A person who starts learning programming has many options. There are a lot of materials and methods of learning, but what is the best way to learn programming these days to get the best results? When I took my first steps in programming, I checked various ways of learning. Before going to university, I found a lot of knowledge on programming blogs, later, when I was already at university, I also started reading books on programming, and then I took online courses. Which of these paths was best for me? You will learn about all this in this article.
Studies
Is it worth going to computer science studies if we want to learn programming? For learning programming alone, in my opinion, it's not worth it, because there are currently better options to learn programming. At university, they not only teach programming, but also teach many other areas of computer science that you may not necessarily need at the beginning. Therefore, if your goal is only to learn programming, I do not recommend this path, because you may spend 10% of your time in college learning programming. Moreover, studies take too long. If you are reading this article, I assume you are looking for a better and faster way. Additionally, I think many professors no longer deal with programming on a daily basis and may not be up to date with certain topics. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging you from going to university, on the contrary, I recommend you to go to IT studies, because thanks to them, in addition to getting a diploma that may be required in some companies, you will also learn broader IT knowledge, which is also valuable. . The point is that I don't recommend you go to college if your only goal is to get a job quickly and learn programming.
Bootcamp
Not long ago, bootcamps were very popular, but recently they seem to have lost their popularity. I also do not recommend such bootcamps because they are very expensive, they cost even over $4,000, and their quality leaves much to be desired. These bootcamps usually look for people to whom they suggest that they will find a job from the very beginning where they will earn a lot of money and guarantee you a job, which is not entirely true. If they do provide you with a job, it is usually an internship for very little money. A programmer in his first job will never receive the kind of money that is often quoted in spots advertising such bootcamps. Moreover, such a bootcamp will also require commitment from you. Don't think that if you spend 15 thousand on a bootcamp that you will learn programming. Recently, all these people after bootcamps are often dismissed from the very beginning. They usually boast in their CVs of identical applications that they wrote in class. If you want to include the source code of your application in your CV, it should not be an application copied from another place and attached by 20 other people. I also advise against this path.
Independent learning
Such learning may be fine, but I think that it may be too difficult for you at the beginning, because someone has to show you the way, correct your mistakes, tell you what to pay attention to, through such learning you may learn some bad things. patterns. In such learning, you often rely on information from free sources available on the Internet, which are often not of very good quality and may bring some negative effects. I also recommend such learning to people who have friends who will show them the way and help them learn. It's different when you already work as a programmer, then such learning is good as long as you develop your skills.
Books
I admit that I learned a lot from various books at the beginning, but you really need to find good books that will teach you good practices. Learning from books is absolutely fine if, firstly, you like this format, and secondly, the books are up to date, which is often a problem. Additionally, it is best if you are already reading such a book, and you also need to implement and practice the new syntax, issues, or patterns you have learned in your applications as quickly as possible.
Online courses
In my opinion, online courses are one of the best forms of learning programming. Of course, if such courses are of good quality. In my education, I have completed a lot of online courses. I admit that some of them were very good, but it also happened more than once that such courses were of poor quality. I mean, they were very general, even with mistakes. They did not provide the most important information. A common problem is that there is no contact with the lecturer and if there are any omissions or errors, you often have to look for information on your own. Nevertheless, in my opinion, online courses, but good quality courses, usually not for $10, but a little more expensive, are in my opinion a very good form of learning. Remember that if you are taking a course, implement what you have learned or take some notes with the most important information so that you can always refer to them.
Mentor
In the initial phase of your learning, such a mentor can actually be a treasure, just like in the previous points, it must be a good mentor. Often, such a person will show you a path you can follow. She will answer your questions and possibly correct your mistakes. So this option is absolutely fine. However, you may have a hard time finding the right person, usually at the beginning you will often need to consult with such a person, which can be quite expensive.
Practice
I think this point is the most important. Remember, if you want to learn programming, theory alone is not enough. Just because you buy a lot of books and online courses doesn't guarantee that you will learn how to program, to learn how to program, you just have to program :) You have to think about what applications you can write and just do it. Throughout the learning process, practice will be the most important thing for you. When writing any applications, from time to time you will have a new problem that you need to solve. Learning how to solve such problems will best prepare you for the profession of a programmer. In his work, a programmer also often has some problems that he encounters for the first time and must solve them. Just like learning to ride a bike or learn to swim, you won't learn it just by reading books or watching courses, if you really want to learn how to do it, you have to practice.
What to choose?
In my opinion, it is best to combine several learning methods. You will definitely get the most value from the combination of a good online course, consultation with an appropriate mentor who will advise you and, above all, practice. You need to write as much code as possible. If you want to learn programming in C# on the .NET platform, I definitely recommend my 15-week program - Become a .NET Programmer, which combines all these learning methods. Throughout the entire training, which is conducted online, you will learn new issues, go through the entire process of learning programming from scratch, and, above all, you will write a lot of different applications in C#. Throughout the training you will be able to consult and ask your questions to the trainer. Also, in my opinion, this is the best way to learn programming from scratch.
SUMMARY:
In today's article, I introduced you to various ways to learn programming. We discussed each of these methods and I gave you my recommendations. This means a combination of an online course, consultations with a mentor and, above all, practice. In the entire process of learning programming, writing code and solving various problems is the most important thing. Let me know what it looks like for you and if you agree with my conclusions :)
