Five tips for the beginner programmer
In this article, I share tips for starting programmers. These can help you in your career! :)
World of Programming
When you start as a programmer, a new world opens up. The world of programming is somewhat different from the “normal” world. A world that you must navigate with strict logical rules. There is very little room for error which can be frustrating at times. If something doesn’t work, it is your fault. The computer does not care; it only follows your orders. But do not get discouraged because everything will start to click at some point! :D
1. If you get stuck, you need to learn more.
At the start of my career, I sometimes got outraged because the code I wrote wouldn’t work. It was incredibly frustrating because I didn’t understand why it was happening. Some of it was me being a beginner and lacking knowledge, and I didn’t bother to read enough documentation or work hard enough to understand things. It is easy to get frustrated by all the programming complexity and rules. Because it is difficult to know how everything works; however, eventually, you will get used to it and even appreciate it, since when you understand enough and tell the program to do something, it will work.
2. Talk to your friends about programming
If you have friends who also do programming, for example, in school in the same class, that is good. But it is also good to talk about your profession to people who don’t know much about it. This is because to explain programming to people who don’t know anything about it, you must have a profound understanding of it.
Talking to friends who also do programming is a great way to share your professional problems and learn from them. Furthermore, your friend might know something that can significantly help you in your work or school projects.
Few people understand programming, and even fewer do programming. It is rare to find friends that have the same interest or profession. It allows you to connect with them on a whole new level. This also gives you a person to ask for help when you need it and, of course, wise versa; it is nice to be able to help your friends.
3. Share your work with online communities
Be open to sharing your work. It is a great way to learn. It also teaches how to handle criticism and how to do projects in the real world. It gives them more meaning than something that you never share with anybody. Therefore be bold and brave and attempt to share your work as much as possible. This can be through posting on Reddit, writing articles, creating videos, or contributing to open-source projects.
4. Be curious
Keep finding new things and trying out new technologies. Reading articles (like this one) or watching Youtube videos are great ways to get news about software-related technologies. Reddit is also suitable for following specific technologies such as Flutter or React. This is important because technology, especially software, evolves rapidly, and we should be up to date with the most recent developments.
5. Be relentless
Sometimes when programming, you will run into brick walls that feel unpassable. Some bugs or errors that you cannot figure out. During these times, it is essential to keep calm and take a step back, speak to colleagues and search for answers from the web. Finding the right solution for your problem may take a while, but rest assured, if you keep going, you will find it. However, always remember to take breaks and reassess the situation if you get stuck for a long time. Focusing on something else can also help you better process the problem.
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