Habits New Developer Should Build
These will help you grow
Newbies often ask themselves if they are on the right path. Quite often they feel lost on their adventure to learn and want to quit and many actually quit.
Without proper guidance, it is hard to find your path, walk on it and achieve your goal.
Your habits will determine your future
— Jack Canfield
Well, we know habits are important, but what habits should a noob programmer build to succeed.
I had no direction when I started. I have learned to program the hard way. I tried a lot of strategies and random ways to learn. In this article, I present a few strategies that will help you learn faster.
Code regularly
Consistency is the key to learning. You need to code every single day.
It happens quite often if you are learning something new you find it hard. And your inner voice says — Let’s take a break and do it tomorrow.
You need to have dedicated coding time in your schedule. No matter what, spend your time coding, even if you are able to write only a few lines of code.
Slowly this becomes a habit and programming becomes effortless. It takes time, slowly your efforts compound and the learning becomes really easy.
Learn by Doing
This is the only way you can learn — learn by experience.
There are tons of books, online tutorials, and videos. As a newbie, you tend to read these books and watch these videos. It is not at all possible to learn this way.
The only way to learn is by spending more time applying the learning in the projects. This develops new neurons in your brain and helps you learn progressively.
Don’t Just Copy and Paste
Copy and Paste is an integral part of programming. It is very likely that the problem you are facing, many others are facing as well. They might have solved it and posted a solution online.
More often than not, I have seen developers copy and paste the solution that they have found online. Copy and Paste is not a crime, but you need to understand the solution and tailor it to your needs.
You might have to remove a few wanted lines or add a few. Most importantly understand and edit based on your requirements.
Competitive Programming
Once you have learned a language and you want to practice try competitive programming. This not just helps you master the language but also makes you a problem solver.
In the world of competitive programming, you need to use the concepts of data structures, and algorithms to solve complex problems. This solidifies the concepts and enables you to use the concepts in real-world problems.
Find a mentor
Most of the new programmers lack guidance. They have access to the world of books and tutorials, but really not sure how to make use of this information.
Having a mentor provides you with guidance. A mentor can help you with the path the success. You can learn from the experiences of your mentor and don’t have to make mistakes he/she has made.
This accelerates learning. You don’t drift from your path of learning. Most of the newbies think they can learn themselves. It’s true they can, but you can learn fast with a mentor.
Wrapping Up
The most basic of all is building a habit to code. You need to be patient and consistent, it takes time. Once the habit is built, coding becomes easy and effortless.
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