Three things I’ll do differently if I decide to learn to code again
What if I tell you my first line of code was written in 2018? By now I know you must be thinking I should be in the industry by now, have worked for a couple of tech companies, or maybe become a unicorn developer I wish. Fast forward to 2022, here I am still learning to break into tech. Here are the three things I’ll do differently if I choose to learn to code again; Plan, Join communities & learn in public, and Network.
Things I’ll do differently
- Plan
Poor or inadequate planning can result in huge waste and loss of time. There is no amount of time one spent on a wrong part that is equal to the progress of being on the right path, wrong path leads to the wrong destination no two way about it. I started out without a plan I believe it’s normal for someone new to coding but could have taken the time to research my style of learning, set a time frame between learning and applying for jobs, decide whether to go the route of a Bootcamp or take the free courses online but I was hopping from one youtube videos to another. If I decided to study using free online courses, I’ll research a structured curriculum with project milestones such as freecodecamp, the Leon Noel, but I’ll prefer to take a Bootcamp route.
For me time is of the essence and Bootcamp teaches an up-to-date structured curriculum with exact skills employers are looking for, hands-on real-life projects similar to one’s I will be doing on the job, collaborations on projects using collaboration tools, standup meetings, coding partners to keep you accountable, and help when getting blocked. Also, mentorship sessions and a large community to reach out to for help. Learning to code alone can sometimes come with its own disadvantages.
Another is, Bootcamp offers modules and helps to prepare students anything from crafting & reviewing ATS standard resumes, building developer’s portfolios, practicing technical interviews, and proven guidelines to approaching networking. Since the main goal is to help students land a job in tech and I believe it is a win-win for both sides. I know you must have been thinking is this dude nuts! Bootcamp’s tuition fees are out of this world, pls know that there are Bootcamp that operates on ISA for example Microverse and others like that please do your due diligence.
2. Learn in the Public & Share my work
You can be a unicorn developer as I like to call it and no one in this world will ever know you exist. The aim of learning to code is to get a job and change your life. Learning in the public is to have a community to hold you accountable, according to Gift Egweunu @lauragift_in her chat with the CodNewbie community, she mentioned why learning in public is the fastest way to learn, what learning in public can look like for different people, and getting over the hurdle of the anxiety of putting yourself out there after this. I used to be afraid someone might call me out or not like what I shared or the project might not look good and then I’ll hide my project lol, this affect my level of confidence because it was difficult for me to gauge my level of progress and as a result, I keep going back to the basics thinking maybe I don’t understand the basics well. Currently, I do a weekly update of what I have learned for the week on Linkedin and this has helped me tremendously.
3. Networking
I believe no one is an island, part of the reason I had slow progress when I first attempted learning to code was that I was isolated, nobody knows I can even write a hello world. Connecting with like minds and joining a community as its own perk, If I had to do it again I’ll join a developer community, connect with devs on Twitter, LinkedIn, attends conferences.
Sharing all this for anyone out there thinking of taking a plunge at learning to code not to make the same mistakes I made.
Thank you for taking the time to read my bluff, I hope you enjoy reading it.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment and If you like what you read kindly give me some claps.
