degree shares a six-month blueprint for breaking into software engineering. 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