Coding is one of those skills that you can easily learn online and get a job if you’re good at it. Yes, so many people these days get into coding Bootcamps as an alternative to college – however, some others decide to learn on online platforms like;
- YouTube
- Free code camp
- W3 schools etcetera
On these sites, there’s almost all the information you need about most of the programming languages including python, C, C++, Java, etcetera. However, learning by yourself can pose some huge challenges including;
- Hard concepts that need someone else to explain to you.
- It’s pretty hard to push yourself
- Information overload could hinder focus and in-depth learning.
This article is a step by step guide on how to learn to code through three steps including; changing your mind set, practicing and joining a community.
Step 1: Change your mind set
To be successful at anything in life, the way you think plays a really huge role and contributes a great deal. How do programmers think? Here’s some picks;
1. Computational thinking
Computational thinking is the kind of thinking where you start small and solve huge gigantic problems. To become a good programmer, you should understand that even the biggest and most complex apps start with a single line of code.
In fact, almost every programmer started with printing “Hello World” on their console. Therefore, if you don’t believe in small contributions to a huge task, you just can’t be a programmer.
2. Problem-solving mentality.
Over the due course of your programing career, you’ll find so many challenges including bugs in your code and a couple of mistakes that you’ll make while coding.
You should therefore adopt the readiness to find, attack and solve all the challenges that come your way, because they’ll surely do.
3. Creativity
Creativity is not only for the artists. Actually, creativity will get you a long way and keep you there.
A creative programmer always knows how to use the existing programming languages to create unique layouts and functions, just like musicians use existing melodies to create unique songs.
4. More depth than width
One thing that will definitely challenge your learning process is the overload of information.
You wanna learn one language for cross platform app development, but then you hear of game development and it sounds so cool.
However, being a mile wide and inch deep is not the right way to go about that. so, here’s a few steps to take;
- Know what kind of programmer you want to be, whether web or app development or game development, software engineering, etcetera
- Choose a language depending on your goals and the job market.
- Specialize in a certain area of programming.
- Make sure you know everything from the basics to the complex parts of a language before you move on to another.
- Only consume the content you actually need.
Step 2: Practice regularly
Unlike high school, things like computer programming are more hands-on than theoretical. Without practice, you can’t be sure you’ve learned anything. Here are a few ways you can make sure to practice regularly.
1. Try out some projects
Even though money might seem like the only strong motivation, you ought to polish your skills first. The very things that you wanted to be able to design are what you’re supposed to start with.
You are supposed to practice to the point that it becomes second nature for you to do those particular projects.
2. Set daily coding goals
Organization is key to achieving mastery and expertise in any skill. You have to break your learning of a difficult language or designing of a huge project into small, manageable chunks.
Turning those chunks into daily, weekly or monthly goals makes it highly doable.
3. Try coding challenges
Have you really mastered your language? It’s time to see a couple of small, technical things you can probably do with it, even though you weren’t aware of them before.
Go online and look for coding challenges that you can try out in the comfort of your home, and try them out to test your skillset.
4. Google frequently
You have probably been told, but Googling is an essential skill in coding. First off, Googling might not sound like a skill to you, but not everyone is capable of finding stuff there. Here are a few things you can Google.
- Solutions to problems in your code
- Plain code that’s already written
- Links to fonts, images or other webpages
Step 4: Join coding communities
Since so many programmers are used to locking themselves up in the basement, where they write all their code and know no sunrise or sunset, you probably won’t have that much of friends.
However, isolation is the dream killer. This is because there are so many people out there that can and are willing to help you find answers to your questions. Communities include;
- Stack overflow
- GitHub
- Quora
- Social media groups
A community will provide a little bit of what you won’t find in the tutorials, like;
- Understanding and compassion
- A little in-depth help
- Encouragement from their personal testimonies
Since all tutorials make it seem like these programmers are perfect, actually interacting with them on these community platforms Is the best way to no feel alone I your bubble.
Conclusion;
I hate to sound like a broken record, but practice is the key that will take you places with coding. It doesn’t matter how many codes you cram or how many books you read or tutorials you watch. All can be rendered useless if you don’t practice quite often. Also, remember to always take a walk and do a few cardiovascular exercises, since you’ll be indoors almost all the time.