Hey everyone! I created /r/LearnToLearnToCode and want to tell you about it!

Who Am I?

My name is Michael and I'm a developer, a teacher, and a student. I've been lucky enough to work with Google, Udacity, and Treehouse on making content to help students grasp the fundamentals of Android Styling and Firebase [1] [2] . At Google, I rewrote the Sunshine application, wrote some teaching scripts and recorded some really awkward video (I'm the goofy looking guy with the chopsticks on the home page) and created a handful of the example "Toy" applications we used to demonstrate concepts in isolation. I've also been developing applications professionally for about eight years and now work as an independent contractor on Android, iOS, React and React Native applications.

What Am I Doing?

I recently have been really focussing on creating content that helps developers of all skill types learn different concepts for different programming languages and frameworks on my YouTube channel and on dev.to account.

I've been focussing on React Native lately, but also have content for MacOS, Android and others lined up in the pipeline. With /r/LearnToLearnToCode, I'm not just limiting applicants to those technologies though. Anything is game!

My method for finding what content to create has been simple. I peruse /r/ReactNative and look for questions people have, and then create videos explaining how to do what they're asking. As I've been perusing these subreddits (and other programming related subreddits), I've noticed a strong trend.

A LOT of questions are as simple as

"How did you get started programming professionally"

"How do I get started"

"I've always wanted to program but don't know where to start".

There is obviously an abundance of information, documentation, tutorials, articles and open source code available that it gets you thinking: Why isn't it easier for anyone to learn to code?

One lazy answer would be that programming and coding is difficult and that not everyone is cut out to do it. I just don't buy that. There is no limit to the knowledge one can collect on their journey to Programming "Nirvana", but to get started building a website or mobile application or server has never been easier. I think more accurately the problem boils down to the fact that schools no longer teach students how to learn. It also turns out that learning how to learn requires a lot of hard work and discipline. It can also be overwhelming with so much information available. If you don't learn to learn, you'll never truly "learn" or "know" much fo anything, but rather just have a bunch of information at your disposal.

/r/LearnToLearnToCode was created to fix this problem.

What is /r/LearnToLearnToCode

Like I mentioned above, there are a bajillion resources out there to learn how to do x or y in whatever programming language you can dream up, but lots of people have a tough time finding out how to get the rubber to hit the road.

Learn to Learn to Code (/r/LearnToLearnToCode) is created to help people of all skill levels learn how to do something new through collaboration and trial and error.

Early on, this will not scale. I'm going to set up a simple form that's going to be a first come, first served queue where anyone can submit any technology they'd like to get started with (along with a little information about themselves such as skill level, current knowledge, etc) and we're going to record a collaborative screenshare where we go from zero knowledge to getting their prototype working. We're then going to post all of the code and the screenshare to YouTube, categorize them appropriately, and hopefully be able to begin creating a large collection of resources for helping people realize that coding is really about

1) Figuring out what you want to make
2) Figuring out what technologies make that possible
3) Reading the documentation carefully
4) Trying and failing a bunch until you get it right

If you think this sounds like an interesting idea and you'd like to see how it goes, go ahead and sub to /r/LearnToLearnToCode and join us in our journey!

Feedback

If you think this sounds stupid or have a way that you can improve the idea, let me know! I'm all ears! Through experience of my own and from talking with and helping others from all kinds of different situations, it just doesn't seem like Universities truly teach people how to learn anymore, and would much prefer you to memorize shit and get you out the door so they can keep their numbers nice and tidy. I'm personally sick of that and want to help in a small way to be a part of the change that I'd like to see. I heard a really cool quote the other day from a guy named Jordan Hall. It goes something like this:

Rather than simply teaching how to memorize information, we should teach to cultivate epiphany.

I've since made that my goal and hope that LTLTC will help make that goal a reality.

What Should You Do?

0) Like and Share the Video

1) Sub to the YouTube channel.
2) Sub on Reddit
3) Fill out the Form to let me know what you're interested in learning about
4) (Optional) Follow me on dev.to to track the progress of LTLTC

5) Retweet and like the announcement Tweet

What If I Want To Teach You Something?

Great question. If you want to teach me how to do something cool or maybe if I'm doing something incredibly incorrect (as I inevitably will be in learning new things), please fill out this form to Teach to Learn to Code. After all, teaching is the best way to learn.

How Much Do You Charge?

It's free! I truly enjoy helping people arrive at those AHA! moments. I don't believe that knowledge should be locked up behind some paywall or some advertising bullshit. I'm currently developing a new economic theory that will help solve those issues, but it's outside the scope of this post. In short though, it boils down to this: A content aggregation platform where voting power is determined by how many correct answers you provide to community moderated, factually based questions. That voting power can be burned for a fungible token that can be speculated against. Various parties are rewarded points when you answer questions correctly, such as the creator of the content you're answering questions about, the users who have moderated those questions, and obviously, the answerer herself. If you're interested in helping or just following along, it's being developed out in the open (currently been put on a short hold as I tackle other projects such as this one) at Github here: https://github.com/technoplato/knophy. Please give it a star to follow progress if you're interested.

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🤟🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🤟🙏

If you liked the post, please be sure to give it a thumbs up, a heart, an upvote, a retweet, or whatever it is that the cool kids do these days. All my follow links are below to keep track of /r/LearnToLearnToCode's progress!

🤔 QUESTIONS | 📝 COMMENTS | 📉 CONCERNS | 📩 SUGGESTIONS

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments or if I could have done a better job explaining anything anywhere.

Question

This will absolutely not scale. What are you thinking?

Answer

Of course it won't scale at first! It's not always about scale. It's about cultivating epiphany in people who truly want to learn and better themselves. Eventually, if we hit a scale problem, we'll also have hit a scale problem. That means eyeballs, and hopefully that means we find more developers who are willing to virtually donate their time to help others enjoy this really cool set of tools that we've all grown to take for granted (not everyone, but not not everyone).

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Most importantly,
💻📲👨🏻‍💻KEEP CODING, KEEP LEARNING, AND KEEP DOING!

👇👇👇 FOLLOW ME 👇👇👇

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