How To Become a Programmer

Beginners guide to becoming a programmer

Back in the day you had to go to college or university to learn programming, where you would spend the first two years learning introductory modules. Today there is so much information and tutorials which enable anyone
with access to the internet and interest to learn. A lot of information also leads to a lot of confusion, so to avoid that, I have prepared some tips to help you on how to become a programmer fast.

• PICK ONE

There are so many programming languages out there, and as a beginner you definitely don’t want to start learning all of them at the same time. Pick one and run with it. At least the basics. Most programming languages have the same fundamentals, just differ with syntax. So if you understand one, the learning curve to understand the other is not too difficult. As a start, JavaScript is always my recommendation, good thing is that it can be used alongside most programming languages. w3schools a very good place for beginners, with exposure to many other programming languages available out there, and you can use it to know what is available.

• LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS

Do you believe you don’t need to review the fundamentals? Reconsider your position. Gaining a solid understanding of the fundamentals, as in any discipline, is vital to long-term success. The knowledge you get at the start of your programming education or through tutorials can help you understand the logic of increasingly complex topics as you progress. You may fall behind in the future if you do not master fundamental computer programming. So, even though the fundamentals appear to be uninteresting or insignificant at first, you must acknowledge the importance of learning them.

A lot of people just do follow along tutorials and think they have arrived when all is done. This becomes a problem in the future as they can not problem solve with the correct fundamentals, resulting with a lot of copy and paste code they don’t even understand from Stack Overflow. By the way, Stack Overflow is a question and answer website for professional and enthusiast programmers, you will definitely use it in your programming Journey. Take your time understanding the fundamental today and thank yourself tomorrow!

• ACTION WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

If you truly want to learn how to code, you must do more than just read the book and take notes; you must put what you’ve learned into practice. You might be amazed how simple something you read can appear until you try it yourself. As a result, you should begin coding while you’re still learning. That way, you can use the knowledge right away.
The material will be more likely to stick with you if you learn through doing. Don’t try to complete a few chapters and then try there after. You will forget most of the things you learned.

Pick a small project and try to implement it in small incremental sections, one part at a time. Rome wasn’t build in one day,
use the pace you are most comfortable with, don’t rush yourself.

• SEEK HELP

Knowing when to seek assistance is a skill that will serve you well throughout your life, not just in your coding profession.
The truth is that you will not know everything, especially when you are just starting out.
Asking individuals who know the answers is the quickest and easiest approach to obtain the abilities you need for a successful coding career. Make sure to ask someone else after you’ve tried to figure out the answer to your query on your own.
You may not know someone when you are just starting off, and are learning online, but you can subscribe to our website, or other QA websites like Quora and Stack Overflow.

This is one of the best ways to learn, being able to ask programming questions properly, explaining what you tried, which didn’t work. Some will give you pointers, others will solve the problem for you, but the key is to ensure that you understand the problem as well as the solution.

• HELP SOMEONE

We learn more by helping others, and this is also a way to show if you really understood what you have learned. Most of us have a habit of only going to forums or groups when we are in need of assistance. Again, there is an obvious distinction between the competent programmer and the others, with the former visiting these sites more frequently to assist others. This causes individuals to learn more than they would if someone else addressed their difficulty for them. Assist others in solving their challenges within a team or on any platform you may come across.

Believe me when I say that understanding other people’s problems in their context, analyzing them, and offering answers will leave you far more knowledgeable than before. The problem you encounter today, chances are someone else has also had that problem too, if you find a solution, share it with others. I also recommend learning buddy. A second pair of eyes always go a long way.

• FIND RELIABLE RESOURCES

If you are going to progress and be able to measure. Find a few resources that provide consistent content relating to what you are learning. On the internet, you can access a wealth of knowledge on almost any subject. Whether you signup on blogs, YouTube channels, coding boot camps for free, try to find good content that will teach you from the basic fundamentals to any level higher. Some might explain concepts better than others, so try to do some comparison to gain even better understanding. Just don’t waste too much time doing every tutorial out there.

• READ OTHER PEOPLE’s CODE

Once you have a grasp of a program flow, to better your coding skills, you need to read other people’s code and try to make sense of every line. Especially code written by someone with a bit more experience than you. Find some sample code and take some lessons.
Back in the day, we used to pride ourselves with the number of lines of code one has written, more being better, but you’ll soon learn that achieving the same end results with less code is better in the long run. Avoid redundancy and code duplication

Let us know in the comment why you want to learn programming.