DEV Community: hussein cheayto

Why Coding?

hussein cheayto — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 21:06:13 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself why coding isn't included in the school's programs?

You see, parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to educate their children, but what they don't know is that rare are the teachers who care about your children. In fact, everyone has his/her own talents; some are discovered early, other late, but never too late. One of the school's objectives should be to help students find their abilities to develop them.

Coding or computer programming is writing a set of instructions that a computer understands so it will perform a task. Coding is one of the talents that parents underestimate or ignore.

The early you begin to code, the better. Don't think twice, no matter what's your age, turn on your pc or smartphone, and start coding. The funny thing is that you can try a language, try it for a couple of hours, then pick another one if you felt like it's not user-friendly. As long as you have the logic, you can ace any programming language. What differs from one to another is the syntax.

Now you might ask yourself, why would I want to waste my time learning to code.

The benefits of learning to code can be surprisingly wide-ranging. Here are a few of the ways learning to code can benefit you and your children.

1- Invest in yourself

Learn to code is an investment in itself. In fact, I've developed my own game, available only on Google Play Store. and published it on Google play. Now I can make money while sleeping.

Even if your child wants to do something outside of computer science when they grow up, their coding skills will prove useful across many different fields.

Once you show your kids what they can create with code, they’ll be eager to get started on their own.

Most importantly, the ability to code transforms kids from passive consumers into innovators, with eyes that see every piece of the technology puzzle, not just as a toy but as a way to problem solve and an opportunity to create.

2- Fosters creativity.

By experimenting, children learn and strengthen their brains. Even when they make a mistake, they learn. Children can be creative, and creativity is encouraged. Creativity is part of the process and not always the product.

3- Become a problem solver.

As you learn to code and give direction, you learn that there is no one way to do something and that even if their idea didn’t work. You can improve upon what you have already done without worrying about failing.

Having children learn coding at a young age prepares them for the future. Coding helps children with communication, creativity, math, writing, and confidence.

4- Offers career flexibility

Learning to code can help open up new areas of opportunity in your career and ultimately make you a more flexible candidate in a rapidly-shifting digital economy.

I work as a telecom engineer at Ericsson. With my coding skills, I was able to create automated scripts to finish my work in no time. Besides, I've created software for Ericsson which made a great impact on the team's performance.

Related Article: Top 10 Traits of Legendary Developers

5- Fun bonding opportunity for families

How often do you have the opportunity to learn something practical and new with your kids? Parents with school-aged children have the chance to start from square one together as they learn the fundamentals of programming and coding.

One excellent way to test the waters of learning to code is to practice with kid-friendly resources like Scratch, which gives both you and your child an introduction to programming fundamentals and systemic reasoning. This fundamental understanding will help you as you move on to more complex languages and applications.

6- Enhance your concentration & patience

Coding is a meticulous task that requires immense patience. Usually, you will find yourself in a situation when your code has glitches and you can’t understand why. While we all may aspire to be patient, we tend to lose cool even at the tiniest inconvenience. However, for developers, this can be detrimental.

Conclusion

Steve Jobs once said, “Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.”

Coding puts you and your children in control of the computer and through experimentation builds mastery in sequencing skills, counting, problem-solving, logical thinking, cause and effect, and critical thinking. Additionally, kids can express themselves through code and find it refreshing to create games, apps, and websites and to even control robots.

The earlier we introduce coding to children, the more comfortable they will become and the more successful they will become when presented with more challenging learning opportunities.

My next articles will be about how to get started and make a great sum of cash in each and every hobby mentioned in this article.

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years

hussein cheayto — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 23:24:31 +0000

In 5 years, I see myself:
1- CEO of a programming company (Started Codinstyle)

2- Social media influencer (reach 500000 subscribers on my website Codinstyle)

3- Owner of a great game (created and published Don't Blink

4- Have a secured full time job in a managerial position as a Telecom Enginser

5- Create and have my Youtube channel with 20000 subscribers

6- make 10000$ from my blog using affiliate marketing

7-Publish my Ebook on Amazon and make a revenue of 500$ from it

8- Have 30000 true followers on my Twitter account.

9- Delegate small businesses

10- Have my own Udemy courses.

This is on the work level. However on the lifestyle level

1- Get married
2- Have 2 cars (sport car and a regular car for casual trips)
3- own a luxurious house
4- Keep my healthy and fit body
5- travel once or twice per year during my vacation.

I'm interested to know your plans for the 5 coming years. You need to believe in yourself.

Right it to reach it

How To Get Started As A Blogger And Make Money... Shortcut

hussein cheayto — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 22:28:23 +0000

Want to become a famous and professional blogger as fast as possible? Then continue reading, and learn from my mistakes. It will save you much time and money.

As I mentioned in my previous article, this article will teach you how to get started with blogging.

And how to make money out of it.

I will teach you how to avoid the mistakes that I've made since my first blog. Thus, after reading this article, you will immediately be able to publish your first article.

It will be a great one too!!

If you're serious about blogging, I recommend for you these top seller books:

a- Blog to Win Business: How to Enchant Readers and Woo Customers

b- [BLOG] Starting a Successful Blog when you have NO CLUE! (2019): 7 Steps to WordPress Bliss.... (Beginner Internet Marketing Series Book 1)

c-Six Figure Blogging Blueprint: How to Start an Amazingly Profitable Blog in the Next 60 Days (Even If You Have No Experience) (Digital Marketing Mastery Book 3)

What's a blog anyway?

A blog is a platform where a writer or even a group of writers share their views about a specific topic.

What is the purpose of a blog?

There are many reasons for starting a personal blog:

1- Increase your visibility.

2- Connect to the relevant audience.

3- Boost your traffic and send quality leads to your website.

4- Showcase your authority and build a brand.

5- Share your own experience to help others.

So, how I got started as a blogger and how you can too

In January 2019, I decided to create my blog and begin to share my experience and knowledge. My purpose was to help at least one person to guide him/her through his/her career. When I graduated from high school, I had no idea which major I should've opt-in. I've spent a year trying to find what I love to do for my next 30 to 40 years.

Long story short, I'm an electrical and telecom engineer, game developer, website developer, and a blogger. Find out more here

Most people can't do anything from beginning to the end.

