I was laid off in July after 11 years working in logistics coordination. With severance and savings, my family can get by until roughly the end of February if nothing unexpected happens. My partner works, and we have a five-year-old; we're safe for now, but we can't afford to make this gamble twice.
I'm considering using the next six months as a full-time, 40-hour-a-week programming study period. I want an honest assessment: is that a realistic runway to become employable in software, or are people who say it's possible mostly selling courses and optimism? I'd rather hear that the plan is unrealistic now than discover it when the money runs out.
5 Answers
Your 11 years in logistics are probably a much stronger qualification than six months of programming. Rather than abandoning that background, look for roles where logistics knowledge and technical skills overlap: solutions engineering, implementation, operations technology, business analysis, automation, or software companies that build tools for supply chains. You could learn enough programming and automation to demonstrate useful projects without needing to become a full software engineer first.
If you pursue this, start the job search and networking immediately rather than waiting until you feel ready. Talk to people in logistics technology, attend local professional events, investigate employers in your area, and find a mentor. At the same time, make a backup plan focused on returning to logistics or a nearby role. Treat programming as an additional advantage, not as the one outcome that has to arrive by February.
Honestly, six months of self-study is very unlikely to be enough to land a software development job, especially in the current market. Even if you become reasonably competent, the job search itself can take months, and you’d be competing with computer science graduates and experienced developers who are also looking. Learning to code can still be worthwhile, but I wouldn’t make it the only plan supporting your family.
I would spend most of the runway applying for jobs in your existing field while studying part time or building practical automation projects. The market for entry-level developers is crowded, and a short course by itself is not a reliable credential. Your experience may qualify you for a better and faster transition into a technical-adjacent position than starting over at the bottom of software.
Six months can teach you a lot, but it usually doesn’t provide the experience employers mean when they ask for an engineer. Being able to write code is different from working on a team, maintaining an existing system, testing changes, debugging production issues, and making sound design decisions. A strong portfolio might earn you a chance, but it would be an unusually high-risk bet for a fixed financial runway.
The key advantage is that you already understand the problems worth solving. Build small tools around logistics workflows, reporting, scheduling, or inventory instead of generic tutorial websites. Domain knowledge can make a technical transition much more credible.