How to Learn to Code FAST (Do This or Keep Struggling) 

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Any time I hear any kind of "hustle" style advice, it's almost immediately worth dismissing. If you don't know Chinese, and you try to read Chinese, you won't be able to do it by just trying really hard

A simple advice from a fellow coder, don't try to learn a programming language aimlessly. Sit down , figure out what you want to build ( after you have understood the basics) and then learn how to build it and that's how you learn coding.

I have been programming for 35 years. I am an EXPERT at learning. I completely agree everything Andy said in this video. Two concepts in the video are key for career-long skill growth, (1) keep a list of the concepts/skills you want to develop, and (2) use your study time to focus on your weakest skills. I'll add (3), whenever you start a project with a new team intentionally look for the "thing" that is the team's biggest problem. This "problem" could be a legacy system that we have to integrate, or an unfamiliar new tech, or a troublesome relationship with a key stakeholder, etc., etc. etc... Then, become the "subject matter expert" on that problem. Taking the initiative to become the go-to-person on what was a big headache issue will advance your career.

As a piece of advice for beginner developers: Don’t code without taking breaks. It is pretty overwhelming and causes dangerous health issues. Also it increase mental fatigue overtime. At least I have experienced with it. Therefore, I take 30m break after each 90m of coding.

"Take a Break" - Ok, story time...I was racking my brain on a Calculus homework problem and I JUST COULD NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT...I finally got so frustrated that I went over to the couch and just plopped down on it. The moment my rear hit the cushion, the solution popped into my head. It wasn't until I stopped thinking that the answer came to me. It was quite a cool experience

Thank you. Some takeaways I get: Deliberate practice Attack the weaknesses Understand your energy Understand your mind Focused sessions Sleep and take rest for a creative brain

I also recommend embracing the struggle when you're trying to figure something out that you've 'learned'. Spend 5-10 minutes really trying to recall how to solve something you've seen or feel you should know before going to look it up. This will strengthen your memory and improves your learning.

SO TRUE! Have to get out of your comfort zone and going head on with your weakness. Which is hard~

I seem to learn best in 45 minute bursts. Then I can practice in longer burst and as long as I'm practicing the same thing (no matter what it is) I retain. So to repeat, I learn "new" things in up to 45 minute bursts and reinforce things in longer bursts. Great video. Everything you mentioned I have experienced as truth. At least for me. Thanks!

Well said! Been coding for 11 coming on 12 years now learning new stuff regularly and I can confirm this is 100% true. Coding for practice and coding for work are two very different things. Deliberate practice accelerates progress. Nothing more I could add to this. Great video Andy 🙌

This literally applies to everything. Twitter has gems of advice, but most of them are pretty garbage. Work Smart, Not Hard.

This was actually a huge relief. I'm always worried about not doing enough, or quick enough but this advice really put my mind at ease. Quality over quantity.

What I love about the video is that you can apply the points mentioned to so many other topics.

This was really good advice dude..better than so many channels I have seen. Really appreciate it. Thanks Andy 💯

These principles apply to learning just about anything. I’m going to implement some of these strategies while trying to learn 3D modeling.

I just wanted to thank you for giving realistic guidance for those of us wanting to work in tech. There are _way_ too many snake oil salesmen on RU-vid, and I appreciate channels like yours that keep the advice practical and the expectations reasonable.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: OUTLIERS - MALCOLM GLADWELL 1:00 PEAK - ANDERSON ERICSSON 4:15 ULTRALEARNING - SCOTT H. YOUNG 5:55

Thank you, Andy. I always appreciate your coaching content.

I've been watching your videos for the last couple of years, Andy. And I honestly have to say that this is the best video you've ever made. Thank you so much for this great piece of wisdom!

Always great advice. I am glad that I have you as a coach!

Sir I just started the 10000 hours thing after reading the books just few days back ... thank you so much for your guidance this really means a lot me

This video is great! Your examples on identifying weaknesses is clear and comprehensible. Nothing like those other videos that just tell you to strengthen your weaknesses, but it's completely vague.

