In today’s tech-fuelled startup-age, where technological solutions to everyday problems galore all around us, not knowing how to code can feel like a handicap, especially, when one has ideas that have a market but are not aware of the most optimal ways to actually implement it. And coding is one of the skills that seem quite a bit intimidating to the uninitiated. With technical terms, an unfathomable syntax, weird naming conventions and overall perceived complexity, it is easy to be discouraged by the long road ahead. But fear not !! There have been many who have done this before, and you too can do it. 

 

  • Choose a Language 

 

At the outset of your learning journey, it is best to not worry too much about the choice of language to learn and to just get started with learning a language. You will learn many languages over the course of your programming career, depending upon the project requirements but the basic core logic and thinking process that coding relies upon is constant across all languages and frameworks. Some languages that I would recommend learning for a beginner would probably be Python, Java and JavaScript. But you can choose your own too !!

 

  • Youtube is your Best Friend 

 

Yes, you read that right. The plethora of tutorials that are present on Youtube makes it one of the best learning plarforms out there.  After having chosen your preferred language (Python, Java, JavaScript etc.), choose a youtube channel or tutorial that is most comfortable to you and follow it in its entirety. It is important to not skip or jump from tutorial to tutorial, but to actually cultivate the patience required to follow the lessons at hand, even though they may seem obtuse and abstract at the beginning. Some good resources in this regard are FreeCodeCamp, Traversy Media, Net Ninja and Programming With Mosh

 

  • Practice, Practice, Practice

 

While it is perfectly fine to use tutorials to learn crucial concepts and syntax, it is important not to make oneself overly reliant on them. It is crucial to practice the concepts learned by solving programming challenges, starting with the simple ones and then gradually proceeding up the ladder. Practicing these concepts are useful, because it is only through solving the problems yourself and exercising the concepts learnt that one truly sees the scope of the concepts and the various forms that its applications can take. Some resources that I personally found very useful at this stage were Edabit ,  Hackerrank, and CoderByte

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  • Make Simple Projects on Your Own

Making a simple project on one’s intiative is an excellent step to be taken in the process of learning how to code. It need not be anything too complicated – simple tasks like creating a calculator, or a simple tic-tac-toe game are very good entry points to the task of learning to integrate the various concepts and skills learnt into a holistic application. Building simple projects also will afford you the opportunity to explore the gaps in your own understanding and to see how these concepts fit in with real-world implementations.

 

  • Celebrate your Journey !!

        Congratulations if you have made it this far !! Studies have shown that only    around 5-8% of people who start online learning actually complete it. The fact that you have made it this far, shows that you have the mettle and determination to actually make it !! Celebrate your journey and know that you are on your way to becoming a successful coder !! 

 

Happy Coding !!

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