Most people start something; They get excited about it. Then they never do anything about it again.

Don't be one of those people.

If you want to become a blogger, you should commit and persist.

You only need time. As long as you're delivering high content articles, once or twice a week every week, you will succeed. Track your progress to figure out what your audience likes.

Moreover, you might say that I want to stop since no one is reading my articles. I've been there and got through that situation.

How? Simply keep writing.

Besides, I've read articles on how to deliver great content. I've taken into consideration those tips; hence, my blog got much more views and positive comments. Such comments always keep me motivated to deliver more.

If you can't commit and begin to make excuses, stop reading and wasting your time. Close the tab and search for another hobby that you're passionate about. Blogging isn't yours.

If you're still here, then you're 100% committed and ready to begin your journey as a blogger. Congratulations!! Send me your blog progress and articles. I'm interested in reading your articles and helping you.

There are a lot of articles that can guide you on how to become a blogger, in which they mention many sites that offer free blog hosting. I believe that such guides will confuse and overwhelm you due to the high number of websites that they suggest. Therefore, you will create an account on every site, and begin to test the audience's engagement in every website.

This is a shortcut. Keep reading...

I will share my secrets and my way through blogging.

1- Create An Account On Dev.to

I've searched for free websites where I can host my blog. Through experience, I've found out that Dev.to is the best. I've tried Medium but didn't get as many views, likes and comments as on Dev. For example, This article had 28000+ views on Dev, whereas, on Medium, just a couple of views. Note that I'm still getting likes and comments on that article.

2- Use Grammarly

Grammarly is an app that can correct your grammar in a smooth and easy way. It will help you write with absolutely no grammatical errors. Thus, one step ahead to deliver a professional content.

I use Grammarly premium, and I highly recommend it.

Grammarly makes sure everything you type is effective and mistake-free.

Grammarly scans your text for common grammatical mistakes (like misused commas) and complex ones (like misplaced modifiers). Write with confidence, even on your phone.

Grammarly isn’t just a safety net. You’ll get detailed explanations for all your mistakes to help you avoid making them again in the future.

It's an excellent self-investment for only 12$/month. You have to spend money to make money. Don't think about how much you will pay, instead, think about how much you're saving. With such a mindset, you will eventually succeed. In fact, with Grammarly premium, you're learning English and saving time and money hiring a professional writer. The latter, according to his/her experience, might cost you tens of dollars per word.

3- Interlink

This is really important! I regret not interlinking when I had some articles that reached 1000, 5000, 10000 or 30000 views.

Linking means to create hyperlinks in your page or post. Interlinking is the process where your article has links to other articles which is related to the current subject so that the reader can click and redirects him/her to another site.

At first, you can link to another blogger's article. Once you have a bunch of related posts, make sure to include at least one interlink. It's like building a chain.

This is a vital way to get more traffic and more views.

4- Use Google To Get Inspired

Since I'm committed to posting at least 1 article per week, I manage my time to have at least 2 to 4 hours/week to write.

But, what if I can't think of a specific topic????

To solve this issue, I use Google and Youtube to get some content. These giants have a great suggestion tool. I used to write on Google "How to become" or "How to" and a big list of suggestions appears. I pick one and make it more specific. For example, check this article's title.

Once you've picked a topic to write about, you're halfway through.

I prefer to write the title first, then begin to write the article. It might not be a perfect way.

5- Subscribe To Other blogger's list

There's a lot of talented bloggers out there. They've just made it through.

I'm interested in programming; that's why I follow bloggers that offer coding tips and hacks.

Besides, you can subscribe to other lists. These are my favorite bloggers:
a- Laurence Bradford

b- lilach bullock

c- Ali Spittel

6- Track The Best Time To Post

You might wonder why some exciting articles that you publish don't get a high number of views. Why? Timing.

I've tracked the best times to publish articles. It's between 10:30 PM and 5:00 AM (Lebanon time, +3GMT) from Sunday to Wednesday.

Sometimes, I used to finish an article, and instead of waiting for that period, I publish it early. Then, I get disappointed by the low number of views 😂

Keep calm and patient.

7- Create Your Website

Once you've written a bunch of articles, if you have some cash, create your blog. How?

I personally host my portfolio and website using TMDHosting

I've read many articles in which people complained about bad hosting services. These websites claim that they have a 24/7 support, however, once you pay them, they provide support after a couple of hours or a day. It's NOT the case with TMDHosting

TMDHosting's support is very professional, fast responding, and friendly.

I had absolutely no idea about how Wordpress works. I used to open a ticket to ask the help of the support. In my message, I mentioned that I had no experience, and I need help in specific stuff. With such support, it was straightforward to create and manage my website from A-Z. What's the amazing about TMDHosting is that you can track your ticket's status. Just relax and let them take care of your problems.

Why should you create your own website? Short answer: Build an email list

Long answer: An email list is simply a list of emails that businesses have gathered from visitors/customers that would like to receive information, updates, discounts, and other details about your business in a digital format that is sent to their email inbox.

Email lists are essential since email marketing is the best way to connect with customers vs. social media. In fact, you are 6x more likely to get higher click-through rates through emails instead of tweets. Also, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter.

To take advantage of connecting with customers through your compiled email lists, you need to work on email list building.

How to build an email list?

As mentioned earlier, you want to provide visitors with more opportunities to subscribe to your email. A few ways you can do this include:

a- CTA buttons to subscribe on every landing page on your website
b- Images that pop-up or slide-in on all your landing pages
c- Surveys that are timed to a pop-up while visitors are browsing
d- Post about your email newsletter on social media accounts
e- Describe what visitors will get out of subscribing to your email (This is my favorite) you can check mine to get some ideas.

I regret I didn't buy this book: "WordPress for Beginners 2019: A Visual Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering WordPress" when I kickstarted my website. I've lost a great amount of money, buying useless templates and packages.

Avoid my mistake and start reading this book to save your money and time.

8- Sell Products

Now that you have your email list, you can get some cash. I recommend two ways, the first is to sell your products, the second is to become an affiliate. It depends on your niche, in my case, I've joined Udemy, Amazon and Grammarly's affiliate programs.
I believe that the first path doesn't need much explanation. You have a product, let's say an online course or ebook, and you send coupons for it to your email list. If you have loyal subscribers, then most of them will buy it. Here, your copywriting skills play the most significant role to close them.

