I'm 24 and have been seriously studying programming for about a year, with roughly two months away from coding because of illness and other distractions. I haven't worked professionally as a developer yet, so I'm unsure how my progress compares and whether my current skills are employable.
I started with Node.js, building lightweight servers, REST APIs, JSON-based storage, and basic authentication. I then learned C# and Unity, where I created a fairly complex quest and dialogue system for a first-person game, followed by a small desktop business application. I also explored PowerShell, Linux, SSH, Docker, GitHub Actions, deployments, and CI/CD before realizing that infrastructure work interests me less than programming itself.
More recently, I focused on networking and Go. I studied TCP programming and built a group-chat AI bot using Telegram, Ollama, proxies, and a custom communication protocol. I intentionally over-engineered parts of it to understand how the underlying systems worked. I also experimented with Arduino, passive piezo sensors, echolocation concepts, and ultrasonic levitation, although I eventually decided that deeper physics and electronics knowledge would be necessary to continue in that direction.
My largest practical project so far is an internal CRM for our business, with an Electron frontend and Go backend. It uses SQL and HTTP—technologies I don't particularly enjoy—but the software is useful for sorting and managing business data.
I've learned mostly through building projects, with occasional help from AI and books. I don't blindly copy solutions; I try to understand the logic before using anything. Now I'm considering spending the next month or two studying computer networks, operating systems, electronics, algorithms, data structures, discrete mathematics, and physics, while doing less hands-on work.
I enjoy low-level programming, networking, and understanding how computers communicate far more than ordinary CRUD applications or business logic. However, I have no degree or commercial development experience, and I'm worried that my broad, experimental background makes me look more like a hobbyist than a job candidate. Am I progressing normally? Could this skill set lead to a job in networking or a related area, and what should I focus on to improve my chances of getting hired?
4 Answers
You’re ahead of where many beginners are after a year, especially because you’ve completed projects that involve servers, deployment, networking, and a CRM that an actual business uses. That CRM is particularly valuable evidence because it shows you can build something useful, not just follow tutorials.
To become employable, make your projects easy to evaluate. Put selected work in public repositories, explain the architecture and tradeoffs, add tests, logging, monitoring, documentation, and automated builds, and deploy at least one project. You may not enjoy operations work, but professional developers usually spend significant time on those areas.
You’ll need to clear two hurdles: getting an interview and passing it. A strong portfolio can help compensate for missing experience or a degree, while data structures, algorithms, and practical system-design preparation can help with interviews. Be ready to discuss your projects in depth and to answer behavioral questions using examples from your work.
You might also consider turning one of your projects into a small product rather than assuming a traditional salaried role is the only path. Brainstorm several ideas, validate whether anyone would pay for them early, and build a focused version instead of over-engineering everything. The CRM already demonstrates that you can solve a real problem for a real user, which is a stronger signal than another isolated tutorial project.
That said, don’t wait for a perfect product before applying for jobs. Apply while continuing to improve, and use interviews to learn which gaps employers actually see in your experience.
Your progress sounds completely normal—and probably faster than average in terms of breadth and hands-on work. Feeling knowledgeable one day and lost the next is also normal; programming has an enormous surface area, and even experienced developers constantly encounter people with deeper expertise.
Try not to treat other people’s progress as a measuring stick. Focus on building a coherent direction now rather than collecting more unrelated technologies. Networking, systems programming, backend infrastructure, and tools written in Go could form a reasonable career theme. Pick one or two substantial projects and deepen them instead of abandoning each project as soon as the exciting exploration phase ends.
You can absolutely find work with this background, but your interests may point toward several different job categories: backend engineering, network tooling, systems programming, developer infrastructure, QA automation, or junior platform engineering. Entry-level roles specifically labeled “network programming” may be limited, so don’t restrict your search too narrowly.
Spend some time learning the fundamentals, especially operating systems, networking, data structures, algorithms, and discrete math. A short period of interview practice can be useful, but don’t let endless algorithm exercises replace building and documenting real software. Your best advantage is the combination of curiosity and practical experience, so present that clearly on your résumé and in a portfolio.
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