Navigating Challenge One: Four Pointers every code newbie can use.

Imagine a scenario. You’re presented with a challenge to create a project that requires the use of Pivotal Tracker for project management, Github for version control, and building User Interfaces in HTML and CSS to be hosted on Github pages. You only have two weeks to complete this. Sounds easy, right?

Well for me, a code newbie, I am encountering some of these things for the first time. The anticipation of how much I have to learn and complete the challenge at the same time before the deadline is enough to send me into a panic mode.
This week I would like to share a few pointers especially for beginners in programming, on how to keep calm, learn and step into the uncharted territories of programming with confidence.

One step at a time

As a beginner, you are going to encounter a lot of new things to learn. It could be the many programming languages or applications that simplify your work. You will meet people who are at different stages of their coding journeys speaking gibberish. Don’t be intimidated by this. When faced with a huge load of work containing words that you didn’t even know existed, take a step back and relax. Learn from the people who are good at it. Most importantly, remember that you cannot do and finish everything in one day. When you try to handle everything at once, you’ll lose out on the important things. Take baby steps every day and one day you’ll get there where you want to be. Do not rush, you’ll crash.

Organize yourself

You will have this huge task to do that is comprised of smaller tasks. It’s very important that you divide your work into small manageable tasks. Then assign these tasks according to your days. Through this, you’ll be able to prioritize, manage your time well and be more productive as a person.

Aim more to learn than to complete

In the last few days coming up to the deadline of challenge one, I fidgeted to complete the challenge. My mind was more focused on finishing in time than learning and understanding what I was doing. As a result, I got a little stressed and wrote not so good code. My learning facilitators were quick to tell me that it didn’t matter whether I finished the challenge the or not. As long as I learned and understood what I was doing, I was good. This was certainly a lightbulb moment for me. Looking back, after completing challenge one, I realize it was not as hard as I had anticipated because I tried to understand what I was doing.

Confidence

This week, we had a refreshing entrepreneurship session with Ms. Brenda Katwesigye, the CEO of Wazi Vision. One of the great things she said that evening was; “As ladies, we’ve got to approach opportunities and challenges with much confidence(as the men often do).” Learning can be quite frustrating and many times we doubt our abilities to achieve our set out goals. Don’t let self-doubt derail you from what you want. You got to believe in yourself and have the passion for what you are doing. Surround yourself with people who constantly put you back in line. You will get there.

Yes you can!