A few months ago I was stuck in a bit of a rut. I would get my work done for my job then not want to touch a keyboard for the rest of the day. Now there's nothing wrong with wanting to disconnect for a while and keep up a solid work life balance, but I just wasn't engaged in learning, personal development... or anything, really. One day I wandered onto Twitch and just happened to think "I wonder if there's a category for coding?".
Spoiler Alert: There is!
I quickly started watching a few live coding streamers regularly and becoming part of their communities. I had no intentions of starting my own channel at first, but after giving it more thought (and a little motivation from a few streamers I followed), I decided it could be a great way to get back into the groove of learning and meet some awesome people while I'm at it. So, without any more rambling, here are the biggest things I've learned in my first month of Live Coding on Twitch.
1) The Live Coding community exists, and they're awesome!
I would not be doing the Science and Tech category any justice if this wasn't the first thing I mentioned. The first things you'll notice when you tune in for a few streams is that most of the live coders on Twitch seem to like genuinely good people. The community is super inclusive, always there to pick each other up when someone is down or celebrate each others wins. The overall Science and Tech community, as well as the individual channel communities, really do feel like friends and family after a little while.
2. You will learn a TON.
Whether you're just lurking (Twitch term for passively watching) on someone's channel or streaming yourself, you will learn a ton from the community. Chat has saved me on many occasions when it comes to troubleshooting errors and I've also been able to help out a few folks on roadblocks of their own. There's people of different backgrounds/skillsets all over the place and the best part is... hardly any trolls! One of my main goals going into each stream is to not only learn something myself, but also make sure that chat is learning right along with me. Nothing beats the feeling of building a feature or solving an issue with your community.
3. You don't have to be an expert to make a difference.
People seem to think that you should only stream live coding if you're one of the smartest people in the world... definitely not true. While there are some pretty great programmers on Twitch, you won't hear anyone boasting about how they built "blah blah" all by themselves and how great they are. The vast majority of streamers are super humble and even the best will get tripped up on a bug every once in a while.
4. If you're considering streaming. Stop considering, and JUST DO IT.
I went back and forth in my head on whether or not I was going to start streaming for about 3 weeks. The hardest part is clicking "Go Live" on that very first stream. Just remember, when you click that daunting button, there's a 99.9% no one is watching for at least a few minutes. Practice narrating what your doing even when chat is empty and no one is watching. Don't be discouraged if you aren't pulling in viewers. If you got into Live Coding for the money and fame, you probably made a mistake. Streaming is just like programming... it takes time and practice to get better.Just have fun and always be learning.
Conclusion
This is my first post on dev.to about my first month on Twitch, so I'm clearly not an expert in this stuff. That being said, I hope this post can serve as the last nudge needed for a few people to give live coding a shot. If you have any questions or, better yet, you decide to start a channel, let me know and I'll gladly tune in and be your first follower!
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