Hey Patrick,

I was exactly in this position a few years ago. I worked for about 5 years
as a paraprofessional mostly in circulation in academic libraries. After
becoming more and more interested in library technology, I started teaching
myself web development, starting with freeCodeCamp and then eventually
moving on to other resources and self-directed projects.

After about 3 years of self-learning, I felt confident enough to start
applying for developer jobs. I applied mainly for library-related developer
jobs but some non-library positions. None of the non-library jobs
responded, but had some success with library jobs offering interviews. My
library experience certainly was a boon. I applied for about 30 positions.
Of these, I got 3 interviews: 2 were for library vendors, 1 was with an
academic library. One vendor went with someone else, I bowed out of the
library job after two interviews because I would have had to move, and then
was offered and accepted the other vendor position as a junior developer.
Providing access to ebooks and audiobooks is within the scope of this
position. And for context, it took about 6 months from when I started
applying and when I accepted my position. I started in March of this year.

Anecdotally, determining whether I enjoyed development and just getting my
foot in the door with any developer job became much more my priority than
finding a library or non-library job. That said, I am happy working in the
library “industry” since it’s a world I’ve been involved in for so long.

If you’d like to know more (and this goes for anyone else in a similar
situation), feel free to email me privately and I’d be happy to share more
about my experience and resources I used.

On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 5:14 PM Patrick Pletcher <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi, this is my first time posting to a list like this. I am a circulation
> clerk who is learning to code at freecodecamp.org. Right now I am
> studying html and css, but I plan on going through all the lessons on the
> website. I enjoy working in libraries, and I also enjoy writing code. I am
> not sure where I am going with this. Do I stay in the library field, or do
> I go off in a completely different direction? I would appreciate your
> input. I think I would like best to work for a company that provides access
> to eBooks or audio books. I like print, but I don't see people using ink
> printed on dead trees 50 years from now, with all of the environmental
> issues the planet is facing.
>