When it comes to learning, passion is essential. Because if you have a passion you have the boundless energy you need to overcome the challenges you will face in becoming a self-taught engineer. Formal education is not a requirement anymore, all you need is a curious mind and passion for learning. This is why self-taught engineers often deliver the best results. This is why a lot of tech companies these days choose to reject people with an engineering degree and ten years of experience and instead hire those that are either fresh graduates or those with no formal engineering education, as long as they are passionate about their field.

Here are some reasons why companies may prefer to hire self-taught engineers

1. They aren’t in it for the money

In the tech business, a lot of difficult problems occur.  These problems are often tackled by passionate engineers working in their company’s purely because those people love to be challenged. They don’t care how much work they have to do and how many hours they have to put in to finish the project. They are thirsty for knowledge and they believe that whatever frustration their work gives them will be outweighed by the new things they learn along the way.

Engineers often give away free resources online. Many of them are self-taught software engineers. They share their work with others to give back to the community, as they have gained so much from it themselves.   One of the best websites to access free online programming resources from professionals is Livecoding.tv. Here, you can watch experienced engineers code products live. You can chat with them as they tackle real problems, and work on real projects.

Another great site is thenewboston. This website is also founded by a self taught programmer named Bucky Roberts. This website offers free educational materials such as programming videos, science subject videos, math and many more. The site offers a great user experience. You can even watch the videos without signing up.

2. They Don’t Require Much Supervision

With programmers, less is more. These kinds of people or engineers believe they know what they are doing and they have high self confidence. When problems occur, they usually don’t complain, because it’s their chance to learn something new. They become an expert at what they do because they embrace failure positively.

3. They DON’T Abide with Established Working Hours

Engineers often work at odd times, and some do their best work late at night. These self taught engineers don’t even notice the time they spent on working with their particular project because they are always excited to get it done.

If you are an aspiring engineer then you could start practicing doing your project on the side. One way to concentrate your mind when it comes to making a particular project is to participate on online programming marathons. You have the choice of what and where you want to take part in. A great place for absolute beginners is code.org’s an hour of code.

4.  They take their work home with them

When problems occur they make sure that they will have a solution for it as soon as possible. So even after they leave their workplace, they often think of many solutions to address the problem, going to bed dreaming about it and then wake up early and excited to try the new ideas to approach the problem.

When you have some unfinished project or have some questions in mind, at Livecoding.tv you can share your project live. And you can learn any of the popular languages used today such as Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, C, C++ and many more. You can watch projects being built live!

You can check out specific languages from different streamers.

5. They Contribute Ideas

Imagination is what drives them. Because of their deep knowledge, they often come up with ideas that could really change the company. If the engineer feels listened to and appreciated, they will continue to generate ideas in the future.

6. Give Results On or Before the Deadline

Self taught engineers are very energetic so they aim to get things done as fast as possible. There usually isn’t any need for reminders and follow ups.

7. They Always Have a Backup Plan

They usually know the ins and outs of their field, so when something goes wrong, they usually have a Plan B.

8. High Interpersonal Skills

These people aim for self development. They know that they need to constantly improve, and that they have to work with a team to get things done fast. They understand the importance of teamwork and fast production. They appreciate other people’s skills and abilities.

In learning, it is much more fun if you’re not alone. Mixing entertainment with education would make it much better and easier. In learning PHP, Java, C, C++, Python and any other programming language, identifying the level of your experience should always be noted to also interact or communicate with people at your level.

Livecoding.tv takes your learning to the next level as you can engage with programmers who are more experienced than you. You can either ask questions to people that are also viewing a stream, or directly to the streamer. You can ask them about the project they are working on, and even hire them to help you if you are stuck on your own project. In addition to the live chat, you can also send a direct message, and if the streamer has enabled it, you can call them directly on Skype.

9. They Put Work First

Despite all distractions, they tend to have work at or near the top of their priorities. They are very focused and nothing can distract them from finishing their project.

10. They Don’t Ask for Long Vacations

Again, they are not in it for the money, they are very passionate about their work. For most engineers, a two week vacation per year is usually enough.  When they work, they just think of work. When they go on vacation, they free their minds from work. They enjoy and appreciate every moment of their vacation so they are refreshed when they get home. And companies love people that are mostly present in the workforce.

To hear stories about how self-taught engineers got started, you can start on the Livecoding.tv Blog. One recent interview with Katherine (aka Awakekat), she talked about how she got started, and the excitement of learning to code.