How to become a developer -Part 4: Get Social
This is the fourth of a five-part article. Here you have links to the other parts:
Part 4 -Get Social
Intro
In this fourth part of the article, I will walk you through the social aspect of programming. Sometimes we may think that programming is all about code and being in front of a computer, but it is not.
The best part of programming is when you have the opportunity to share knowledge. People that understand what you are feeling because they have been there and they have done that. People with whom you can share your frustrations as well as your achievements.
No one makes it alone. You have much to gain and to give if you are part of a group. So… let us get social!
Don’t compare yourself to others
Everybody learns at a different pace. And every programmer is at a different skill level. In the beginning, it’s normal for you to be at the bottom of the food chain. You will feel that everyone knows more than you. Everyone experiences this at the beginning, just don’t let this put you down.
You will grow your skills and soon enough you will have the opportunity to teach others what you have learned and that will feel amazing. Just never forget the feeling of being on the bottom so that you can empathize with your students on a later stage. Don’t try to be better than someone else. Try to be better than you were before.
Find local communities
Community gives you motivation, support, and connections. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the awesome people I had the pleasure to have met along the way. No one makes it alone. Having met so many talented people led me in unexpected directions. Good people will point you in the right direction, will give you strength and will push your forward.
When I started learning to code, I started to attend all the events I could find. I was very lucky to have found the guys from GeekSessions that are always putting together awesome events for developers to attend. There are always cool talks where you will learn something new, but I think the main purpose is for the community to get together and share knowledge, ideas and talk about our cool projects. These events keep us motivated, engaged and give us the drive to keep learning more and more.
Don’t be afraid to interact with other developers. They are always willing to help if you show interest. When I started to attend events I knew very little about code and even then, I felt extremely welcomed by everyone. I guess the great community we have, was one of the biggest reasons that made me change careers.
If you can’t find a local community, start one!
The power of local study groups
Becoming a developer when you know nothing about computers or the web, is not an easy task and you will need all the help you can get. If you do it alone you will get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you have to learn and with how hard some of that stuff is. In the darkest hour, you will need someone to show you there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Being part of a group means you will develop bonds with real persons, and you will share your frustrations as well as what you have learned. You will help one another and push further together.
The study group is a concept proposed by freeCodeCamp. This is a good place for you to ask someone to help you with that hard algorithm or to explain something about one of the projects you are building.
It’s a good place to develop your team skills or to do some pair programming trying to solve that hard algorithm you are struggling on. Or, you can just grab a beer and chat about something.
Find a peak performance partner
When I join freeCodeCamp in January of 2017, I meet my good friend Eduardo Vedes in the local freeCodeCamp facebook group. Eduardo was a Civil Engineer, about my age and he was also learning to code. We started freeCodeCamp at the same time and we were “partners in crime”. Eduardo was the one that made me believe that it was possible for us to become developers and even change careers.
We were both tackling freeCodeCamp challenges like there was no tomorrow. We were pushing each other more and more and having lots of fun. He used to call it the Slipstream Effect.
We talked every day to report our progress and that made a huge difference. I knew I had to make some progress during the day because later on, I would be embarrassed if I was to tell him that I was lazy that day. That made me push day after day so that I could proudly report my daily achievements, proving that I was a reliable partner.
That not only made me achieve great progress but showed me that I was more capable than I ever taught.
Tell everyone
Another way I found that worked for me, was posting my goals on slack for everyone to see and daily update my progress. That way I would have to make it work. Otherwise, people would think I was not a man of my word. Probably no one cared if I made it or not, but for me, not keeping my word would be embarrassing and it made me actively pursuing those goals to avoid public humiliation.
Publishing your goals on online channels or forums, will not only make you actively pursuing those goals, but it will also inspire others to pursue their own goals.
Celebrate your victories
Open a beer, make a special meal with family or friends, but celebrate. If you don't take time to appreciate what you just did, the Journey will feel a constant struggle. It is important for you to stop and celebrate. It’s like on the Marshmallow Test, the kids had to resist the treat, but they still received it in the end.
When you achieve your goal or conclude some thought exercise, share it with the community. People will understand what you are going through and they will celebrate with you.
Don’t expect your girlfriend/boyfriend to share your excitement when you finished building that first tribute page project. Their reaction is something like this:
Did you take a whole week to make that crap? The text is not even aligned with the picture! Oh my god, those colors? And who the fuck is Elon Musk anyway?
Yeah… I’ve been there :)
Celebrate your victories. You deserve it. Make it very special. Recharge your batteries and then, go back to the fight!
Welcome criticism
For me, this part was difficult to accept. I came from a different area. In my previous job, criticism was a bad thing. People were always complaining about something and I developed some kind of defense mechanism that made me, kind of immune to criticism. What I mean is that I didn’t really care about what people had to say.
But in web development, I was starting from zero. You have a lot to gain if you embrace being criticized as a good thing. Constructive or destructive, criticism is always good for you if you don’t take it as a personal attack. People are sharing their opinion towards you. See it as an opportunity to analyze yourself and identify the areas that you will have to work to get better.
Being criticized its an opportunity for you to grow.
Be humble
When you start making your way up, you will start to feel like you have superpowers. You will feel invincible but, stay away from the dark side of the force. No one likes a RockStar Developer. They have huge Egos and they won’t fit on any team or community. Don’t be that guy.
Recall when I told you to remember the feeling of being “on the bottom if the food chain”? This is the time when you have to remember how you felt when you were just starting. How weak you were back then. You have to empathize with people that are just starting or that are struggling at something. They are feeling powerless, so help them and give them the motivation they need.
Make good friends
Programming is very cool. But it is exponentially cooler when you have good friends to share it with. Go to events and talk to everybody. I promise you will meet lots of awesome people and some of them will become close friends.
I guess what drove me to this world was the sense of community I found in the tech field. People are always trying to help one another without expecting anything in return. And this is contagious. Our local community is growing a lot and the “newcomers” are embracing this culture perfectly.
I believe we have a lot to gain with people interactions and with the synergies that are born as a result. We are stronger together. A group is much more than the sum of the individuals.
This is the fourth of a five-part article. Here you have links to the other parts:
Part 4 -Get Social
