In the last year or so, I decided I wanted to learn how to write code and possibly begin a career in web development. I've always been tech savvy, but I really had no idea what I was doing when it comes to coding. One night I just started googling and watching videos on YouTube to try and pick a starting point and I came across freeCodeCamp. Another resource I've been using is Codecademy. Both are excellent choices in my opinion (and honestly my opinion is not worth much, because it seems like almost everyone on Publish0x knows more about writing code than I do) so I just want to talk a little bit about each and maybe some of you guys will find this helpful.
Let me preface by saying I had no interest in spending money on a coding boot camp or premium online courses. At freeCodeCamp.org they have a lot of structure surrounding each coding language and available certifications if you get far enough along. I found this incredibly helpful as I had zero idea where I needed to start or what languages I should focus on. To me, HTML and CSS came fairly easy and some of the Javascript material did as well. Later on, I began getting frustrated and going more days in between coding sessions and losing confidence quickly. I've recently got back into it more and have been making better progress but overall freeCodeCamp is a fantastic resource for almost everyone, and it has been my primary resource.
Codecademy.com is a little bit different as they are not totally free, but they have a ton of free courses. They have premium courses which I haven't tried out, but for the most part, the free materials on there are incredibly helpful. I like to actually switch back and forth between the two sites because they have different ways of teaching the subjects and I'll find that when I get stuck in one area, the other website explains it better. Codecademy can be somewhat rudimentary at times where it almost feels like busy work, when I just want to advance to the next topic, but then again, repetition helps with this stuff. FreeCodeCamp will occasionally jump ahead, where I feel like I know exactly how to do something and then the next lesson has me completely lost and wanting to punch my screen.
Also, with freeCodeCamp, they have an incredible amount of content on YouTube essentially teaching all their courses in video form if that's more your style. I had not started using it until recently, but its very helpful. There is more material on their YouTube channel than you could ever watch, covering all aspects of coding. Anyone interested in starting out learning programming languages should definitely check it out.
Overall, my advice to anyone out there like me, is to just pick a place and start. Don't think too much about it, don't get intimidated, just jump right in. You will likely find that you'll wish you started a long time ago. Also, try and spend at least a little time every day writing code or watching tutorials. I can't stress that enough. When you take weeks or even months off from this stuff, you pretty much have to start all over again, because it's not the easiest material to retain over time.
The world is changing pretty fast, if you haven't noticed. That change is being accelerated greatly by the ongoing pandemic. It seems to me that jobs in web development, and just tech in general will be increasingly in demand as everyone reallocates their work to be done at home or remotely. Many people are getting left behind because they struggle with something as simple as video chat or google docs. My biggest regret is not getting into computer science, coding, web development, and cryptocurrency years ago, but that doesn't mean its too late. Hopefully some of this was helpful for even a small number of you looking to learn how to code or just pick up a new hobby.
