Tips for shy coders
So, about six months ago I got an email from Technigo telling me they’ve accepted me into their bootcamp; 24 weeks of learning HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, JSX (and a bunch of things I’d never even heard of), at a very high pace, with the goal of completely changing career. It might seem like a big step (especially for someone who unintentionally spent the last five years at the same job). But thinking back I realise that I started on this path a long time ago, just taking a rather long detour on the way. So if you are, like I was, intrigued by coding but find it a bit (or a lot) scary, here are some thoughts and tips from someone who for a long time didn’t think she could code.
Don’t give up
Ok, a bit of a cliché, but it’s true. 10 years ago I started a web developer program at Mid Sweden University. It started out great; HTML and CSS, web usability and -accessibility, and then Java… And that’s when I stopped. I enjoyed HTML and CSS a lot, it just made sense, but this was something completely new. I wanted to get it and thought I really would enjoy it if I did, but I struggled a lot with grasping the way of thinking and understanding the structure. And, trying to read a brick of a book and listening to a moderately inspiring lecturer, I thought that this just wasn’t for me. But …
… you don’t have to be “that type of person”
I.e. the type of person who gets it right away. You really don’t. A decade later I finally understand that it’s ok if you don’t understand everything right away and it doesn’t come naturally to you immediately. (By the way, I really recommend this Ted Talk that we we’re all made to watch as part of the pre-studies before the bootcamp, super inspiring: https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance.) In short; stick with it and you will more forward. If you want to do it but feel like it’s too hard, do it anyway. And also, find the way of learning that works for you. It can be tutorials on youtube, courses, books or lectures, or a mix of everything.
Do projects or challenges
If you’re interested in starting coding I highly recommend trying a free web course, there are plenty to find. And to really learn I think it’s a good idea to do projects or challenges, that also can be found for free online. It forces you to use what you’ve learned and make you understand it better. There’s a huge difference in constructing a JavaScript array and looping over fruits, compared to figuring out how to construct a game using loops.
Just do it
Not just a slogan for some shoes. If I would have looked at some of the assignments that were ahead, I would have turned around and run. So sometimes it’s better to just focus on the task at hand and deal with what comes later, later. When you’re a beginner it’s sometimes hard to believe that you will ever understand and be able to do that huge complicated task that lies ahed. But after doing a new project every week of the bootcamp I can say that it’s quite incredible how much you can develop in just a couple of months.
Trust your gut
If you’re like me and find it hard to peel yourself from the computer at the end of the day (“just one more line of code…”), you know you’ve found something good that’s worth sticking with.
