Before I got into web development, I had some preconceived notions that intimidated me into not learning how to code earlier in my life. First I thought you had to be extremely smart. Second, I thought you had to be a math expert. Third, I thought you had to memorize all the ins and outs of an entire programming language. If it wasn’t for giving it a shot, then I’d never would’ve learned that these notions I had where just excuses my brain came up with to try and keep me from doing something I was unfamiliar with. I’m sure these are things that crossed your mind as well as other things (our brains can get creative). In this post I would like to share some of the truths and experiences about these misconceptions I had, and hopefully it can ease your mind and motivate you to start learning code now.

Misconception #1 Have to be extremely smart.

What I’ve learned over the time of working professionally as a web developer is we don’t know much, if anything at all. That’s the beauty of being in this industry. It's not about being book smart and being able to memorize things. It’s more about your ability to learn things effectively and then being able to apply it. With the tech industry moving so quickly, it's impossible to know everything, which means your always going to be learning something throughout your career. So you don’t have to be as smart as Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg to start coding. Right now you are more prepared than ever to begin coding. You just have to get started!

This was a misconception because you don’t have to be Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg smart and have these amazing IQs to code. When it comes to coding, it's more about the problem solving. And with problem solving, anybody can improve on that skill if they aren’t naturally good at it.

Misconception #2 Must be Really Good at Math

Let me explain what my definition of “really good at math” means. If you took classes beyond algebra then I consider that to be really good at math. What I learned is you don’t need to know calculus or trigonometry to be a good web developer. Most of the time, you aren’t dealing with complicated calculations or formulas anyway, if at all. If your comfortable with the basic arithmetic operations then you know enough math to learn code.

As you progress in your journey in becoming a web developer, you’ll soon want to learn about algorithms (which I do recommend you learn the basics). Some advanced algorithms will require you to have a solid understanding in linear algebra and discrete mathematics. That being said, there are online resources that teach you these topics and if your eager to learn, this would be another thing to add to list. You can get far without knowing the ins and outs of algorithms, but it will be a good idea to understand how they work under the hood. In the long run, this will only help you become a better web developer.

Misconception #3 Had to Memorize the Entire Programming Language

For some reason I always thought web developers wrote code straight off the top of their heads. I thought they just always knew what to write. What I learned is that’s not the case necessarily. After coding for some time, you’ll notice there are patterns to solve common issues. In some frameworks and libraries, there is boilerplate code that serves as a good starting point to speed up development time. On most occasions, someone has already found the solution to the problem your experiencing. Knowing how to google and research the issue your having is important skill to have and build on. If anything, do your best to understand the fundamentals of that technology/programming language, that way you can effectively communicate the issue in order to get best search results. Get use to being on this site 

 and reviewing documentation. You will spend countless hours trying to find solutions to your problem.

Like I mentioned earlier in this post, if it wasn’t for just going after it and ignoring the thoughts I had about coding then I wouldn’t of been able to realize my thoughts were wrong and it was just my brain trying to protect me from failing. The main point I want to get across with this post is, you may have doubts and you have may have preconceived notions like I had, but at the end of the day, those are just thoughts. Don’t allow your thoughts to keep you from obtaining a skill set that you could benefit greatly from. Go after it!

Feel free to send a tweet or leave a comment about those thoughts your currently having regarding web development/coding and maybe I can help you realize that it’s just your brain making excuses. 😜

3 Misconceptions about Coding

Congratulations, you’ve decided to take on the challenge of learning how to code. At this time you may be feeling motivated to learn a new skill that could possibly change your life. I’m sure you’ve already done your research on the languages you want to learn, mapped out how you’re going to go about learning them, and already have a clear path on using those skills to better your life. In this blog post, I want to share what I think are the 5 best ways to learn code, and hopefully it will make your journey a little easier.

Following tutorials was probably the first thing that came to your mind when you decided to teach yourself code. A simple google search of “code tutorials” can bring you a plethora of results that can be overwhelming. Instead of going through the hundreds of tutorials out there, I hope this blog post can help you navigate through all those courses and find the ones you can benefit from the most. But first, let me explain some things to keep in mind while going through these tutorials.

 It’s a proven fact that if you write things down, you’ll have a better chance at remembering what you’re trying to learn. If you can’t actually write with pen and paper, then open up a notes application on your computer and start taking notes that way. Taking notes will help you learn code faster, and you’ll have another resource to reference when you get stuck with something.