When it comes to affiliate products, it's the process of earning a commission by promoting other people's (or company's) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.

Conclusion

This is my story in how I got started as a blogger. It's working for me like a charm. I hope it helps you to learn from my mistakes. Therefore, when you start your journey, you won't start from zero.

To summarize how to get started as a professional blogger and make money out of it:
1- Create an account on Dev.to
2- Use Grammarly
3- Interlink
4- Use Google To Get Inspired
5- Subscribe To Other blogger's list
6- Track The Best Time To Post
7- Create Your Website
8- Sell Products

Parting Thoughts...

If you are just getting started or want to talk about being a blogger or a programmer, feel to send me an email. I would love to connect with more bloggers and programmers!

Can't wait to see everyone else's posts!

Are You Asking These Questions To Grow Your List?

hussein cheayto — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 15:25:53 +0000

What are solo ads, and why you need them to grow your business? Solo ads are email-based advertisements you buy from other email list owners. They work like this: You find a solo ad list you’re interested in. You contact the owner or buy access to the list from their site. You buy either by how many subscribers your email message will be sent to or by how many clicks your email will get. If all goes well, those subscribers will click, and those clicks will convert well.

How to get started with solo ads?

One place to not get started is with cheap ads. You can probably buy 10,000 emails for $5 on ClickBank or Udimi, but aren’t likely to see any return on your investment. Cheap solo ad providers have often built their “lists” by scraping emails. Audiences haven’t opted-in, have no buyer intent, and are likely to see your email as just another piece of spam crowding their inbox.

But if you are ready to spend a bit of money to get your offer in front of real traffic with buyer intent, the first step is obviously finding the right list to rent. One way to do this is to scour the internet for influencers in your niche and pitch the idea to them directly.

Udimi and Clickbank offer solo ads, but you should be really careful when picking the right list. Once you've picked someone's list, try to build a good relationship with the owner and learn from him/her.

These are some questions that I recommend asking:

1- How many people are on your list?

This question will give you a quick overview of the number of people that will see your ad/email. A big email list doesn't necessarily mean a good sign. In fact, someone may have a list of 100000 subscribers but they no longer open their emails or the emails go straight to the people's junk folder. Thus, just because someone has a big list doesn't mean that you know that you're going to make a lot of money with it. Besides, if someone has a small list, it doesn't mean it's a bad thing if they've got a good relationship with that list.

2- How many clicks can you send?

If somebody is charging per click then that would be a great question to ask. If they're saying that they can deliver a hundred thousand clicks, well that's a good sign because you know because that tells me that this guy's got a big list and it's very responsive. Start small first. In fact, ask them for the smallest package, if all goes well and you made some cash, get back to them and ask for a bigger package, let's say 20000 clicks or 50000 or now let's just send an e-mail out to everybody on your list. So it's really easy to scale and get a lot more traffic.

3- What are your rates? (per email/click)

You may want to ask them what their rates are if they don't tell you upfront or if they don't have it on their sales page. If I'm contacting somebody out of the blue and they say that "yes they can do a solo ad", I could just ask them "what would you charge for that?". If I'm contacting random dog training product owners I can just hit up people that dog blogs and ask them to send an e-mail to their subscribers for X dollars.

4- How did you build your list?

One of my favorite questions! This is a big question that I do like to ask just about every person that has an email list, no matter how big or small their email list is. Because this can be a deal-breaker.

Some people might say: "I built my list from spamming people" or "I built my list from randomly grabbing people's e-mail addresses off of Craigslist without their permission" or "I built my list from a bunch of freebie coupon offers" or if they say something like "Well I built my list from people that have bought my products or people that have come into our store and that buy our products" or "I built my list from paid traffic". The answer gives you a great sign whether this will be is a good or a bad idea to ask them for solo ads.

5- What kind of offers work well in your list?

Here's another really great question that I would definitely ask people before signing up with them. These people know they send out lots of things to their list all the time so they know what works and what doesn't.

They might say that their list loves electronics and gadgets. Then, maybe I might want to go create another freebie just for them. That would be something that I do because I know that he said that works really well with his list.

6- Do you have any suggestions/tips on my squeeze page?

This can save you a lot of headaches. Ask him/her if he/she thinks that your offer will do well.
It's a good idea to always ask these guys for suggestions and tips on your page. If they're successful and they do a lot of mailings then they can sometimes offer really great tips and advice that can help you tweak your page and make it even better.

7- Any other people that you can recommend for doing solo ads/ newsletters with?

This question will guide you to another successful solo ad. Maybe after you buy a solo ad from them and if you have good experience with them or maybe even ask them before your call OK. Ask people in the niche who would they recommend, and they can tell you some of their best sources.

Conclusion

For some businesses, solo ads work great. They’re an affordable way to build a list fast or to blast exposure for a product launch. But there are some stories of people getting burned.

My advice to you is start slow. Show your landing page to relatives and friends to check whether it needs to be modified or not. After doing the modifications, test it across 3-5 lists and track it to see the percentage of conversion.

10 Hobbies You Don't Know That Can Make You Rich Fast From Home

hussein cheayto — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 19:14:17 +0000

Have you ever dreamed of having a six-figure income? This article will introduce you to the top 10 hobbies that, if taken seriously, can make you rich fast. The best part is that you can do it from home! No need to go out during bad weather or when you're feeling tired, all you need is a laptop and a fast internet.

Whether you want to pay off student loan debt, quit your 9-5 job or build up a fund for the future, finding one of the best side jobs out there is a great way to reach your goal. Side jobs are part-time positions that offer job holders the flexibility needed to earn extra money while working full time in other roles.

It is crucial to understand that it doesn't happen overnight. All you need is to be patient and never quit. Persistence is key.

Here's a list of the top hobbies that I recommend:

1-Writing

There are many different fields when it comes to writing. In this article, I will only focus on blogging and publishing your own ebooks.

If you’re unsure about what a blog is – a blog is a way to express your thoughts and teachings online. You can use a platform like WordPress to have a self-hosted blog. You can use it to promote your service – coaching, freelance writing, Pinterest management, etc. – and you can use it to grow your audience, brand, and income.
I personally use Wordpress to host my own blog.

