Learning to code is a process that won’t happen overnight. It’s true that some people get it faster than other things just like everything else in life. The reality is that everyone has to go through the necessary steps. Remember, learning to code is the process of learning how to think and skipping steps doesn’t mean you’ll get to the end faster.
Actually, there is no true end when learning to code. There are always going to be problems to be solved, processes to improve and new languages to learn. Learning how to do this quickly and efficiently is what learning to code is all about.
While coding can be frustrating, it can also be very fun and rewarding. The worst thing you can do is stress out about not learning something fast enough or getting mad at yourself for getting stuck on a single concept.
Learning to code takes time. You will get stuck on one concept for months and then one day it will click! When it does click it’s one of the most refreshing things that will happen to you. In other words, you’ll have an epiphany. Once you have the foundation in place, learning another language becomes much easier than it did the first time.
It’s also very important to take it one step at a time. Skipping steps could frustrate the learning process. How do you eat an elephant (if you ever wanted to, of course)? One bite at a time! Coding is like one massive never-ending elephant and stuffing too much in your mouth at one time will create an unpleasant experience.
Practice makes perfect but trying to be perfect will hurt your practice. Break stuff and mess up and you’ll learn faster. Make sure it’s in a structured environment, preferably with a code coach®, who can explain their thought process as you learn to fix it along the way.
Finally, learning with a group of people with the same end goal in mind makes coding more fun and much easier to learn. Coder school is an excellent after school environment that lends itself to learning how to code much faster than doing it by yourself.
Mindset tips I wish I knew when I started programming