This document provides guidelines for becoming a software engineer or starting an IT business. It recommends defining your goals such as what technology or position to pursue. It also suggests finding resources like courses, tutorials, videos and books to learn skills. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of practicing through real-world projects to gain experience. The document advises joining a developer community and participating in events. Finally, it notes that the best way to learn is by starting a job in the software industry.

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