If you're new to blogging, I recommend that you start using free blog hosting websites such as Dev or Medium .

EBooks are simply books that are published online. Think of it like streaming a show on Netflix or buying the digital copy of a movie on Amazon. EBooks are the digital copies of real books. You can read them on your Kindle, laptop, phone or whatever that's connected to the internet.

Why ebooks?

a- Authors are finding that they can make more money by self-publishing ebooks. Traditional publishing is slow, difficult, and the commissions are razor-thin.

b- Ebooks are easy to publish and anyone can do it. Anyone can start with an ebook, print paper copies, and record audio versions without leaving your room.

You can publish your own book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Leanpub and a hundred other platforms for free.

I do recommend spending some money on a cover design, and maybe an editor to make your ebook attractive and professional. You can set your own pricing and market it through whatever channels you want.

2-Coding

With the limitless free sources on Youtube, Udemy, Lynda, etc... Anyone can learn how to code without a degree and make a great amount of side income. The hard part is to choose your niche. You can become an Android, IOS, website, game, software developer or any type of programming. The second step is to pick your favorite language. In fact, each and every programming field have many languages. For example, you can build a website with Python, Node.js, or PHP...

It's not an easy task, you need to be a passionate developer if you want to succeed. I'm both, a programmer and a blogger. In my opinion, blogging is much easier than programming, but I enjoy coding much more because it's very challenging.

Download and try my game "Don't Blink", which is featured in "top indie picks" on google play store.

3-Copywriting

Recently, I've learned about copywriting. Dan Lok -King of high ticket sales- describes copywriting as "closing in print", which essentially means to use written words to generate leads and sales. It is a high-income skill, used often by introverts, to start and enhance or extend a relationship with a customer that includes salesmanship in print.

Its primary purpose is to sell, so to be a good copywriter, you need to have an understanding of sales, marketing, and human psychology.

Copywriting is broadly used for landing pages, direct mail campaigns, sales pages, printed advertising, infomercials, social media pages, and e-commerce platforms.

4-Flipping websites

One thing I’m starting to learn as I grow as a blogger is that great bloggers don’t think like bloggers, they think like businessmen, and by this I mean they spot great business ideas and then focus on them in the long-run. Think about the great potential there is to this kind of business.

Much like real estate, websites can be bought and sold on online marketplaces. Websites are the equivalent of internet real estate and they can be used as investments, sources of recurring income, and places for storing assets. And much like houses, websites, under certain circumstances, can be flipped for a profit.

If you have a website doing $5,000/month in net profit, it would be reasonable to sell it for $110,000. That is often enough to buy a house free and clear depending on the location.

You could easily become a debt-free landlord in just a few months of hard work in the SEO game, by converting your digital profit machines into real estate cash flow assets – without ever having to worry about a mortgage.

5-Building a website

Making money from your website isn’t a myth. It’s doable by anyone. No need to learn how to code. With Wordpress, it's just a matter of drag and drop. I had literally 0 experience in web design and development. You can check my 2 websites: my portfolio and my Company's website. Amazingly, I was able to build my portfolio and Codinstyle websites in just 2 months while working full time as a telecom engineer at Ericsson.

You can do it by yourself and spend a great sum of money and time. Or, you can contact me and I will take care of your website from A-Z, for as little as 15$/month for 3 years.

Remember, you need to spend money to win money. Time is more valuable than money. Time spent will never be regained again.

Imagine yourself 10 years from now, how satisfied you will be when you have your own website that pays your bills while you're sleeping.

Relax, save time and money, and let me take care of all your website's details including design, hosting, domain name etc...

At the very least, you should be able to make enough to cover your basic expenses for a domain and hosting. You might even be able to replace your income from a 9-5 job.

6-Testing

Before an app development team releases their web or mobile app to the public, it needs to be tested. Usability issues need fixing. Bugs need ironing out. To find these issues, development teams often hire a group of beta testers to test drive apps before their public launch. You can create an account on Utest and start testing.

Another original app is Mosaeek. The latter is a video-interaction software for more personal interaction and contextual video-responses. It is basically a platform for bi-directional video-interaction which allows viewers and other creators to leave time-stamped video-replies directly on top of any kind of source video.

Imagine it like a SoundCloud for video - with the goal to make communication online more personal.

You can join their Discord server and be part of this revolutionary application.

7-Closing

A high-income skill that gets you results for job applications, presentations, and especially any career is high ticket closing. In my opinion, high ticket closing is the most important skill that freelancers, entrepreneurs, salespeople or business owners can have in their talent arsenal.

To simplify things down, when you say closing, you say convince. In our everyday lives, if you can’t close family, friends, or people at work, you won’t have much success in life. You’re closing when you convince a potential employer that you’re the best candidate for the job. You’re closing when a guy or gal agrees to go on a date with you.

8-Vlogging

Today there are more people watching video content on YouTube than any TV network. Viewers watch 1 billion hours daily. YouTube videos are produced in 91 countries and can be found in 80 different languages. There are a number of people that make vlogs and bring in some serious cash just by posting these blog-like videos.

If you enjoy appearing behind the camera and sharing tips and information, a vlog channel of your own is a great choice. All you need is a vlogging camera, fast internet, and a laptop. Vlogging can be a lucrative career for many if it is done right and develops an audience that sticks by your side. The sky is just about the limit when it comes to the type of content you can create.

9-Translator

I remember at school I used to study English, French, Arabic, and Spanish. I've mastered them all, except for Spanish, which I thought it's useless to learn more than 3 languages. I was wrong! In fact, The impact of multilingualism can be traced to even more fields. For instance, a doctor who can communicate with his or her patient in their native language is much more likely to have success at diagnosing them. Any hiring manager in any company in the world would tell you that the ability to speak a foreign language is a prized commodity. Learning to communicate fluently in multiple languages provides additional job security and advancement opportunities in uncertain economic times.

Some people have a hobby to learn new languages. Nowadays, thanks to language apps like Duolingo, you can learn and master a new language in a fun and easy way.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write this down: "2020 objectives: 1- Learn a new language by the end of 2020"
Don't stop there, begin from today. Time just seems to fly, avoid procrastination. It takes 5 minutes per day, every day. You will be amazed at how much you will learn in these 35 minutes/week.

