Learning How To Code: The Process Is The Goal

Before you give up on learning how to code, I have something to share with you …

Are you learning how to code? As a beginner, do you sometimes feel lost or even frustrated when tackling new concepts? No worries, I have been there, and I understand how you feel.

Learning how to code can be a tough process because you are learning concepts that you have probably never seen before. That is, the ideas you are being exposed to, perhaps you have not come across them in elementary, middle, high school or even college. Thus, it is normal to have those feelings of fear or frustration when you are sitting down trying to grasp these ideas.

So, today I am going to share some tips that can help you with this process. My intention with this article is to help you view the process from a different perspective, hence, helping you stay positive and not giving up.

These are tips that have helped me on my journey and students I have work with, I hope they help you as well.

If you would like a video version of this content, check out this video.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Feeling frustrated is normal

A typical pattern I see among the students I work with is that they might feel frustrated when learning how to code for the first time. No worries, these feelings are part of the learning process. My advice is to accept these feelings as part of the process. Don’t deny them or suppress them, vent them if you need to. It’s normal; we are human. Something I tell the students that I work with is that learning how to code takes time and practice, also an adjustment of your mindset.

Remember, you are learning how to write instructions that a computer can understand. Thus, the process of learning how the computer understands the statements you write, that is, what it is going in the background while your program is running. The mastery of this process takes time. Something I like to tell the students I work with is that you are not a computer, so to understand how computers understand code can take time and practice.

Just because you are working with a machine, it doesn’t make you one, it’s normal to get frustrated. After all, you are human.

In my experience, the more you practice writing computer programs, the easier it will get for you.

Reflect on how far you have come

This tip is for people that have been learning how to code for some time. What I have seen through the years is that when learning how to code, you might reach a point when you get stuck. This might happen with a particular concept, which will take time and energy on your part to get over the hump of understanding how this concept works and how to apply it when writing computer programs. If you have come across an idea that you can’t grasp, my advice is to step back, leave it for some time and try again at another time. On the other hand, if you have been learning how to code for some time and have reached the point where you are very frustrated, doubting yourself and wanting to give up, before you do, look back and recognize how far you have come.

Let’s say you have been having trouble with understanding Data Structures; you just don’t get how a stack works. How to perform the operations on a stack, no matter how much you try, you just don’t understand. I recommend that you take a deep breath, and think back how far you have come to this point. Before learning Data Structures, you had to learn how to use variables in your code, understand what decision structures were (such as if-else statements), how to use them and you had to grasp other concepts before getting to this point. Pat yourself on the back, recognize the hard work you invested and how far you have come.

It has taken time and effort to get where you are, recognize it and give yourself some credit

After you reflect on your progress, I suggest that you keep going, use these feelings of frustration to keep learning and persevere to accomplish your goals related to learning how to code.

The process is the goal

You may have your own goals related to learning how to code. You may want to land a particular job in the tech industry, finish your Computer Science degree, among other things. During this process, you might feel that is achieving your goal is taking forever. Hence, you might want to give up. My advice is to change your way of viewing the journey of learning how to code. Instead of seeing it as an end destination, I suggest to view it as a process where you grow as a person and a professional. Not only you are gaining new technical skills, but you are also developing patience and perseverance as you learn related programming concepts.

A method I like to recommend anyone learning how to code is that instead of having one big goal, set smaller goals during your coding journey. For instance, instead of only having the goal of landing a job as a front end developer, I would suggest dividing this goal into smaller ones, such as writing your first web application, building your front end development portfolio and so on. The idea is to break down the large goal into smaller ones that help you move closer to the end destination. Each time you accomplish one more modest goal, reward yourself and give yourself some credit. Then, move on to the next one.

The process is the goal, break down the larger goal into smaller milestones

I believe this method will help you stay motivated in the long run, because of the time it might take to accomplish the goal you want to achieve. Everyone’s goals are different, so my suggestion is to apply this method to your life and situation if you are interested in using this method in your journey.

There you have it, some tips you can use in your journey when it comes to learning how to code. Remember, learning how to code is a process that it takes time, practice, perseverance, and determination. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t understand the programming related ideas on your first try. Keep grinding and practicing; you can do it.

If you happy and you know it, clap your hands :)

As always, don’t forget to follow me and click on the applause button, so you don’t miss content that can help you in some way as a Computer Science student currently in college.

Also, I know if you like this kind of content so I can keep writing more of these types of articles to help you on your journey learning how to code.

If this article helped you in some way, please share it with a friend.

It might help them too.

Comment down below some of the things you do to help you move forward when you get stuck in learning how to code.

I hope this helps!

If you liked this article, I think you might be interested these articles as well:

Photo by luis gomes from Pexels

Disclaimer: Results may vary. These tips and advice are based on my experience and opinion as a former undergraduate Computer Science student. Also as a tutor, teacher, and professional software developer. Everyone is different, so, the advice shared in this article may or may not work for you.

Originally published at yadielcabrera.com on April 14, 2019.