09 lip
6 tips for new developers
How exactly can you plan a successful career as a software developer? What should you know when you’re just starting out?
Kickstarting your career as a developer can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don’t know how to get started. There’s a lot to learn and the competition is large and growing. However it is worth it, despite the difficult beginnings, the end result is rewarding.
Here are some tips that will put you on the right track:
1. Have your reason, and remember it
If you want to start your adventure with programming – way to go 😊, but there has to be a reason for that. Whether it’s that you love coding or you want to have a more profitable career, or that you are just doing a bunch of Excel work and you want to make it more efficient.
Keep track of that reason – programming isn’t a piece of cake, and you will get frustrated sometimes, so it will be crucial to keep that reason in mind to stick with it when a worse day will come.
2. Build a solid foundation
There are a bajillion resources for learning how to code. We would recommend you to start with the free ones.
It will help you to make sure that you like coding, and then after that, you could think about moving into paid resources or even a boot camp or internship in a software company.
Worth remembering is fact that learning one thing in depth is much better than learning a tiny bit about a lot of things, especially at first. That in-depth knowledge about one thing will make learning that next thing easier.
3. Embrace the cycle of learning
If you’re learning to code, learning how to learn is going to be a big part of your process. There may be a steep learning curve in the process, lots of ups and downs involved, and that’s ok – it’s very natural! It is straight-up 100% impossible to know everything about programming. Nobody knows every programming language, every single method that’s out there, every library and framework, or the perfect solution to every problem. Don’t worry about learning everything, just focus on what you do know and extending that.
Remember to make good habits early. Bad ones can be hard to break. For example, it will be easier to write clean code in the future if you start doing it the right way from the very beginning.
4. Struggle, but not too much
Struggling a little bit when you are learning is really important so that you can solve the problem on your own and find the answer using existing resources. Nevertheless, struggling with a problem for too long can become unproductive and demotivating. After a few hours, reach out to someone for help!
Get comfortable with failure. Programming is hard, and finding the right answer won’t be immediate. Adjusting to the fact that not everything comes out right away can be a challenge, but it’s a huge part of programming.
5. Compare yourself to only yourself
There are many people learning to code. Don’t compare your progress to someone else’s, instead compare yourself to previous you and focus on your own growth.
Remember that everybody learns differently – whether that means you are a visual learner, love videos, need somebody to push you, or you love documentation, you will learn best differently than the person next to you.
6. Celebrate your wins
Last but not least you need to learn how to appreciate your work and celebrate your successes. As we already know programming can be a really difficult process, so when you accomplish something, even if it’s small, celebrate it! Keep track of your wins, and if you have a bad day, you can always come back to those wins and remind yourself that you are awesome!
Conclusions
To sum it up, remember that above and beyond all else, you need to be able to persevere. Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed or frustrated, but you need to find a way to pick yourself up, focus on the problems at hand, and ignore both distractions and negative feelings while you find a solution. When you have a worse moment, think back to the tips above and remind yourself why you chose this path.
Good luck!
