Reminiscences Of My Early Coding Journey As A Beginner

                        Picture credits : Blue Retractable Pen by Lukas at Pexels 

INTRODUCTION

I have struggled several times and sometimeseven gave up on learning to code and here, I wish to write about my coding journey and all my struggles on how I managed to cross all the hurdles that came on my way! If I can do it, so can you! Through this blog post explaining my early coding phase as a beginner, I want to guide you to be successful in your coding journey, despite many early struggles in your early learning stages.

When I first started out on learning to code, I did not even know what programming language I wanted to learn. Then, I realized that I love to explore websites and landing pages, so, why not learn how to code beautiful website designs and landing pages etc.? Then, I started browsing for free websites to learn web design and the first place that I searched was ofcourse, my best friend, Mr. Google! Just kidding! I mean Google search :-) Upon searching google like crazy, I came across several websites that teach free coding classes and also many YouTube channels. I picked freeCodeCamp and was glad to do it, since, I had zero budget to spend and I found all their free classes with free certifications, worth the time and efforts spent on completing each of the courses. I would also like to share here, Top Free Online Websites to Learn Coding for all the code newbies who are searching for this information.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES I CHOSE TO LEARN 

I want to share with my readers who are ofcourse,beginners and code newbies trying to find a way to reach their goal in finding the right course to learn in Programming. I was always confused if I should learn Java or JavaScript, Python or PHP ? Looking back, sometimes, I feel that I should have started with Python, since, I find it so English-like and really easy to understand, but, at that point of time, I felt that JavaScript was easier after starting out with HTML and CSS as I was more keen to do learn how to create websites! Python is more of back-end and I wanted to keep it for a bit later on after finishing the front-end languages. That’s why I am currently learning Python after learning the front-end languages. Here, I want to share you an interesting information on What Programming Language Should You Learn First As A Beginner?

MY FIRST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

I started learning the front end web development certification course from freeCodeCamp and I was able to do the lessons in HTML very easily followed by CSS and then JavaScript later on. JavaScript was a bit tough in the beginning, but with a little bit of practice on the side, I was able to manage the lessons and excercises and even projects that are provided there in the website . I was inspired by some online bloggers and also the website Codecademy as well as freeCodeCamp to pursue this front-end programming languages since I was an ardent fan of building and designing websites and always curious to know how websites are made by coding! It was awe inspiring to know that by coding some sytaxes, you can come up with a beautiful website !

HOW I TAUGHT MYSELF TO CODE

Making Hand-written Notes

I got into the habit of writing with a pen or pencil on my traditional note book, whatever I learnt, right from concepts, to syntaxes, and even excercises and examples that involved what I learnt.

Teaching Others What I Learnt

I started a YouTube channel to start teaching what I had learnt right while I was learning as a self-taught coder. It really helped to retain things in my mind while commiting the concepts to my memory and simultaneously giving me a strange happiness and satisfaction to share what I had learnt to others who were also new to coding and this was a new feeling of well-being and gratification as well when some one thanked me for being of help to them.

After reading that blog, I decided to start a YouTube channel, with a passion to teach coding for absolute beginners and to me, it was more of sharing my knowledge , rather than teaching my knowledge and that worked well for my audience I guess! Added to that, I also learnt more while sharing my knowledge, because, everytime, I prepared lessons to upload on my channel, I also got to research some more and that added some fresh perspectives to my existing knowledge. As they say , in coding, nobody is an expert in programming, every day is a learning curve, since, you need to update yourself every minute of the day and be prepared to keep learning irrelevant of your increasing knowledge and there is no such state as reaching the peak of your learning! I also started writing in Medium, thanks to Medium platform and this beautiful writing spell was followed by starting my own blog website on blogger and there is no looking back on my writing journey. 

HOW I MANAGED IMPOSTER SYNDROME OBSTACLES

While I was learning and sharing my coding knowledge, I was also going through what you know as Imposter Syndrome trauma but I did not let this imposter syndrome destroy my coding journey and continued what I felt right, even though I had my share of slowing down, pausing, stopping, resuming etc phases in my learning journey. I would sit and explore several websites on the internet and inspect their code and then write them down line by line( Not copy paste!) and then line by line, I would type them in my code editor to see the magic on the console! This way, practically, I could learn the code faster rather than wait for joining some expensive coding university to learn hard facts. If you really wish to learn or curious to know how well I tackled my imposter syndrome phase, this guide  on How to fight Programmer's Imposter Syndrome, is a great read for you to really understand how to deal with your imposter syndrome and win over all your all your insecurities and fears while learning to code.

I have highlighted and explained some important points on learning how to learn coding efficiently and effectively and I suggest that you read it thoroughly to understand the secret to efficient learning.

