Hello there!
First of all, it's great to be part of this community, this is my first post, so, thank you all, welcome you all and let's get to business!
I'll share with you some of my experience on learning to code by myself for the last 5 months, I'll try to make it short, but I guess you guys could help a lot with opinions, experiences and know-how.
I'm brazilian, 32 yo, have been working in Brazil's largest bank for 8 years now, kinda middle manager, not sure about the precise english name for my job, but in a nutshell, I take care of other people money. All my past courses (lots), graduations(two), certifications (lots )and planning (lots), had been so far, in finances world.
Well, I don't want that anymore, decided to change, new life, new plans and now I'm learning to code!
Me: 'Where to start?'
Internet: 'Web development or mobile, nevermind, web development first, nevermind again, go straight to HTML, CSS and Javascript, then jump to React and then you'll be ready'
Me: 'Er...okay then'
Well, this sucks. I've been through HTML and CSS, not really fun, but then, JS! Oh boy, Javascript is really, really fun. But that "path" drawn, is all wrong.
I mean, I get it when you're a kid and need to make money somehow, need to start somewhere and web development for sure is a start. I don't know what I want to work with! How could I know? After the third month studying Javascript daily, I've decided to make a pause on markup languages, stylesheets whatsoever and focus on learning the language itself. I was developing apps by fetching data without no knowledge at all on data structure, writing code as shown on courses and tutorials and documentation without no clue about what O(n) meant. I mean, to be fair, i think i just fell in love for algorithms, problem solving and data structure, I spend most of my days on codewars, hackerrank, adventofcode and a few others and that's just amazing, and I'm actually getting pretty good at it!. That's what i had in mind when i used to think about what programmers did for living. Ok, far from reallity, but now I need help!
I've been studying a lot of data structure and alghoritms and started to build my first React apps, what should I do? I feel i need to know a little more to decide where to go from here, should I stop React, maybe aim to backend and data structure so early? Should i quit this nonsense and keep with my frontend plan? Should i take english lessons? (sorry about that) Well, opinions, sugestions, insights, tips, all welcome! Thanks!!
Top comments (8)
I have been working professionally as a developer for 3 years, and I still don't know what O(n) means without looking it up. It sounds like you've really taken more towards backend and algorithms, so why not continue learning about that? Chris Biscardi said something on the egghead.io developer chats podcast recently that I haven't been able to get out of my head. They were talking about people who were new to programming, and the opinions that more seasoned developers have about what newcomers should learn first. They said: "They should learn whatever keeps them doing it tomorrow. That's the only requirement. If you do that, you'll figure out what you need later and learn it, and if you don't do it tomorrow, then you're done". I think that's all that matters. Keep learning about what interests you. You'll start figuring out where the gaps are in your knowledge and you'll learn as you go. Just do the thing you like doing that makes this enjoyable for you.
"They should learn whatever keeps them doing it tomorrow."
@Tony Cimaglia-- this is truly wonderful advice. I cannot agree with it enough. Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome! It's such a great quote.
Thats exactly the answer I was hoping for lol, tks!
So happy I could help! Definitely check out that podcast. It's mainly Joel Hooks talking to different developers about how they got their start in software. It'll show you how many wildly different paths there are to success in the industry.
I've actually been taking a look at that right now! Hope I can find it
Here's the specific episode:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chri...
The quote is right around the 8 minute mark.
I totally get what you mean, fred! I started learning web dev myself last year. It's been a very confusing journey trying to figure out my path as well, but watching web dev learning path videos regularly helps keep me focused and know what to work on next. Traversy Media and a few others just came out with their new 2021 versions on this topic. I think you are on the right track, it sounds like you got a great foundation in JS and that will really help you learn React. Although there is plenty you can do with vanilla JS and html/css, the tools provided by a framework like React take you to the next level with more complicated projects and will translate to many other different technologies. If you haven't already, build a full-stack website, like a online store or blog with authentication and database. That will, of course, help you learn both front and backend. Also, if you haven't already, work on that resume, build a portfolio, make your github look nice with readme.md's on your repos, and maybe start applying already and get paid while you learn! p.s. You're english is great
some youtubers that help me find my way, and a lot of them respond to comments or questions quickly:
codeCreative
Traversy Media
Academind
James Q Quick
Ben Awad
CODINGAFTERTHIRTY
CoderFoundry
Stefan Mischook.