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CodeNewbie Staff for CodeLand 2022

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How did you realize you wanted to learn to code?

Hey CodeLand!

Throughout your experience at this year's event, we hope you get a chance to explore CodeNewbie Community on your own a bit and engage in some discussions. You can even start one of your own using this template (or by starting a new post and adding the #discuss tag).

This thread is part of an ongoing series of discussions before and during CodeLand 2022. Each post in the CodeLand 2022 Discussions series will be part of a special prize raffle after the event concludes. In other words you'll be automatically entered into a prize raffle just for commenting on this post before 11:59 PM PT on Friday, June 17, 2022.

In the thread below, tell us how you realized you wanted to learn to code!

Top comments (48)

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asbourlotos profile image
Alexander Bourlotos

This question hurts a little because I always thought that programming required calculus-level math. I was told by people who knew less that I wasn't learning what was required and it really put me off (this was back in HS/2004-6). Learning that it's not true re-ignited my interest.

I always liked messing with web code, but I didn't see it as programming. I wish I had a better mentor in my early days but now that I know more, I can't wait to get started!

I also want to learn how to code so that I can de-mystify it for others and be a mentor for others in the future as well.

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mariasilva_dev profile image
Maria Silva

Hi Alexander!

I'm glad you were able to re-ignite your interest in programming. I had been thinking about learning to code for about two years but I also had the misconception that you needed to be proficient in higher level math. Math was never my favorite subject. It wasn't until I started looking into bootcamps and reading reviews from people that transitioned from careers like retail to software developers that I was like "hey, maybe I can do it too." And now I'm doing it!

It's awesome that you want to give back and de-mystify it for others, can't wait to see what you do!

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itsnatalye profile image
itsNatalye

My child inspired me to jump into it! She has been learning front end development and I was literally watching and learning everyday! For a couple of years I have learned some coding and taught elementary and middle school students from the Hello World Little Bits Coding kits to Girls Who Code groups.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I had a fascination in computers long before I even knew coding was a thing people could do.

I'm 33 years old, and I really think coding wasn't on the radar of anyone in my life as something to even bother telling me was a thing. But every time I stumbled across some knowledge of how computers did what they did and what could be done, I really loved it!

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yuridevat profile image
π•π•¦π•π•šπ•’ πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ’»

When I was studying Japanese I had to do an internship, which I did at the Japanese department of University of Vienna by hosting the website. Together with a colleague we had to create a WordPress site for the "150 years Japanese and Austrian relation" celebration where a professor needed a platform for her lecture. The designing, the meetings, the talks about how we could best achieve her goals - it was so fascinating that I was sure that after graduating I want to learn how to code.

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kithminiii profile image
Kithmini

Since my childhood I used to do so many things using my brothers computer. I learnt lot from him.I really loved to see his coding stuffs. After completing my Advanced level exams, I wanted to become a software engineer.So this is how that I realized Iwanted to learn to code.πŸ™ƒπŸ™Šβ€‹

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mreves profile image
Matt Eves

I always thought coding was impossible and something I couldn't possibly do. Then, whilst having a chat with someone in the office about someone I knew who had switched careers but how I didn't think I could learn to code, they said "well I reckon you could do that". So I read up on it and had a a go at starting to learn, and really enjoyed it. Funny in hindsight how much that little voice can be a barrier to trying something new. I'm a "late mid-30's" (πŸ˜…) learner so I do sometimes feel like an outlier, and learning with a young family has been slow and steady, but I learnt early on not to compare my rate of progress to others which was a good lesson to learn.

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connyx profile image
connyx

Trust me, you are not the only one "late mid-30's" who found out that coding is something they wanna do. And I'm not only talking about myself. Haha ;-)

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theoriginalbpc profile image
Sarah Dye

In August 2015, I saw a job posting for Skillcrush. I got curious so I checked out their website and signed up for their newsletter. At the time, the newsletter sent daily e-mails when you first signed up with activities and information about tech.

Day 3 was when I wrote my first line of code. It wasn't very fancy, but that line of code is where I realized tech is the right fit for me. Shortly after that I signed up for their free coding bootcamp and did research. That's what helped me decide to learn how to code and shortly after that I enrolled in Skillcrush's web designer blueprint cohort.

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Sheldon Stevens

I grew up being surrounded by technology and I have always been curious more about how the apps, websites, games and such worked more so then my interest in using the actual technologies. I always thought programmers were super smart, creative, almost godlike people and that if you knew how to code you must be a super genius or have years of tech experience and I was delighted to learn that was not necessarily correct haha. Once I started breaking down code and realizing what this string says vs what I'm seeing on this website and how they connect ect. I was hooked and when I ran my first block of code and it was successful I fell in love and decided it was something I couldn't imagine living without.

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mariessad

I used to make websites as a teen, but because there weren't any coding/computer classes at my school, I ended up pursuing art. Now as an adult who graduated from art school, I still want to make websites, and there's so much information online that I can self-teach! Learning how the internet works and how to make dynamic websites is so interesting and complex

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coder_utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Maurya

I was always fascinated by technology since I was a child. I loved to learn about how computers and smartphones worked. Researching about these topics introduced me to the concept of coding. That's when I knew, this is what I want to do in my life.