Sorry if that sounds like a stupid question, but I'm new to programming. Background: i'm in a math graduate program, and since that doesn't allow a lot of job offerings after graduation, I decided to pick up algorithm design. The problem is, I only know two programming languages (java + python) at their most basic level, which is an intro course (one textbook) + a few self learning projects.

I'm not aiming to be a good programmer, but what does one have to have before designing algorithms for a company?