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Prashant Patel
Prashant Patel

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How to become a 'Better Beginner'? A Guide by a Beginner!

Think once & Start

Starting is always NOW.

START where you are,
USE what you have,
DO what you can.

Do not wait for the right tool. If you are able to read this. You already have a tool to start with.

CONSISTENCY

Once you start, choose Consistency over working hours once a weak.

1 Hour/Day > 7 Hours/Day once a week.

Do not underestimate the power of Consistency.

Success is the product of daily habits - not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.

QUANTITY OVER QUALITY

As a beginner, you may fall for the quality of your code. You may fall for the perfection of your code. This can be hard to achieve at this stage & even it can demotivate you.

Instead choose 'Quantity'.

Try to complete as many projects as you can keeping the ugliness of your code aside. Eventually, this will lead you to Quality. Just make your projects work.

There's not a single perfect app in this universe!!! If there would be then why the developers need to update it day-to-day?
Just think of it! 🤔

HOW TO LEARN?

You will get stuck at many levels as you continue your journey.

Get yourself an acquaintance that no one, not even a senior developers know everything. They just know better how to learn.

So, I would say, LEARN TO 'LEARN'.

TUTORIAL HELL

Learning from tutorials is one of the best ways today.
But don't get stuck in tutorial hell by just keeping yourself building projects watching more & more tutorials.
Come out of the tutorial hell asap.

Building projects with the help of tutorials is absolutely fine. There's no question!
But by finishing that project, don't jump to another tutorial to build another project.
Instead, try to build a similar project using that tech stack or even adding some extra bits.
Now, you will face real problems & will actually learn the tech.

In the tutorial, the tutor has already developed & tested a well-defined project. But he/she won't show you the real struggle they have gone through so they can save you a ton of time.
Remember the actual time the tutor has gone through is much greater than what you are seeing.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

You are not alone. Almost most of the developers in the world would have faced Imposter Syndrome.

While you face this difficulty, remember you are comparing your 2 or 3 months with the one who has spent years of practice. So there's no point to it.

READ BOOKS

Well, I'm not talking about tech books here- but the books that will boost your learning.

Learning to code is tough. One day you may succeed to learn. Another day you may fail. One day you may think about giving up.

I would say - Please give up but for few days. I mean take a break, spend your time with loved ones.

Books can be your best friends to keep you struggling with your learning but not quitting. Keep reading books parallelly with your learning. And eventually, one day will come, you will pat your shoulders for not giving up in the past.

Here, I would recommend few books:

  • 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear
  • 'Zero to One' by Peter Thiel

DOCUMENT YOUR JOURNEY

As you start learning documenting your journey will be a big plus. Use any social media platform - Twitter, Instagram, Hashnode, or any.
Twitter would be best in my opinion where you can connect with many other developers (beginner to expert) learning different tech stacks. You will get help from them. Here, I would say 'Tech Twitter' is the best thing I came across Twitter.

You can also take a challenge by committing in public to code for the next 100 days.
There's a unique and fun way to doing it. 💯 Visit https://www.100daysofcode.com/ and read more about it there.

TEACH WHILE LEARNING

You may think it's a dumbest suggestion- how one can teach while learning? 🤔

You may say ok, fine, I'm ready to teach but who the hell will learn from me?

Believe me, you don't need to go anywhere to find students.

Remember again about documenting your journey as a developer.

Yes, that is it. Make small notes, tips about what you learned by means of text, visuals or anything you can do. Not only it will refresh your learning, but it will also force you to understand the topic thoroughly. And of course many will benefit from this.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Keep struggling,
Just don't quit!

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