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Tom D
Tom D

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Things I wish I’d known before I learnt how to code

  1. Don't give up, don't let more than a month pass without doing something that takes at least a few hours. I could have been in a decent job a lot sooner if I hadn't.

  2. Taking a silent rest break with a cup of tea generally helps solve a pesky bug a lot faster than frantic Googling.

  3. Avoid tutorial fatigue. Start a project that will excite you that’s just within your grasp and learn along the way.

  4. Resist the urge to take shortcuts, especially when learning something new. Take time to consider new concepts and research them from more than one learning source.

  5. Don’t forget soft skills. This will aid career progression as much as knowing the inns and outs of any particular language.

  6. You will forever be walking a tightrope of overconfidence and imposter syndrome. Acknowledge and manage it, stay humble and stay thirsty for knowledge.

  7. Stop coding on your own. Find local events or join remotely. Share your code and take the criticism. Have a go with an open source project and get stuck in to a few pull requests.

  8. Do not underestimate diet and exercise. It is more closely tied to the performance of brain function than we realise. You can always afford 10 mins and the benefits are huge.

  9. The 20 hours principle. It bloody works. Get familiar with it, get strict, and commit to it.

  10. Reflect on what you’ve learnt and write it up, maybe share it on dev.to...

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