The 5 Best Ways to Teach Yourself to Code

Programming is easily one of the most desired skill sets. The global developer population is growing steadily and is projected to reach 28.7 billion specialists by 2024. That is because the global market requires a wide array of programming languages and techniques to reach its goals and support the market demands.

If you decide to associate your career with programming, there’s a multitude of opportunities. You can help companies create interesting projects, develop websites or games. Or you can develop your own ideas into a startup.

But, to become a professional, you need to know how to program. Setting milestones for this journey according to your areas of interest is the best way to go and there won’t be a shortage of incredible outcomes.

Let’s look at a few ways you could begin your journey as a programmer.

1. Choose a Programming Language that Fits Your Purpose

What do you want to develop? You don’t have to commit to one language for the entirety of your career, but it’s good to choose just one for a start.

Let’s look at a few coding languages that you could learn.

Java

Java is defined as “a statically-typed, object-oriented general-purpose programming language” that isn’t too difficult for novice developers. No wonder it usually takes the top spot in the Tiobe Index 2021 – it’s popular and widely used. Its wide range of applications makes it a great choice to start with.

Learning Java will help you think like a programmer, making other languages easy to understand. Java has been used practically everywhere, including Twitter, Spotify, and a whole bunch more high-tier products.

Python

Python usually takes second place on the Tiobe Index and it’s easy to see why. The language is quite straightforward to learn and easy to read.

Python is used in the backend of websites, for business applications, and even for artificial intelligence applications. Netflix, Instagram, and many more such apps use Python.

Ruby

Currently Ruby is a good option as it is very flexible, making it easier to code with. It’s a mature language with a stable structure. Yet, it’s been finding its way into different level projects because it can be used for most programming paradigms.

Ruby can be used for creating backend websites, as well as for writing scripts.

Others

It doesn’t end right there, C#, C++, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, R, and the list goes on. For iOS and macOS applications, Swift is predominantly used. There are tonnes of other options for you to have a look at, so do your research before choosing a language to learn.

2. Find a Course to Help You Learn the Basics

Seeking help will always give you the upper hand. A good course will help you learn the basics of a language and set the learning path right.

Here are a few effective programming courses you should try out.

CodeGym: Online Tutorial to Learn Java

If it’s Java you want to learn, CodeGym.cc is the way to go! It’ll help you with the basics of the language, OOP, multithreading, and collections.

The course offers more than 1200 practical tasks with different levels of difficulty helping you create interesting applications. But there’s more:

• Thanks to the gamified approach, the tasks give you points that help to unlock future lessons.
• A built-in validator checks the results as well as sends help and advice when needed.
• The help section can be used by students who have questions to other students or the CodeGym team.

Udacity Platform

Udacity is a platform for training developed in collaboration with industry greats, such as Google and Facebook. It offers:

• A wide variety of topics from information technology to website design to choose from offering programming courses tailor-made for beginners.
• A learning archive.
• Mentoring for students who need further assistance.

Web Development for Beginners

CareerFoundry’s course is designed for beginners who want fast results. According to the team behind it:

• You’ll be able to build your very first webpage in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in 5 days.
• The course is completely free
• Upon successful completion, you’re awarded credit towards a full web development program.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are a whole bunch more to choose from. So do your research with courses as well. But don’t overthink it or you might end up wasting time looking for the perfect program – try a few.

3. Practice to Make Your Knowledge Permanent

Regular practice will most definitely make you a professional. Persistence is key here, you need to make sure you don’t miss out on coding practice. Even a 15 to a 30-minute session every day could push you to excel in this field. Just like anything else, this is how you keep making progress.

Strenuous sessions aren’t recommended though. You should gradually increase your practice time each day. All you need to remember is that it does take time and eventually, you’ll be a master at your craft.

Be accepting towards failure initially, since literally everyone mistakes when we learn something new. Keep practicing, figure out your mistakes, and work on correcting them.

4. Learn from Others

Seeking inspiration from other experts will prove to be another great way to learn and find ideas for solving your own issues. For this, you can explore various platforms that are free for open-source projects and small private projects. There, you can view and analyze their code.

• Github – probably the largest web service for hosting IT projects, their joint development and version control.
• GitLab – an expansive open-source platform equipped with many features that can handle most operations and software development.
• Bitbucket – a feature-full development platform with a free workspace for a variety of projects.
• BeanStalk – Amazon’s high-performance open-source platform.

5. Searching for Answers on Google

When starting, it’s quite common to come across confusing issues and trouble finding a solution. There will be moments when you’re stuck on a piece of code even as an experienced developer. Always remember that going through such moments is quite normal.

So what do you do? The good part is that you can always turn to Google for help. You can find almost everything on Google these days, so give your problem a search.

6. Treat Yourself!

Motivation might just be the most important thing in your journey to success. Why don’t you stop for a bit and motivate yourself with a reward?

Excitement for a reward makes people more motivated and that’s exactly how you can keep yourself from getting bored. Celebrate all your milestones and achievements small or big for the best results.

All’s Well That Ends Well

As you pursue programming as a career, remember that things might get difficult when you’re starting. But all that matters is for you to not stop and keep working towards your goals – take the right steps to keep you on track with your progress.

In your journey, you might find a few stumbling blocks, but like everything else all you need to do is carry on and work hard. Massive rewards are awaiting you.