Related Article: How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 12 Months

10-Transcriber

Last but not least, One of the fastest-growing employment opportunities is in the field of transcription. Transcriptionists can make money transcribing online everything from legal depositions to YouTube videos. Companies in the legal, medical, media and entertainment industries hire transcriptionists on a regular basis to transfer their digital copy into written documents. The goal is having their material in a variety of formats so that it can be used in many different ways.

According to PayScale, the median transcriptionists' salary is $15.22 per hour. Additionally, you enjoy the freedom of setting your own hours and have sufficient leverage for working as little or as much as you want on a weekly basis. According to the BLS stats declared in 2017, the median annual transcriptionists' salary was $35,250 per year or about $16.95 per hour. With this rate, you can easily earn $1,500 every month if you work 2.5 hours per day for 24 days.

Conclusion

Of course, there's a lot of hobbies that you can do from home and can make you rich even faster than the ones mentioned above. For example, graphic design, video editor and much more. However, I have only mentioned the hobbies that worked for me or with people that I know.

My next articles will be about how to get started and make a great sum of cash in each and every hobby mentioned in this article.

How You Can Learn And Master Any Skill Fast In 5 Simple Steps

hussein cheayto — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 18:28:11 +0000

Have you ever struggled to learn a new skill while knowing nothing about it? This article will show you a method to learn new skills in a fun, engaging and exciting way.
Gladwell -author of "Outliers: The Story of Success" explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule, which he considers the key to success in any field, is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years. However, this method is demonstrably not true, all you need is 20 hours. You just need to allocate 4 hours/day for 1 month. Even in the busiest schedule, if you can spend 30 minutes to 1 hour a day, to sit down and finally learn what you really wanted to learn, you will be amazed by what you will find. This method is discovered by Josh Kaufman-author and business adviser.
The method is made up of 5 simple steps:

1-Decide Exactly What You Want

This step can be really easy and hard at the same time. It depends on the level of self-awareness. In fact, if you're able to define exactly what you want to be able to do the easier it will be for you to find ways to accomplish that desire to end result as quickly and efficiently as possible.
People who "know themselves" will find it easy. Whereas, others who can't decide what they really like to do for the rest of their lives will find it really hard to choose a topic. In fact, these people will begin to work on a certain skill, once they're stuck, they will change the skill and restart from 0.
To solve this issue, try to meditate for 5 minutes, once per day for 1 week. Think of something you're really passionate about and imagine yourself in 10 or 20 years from now. Ask yourself this question: "What will I become if I master this specific skill?". Write down all the answers on a paper and read it every day. Store it on your phone or stick it on the back of your closet. This will keep you motivated and push you to make that extra step.

2-Deconstructing The Skill

Or as I like to name it: "divide and conquer".
Most of the things that we think of as skills aren't really just one skill. As a matter of fact, they're bundles of smaller sub-skills that we use in combination with each other. For example programming, it's not just one thing. In fact, it's a bundle of all sorts of things. To master coding skill, you need to increase your critical thinking and debugging skills, learn the ins and outs of the APIs and frameworks you will be using, etc...
Same for golf, basketball, sales, and other skills.
As a result, instead of learning let's say basketball as a global skill, try to break it apart into these smaller parts and practice the most important sub-skills, the thing that you're going to use most first. That allows you to focus on the elements of practice that actually give you the performance that you're looking for. Therefore, the key is to practice the individual sub-skills

Related Article: Top 10 Traits of Legendary Developers

3-Researching

Research just enough that you're able to identify the most important sub-skills involved in whatever it is that you want to learn how to do, also, to understand how you will be able to self-correct as you're practicing. To do so, find three to five books, courses, mentors or people that can help you do that initial deconstruction and understand which are the sub-skills that are going to help you to possibly master the skill as quickly as possible.
The trick is to prevent that research to become a form of procrastination in itself. The best approach is to pick 3,4 or 5 resources but don't go through the, completely. Just skim them. Catch the ideas that come up over and over and over. Those concepts and those techniques are particularly important. Those are the things that you should know in order to self-correct as you practice, and those are the sub-skills that you should probably practice first.

Related Article: How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 12 Months

4-Remove Barriers To Practice

Set up the environment that will actually help and motivate you to sit down and do the thing that you want to get better at it.
There are hundreds of distractions that keep you away from success. For instance, your cell phone, TV, friends, etc...
To overcome these distractions, you should turn off your cell phone, remove the distractions that can take your focus away from whatever this thing that you're trying to practice is and make sure that the time that you've set aside to practice in a way that was going to make you better is as undivided and focused as possible. Likewise, do anything you can to make it easy for yourself to practice. For example, let's say you want to learn how to use a guitar. Which is easier, to use the guitar that is just next to the chair that you usually sit on, or go to the next part of the house to pick the guitar that is in the case every time you want to practice. Therefore, by putting the guitar next to you, it will be easier for you to remind yourself that practice is a priority.
Anything you can do to remove the effort from desiring to practice to getting started is a benefit since it helps you do what you're already decided to do.

5-Pre-Commit

This is a very important step. Pre-commit to at least 20 hours of focused deliberate practice before you begin. That pre-commitment is very important because it serves the purpose of deciding whether you're going to invest at least 20 hours in this skill or give up. It allows you to check up on yourself and ask yourself this question: "How important is this really?" You should know that the first few hours of practice are frustrating for everybody at the beginning of everything. By pre-commitment, you're guaranteeing to yourself that you're going to make it through those hard times where nothing is working or when you come up against an unexpected obstacle and don't know how to overcome it.
There's no magic to it. It's just focused strategic effort invested in something you care about and rewarding to yourself, and to your life.

Related Article: How To Build Your Portfolio The Right Way

Conclusion

The process of learning isn't difficult. However, what you're doing in this process is just removing all of the frustrations or barriers that get in your way of sitting down to the work.

How To Build Your Portfolio The Right Way

hussein cheayto — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 13:56:32 +0000

"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." Benjamin Franklin.
Your knowledge and experience are your most important professional assets. Unfortunately, they’re expiring assets. Your knowledge becomes out of date as new techniques, languages, and environments are developed. Given the speed at which Web-years fly by, this may render your experience obsolete or irrelevant. As the value of your knowledge declines, so does your value to your company or client. To prevent this from happening, this quick guide will help you build the perfect portfolio. Check out my portfolio website. I'm glad to guide you through to build your own portfolio too.

