I'm writing this article to help my fellow newbies. I want to share a few things, I wish I knew when I started coding.
1.Learn with passion
Don't learn how to code just because you heard from someone that some John Doe is a programmer and he's living the dream. People usually see just the success. They don't see the struggles to get there. Programming can be "boring" if you are not passionate and excited about every little detail. Even if you are, it can be a struggle sometimes. For me personally, coding is life. I can't imagine a day without coding. Whatever you do in life do it because you want to, and because it makes you happy. My motto in life is :"Do it 100%, or don't do it at all".
2.Take notes
Taking notes is very important. It helped me, personally very much. When you are learning something new, you are acknowledging it by writing it down. You will memorize more. Try writing it down the way you understood the lesson, with your own words. Because when you go back to it, it will trigger your memory, and you won't have to repeat the whole lesson.
3.Join a programming community
One of the most important steps is this one. Try to find a good programming community online, or even better, find one in your area. Connecting with like-minded people will help you a lot. You can try a coding challenge like #100daysofcode or #301DaysOfCode on Twitter. You will learn new things and maybe meet new friends! Plus whenever you need help, you will find someone willing to help you!
4.You don't have to memorize everything
When I started coding I would always stress about memorizing every little detail. I would struggle with one lesson for 2 days. Later I realized that practice makes it perfect. The more things you build, you will become better and better. So don't stress too much! Just practice.
5.Learn from different resources
It's very important to learn from different resources. You are not done with learning when you finish a 3 hours YouTube tutorial. One person won't tell you all the "secrets", and probably doesn't know every little detail about some programming language. But someone else knows those missing "pieces", and maybe he's/she's a better teacher.
6.Consistency is the key.
Programming is a skill that requires practice, and consistency. You can't learn how to code by coding 2 days a week. It's too much information, and you won't remember where you left off. It would be like going one step forward and two steps back. It's best to join some coding challenge. That way you will build a habit of coding everyday, and you won't think about it too much.
7.The hard way, is the best way
Did I say in the title "7 easy steps"? Oh I lied, sort of, sorry ๐ Sometimes the best way to learn something is the hard way. Because the hard way makes the information to stick. I wouldn't recommend that, when you learn HTML and a little bit of CSS, right away start exploring Bootstrap. Because you'll have problems later, when applying for jobs, you won't know how to do some basic things, like how to build a fixed Navbar and how to fix some basic bugs. Also don't try learning 2-3 programming languages at once. Maybe it's possible, but I don't recommend it. :D
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