Make sure to apply what you just learned.

 So you’ve gone through the tutorial and completed it, now what? You may realize that after you complete a tutorial, you may feel like you haven’t learned anything. A way to fix that is to 

 what you learned. And the way you apply what you learned is by 

. If the tutorial you’re following is project-based, then try to deviate from it and create something slightly different from what the project is. For example, if you are building a To-Do list, maybe you can create a Recipe list off of the concepts you learned from the tutorial.

Keeping those couple things in your mind while going through tutorials will help you improve and learn code much quicker. A few places I recommend for beginners to go to get started is 

Having somebody with more experience teach you

Mentorship. This way may be difficult when you’re just starting out. Since you may not know people with years of experience, it will be a good idea to seek those that have been in the industry for some time. Having someone that can guide you in the right direction can save you lots of time in your journey of learning how to code. Instead of googling and aimlessly searching the internet when stuck on a problem, you can go straight to a mentor and possibly work through the issue together, which will allow you see how programmers/developers actually think. So where can you find those experienced developers? The internet. Go to LinkedIn or Facebook and connect with every developer/programmer you can and simply strike up a conversation! Tell them you are just starting out and you saw that they have a lot of years/experience in the industry and wanted to get their advice or something related to code. You may not get a lot of responses back, but I can guarantee you will get 

 responses. Most people in the tech industry are more than willing to help because they remember being a beginner themselves. You can also find mentors at your local meetup. It is probably a better idea to find mentors through meetups because of the face to face interaction you’ll share, which makes it easier to connect with someone. Nonetheless, there are many people online that can help you, so make sure to try and find them so that you can learn code the best way possible.

Learning to code through books is almost the same as learning through a tutorial. Usually with books, the concepts are explained and then there is example code showing how those concepts are applied. Like the tutorials, it is best to take notes and follow along with the project while going through the book. Also to take it to the next level, you can create your own project using the concepts you learned in the book.

Be careful about learning how to code through books, you want to make sure the content and the technologies being used is up to date with the current state of the web industry. If your goal is to learn code, then it would probably be a good idea to learn the most in demand technology, which would then increase your chances of landing a job.

When choosing a code related book, its best to get one on a topic that has been around forever and probably won’t change anytime soon. Books like these are usually about best coding practices or design patterns. These kind of topics can usually be covered in any programming language, because it is more about the 

. Those books teach you a way of thinking, and also shows solutions to common problems you’ll face when writing code. This is why having these kind of books as a reference can help you as well.

This approach may be the best of all ways to learn how to code, because you’re actually coding. While coding, I can 100% guarantee you will run into an issue that you have no idea how to solve. Having the ability to solve those kind of problems from searching the web is a vital skill to have for programmers/developers. You’ll soon realize that Google and StackOverflow will become your best friend and being able to search effectively will increase your chances of solving that issue.

There is a huge difference from following a tutorial versus just building something. When you’re following a tutorial, you are being guided through the project. Most of answers and rock blocks are already done for you. All you just have to do is follow the tutorial and you’ll have a completed project by the end of it. With building your own project, you’re on your own. There isn’t a narrator there to guide you through each step of creating something. Instead you’re the one in charge making all the tough decisions. And trust me, by doing this, you’re going to see massive improvements in your coding capabilities and confidence.

Wondering what kind of projects to build? The best kind are the ones you can see yourself using. Think of a problem you currently have. Now try to think of way you can solve it by creating a website or app. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. It can be something as simple as a Food Tracker App that allows you track the foods you’re eating. The idea behind this is, if you run into roadblocks you can figure out a way to get around them. A vital skill programmers/developers can have is the ability to solve problems, and if you can practice that skill, you’ll not only learn code quickly but you’ll also be an effective web developer.

When you get in the habit of reading other developers code, you’ll be exposed to many different coding styles, patterns, and solutions to solve a problem. One true fact about coding is there are a million and one ways to solve a problem, it’s more about doing it the 

 and solving it in a way that’s efficient, maintainable, and scalable. That is what makes you stand out amongst other developers

There are many ways you can go about reading other developers code. It can be as easy as going to any website and opening up the inspector (dev tools) and just going through all the DOM elements and seeing how they are styled. Within the inspector you can find out a lot about a website, so be curious and try to find out as much as you can. If you have an Instagram account, you can follow code related pages and see code snippets or other code related topics on your feed. Same goes for Twitter, search for code related hashtags, and follow developers that produce content you’re interested in.