I found this super super helpful!!! Especially the part about going to search for interview questions around your weakness. That made a lot of sense 🤯 Thanks so much!

I'm learning in a bootcamp and struggling with my JS skills, especially in APIs. I'm glad I watched your videos because they really help me a lot! Cheers!

Thank you for the advices. One thing which is hard is when you must learn to much different kind of things in a short period of time. The mind can’t record too much differents sorts of hard concepts and paradigms when we study. And also because we should use each new knowledges just right after learning them to get theses knowledges.

Andy, you are a great teacher! This video really motivated me. Thanks!

Thank you for a video with actual substance and practical advice!

The information you shared in this video is pure gold! Thank YOU 🙏 ☺️

You gave me and your viewers great advice for any type of skill. Thanks for doing this for free!

Thank you Andy, Your channel help me a lot. Now I'm learning web development skills to change my career from a musician to a developer :D

This video wrap's up everything for 2021. Well done Andy 👍

My drum line instructor used to say, "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." And I felt that.

Your video gave me great insight into my life that had nothing to do with coding or computers. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Andy! Excellent video!

Yup. I eventually figured out after thousands of failed kick flips, that I was not practicing deliberately. Never got one right 😆, but years later I got a lot better at bike tricks, due to more focus and deliberation - not more repetition.

Related to this topic, this is the best video I ever seen. Thank you! 💙

I think something key to note is not everyone learns at the same rate. A skill one person is able to grasp in one month might take you six months or more. Every learning experience is unique to the individual, it's about finding what learning pattern works best for you.

Great video! I'm teaching myself to code while working another job and this was super informative. I also love playing Rocket League and often coach & help lower ranked friends get a better understanding of the game so this was a perfect analogy for me to understand!! Thank you!

Love the book references, added all to my read list! Amazing video

It's very great to learn from someone who has worked many years in that domain. You will learn the mistakes that you should not do. Learn Earlier or Keep Struggling. Thanks for the telling the great authors in your video.

i’m new to this channel and it’s all thanks to the YT algorithm! i’m 30y/o and am just starting my programming journey but this was really inspiring! earnt my sub in this video alone!

Great video Andy! Really enjoyed this one!

I'm following everythign with projects and all. Watching everything. Where have YOU BEEN. I guess I found you at the right time. Great videos

Consistency is key and motivation can be wrecked by a lack of patience, but yes, technique & approach are what converts consistency to success

I'm going to use that interview question strategy to figure out C#. Thanks, Andy.

The information is valuable and straight to the point. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for emphasising the importance of rest, Andy. ☺ So important ✌🏽

I know I’m a year late for this video, but considering that I’m at the beginner stage of coding I’m happy to have come across this video. Thank you for the advice!

See, I started learning with python. After Learning the syntax I went off to RU-vid to watch people apply python to certain tasks and problems. From there I began building my own. From there other languages were cake to learn because I had a fundamental understanding of how programs work.

Excellent video 👌, sleep is very important, take breaks and being in a fasted state is great for maintaining effective study sessions.

Thanks for the video! It felt genuine and is much appreciated!

Much appreciated video . I am stating to learn programming right now and it is really hard but all I can see and dream of is being a great accomplished programmer in some near future . It’s all I want and all I aim for . Thanks

Andy, thank you so much. You always give the best advice. I started to read a book about Data Structures and Algorithm and it's been a nice read, as an absolute beginner it's the best resource I have found.

One of the best videos you did so far!

This video is awesome - I needed to hear this really bad today - I can't sleep for more than 3-4 hours, and I really need to work on breaks as I tend to work hard for 45 mins then my break goes for like an hour or more :/ - really need to be more disciplined - thank you for the wonderful video Andy!!!

Excellent suggestions. I learned a lot. Thank you!

Very useful recommendations here. Thanks a lot Andy. I'll save the video so that I can come back to it later.

Thanks for explaining why you recommend this approach!

Thanks man I have learned a lot on this. Ill apply this not just in studying on how program but other things as well.