A- Building Your Portfolio

Managing a knowledge portfolio is very similar to managing a financial portfolio:

1. The habit of regular investment.

Just as in financial investing, you must invest in your knowledge portfolio regularly. Even if it’s just a small amount, the habit itself is as important as the sums.

2. Diversification is the key to long-term success.

The more different things you know, the more valuable you are. Today's technology may be almost useless tomorrow. The more technologies you are comfortable with, the better you will be able to adjust to change.

3. Manage Risks

Don’t put all your technical eggs in one basket. It’s not a good idea to invest all of your money in high-risk stocks that might collapse suddenly, nor should you invest all of it conservatively and miss out on possible opportunities.

4. Buy low, sell high

Learning an emerging technology before it becomes popular can be just as hard as finding an undervalued stock, but the payoff can be just as rewarding. Learning Java when it first came out may have been risky, but it paid off handsomely for the early adopters who are now at the top of that field. Another example is Kotlin which could replace Java in the near future. If you're a programmer, learn Kotlin as soon as possible.

5. Portfolios should be reviewed and rebalanced periodically.

This is a very dynamic industry. That hot technology you started investigating last month might be stone cold by now. Maybe you need to brush up on that database technology that you haven’t used in a while. Or perhaps you could be better positioned for that new job opening if you tried out that other tech.
To be successful in your career, you must manage your knowledge portfolio using these same guidelines.

Related Article: How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 12 Months

B- Setting Your Goals

Now that you have some guidelines on what and when to add to your knowledge portfolio, what’s the best way to go about acquiring intellectual capital with which to fund your portfolio? Here are a few suggestions:

Read Read Read

Read technical and nontechnical books every quarter. Bookstores are full of books on interesting topics related to your current project. Once you’re in the habit, read a book a month.

Related Article: Read These Books if You Want To Be Rich

Take classes.

Look for interesting courses at your local community college or university, or perhaps at the next trade show that comes to town. If you prefer online courses, check out Udemy if you're programming oriented.

Participate in local user groups.

Don’t just go and listen, but actively participate. Isolation can be deadly to your career. Sign up to Meetup where you can find like-minded people.

Stay Updated.

Subscribe to trade magazines and other journals. Choose some that cover technology different from that of your current project. If you're interested in programming, subscribe to Codinstyle's newsletter, and you will get 95% coupons on Udemy courses, 30 minutes for a 1-1 online session with me, and much much more.

Get out of your comfort zone.

Once you feel comfortable with some new language or a bit of technology, move on. Learn another one. The process of learning will expand your thinking, opening you to new possibilities and new ways of doing things.

Work out.

Working out, especially doing cardio, is a great way to get your brain flowing and to keep your mental health in shape. It’s also a great way to think through difficult decisions or process new information.

Hang out with people who are smarter than you.

"Show me your friends and I show you your future" Dan Peña.

The people we surround ourselves impact us more than we think, so be sure to surround yourself with smart and motivated people.

C- Search For Opportunities To Learn And Grow

So you’re reading voraciously, you’re on top of all the latest breaking developments in your field, and somebody asks you a question. You don’t have the faintest idea what the answer is, and freely admit as much. Don’t let it stop there. Take it as a personal challenge to find the answer.

Talk to a mentor.

Learning from other people is one of the most effective ways to stay educated.

Also, in today's technology-driven world, having a mentor keeps you sharp with your people skills.

Go to coffee with someone once a month and have a topic planned for both of you. You may be surprised at how much you can learn from one person in an hour.

Don’t know how to find a mentor?Codinstyle is a great place to get started if you need a technical mentor.

Just remember: If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

If you can’t find the answer yourself, find out who can. Don’t let it rest.

All of this reading and researching takes time, and time is already in short supply. So you need to plan ahead. Always have something to read in a dead moment. Time spent waiting for doctors and dentists can be a great opportunity to catch up on your reading—but be sure to bring your own magazine with you.

So, how do you get one to talk with you? These are some simple but effective tricks:

1- Know exactly what you want to ask, and be as specific as you can be.

2- Frame your question carefully and politely. Remember that you’re asking a favor; don’t seem to be demanding an answer.

3- Once you’ve framed your question, stop and look again for the

answer.

4- Decide if you want to ask publicly or privately.

5- Sit back and be patient. People are busy, and it may take days to get a specific answer.

Finally, please be sure to thank anyone who responds to you. And if you see people asking questions you can answer, play your part and participate.

Top 10 Traits of Legendary Developers

hussein cheayto — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 03:01:21 +0000

Practice makes perfect. This is the key to success, but it's not enough. In fact, having solid technical chops isn’t the only thing needed to have a thriving career as a programmer. What makes a great developer? There are plenty of opinions on this topic. Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 qualities that you should have if you want to become an expert:

1- Never Satisfied

As Albert Einstein said: "Once you stop learning, you start dying.".
Expert developers are a life long learner, they're never satisfied with what they know.
The best developers don’t just know how their own code works, they understand how the libraries and runtimes beneath it work.
With the accessibility to courses online, you don’t have to go to school to become a great developer. Getting a degree in computer science helps understand architecture better and gives you a holistic perspective on the world of computer programming. Besides, great developers are never afraid to ask questions. As a matter of fact, they admit that they don’t know everything, and this is why they keep learning. They are happy to receive information from experts as well as from beginners.

2- Fast Learner

Being a fast learner is a great advantage to master a skill. In fact, time is your enemy, the faster you grab the info the faster you achieve greatness. Great developers are usually amazing self-learners. They have the ability to learn new technologies on their own and aren’t intimidated by new technologies. Every programmer will experience a situation where he or she doesn’t know the answer. Great programmers will find different resources, talk to the right people and find the solution no matter what.

Related Article: 10 CODING MISTAKES THAT MAKE YOUR CODE SMELL

3- Grace under fire

Programming can be an extremely stressful profession. When deadlines are tight and nothing seems to be working, it’s easy to freeze up. The ideal developer will be able to handle even the most stressful situations calmly and, most importantly, be able to continue working.