FINE TUNING MY MEMORY TANK

Another struggle that I was going through in my learning phase in the beginning was the remembering part of the various code syntaxes, in other words, my memory would fail me whenever I tried to remember the code syntaxes and concepts . I just could not even remember the different types of loops and strings in JavaScript and when to use them accordingly. I decided to search some motivational videos on this context and realized that learning to code is not tantamount to remembering the codes. It is more about understanding the code syntaxes, programming concepts, the logics of the problem statement, understanding the project, learning or understanding how to solve the problem/project and being creative and pro-active on completing a problem. In other problems, every code needs to be looked upon as a problem statement that you need to solve and in this way, you will use your logic and creativity to solve the problem. Even if this step involves looking at other people’s codes via GitHub projects or Google search, it is still alright to do so, as long as you are able to solve a coding project or problem by involving in such a step. 

Moreover, I realized that there was no point trying to memorize everything by forcing your brain, that is my memory tank ! On the other hand, the best way to remember and even absorb and commit to memory is by doing things. I would code the same concept or project several times in a day and then try coding different projects, and even code snippets to test out the output and this way, even without any effort, my memory started becoming stronger (Touch Wood! :-)) every time I tested out my memory tank! So, I realized that I could learn, understand and memorize effortlessly only when I started implementing the different coding projects myself  independently, even if I had been inspired from other people's codes or projects. Remember, how many times as a kid, while in junior school, we had to write down the English Alphabets over and over again, until we got it right??? Coding is also similar to that!

I wrote this article, based on my learning phase, to share my experience on learning to code, namely, How To Remember Code In Your Learning Phase .

NO NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL

I realized that one need not invent code while solving, projects, so , it is ok to peek at codes but while trying to understand it and also being able to tweak it to make it even better or even same as long as you understand the codes. Hello World for heading cannot be coded differently other than <h1>Hello World</h1> Do you understand what I am trying to state it here?? :-)

Hence, it is wiser to understand the concepts of any coding language and apply them while coding rather than trying to find  and memorize new coding syntaxes and get stressed in the process. 

I MANAGED TO LEARN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES

After learning to code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript almost neck-to-neck, I started learning React.js, followed by Node.js, MongoDB, Python and completed all the certifications on the freeCodeCamp. Some of my detailed and simplified tutorials on JavaScript, React and Python include Build Todo App React Hooks, Build a Random Quote Machine in React, Build a Calculator in React, A Simple Guide to JavaScript ES6, Working with files in Python, A Simple Guide to Python Lists, A Simple Guide to Python Tuples, and A Simple Guide to Sets in Python.

NO END TO MY LEARNING JOURNEY

Currently learning Python by doing 100 days of Projects and really enjoying the Python coding journey as well! After completing JavaScript, I feel that Python is so easy to learn since the basic concepts of all languages are mostly the same and only the coding syntaxes are different! So, I am not thinking of adding one more language simultaneously with Python,to my learning journey, most probably PHP !! Now, you must be wondering how to learn multiple programming languages with ease?? I used to think the same and even committed several mistakes in Python by accidently using JavaScript code in my Python code editor!! Ha Ha Ha! But, that’s the fun part of your learning phase. Here, I would like to introduce to you, the concept of learning multiple languages, that is, How to Learn Multiple Programming Languages without much headache!!

Did you know that great Leaders never stop learning ? Well, I am not sure, if I am a great Leader, but, surely, I am a great Teacher and a great Learner as I love to teach and also learn! 😎😎😎 Am I a good writer? I leave it to you to decide and comment below ! 😃

CONCLUSION

To conclude, I have had a long, bumpy ride in learning to code and this self-taught journey really taught me several realities on simplifying complex things while staying grounded all the time! There is no reason to compare myself with several others who were and still are several miles ahead of me in their coding phase, but, I don’t want to stop in my tracks by comparing my phase to others who are ahead of me me or even some others who are way below me! I only want to compare myself with myself, that is, I want to compare my past-self and past-phase to my present-self or present-phase and then measure my improvement, correct my mistakes, re-align myself without stopping in my tracks and keep moving forward (not backward!) while ensuring that I am putting out my best efforts to continue my learning journey. Remember, coding is always a forever-learning journey! 

I hopr, you have taken my example, to get highly motivated despite several struggles in your early coding phase and do remember to stay motivated always!! 😎😎😎😎

If you have any questions related to your coding learning phase, do remember to comment below the post and I will be only too glad to reply to each and every question to the best of my capability and knowledge!

More to Read: 

Build A Simple Exam Grade Calculator in Python

Build Rock Paper Scissors Game in Python

Build A Random Quote Machine in React

Use JavaScript Construct to Create a New Object

Guide To Learn Coding Efficiently and Effectively