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Discussion on: My Mom wants to learn programming, where would she even begin?

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Andrei Gatej

What I think she needs is a curriculum. There are a lot of useful and free resources, but for a beginner it would be hard to know which one to pick.

Thus, I’d recommend freeCodeCamp.

After some time I’m sure she will know which resource is worth taking the time to explore it.
I also think it is very important to apply this “rule” every time you are learning something new: prioritize quality over quantity.

Does the course have 300+ sections? Don’t let her think that if she completes the first 100 by the end of the week she will gain a lot of knowledge. She might only complete the first 10 within the first week, first 2 weeks, doesn’t matter! Even if time is a problem, it is important to make sure you understand what is presented to you(for example, by trying to find another working example, by building stuff based on what you just learnt) in the first place.

She might find the first lessons not really “practical”(looping through an array, conditionals etc), but I think it’s better to take the time to learn and not underestimate them now, than to spend time understanding them later, when you’d face a “practical” example.

Another thing I find useful is to take notes of what you’ve learnt at the end of the day. Just a few bullet points of what you were glad to learn today.

Good luck!