💡 More StoriesIndependent Consultant1 min read

From Bio/Art Major to 6-Figure Freelance Dev: A Self-Taught Story

A self-taught developer who majored in Biological Science and Studio Art describes how childhood curiosity about the web, college side-projects, and a junior-year internship led to a full-time offer he turned down. Preferring human interaction over a solitary desk job, he spent four difficult years building a freelance consulting practice and is now approaching six figures in annual revenue.

Key takeaways

  • →Build real projects with real stakes early — a working fundraising site is worth more on a resume than coursework.
  • →An internship is an extended interview; treat shipping something production-worthy as your main goal.
  • →Know yourself before chasing status: a prestigious offer is worthless if the day-to-day environment breaks you.
  • →Freelancing is viable but plan for a 3-4 year runway before it pays reliably.
  • →A non-CS degree is not a barrier if your portfolio demonstrates you can learn and ship fast.

I got interested in web design as a kid and built my first website at 11 — back when there was no Facebook or MySpace. I learned HTML and CSS from library books, but it stayed a hobby. In college I majored in Biological Science and Studio Art; nobody around me suggested CS, and it was always framed as something too hard and not for people like me.

The turning point came when I got involved in campus organizations right as social media was taking off. I built an event website with Google Payments integration, promoted it on Facebook with a video, and helped raise a couple thousand dollars the first year — and around $20K total by junior year. That experience made me realize what I could actually do with web skills, and I started learning to program seriously.

That portfolio got me a software engineering internship my junior year. I had no experience with their backend language but picked it up and shipped a finished admin client before the internship ended. They offered me a full-time role — no CS degree required.

I turned it down. Sitting at a desk with almost no human interaction all day made me deeply depressed in a way I couldn't ignore. So I went freelance instead.

It took roughly four years to get real consulting traction — false starts in startup land, slow client acquisition, the whole grind. I would not sugarcoat that to anyone. For most people in their early 20s, taking that full-time offer would have been the right move.

Today I consult with business owners and design agencies on e-commerce projects — sometimes strategy, sometimes programming. It's fully remote, and the flexibility is worth it for me personally.

Adapted from a public post by mygo on Hacker News. Read the original →

More journeys

From Green Mohawk and Punk Band to Lead SWE at a Major Financial Firm

A self-taught developer shares how a lifetime of dabbling in code, combined with a stint in the Army, a touring punk band, and a photojournalism career, eventually led to a junior SWE role landed through a friend's referral while couch-surfing. He worked his way up to lead engineer at an F500 energy company and later a major financial firm, without a CS degree until recently returning to school in his late career.