What to know before starting to learn coding
So you want to learn how to code? Maybe you are completely new to the topic, maybe you have already done some research. Either way you probably feel overwhelmed and don’t know how to get started.
Today is your lucky day, I will tell you what you need to know before you get started!
First of all: stop the research!
When I started coding I would stumble upon a new video/ tutorial / article all the time and the more I read the more confused I got. Actually I got terrified sometimes — how is there so much stuff out there and how the hell am I ever going to learn it?
What happened was that in the year I spent trying to learn how to code, I was spending most of my time not coding. It is so easy to waste your time on reading about the latest trend in JavaScript (a programming language) or researching frameworks (some kind of libraries for programming languages) instead of just getting started to write code.
You hear all these strange words left and right and you feel like an idiot for not knowing what they mean. So you read up and you read up and you read up… TRUST ME it never ends!
Books? Why bother?
The funny thing is that all this reading won’t help you in writing code. It would be awesome if you could just read all the programming books in the world and be a great programmer but that won’t work. Most of the things mentioned in the book you will have forgotten by the time you actually need it in your code, so you will have to look it up again anyways.
And I know a lot of people might actually be pretty offended now and argue that books are great for learning. Sure! Maybe if you are pretty good at programming and are able to fully understand whats happening just by learning the theory.
If you however feel stupid, like an idiot and completely overwhelmed! Don’t worry! It is completely understandable and not your fault! Its the fault of the internet — that bastard internet with all the content!
What do you want to build?
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So the first thing you should do if you want to learn how to code is figure out WHAT you want to build. I know tough question. But yes programming means that soon you will be able to build stuff, like real things, like you know, you will basically be a wizard.
For a business major like me this is actually a pretty hard question, just imagining myself building something seems so unrealistic. I learned how to manage and sell things, not how to build things. What a crazy thing to imagine.
What do you want to build? What is your dream? What product excites you?
Here are some examples:
- Videogames: Cool you love playing games? why not start out by building your own game?
- Website: The classic. A website. Super useful, maybe you can build a blog or maybe you have a business idea and need a platform (this is what I am working on- check out my article: “Best resources for learning to code web stuff”)
- An App: Also pretty cool. Here you should figure out if you want to build an android or an ios app.
- Electronics: What electronics? Sounds fancy, what does she mean? Well, you could learn how to build real things, like robots or devices. Also sounds suuuuper cool right?
… and soooo many more things you can do.
At this point your probably thinking: “OMG Roxy that all sounds awesome! I want to get started building things right away” — good! get exited about this, you will be a wizard soon after all!
Why is it important to know what you want to build before starting to learn programming?
Again, there is sooooooo much content out there and knowing what you want to accomplish will help you filter out the things you don’t need to know. For all the above fields there are different programming languages you should focus on.
Also it’s just so much more motivating if you know what goal you are trying to accomplish.
If you know what you want to build you can find your community and share your journey, downfalls, accomplishments and problems with them.
Find your community
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Once you have a pretty good idea about what you want to build you can start researching the programming languages that are used in that field and look for communities in your area.
There is a great website called meetup. Here you can look for study groups around specific programming languages or just general topics like gaming, webdevelopment or electronics.
Once you found some communities don’t be afraid to go to a meetup and introduce yourself as a total beginner. They will most likely be very friendly and give you good advise on how to get started.
Great! Off you go little sheep!
- Stop the research
- Find out what you want to build
- Ask your community for advise
If you are into webstuff like me and want to make a kickass website keep posted, I will write an article about the best resources for starting to learn how to code web stuff.
If you have questions or thoughts I really encourage you to post a comment — I will respond within 48 hours!
Good luck, don’t give up and most importantly don’t forget to have FUN! And if you enjoyed this little article go ahead and hit that little heart.
