Many people have this question and feel that since they don't have a Computer science degree they cannot become software developers. But this can't be further from the truth. Though the degree of course helps but not having a degree can be easily compensated with self-study and learning from other resources.
Below are the reasons why computer science education is not a must.
a) There are many resources like online courses, boot camps, videos on youtube, interactive sites like w3schools, Codecademy available where you can learn easily and in an affordable manner.
b) Professional coding is becoming easier, and easier to do. Gone are the days when only computer experts could code. The new tools are abstracting most of the complexities to make them easy to use. For example, you don't need to know much about javascript to use the functionality provided by the bootstrap framework.
c) The demand is much higher than the supply of good coders. As almost all the businesses are becoming technology-enabled, there is an all-time high demand for coders. In this scenario, anyone with a good sense of technology and logic can get a chance and can learn and move on from there. Many of the CTOs in big companies in silicon valley come from an Arts backgrounds.
d) The technology world is ever-changing. What is popular now, might not be relevant in the next few years. So in this scenario having formal education won't give as much of an advantage as it does in other fields. The people who know how to work with new technology will have an edge over people who don't. So in the end it boils to down learning new things. And most of these things aren't taught in formal colleges.
e)Higher education is not that aligned with the needs of the industry. Similar to the last point the industry is moving at a breakneck speed and what is being taught in universities and colleges is on the verge of becoming irrelevant and outdated. Hence it doesn't provide much more value than learning yourself from say a course on Coursera or elsewhere. Academia is helpful in case you want to go for higher studies or research. How valuable it is for practical coding is still an open question.
So with good quality resources at your disposal, many examples of people becoming great software developers without formal education, the ever-changing technology world it is only your thinking that can hold you back. Coding or software development is one of the most practical fields out there. If you really have a passion for it, you can study it yourself and become extremely good at it. The resources are easily available and there are many mentors who can guide you.
So stop putting artificial constraints on yourself and start your coding journey today.
Learn21 conducts an online Boot Camp for web development. If interested you can check the details here.