12 Biggest Misconceptions about Coding: Part Two
This is part two of 12 biggest misconceptions about coding. Here is part one if you would like to read it.
In the previous one, we went over some of most well-know misconceptions including:
- You need to be good at math to code
- I don’t want to be a developer because I like talking to people
- You need to be obsessed with coding to be a programmer
And here are the last six.
7. Coding isn’t creative
I think this one might have stemmed from our first misconception (aka you need to be good at math to code). Coding relies on math, math is not creative and therefore coding is not creative.
As explained above, the idea that you need math to code is untrue. The same way an author writes a story, a programmer writes anything from a piece of code to a feature to a complete product. At the end of the day, you end up with something new that never existed before.
I am currently coding a mobile application. As a result, I have to make decisions at every step of the creation process. Along with technical questions such as the languages I should use, there are tons of business and design decisions to make. What should I put on this page? What do customers need? What about branding? What color palette matches my audience?
If you asked two architects to create you a house, you would end up with two different houses. Well, the same applies to coding. If you asked two developers to create a to do list app, you would end up with different apps.
8. You need a computer science degree to be a programmer
Nowadays, this is no longer the case. While a computer science degree is helpful in getting your foot into the industry, there is simply too much of a demand for developers and universities are simply not churning them fast enough.
Just take a look at the rise of coding bootcamps all over the world. Most of them match you up with job interviews at the end of the 8 weeks program.
The tech industry is constantly changing. As long as you are eager to learn and keep up to date, you will do great.
9. You had to have been coding since you were x years old
This one hits close to home because I have personally felt it. Halfway through my freshman year, I switched from an arts to a computer science. I had never coded in my life so to say that the first few months were rough would be an understatement. On top of that, I was surrounded by dudes who had previous exposure to coding including one who started when he was 10. I never really felt comfortable as a coder while I was an undergrad.
Nevertheless, I stuck with it and graduated. It’s only when I started working that I became more comfortable as a coder. Between my supervisors who would point out areas of improvement along with daily practice, I started gaining confidence and the quality of my work drastically improved.
Remember that coding, like any craft, takes practice. At first, you will suck. Everyone sucks. But you practice until you suck a little less, and then until you become alright and finally you become great.
10. You have to understand hardware to code
No. Hardware and software are two very different things. You do not need to understand one to accomplish the other.
Someone developing a website does not need to understand how CPU works or what RAM is.
11. You have to have code memorized. Looking everything up makes you a bad developer
Unless you are THE expert in language X, you will look up stuff all the time. I tend to see developers splitting themselves up into two camps: the specialists and the generalists.
Specialists know everything about a specific language or aspect of the Internet. One of my old coworkers seemed to know everything about how to optimize a website. How to fetch data smartly, how and what to cache, … Our users would load our application unaware of the gymnastics that happened in the background as a result of his work.
I am in the second category.
For the past year, I have been developing web and mobile applications in React and React Native. Added to these two, I am using NodeJS for my server along with MongoDB and Postgres for my databases. One of my freelance clients deals with structured content and XML. To process and manipulate XML documents, I familiarized myself with Xquery, XSL-FO and BaseX for storage. At the same time, I was also tutoring bootcamps students in HTML, CSS, plain Javascript and JQuery.
I am and always will be a generalist. My greatest strength is my ability to pick up any language quickly. I chose versatility over mastery.
What will you choose?
12. The idea that you need to master X before moving on to something else
This ties a bit to the previous misconception. It depends on what type of developer you are. If, like me, you find yourself more in the generalist camp than the specialist one, then there is no reason to master X language.
Added to this, the tech industry changes far too rapidly. New or improved languages, frameworks, tools are constantly being created. Ask any front-end developers. Simply catching up on the latest framework/tool can be very time-consuming. By the time you master anything, you will have to learn three new things.
For a good laugh: How it feels to learn javascript in 2016
This it it! I hope these two articles were helpful in some ways. Feel free to share your misconceptions in the comment section.
