13 tips for learning programming on your own

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Are you learning to program on your own and struggling to motivate yourself? Self-education can drain all strength. Here are 13 learning tips from Laurence Bradford, creator of the learntocodewith.me blog, for those who are learning to code on their own. These guidelines will help you gain knowledge quickly, efficiently and without unnecessary stress.

1. Find the right motivation for learning

Having a clear rationale for why you are learning coding will help you focus. Be sure to formulate a specific goal for yourself. Consider your motivation in detail. “I want to be able”, “it would be good to learn” is a bad goal. Examples of good goals:

1. Advance further in your current career.
2. Change your occupation.
3. Earn extra money thanks to side projects.
4. Develop your own product (game, mobile application), create a startup.

It doesn't matter if the points listed are the same as those you define yourself - don't forget about them. Remember that the ultimate goal will be to save the most difficult times.

To remember the goal, you can write it down on paper and keep it in plain sight, make it wallpaper on the desktop of your computer or phone (which I like best).

2. Choose the correct language

In the beginning, it can be very difficult to decide what to study. Some programming languages are easier to learn, some have narrower applications. However, you shouldn't get too hung up on this. Better to start with anything than spend hours looking for the “perfect” option. Because once you have mastered one programming language, it will be easier to switch to another.

If you already know your ultimate goal, determine what is needed to achieve it. Learn languages that fit this goal. To develop 3D games, you need some languages and tools, to create websites - others.

If you're unsure where to start, try learning JavaScript. Whether other programmers like it or not, JavaScript is becoming more and more popular and is used not only in website development, but also in other areas. Thus, you cover the maximum number of applications.

3. Make a schedule

A clear class schedule increases the likelihood of success. But set realistic deadlines for specific tasks. Don't expect to finish a hundreds of pages of programming in less than a week - unless you give up all your other responsibilities during that time.

When I first started learning programming on my own, I had a space for 25 minutes of practice in each cell of the calendar.

Exercising 25 minutes a day is easy. It is worth getting used to such a minimum, and soon you will not be able to tear yourself away from training for several hours.

4. Do one thing at a time

Many people try to do a hundred things at a time. A huge mistake! Do one thing at a time. Don't learn HTML, JavaScript, Swift and anything else in parallel. You will drive yourself crazy!

This item may be difficult for you (I speak from experience), because you always want to learn everything at once.

In his book "Start with the main thing!" Gary Keller said, "Extraordinary results are directly related to how much you can narrow your focus." This can be applied to anything, including learning programming. Don't be afraid to be late - languages and technologies won't go anywhere. Start small and work your way forward.

5. Divide everything into small portions

As in the previous tip, you don't need to cram too much information into yourself at once, even if it's on the same topic. Learning something new is much easier when it is broken down into small chunks.

Focus on one topic and break it down into digestible chunks. Make sure you fully understand and internalize a concept before moving on to the next one.

Entrepreneur Tim Ferriss coined the acronym ABC - Always Be Compressing. The idea is that each piece of information should be formulated as succinctly as possible. Then summarize it in a paragraph, create a diagram or image, use a mnemonic scheme - whatever, if it helps you quickly remember what you need.

6. Change the way

Research shows that the more types of perception you use, the more likely you are to assimilate it. Books, videos, interactive lessons, quizzes, podcasts and more will help you with this.

Soak up the information in any way you can. According to Judy Willis, author of Teaching Your Child to Learn Easily, the more areas of the brain store data about a subject, the more active relationships are formed. Their redundancy gives the student additional opportunities to get information from different stores of the brain. This cross-linking of data means that we have learned something, not just memorized.

7. Train others

Having to explain a concept or a process to someone ensures that you will fully understand it yourself. This can be done in different ways. One of them is to teach a course or workshops for teenagers. You can make your own YouTube videos explaining concepts. Don't like the idea for the video? You can do without it. You can teach in many different ways. Alternatively, write. For example, with the help of my blog, I not only help others, but also learn much more effectively than if I studied alone.

In any case, teaching others what you are learning yourself helps to reinforce the concepts formed in your head.

On educational platforms, there is usually an opportunity to help others. This is usually something like a forum for student questions. Take a look there, and if there is a question there, the answer to which you know (or you have at least thoughts about it), write, do not hesitate. Good educational sites have a healthy atmosphere and your help will be appreciated. And feel free to ask the questions yourself! Give others the opportunity to explain something to you.

8. Find a like-minded person

This can be done through a personal meeting or online. You can try partnering with a friend or family member who also wants to learn programming. Just as people go to the gym with others and set a goal to lose weight together, you too can find a partner online.

9. Find a mentor

Educational platform chats and forums are good places to find like-minded people and possibly mentors.

Online forums are, of course, a valuable source of information, but nothing beats personalized support when you can get a direct response.

10. Introduce game elements into the process

Come up with a system of rules and rewards, this will help make learning more enjoyable. Rewards can help you develop positive reflexes in your brain when you've successfully completed an important task. They can turn the learning process from a chore into a game. For example, after you finish a specific programming book, buy the same backpack you've been thinking about for months.

Set goals and work towards them. Reward yourself when you achieve them.

11. Redesign someone else's code

See how someone else has implemented the solution you want to develop. Check out open source projects on GitHub. The programming community can be a very friendly place where reading (or even modifying) someone's code is perfectly okay. Just go through line by line, contemplating how each one works and how it fits in with the big picture.

Use someone else's work for inspiration and ideas.

12. Practice. Don't focus on learning

A very important point. Newbies always get stuck with this. You need to start writing your own code as early as possible. I know it’s difficult, but at some point it’s worth moving away from the lessons and starting to create real projects.

Figuring out how things work is your own test, and mistakes are game-changing. This leads us to the final tip.

13. Don't be afraid of failure

There is such a concept - the productivity of failure. The more difficult it is to learn something, the better you will remember the information learned. Failed attempts can help you gain deeper understanding because you will be involved in finding your own mistakes and fixing them. It is extremely important to act and learn something on your own, criticize yourself and explore new things.

Even if you never finish building your small website or application, you will learn a lot by trying and failing. This approach is much more effective than mechanically following training examples, when all the answers are in front of your nose.

Output

The key to successful self-study is confidence. If you believe in yourself, you are more likely to do better than expected. Stop doubting yourself and your abilities and you will break through like a true champion!

The game is only lost if you surrender.