Thanks Andy, this was one of your best videos. Very informative! Mentioning the books was a plus.

In my opinion, this is your best video by far... thanks for this contribution Andy.

I have a masters degree in educational psychology. I think everything that you've said in this video is pretty spot on. One of my personal pet peeves is when people say practice makes perfect. It does not. Perfect practice makes perfect. You can spend 10000 hours practicing something the wrong way and at the end of the day all you've done is gotten really good at doing it wrong. If you want to get better, as you say, you must practice what it is you want to achieve. Great advice, thanks for the video.

Superb video Andy, as it reflects on reality, not fantasy. These are extensive notes I took from this video. To become a better programmer then you need to engage in Deliberate Practice and these are the key parts of Deliberate Practice: 1- Clear, Well-defined goals: The more you can laser focus on a specific issue the better, so when you're trying to solve a problem on hacker rank, leetcode or a problem in a project you're building when you sit down to study is say okay I'm going to sit down and try my best to comprehend what the question is asking so I'm not even going to write any code I'm just gonna maybe go through one two or three problems to try to understand what they're asking. 2- 100% Focus and Attention 3- Go outside the comfort zone: if you're ever going to go beyond a basic understanding of programming you have to feel uncomfortable let's say you're learning javascript for example a common difficult concept that you're going to run into at some point is closures now you're going to read some articles about closures watch some youtube videos that's going to be very comfortable but what's very uncomfortable is taking that knowledge you've learned and then applying it in some way so maybe using it in an actual problem somewhere but if you don't do this and push yourself outside of your comfort zone then you're always going to just stay exactly where you're at. The takeaway from this key part is to put the effort into the aspects you're not good at not the things you're already good at. -------------------------------------- - Identify your weakness and attack it directly: How to attack something head-on? 1- Make note of it: I recommend creating a google document that lists out all of the weaknesses that you run into and you want to regularly update and drill them when you have time. 2- Run through drills repeatedly: for something like the promises problem not understanding promises you can google something like javascript promise coding interview and what some of the questions that pop up you can run through all of those and easily the key of what that's going to happen is it's going to allow you to work on different problems in different contexts repeatedly over and over again and eventually your understanding of it gets better and better and better and honestly this principle has probably been the one thing that has sped up my results the quickest. --------------------------------------- - You have to know that the way to success is not necessarily about hard work, hustling, working more, and intensity: The key to rapid skill development is that you must train your brain and mind like an athlete treats their body just like an athlete would never put in 100 hours of intense training per week nor should you. most athletes know the secret to success is short but high-intensity training sessions with very long periods of rest. If you're going to maximize every ounce of effort that you're putting into this, it's critical to MANAGE YOUR ENERGY LEVELS effectively. These are some tips to help you better manage your energy level: 1- Sleep well 6-8 hours a day. 2- Take regular breaks 3- Split your studying time into tangible chunks or sessions, if you study for 6 hours daily then break up that into 3 blocks of 2 hours of study periods 4- Regular moderate exercise

I needed this. Thank you Andy🙂

Thank you for the video, I think it really is usefull, not only for programming. It also makes me remember a saying (I think by a Rugby coach) that says "Practice does not make you perfect, it just makes you consistent, which means you need to focus on what you practice.

This video was amazing! You quite rightly support the debunked theory of the 10K hours to mastery and introduced so many concepts that it took me years to find out on my own. I can attest that the style of deliberate practice works. At some point I was working with a more senior colleague with a CS degree who was determined I wasn't to succeed and prove that he was some sort of a member of a master race I didn't belong to. I had no real coding skills then but did much of what you described and slowly built myself up by tackling my weakness one by one. I still have a loooong way to go but I managed to prove that colleague wrong so big point scored. Subbed!!!

Fantastic video my man. Keep them coming.

Great content at the right time for me. Thanks boss...

That was very informative . Thank you !!

Loved the rocket league bit haha! As soon as you brought it up I knew you'd be talking about aerials. I think competitive games can provide a great analogue for skill building. They provide tangible feedback on your improvement (generally thru a ranking system) and it's done on a short timetable.

