Get started with Coding

                                     

If you have noticed the role of technology in the last 15-20 years has taken a drastic turn. I am sure, slowly but surely computers will be going to do almost every manual work, it means computers can replace manual workers. In 2021 also, you can see around yourself too, how much work we are doing through computers, almost everything, right??

Nowadays, coding is the most valuable skill. Whether you want to make your professional career or just want to learn to code and make an application for your friend.

It totally depends on you what you want to learn and how deep you want to go into it, you can give few months of your life or you can make your life through coding. But everyone should start from the basics. Learning to code is not difficult. Anybody can learn through dedication, time, and interest. For many people coding is just fun. 

Internet is the best thing from where we can learn code. We just want one laptop with an internet connection and with that, anybody can learn to code. 

In this blog, I will try to cover everything that you need to know to get started with coding.

Why should I learn code?

Before starting anything, you should think about why you want to do that especially coding. Take some time to think then come to the conclusion why you want to learn to code? Do you want to learn new technology? Do you want to make your professional career in technology? At what stage you are in your life, which is your priority?? Do you have some time to learn a skill?? "Instead of saying 'I don't have time ', 'say 'it is not in my priority ', and see how it feels ". If technology excites you, you should definitely give it a try.

You can create a lot of things through coding like Websites, mobile apps, Operating systems, develop software, and many more things.

You will better understand the world around you. Coding is fun, if you started doing it, you enjoy it, you will surely never think to leave it.

You might be thinking,
When to learn code or where to start?

You don't need to pursue a degree. You can just attend boot camps and learn to code online.

Coding can be learned by any age group, from child to adult. 

I divided people into four groups, let's look into those groups.

1. School Students: These students can start learning code online or from any mentor. It is good for these students to start with python because python is quite easy, we can read python somewhat like English. In python, we have to write less code in comparison with other languages like C/C++. In python, they can develop some interesting games. It will enhance their interest in coding.

2. College Students: These students may have to learn code in their curriculum. It is good for these students to start with C/C++ because they will be studying these languages in their academics too. Maybe coding can not be in the curriculum of many students, those students can also start with C/C++ or with python.

3. Workingman but want to transition in their profession: First, they need to decide their specific target because they have another job to do. Then, they can start from the basics of the language according to their chosen field. For example, they think about Web development, then they have to start from HTML then CSS, and keep on learning other languages one after other. The languages used in the development of websites are HTML CSS. CSS is Cascading style sheets and JavaScript and many more programming languages are used. The beginner needs to understand that these languages form the basis of the website. For example, HTML works like a human skeleton and CSS works like the skin of the website and JavaScript works like a human brain for the website.

4. 40+ adults: They are successfully doing in one job and now want transition or something else. They can start with web development then go for python and then on frameworks. Web development is quite interesting because we can see our output directly on the browser.

From where to learn to code?

You can take online courses, we have a lot of courses online in which we have properly organized guidelines to learn code. You will get everything in a properly arranged manner. Well-known free course providers are freeCodeCamp, W3Schools, and Harvard’s acclaimed Introduction to Computer Science course, available on edX and the CS50 YouTube channel. 

There are lots of paid courses available for a fraction of what in-person classes will cost you. Codecademy, Coursera, and Udacity cover a wide range of beginner, intermediate, and advanced CS topics. Before buying any paid course you can check some free courses from the same website or tutor so you can get a feel of their teaching style.

You can prefer books and ebooks too but books are not necessary to learn code nowadays because we have everything available in video form and small Pdf form. 

You can find a mentor to solve your problems in coding or can find an online community. There are many popular communities of developers for beginners which really have rich content. You can check out here:

Stack Overflow, a forum site for programming problems and other discussions.

GitHub, a code repository for open-source projects with an active developer community.

Women Who Code, a non-profit organization that organizes events, communities, and job postings for women pursuing careers in technology.

r/learnprogramming, a subreddit (i.e. Reddit.com) for beginner coders.

You have probably watched many youtube videos, you can do the same for coding there are many good channels on youtube which provide you good content in a sequence. While online courses are your best bet for hands-on experience, online videos can supplement your learning and occupy your curiosity. My favorites are Crash Course Computer Science and Tom Scott’s The Basics, both of which cover maximum topics in computing. I also recommend the  Harvard CS50 course, and there’s no shortage of computer science lectures on YouTube.

Don't forget to make projects at all. You will never learn to code without doing projects. 

Practical knowledge is the knowledge that gives you hands-on experiences.

After all, be patient, the journey will not be going that much easy but you can do wonders. 

You will rock it.
Keep coding, keep learning.