4- Great Team Player

Another superb quality of legendary developers is their ability to help other developers get better. They offer teammates help when they are stuck. They are always willing to offer help and share their knowledge. Besides, great team players are always reliable, communicates with confidence and display genuine commitment. They are driven by passion which triggers their motivation to not just stick to the 9-5 job. In fact, great team players take their job to the next level by making positive work relationships with other team members a priority and displaying a genuine passion and commitment toward their team. They come to work with the commitment of giving it 110% and expect others on the team to do the same.

5- Great Time Management and Planning Skills

Great developers are highly reliable. An important skill is the ability to estimate the amount of time needed to complete a task, communicating this and delivering on it, before writing the first line of code. Through experience, they can plan ahead and know the issues that they will face during the project. Exceptional developers are great at managing their clients or leaders instead of you managing them.

6- Deep Technical Experience

Great developers have worked with a handful of technologies long enough to become experts and are competent with many. They follow coding standards and write code that is understandable and commented where necessary and can be passed on to someone else easily. Using their cognitive abilities and diverse industry experience, they’re able to arrive at optimal solutions quickly. An expert developer is well versed in best practices like agile development, task management software, version control, and working in different environments.

7- Debugging skills

Expert developers are problem solvers. Coding is only part of their job. When software doesn’t work as expected, they are expected to get to the root of the problem quickly and effectively. Instead of spending hours blindly making changes, experts carefully investigate code and research possible issues until an answer is found.
Programming can best be compared to solving extremely difficult math riddles. A great programmer thrives on finding ways to make something work, despite the odds.

8- People Skills

Good communication skill is correlated with good development skill. It seems to be understood that a developer will mostly be sitting in front of a computer all day. Yet, programmers are regularly expected to interact with managers, teammates, and clients. that's why the ability to work well with others is a must. This is especially true if your programmers are occasionally asked to participate in client meetings and explain how a system works. A great developer is able to understand problems clearly, break them down into hypotheses and propose solutions in a coherent manner.

9- Passion for the work

The word “passionate” has been used and reused everywhere so much that it now appears as a hollow adjective. Still, it remains an important trait of a software developer. While some programming staff can simply serve as nine-to-fivers, many hiring managers are interested in finding someone who will gladly put in long hours when the situation merits it. Often these employees can be found during the interview process by their outside interests. True programmers are self-proclaimed “computer geeks” spending their time gaming, building servers, or creating apps for friends.

10- Never Give Up When Everything Fails

Programmers almost never get everything right on the first try. In fact, failure is a certainty. However, elite developers see errors and bugs as a challenge rather than a sign of defeat. Persistence is important, as well as the ability to start over if necessary, even after hours of work. This is why perseverance is key. They believe that after long hours of troubleshooting they will solve the problem, and they do solve it!

Conclusion

The list goes on and on. After interviewing and working with the top developers in the world, I've picked these 10 common traits that I've noticed in these great developers.
There are many aspects to being a good developer, but at the end of the day, like any profession, it starts with seeing yourself as a professional. That mindset alone will move you in the right direction.

What’s your definition of a great software developer? Which attributes resonate the most with you?

HOW TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL- EPISODE 5- BRIAN WONG

hussein cheayto — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 08:45:53 +0000

In this episode, I will be hosting Brian Wong. The latter is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur. In 2010, Wong co-founded Kiip, a mobile app rewards platform that lets brands and companies give real-world rewards for in-game achievements.

1- How did you kickstart your career?

Answer: I first moved to San Francisco in 2010 and started a brief stint at Digg.com - a social news website. I was given a break to start working in business development - which was the best way to start working in a startup. It was all about building relationships and locking down partnerships for the company - which gave me permission to meet a lot of people and to attend a ton of events. This was how I began to learn the Silicon Valley landscape and to meet the right players.

2- What would you say is the #1 key to success in your business?

Answer: Perseverance - the person who is able to make it through the hardest obstacles. Are you able to stay that extra hour - send that extra e-mail - and go that extra mile - just to get something done. The only difference between someone who succeeded and failed in most part is the person who refused to fail.

3- What's your advice for newbies and fresh graduates?

Answer: Relationships are the most important in pretty much any career. Build them early and remember that these things are designed to last a lifetime. Don't burn bridges and try to understand everyone from their motivations and perspectives. People aren't around just to give you your dream job. Your dream job must somehow benefit their desire to get to their dream job. Can you help them get promoted, save time, make more money? What can you help them do?

4- What 3 things does anyone starting in your industry need to know?

Answer: There are very few rules written around taking the initiative. In fact, taking the initiative to do something defies a lot of rules. Always take the initiative.

Building and creating vastly outweigh true innate knowledge. The more you use the knowledge you have to show people that you can execute (i.e. hacking on a product, building a side project) the more respect you will gain.

It is important to communicate. If you're not able to communicate your ideas, it doesn't matter if you've invented the most amazing solution.

5- How do you deal with failures?

Answer: Don't look at them as failures - but fortunate opportunities to learn something that otherwise you wouldn't have been able to learn if you didn't make that mistake. Just don't do it twice.

Related Article: 7 Things that I wish I knew when I was younger

6- How do you keep yourself motivated?

Answer: Knowing that there is so much to learn out there. Every day is a journey on its own - and that you'll never get bored as long as you realize that you're always dumber than the next guy.

7- What are your success habits?

Answer: Being thorough in everything that I do. No cutting corners - there is no easy way out.

8- Who is your inspiration?

Answer: I'd say any of the people who shaped humankind (and dared to shape) in their inventions - Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, etc.

9- If you could go back and do anything differently on this career path, what would you do?

Answer: Get out of my comfort zone earlier. In fact, I would have been quicker to re-evaluate my path and to not be afraid to take a hard right or a hard left to course correct. At some point, I was too comfortable with my path and felt anxious about messing up the momentum.

10- What was the hardest decision you ever had to make?

Answer: Moving to New York - leaving HQ and coming out to the east coast to continue to build our ads business.

11- What's your plan for the coming year? Is there any new project that you're working?

Answer: Just taking time off! It has been 9 years of non-stop.

12- How can people contact you?

