My first week of learning to code
After taking time out in recent weeks to unwind from creator life (running & blog and trying to monetize it for the last 4 years) and to figure out what's next, I've been curious about the world of coding.
Before blogging, I did 6 years of sales. I know that's not what I want to do going forward, nor do I want to do content/SEO, etc for someone else. And I'm also not sure what the future holds for content with the advances in AI (a family friend who runs a biotech business recently told me he uses ChatGPT every day, and is about to hire someone in his company specifically to train his staff in the tool 🤯).
So this is why I've been considering other options.
As a 'creator' (it still feels weird calling myself that), I've spent some time in maker communities and that includes developers aka indiehackers (mostly in online communities, but also in-person now and then). And I dabbled in some basic HTML too when I had a Wordpress blog. What appeals about coding is the ability to continue to be creative, and to pivot into a field that is in demand with a solid future trajectory, and where remote work (i.e. energy management) is possible.
This last week I've done what I imagine many "newbie coders" go out and do:
Google things like "learn to code", "getting a job in coding", "how long does it take to learn to code", etc etc
Seeking out advice (from websites and YouTube and podcasts) on the best way to learn to code, and the best resources
Weighed up self-learning vs joining a bootcamp
I spoke to a couple of developers (one full-stack about 5 years into his career, and one back-end developer about 15 years into his career) and asked them questions
Started on a couple of the recommended resources (Harvard CS50P and Helsinki MOOC; both of which start with Python)
Looking into bootcamps and enquired into one in particular; started taking their warm-up course (covering front-end basics of HTML, CSS & Javascript)
My takeaways have been as follows:
Learning to code is a marathon that takes months and years (as opposed to days or weeks); for someone starting from zero, this is a daunting thought!
The learning really happens through coding exercises, from figuring out where you went wrong and feeling stupid and getting frustrated until you manage to figure out how it works (by yourself, or through using hints/finding answers with google)
Self-learning is possible, but requires a high degree of self-discipline; bootcamps require an investment but I believe the right bootcamp can accelerate your learning, through structure, support & accountability (plus links to possible employers after the bootcamp ends)
There is no "right" or "wrong" path to take; if you're self-learning, the advice is to start with one language and then begin a second once you are reasonably proficient and understand the fundamentals (as the same principles apply from one language to the next); on the other hand, most bootcamps will try to give you a foundational understanding in a few languages, to expose you to both 'front-end' and 'back-end'
The "older" languages are trickier to learn, but will generally make the newer languages easier to pick up
Did I mention that learning to code feels... daunting?
Research aside, I've realised that I need to actually start coding to see what it feels like and if it's something I can see myself doing for hours and hours a day. I'm happy to say I started on a couple of Python courses, and got going with some exercises.