Computer “know-how” is the way of the future. It has become the new coolest thing to do. And has been transformed the “Geek” into being something extremely cool. It has opened up a new door for celebrities, one that allows them to become famous for something that actually matters, and for actually having skills. Unlike the complete opposite characters of Jersey Shore, people like Mark Zuckerberg actually provide value to this world.
Which begs the question: Why are skills like the basics of website design and computer programming something that is required in the classes of the young ones today? It is such a unique tool that can only lead to young professionals learning how to make money for themselves. In fact, if this were the case, you might see more and more kids making money, using their creativity, right out of the gate out of high school.
Anyways, that is a topic for a later discussion. This discussion is for all you beginners out there that are trying to make it on your own already – with the help of no one but yourself and your keyboard.
Tip Number One: Books VS Actually Doing
There is nothing wrong with learning how to code from books. In fact I would encourage you to do so. I just want you know that as a programmer, like most things wrong with the world today and what we call “learning,” just because you’ve read something, doesn’t mean you know how to do it.
Every single lesson that you take in, you should then try to implement it yourself. You should try to create something out of everything you do. What do I mean by this? I mean that just because you learn one “idea” in programming languages that doesn’t mean that you are limited to doing just that one thing.
Much like in the alphabet if you learn the letters “T,” “E,” and “A,” you can create different words such as “TEA,” “ATE,” and even the acronym “ETA.” There are a million and one different things you can create when you are using programming languages, but you have to learn the value of each part before you can create the whole.
Tip Number Two: Have Fun with It
This is especially true if you are a youngster (it’s kind of hard to spend time programming things for your own entertainment if you have bills to pay). Just as we learn when we play when we are small children, we also learn when we play with programming. Besides if programming is something you are having fun doing anyways, then your knowledge and “know-how” in terms of learning will grow exponentially.
Tip Number Three: Learn How to Work With Other People
Programming sometimes requires you to be by yourself for long periods of time while you “get in the zone” and really focus in on what it is that you are doing. Learning to work with other people can sometimes be hard. This is because it takes experience to learn how to collaborate with others on the same project while being very efficient. The earlier that you can develop this skill the better.
Tip Number Four: Money Should Not Be Your First Goal
This holds true with even one of the most famous programmers in the world, Mark Zuckerberg. It is well noted that the man doesn’t care about money at all. Which is one of the main reasons why Facebook is so dang successful. He is able to put money aside and concentrate on one thing and one thing only. Helping other people connect. It his dream and it is basically one of the biggest psychology experiments ever, which is why he absolutely loves it.
Tip Number Five: Never Settle for “Templates”
Unless you are completely satisfied with a template script, or a template product, try to do it on your own. Don’t simply just copy and paste like it is your job. You won’t ever learn anything that way, you will only limit yourself. If you can constantly try to do things yourself, you will be able to learn faster and better. You will be able to do more things, and you will gain more skills.
I agree that one may read every piece of information in the world but without practicing what you read, you will never know how much you’ve learnt.
I read every piece of website creation information I could lay my hands on up to the point of information overload and I thought that I was learning something. But when I actually started creating it I saw that half of the “knowledge” I acquired do not work in practice.