Answer: You can reach me at http://www.brianwong.co/ - there are more articles about how to succeed and get ahead there as well!

At the end of this interview, I would like to thank Brian for giving me this exclusive and exciting interview.

10 CODING MISTAKES THAT MAKE YOUR CODE SMELL

hussein cheayto — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 16:24:15 +0000

I've created this list by walking through several different programs, coding books (like "The Pragmatic Programmer" by Andy Hunt & Dave Thomas and "Clean Code" by Rober C. Martin) and refactoring them. As I made each change, I always think why I made that change. The result is a very long list of things that smell bad to me when I read code. In this article, I have mentioned the top 10 coding mistakes that I've encountered when reading code.

1- Redundant Comment

A comment is redundant if it describes something that describes itself.
For example:
i++; // increment i

2- Poorly Written Comment

Take your time writing comments and make sure to take the time to make it is the best comment you can write. Use correct grammar and punctuation and be brief.
For example:

Public void DisplayTutorial() //when used, the tutorial window will be opened to show the tutorials

Correction:

Public void DisplayTutorial() //Displays window

3- Commented-Out Code

How many times have you seen hundreds of code commented?? Who knows how old it is? Who knows whether or not it’s meaningful? Yet no one will delete it because everyone assumes someone else needs it or has plans for it.
That code sits there and rots, getting smelly more and more with every passing day. Solution??? Very simple. just DELETE IT!! Don’t worry, if anyone really needs it, he/she can go back and check out a previous version.

4- Too Many Arguments

Functions should have a small number of arguments. No argument is best, followed by one, two, and three. More than three is very questionable and should be avoided with prejudice.

5- One Function Multiple Tasks

Ideally, every function should serve only ONE task.

For instance:

public void Calculate(float a,float b,float c)
{
if(Add)
{
a=b+c;
}else if (Substract)
{
a=b-c;
}else if(multiply)
{
a=b*c;
}
}

Correction:
public void Add(float a, float b,float c)
{
a=b+c
}

public void Subtract(float a, float b,float c)
{
a=b-c
}

public void Multiply(float a, float b,float c)
{
a=b*c
}

6- Dead Function

Methods that are never called should be discarded. Keeping dead code around is wasteful. Don’t be afraid to delete the function. Remember, your source code control system still remembers it.

Related Article: Get Rich While Sleeping

7- Inconsistency

Consistency, when applied as it should be, can make code much easier to read and modify.
Inconsistency is the habit to do something a certain way. Once done, do all similar things in the same way. Be careful with the conventions you choose, and once chosen, be careful to continue to follow them.
For example:
Using variable names as 'Quit' and 'Exit' instead of sticking to either 'Quit' or 'Exit'.

8- Duplication

Duplication is a very serious problem. Almost every author who writes about software design mentions this rule. Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt called it the DRY3 principle (Don’t Repeat Yourself). Kent Beck made it one of the core principles of Extreme Programming and called it: “Once, and only once.”
It's simple, find and eliminate duplication wherever you can.
For example:
Duplications appear when using the switch/case or if/else chain that appears again and again in various modules, always testing for the same set of conditions.
Correction
Think about using polymorphism.

9- Misplaced Responsibility

One of the most important decisions a software developer can make is where to put code.
For example:
where should the PI constant go? Should it be in the Math class? Perhaps it belongs in the Trigonometry class? Or maybe in the Circle class?

Correction
Code should be placed where a reader would naturally expect it to be. The PI constant should go where the trig functions are declared. We’ll put it in a function that’s convenient for us, but not necessarily intuitive to the reader.

10- Function and Variable Names

Function names should say what they do. Always choose Descriptive Names and take your time picking a name, it is worth it. You will spend sometime thinking, but it will definitely save you time later, when you read your code after a month or a year.
Look at this code:
Date newDate = date.add(5);
Would you expect this to add five days to the date? Or is it weeks, or hours?
You can’t tell from the call what the function does.

Correction:
If the function adds five days to the date and changes the date, then it should be called IncreaseByDays or AddDays.

HOW TO INCREASE EMPLOYEE'S ENGAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY

hussein cheayto — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 06:02:23 +0000

Only about 40% of workers in the US are engaged at work. As leaders, we want every member of our team to be engaged at work.
Well, how do you keep your employeed motivated, engaged and productive?
My way is to learn about what they want. Learn about what's important for them. Then try to help them build their dreams while working in your company.

What's yours?

HOW TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL- EPISODE 4- FERNANDO LIRA

hussein cheayto — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 03:34:20 +0000

In this episode, I will be hosting Fernando Lira, a Brazilian self-taught developer. Fernando is a talented software engineer, senior PHP developer, and an experienced system administrator. Over to Fernando...

1- How did you kickstart your career?

Answer: I started when I was 14 years old. It was just a hobby. I had to create a website to store my games to share with everyone.
I learned Perl and PHP by watching tutorials and websites. Professionally, I started with Support Analyst on Brazillian dial access provider.
2- What would you say is the #1 key to success in your business?

Answer: Do the basics very well done.
3- What's your advice for newbies and fresh graduates?

Answer: My advice for them is to be patient, show progress on Github, and attend community events as much as they can.
4- What 3 things does anyone starting in your industry need to know?

Answer:
1- Joining can be difficult.
2- Study whenever possible.
3- Practice whenever possible.

5- How do you deal with failures?

Answer: I get sad. However, I think about what went wrong and what I shouldn't do next time.
6- How do you keep yourself motivated?

Answer: I Like technology. Also, I love to keep learning and helping friends and co-workers.
7- What are your success habits?

Answer:
1- Buy and read books.
2- Practice my programming skills.
3- Search for new things.
4- Sleep and have fun.

Related Article: How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 12 Months

8- Who is your inspiration?

Answer: My dad, who always works hard.
My family and some people who have gone through my life.
9- If you could go back and do anything differently on this career path, what would you do?

Answer: I would study more Java, Brazilian companies love it.
10- What's your plan for the coming year? Is there any new project that you're working on?

Answer: I am currently unemployed and looking for new opportunities.
I really want to participate in big projects that make a difference for many people.

11- How can people contact you?

Answer: You can find me on Linkedin and GitHub
At the end of this interview, I would like to thank Fernando for his time and for giving me this exclusive and great interview.