The idea behind this is to get in the habit of reading and 

 code. Like i mentioned before, there are a million and one ways to solve a problem, so seeing all those different approaches and solutions can only improve your coding skills. Think of it this way, the more code you’re exposed to, the more tools you have in your arsenal. Then with knowing all those ways to solve something, take it to the next level and solve it in a way that’s efficient, maintainable, and scalable. Doing this on the regular basis, overtime you’ll start to realize you are reading code like it’s plain English. And after you learn a couple programming languages you’ll realize the patterns that apply across all languages, and at that point you’ll be able to understand code from any programming language. So be curious, find code from good developers, understand their code, then try to apply it to a problem you are trying to solve. Rinse and repeat.

So while you’re coming up with your plan on how you’re going to learn code, try a couple of these ways and let me know if it helped you at all (

). I can guarantee that if you stick with it, you are going to learn how to code, and remember to be patient while learning, because this stuff is hard, it will take time to really understand and become proficient with it. So don’t have the expectation that you are going to learn how to code overnight. The right approach to have is knowing coding is a very broad subject and its is nearly impossible to know everything about it. With that in mind, learning how to code is more of a lifelong journey, each day you are going to learn something new. That’s what makes coding what it is. Knowing you don’t know nothing but always willing to learn in order to grow into the best programmer/developer you can be.

5 Best Ways to Learn Coding

As you go through the journey of learning how to code, I’m sure the idea “How am I going to use this to make a living?” has crossed your mind. Knowing how to code is a skill that’s high in demand which means there are a lot of opportunities to make a couple bucks from it. In this article, I want to share some of those ways with you and hopefully you can walk away with an idea on how you can make money with your new learned new skill set.

As you gain experience and become better in your coding abilities, the opportunity to teach what you’ve learned to others is valuable. A few ways of making money with teaching is through creating tutorials/courses that demonstrate a certain technology, you can charge people individually for 1:1 lessons, or you can build a site that teaches code and charge customers a monthly/yearly fee for access.

Another benefit you get from this besides money is it helps you solidify what you know and what you need to go back and research. It helps you find those missing gaps in your knowledge. I was once told, if you can clearly explain a concept to someone, then you understand that concept pretty well.

Another way to utilize your new skillset is to find your own clients and help them solve their problems. With freelancing, you can work on your own schedule and choose the projects you want to work on. In the beginning, it won’t be easy. It will take time, consistency, and patience to get to a point to where you can live off your freelancing career. All that being said, if you stick with it and not give up, it will be pay off and will be worth it in the end.

To get started with freelancing, it is important you have a portfolio that shows all the projects you’ve done. Since you are just starting out, chances are you don’t have projects to show. In order to fix this, you can do one of these 2 things:

Build a website or application for that can be used by your friends or family.

Think of a problem you personally have, and figure out a way to solve that problem by building your own application.

The main thing to remember is, clients want to see the work you’ve done, they won’t hire you any other way. With that in mind, its a good idea to create projects that attracts the kind of clients you want to work with or the kind of projects to work on. Once you start getting a steady flow of clients, make sure to get testimonials at the end of each project. Testimonials from clients you’ve worked with will only raise your value even more.

The most common way to make money from coding is to get a job in web development. Some of the things that apply to freelancing, apply to getting a job as well. It is still important to have a portfolio of projects that demonstrate you understand the language your using. Here are 5 others things to consider when trying to get a job.

Make sure your resume is updated and is relevant to the job you are trying to get.

Update your LinkedIn and reach out to recruiters. It’s also a good idea to reach out to people that are in the tech industry.

Get use to interviewing and communicating what you can do. The more you do this, the easier it’s going to get.

Attend local meet ups and put yourself out there.

Always network. Look for opportunities to help others in your local communities and churches.

I will have another post that goes in a bit deeper on each of these, but for the time being, these are the things you want to remember while trying to find a job. Also remember these things won’t happen overnight, it takes time and many days of consistent effort to achieve this. So stay patient and hungry and before you know it you will be able to land that dream job you are going after.

There are many other ways to make money from coding, the ones I’ve mentioned in this post (teaching, freelancing, and a 9–5) are more of the common approaches. As the world continues to become more digitized, the more opportunities there are to make a living from knowing how to code.

Feel free to share some of your thoughts about how you’ve made money by using your coding skills in the comment section below or by sending a tweet to 

Jac Wynn Jr.

SFCC Front End Developer

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