✨ You Can Do This! I Believe In You! ✨
Some words of encouragement before you start your big formidable coding project.
Starting is the absolutely the hardest part, but it can take as little as making the git repo, or writing the bare minimum to get something running even if its <html></html>.
Share what you want to work on so that your friends can hold you accountable. It works even better if you both start a project and encourage each other to keep going!
No Bug Is Unsolvable
Personally, this has discouraged me a lot.
One thing that really frustrated me when I was starting out was that I was afraid I would run into a bug in my code or it wouldn't compile and no one could help me fix it.
And sometimes it did happen. Entire projects I've poured hours and hours into that just fall to the way side because of that one bug that ruined the whole project.
My biggest mistake was not reaching out. There are so many resources for people to check over your code, you're just going to have to be willing to share.
Ask the internet, and you shall receive. Sometimes more than you want, but you'll likely get an answer if you post your issue online.
Ask on StackOverflow, even though it can be intimidating but you'll have to push through it!
Heck, ask me! Go to my twitter @abdisalan_js and send me a DM of your bug and maybe I'll be able to help!
Pick One Area and Get Good; Ignore the Other Fluff
When I got started, I tried to master the entire profession. I did courses on C++ game development, Javascript, Python, 3d engine building, web development, php and more.
I don't remember 99% of it.
There's no strict areas or category, but sticking to one programming language vs many is a good start. If you've got some experience and are comfortable with one language, you could expand to a different language that works with it. For example, if you learned javascript for web development, it could help to learn python for making web APIs.
The moral is to keep the vision narrow for now so that you can get better faster and build on your confidence.
Its also good for job search, which you'll eventually have to do. When employers look at your CV, they'll want to put you in a category, and you want to be strong in one category at least. That's a discussion for another time though.
Bonus: Try to collaborate!
Don't try to do this all on your own! Find someone, anyone, who might want to work on the project with you. Having someone else there can be a big motivator and you can get a lot more done.
If you're both familiar with git, then this could be a good time to try sharing a repo and reviewing each others' code.
Comment down below what project you're working on! Maybe someone else will be interested and make a pull request?
Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you start that project you've been thinking of!
Top comments (7)
Yep! Focusing on one is the best in my opinion. That doesn't mean you can't switch in the future.
6 months of Web Design, then 6 months of C# is a lot better than 1 year of both at the same time I think.
I think is good to know that your first try will suck, will be ugly, but once you do it you can improve, you can't improve non existing code :)
And newsflash, you may not keep even 1 LOC of your first draft, that's fine, some of it is still in your head, that's what you keep.
I like that way of thinking Roberto!
This is what I need today :)
Sometimes ago I heard a senior who's experienced in programming saying something along the line of "If you haven't done a serious programming project yet, it's probably not suited for you." It wasn't meant directly to me, but it still haunts me to this date.
That's why I'm very glad that there's still some positivity here.
I don't agree with that quote at all! You can be successful without side projects, but they do help.
Glad I could add some positivity though! 😁
Newbie in Data Analytics, in need of a mentor.
I don’t know much about Data Analytics but if you ever have a question, I’d be happy help!