Most of my friends knew what they wanted to be in high school. I didn’t.
Well, I thought I did. I wanted to become a petrochemical engineer becaus...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
I would strongly recommend contributing to an open source project as a potential pathway. Get to know the code of a bigger project that has a healthy community, start with trying to solve basic issues or improving documentation. Ask questions in public community channels. There's a lot of really smart and helpful people in those communities...Grow from there
...full disclosure, I work for Mattermost...getting hands on with "open" stuff is the best way to learn 👍🏼
You're right, open source was a game changer for me. It will be super scary at first though (speaking from experience 😂).
But you're right, those communities are incredibly helpful. Starting with documentation improvements is smart advice - less intimidating than jumping into the codebase. Thanks for sharing your experience with Mattermost - always cool to hear from people actually working in these communities.
Pls how can I get on the open stuff??
How can I found one
This is where certifications become useful for me, because it offers a structural path to study beginning to end. It's definitely No indicator that you are actually a programmer! Only real world experience can demonstrate that, but doing a certification forces you to learn things and provides structure to that learning!
Well the certification doesn't really matter but the structured learning path does. In the world programming, direction matters.
Having that guided learning path definitely has value. At the end of the day your credentials doesn't matter, only your potential.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on this. I appreciate you.
Great man thanks allot as I was just reading and going down almost all the mistakes you made mention of is what I was doing... Thank God I found this.. really helpful thanks again man... Pls how exactly do I find an online community that would help me grow ??
Glad this helped man
Yeah, we all make the same mistakes - that's why I had to write about it 😅 For online communities, start with these: Discord servers for your language (search "[your language] discord"), Reddit communities like r/learnprogramming and r/webdev, and Twitter/X - just search for hashtags like #100DaysOfCode or communities like web developer, and software engineering. Try as much as possible to engage and ask questions if you're stuck.
Pick 2-3 places and be active there rather than trying to be everywhere. Consistency beats being everywhere at once.
I'm rooting for you man 💪🏽
Thanks for this again man 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 your really a blessing 🙏🏽🙏🏽.. would do just that.
This post is incredibly helpful exactly what I needed. I'm someone who works alone and doesn’t really have many friends in the real world, but I’ve found a lot of interest and purpose in learning about computers and tech. If anyone out there feels the same or is open to connecting, feel free to reach out. It’d be nice to share this journey with someone
Looking forward to connecting with you
Don' Try to Use Every Resources Out There
My real problem is n networking,I code only and that looks boring to me no friend nobody
Hey Ifeoluwa, I totally get that feeling - coding alone can get really lonely. The networking thing was huge for me too.
Start small: join Discord servers for your programming language (like JavaScript, Python communities), hop on Reddit (r/learnprogramming is great), and Twitter has tons of friendly devs. Don't worry about being "good enough" - just start engaging and you'll notice your twitter algorithm will change as well. Ask questions, share what you're learning, comment on other people's posts. I found my first coding friends just by being active in these spaces. The community is more welcoming than you think.
I'm rooting for you 💪🏽
Okay,nice to hear that from you,but I joined discord some month ago trying to message different people to share my feelings about coding to them but seems they are not interesting in friends
I understand you on this. DMing random people on Discord usually doesn't work. It can come across as spam or too forward.
I would suggest being active in public channels first, ask coding questions there, and they and help others if you can. People get to know you naturally that way.
How to be active in public channels. I mean what have we do? I am also struggle with networking or group of people interested in programming.
Literally if i found anyone of like that. I can program whole day.
I Need Mentor.
Love this advice Kevin
The book approach is solid - you're right about the structured learning path. I actually started with C but the principle is the same.
That muscle memory point is huge too. I wasted months just watching tutorials without typing. The "read and practice" combo is what finally made things stick for me.
C# is a great choice for the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for adding this - really good perspective
Your post strongly reminds me of teaching myself how to code. Super awesome post, really enjoyed reading it!
And creating lot of projects is also important
💯
Projects are everything. Even tiny ones count. I probably built over 6 terrible calculators before making anything decent But each one taught me something new. The key is actually finishing them, even if they're small. Better to have 5 completed simple projects than 1 half-finished complex one right?
I am presently learning JavaScript, but for real I indeed need help, I just got stuck at a point and daily life struggles to make ends meet makes to start procrastinating. Please how do I get pass this stage
Once you've built up your technical skills, you may try to build up a portfolio site for showcasing and networking.
Even if your projects are simple, having them organized and presented well makes a huge difference.
Plus building the portfolio itself is good practice. I rebuilt mine like 5 times as I learned new things each version was better than the last.