These are great elementary principles for studying and improving. I mean elementary elementary both literally and figuratively. I have kids in elementary school; their curriculum suffered tremendously during the last couple years due to remote learning and excessive closures. We have been employing some of these techniques to make sure that my kid doesn't fall behind in their expected knowledge and understanding in math and reading skills, such as identifying weaknesses, and practicing the hard skills that are out of their comfort zone, and targeted practice, at home in addition to what they do at school. My point is that these are basic study principles that can easily be leveraged to improve any skill. Great insight!

This video is gold! Thank you!

Great video 👍...would definitely follow this approach.

Great video...as a veteran developer even I need to remind myself to step off the pedal from time to time and take a break

Instructions unclear, learned coding in 1 Light Year

Totally agree. Practice doesn't make perfect; Perfect practice does.

Man, those camera settings for rocket league are wild 😂 great advices btw. I am very new at programming and still learning but this was very helpful. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the realistic and pragmatic info.. Liked and subscribed.

you are awesome man, thanks for all of you great advices!!!!!

Excellent video, backed up by great references! :)

I'm a final year software dev student, I still struggle with the simplest things, your advice has been insightful. Thank you @Andy Sterkowitz

I watch this specific video and practiced over something which is hard for me to learn I ended up learning it within one day . when I learn it in school it takes 3 months, after all, I didn't get to learn anything. one random day I watch ur video changes the whole game for me. thank u

You don't need 10,000 hours to become a pro in programming language. You need to define what you want to solve with the programming language, then learn the basics of the programming language, advanced, Google problems and solutions. The rest is practice practice and practice

Very good advice indeed...thank you!

Great channel, in fact God sent, subscribed first time

Thanks as always - really great advise..

Really great advice I will try to apply it as I just started learning to code I’m 2 weeks in already 🙏🏼💪🏼

Nicely done Andy!

Thanks.. This is a great video, and very helpful

I am currently trying to learn coding online and I am struggling in understanding the courses... but I was able to point out my problems really quickly and this video just reassured me that I was on the right path minus the sleep lol. I should definitely try to take some break especially after some struggle. I was unsure on my method but this video just gave me a boost of confidence. Thank you

Keeping your room clean is pretty solid advice though. Not just you physical room but your surroundings and mind. Now i’m going to watch your vid.

Fabulous advice. Thank you!

Great stuff. Thank you for this video.

Great video, thank you. I learned from this video.

Thank you Andy for the very helpful advice! Here are my notes with only the main points: First Principle: Deliberate practice 1. It requires clear and well-defined goals. Laser focus on what skills are you trying to improve. Eg. Understand what the problem or the question is asking. 2. 100 percent focus and attention. You have to go into very deep into thought. Really analyse your code which will require you to have long periods of thought and concentration. 3. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Practice things you are not good at. Taking that knowledge you learnt and apply somewhere. Second Principle: Identify a weakness (For Speed) 1. Just practice only the part you need to master and then get back in the game. Similar to what I do in my dance lessons. Attack our weaknesses directly. 2. See a complex problem as an opportunity to attack the problem head on. Once you clearly identify the problem like not understanding a concept, then a) you make note of it (either an apple note or google document) and list out all the weaknesses you run into and you want to regularly update and drill them when you have time. b) you can run through drills repeatedly. You can search in Google, and see what questions pop and run through those. It's going to allow you to work on different problems in different contexts over and over again. Eventually your understanding will get better. Third Principle: Manage your energy levels effectively Must treat your brain and your mind like an athlete treats their body. Just like athletes would never put 100 hours of training per week, neither should you. Athletes know the secret to success is short, but high intensity training sessions with very long periods of rest. If you want to maximise every ounce of effort you put into this, it is critical to manage your energy levels effectively. Things that work for energy management are a) 7 - 8 hours of sleep per night, b) take regular breaks, don't study for 6 hours at one go (we can actually problem solve and be very creative when you are not active thinking), c) regular moderate exercise. Thank you Andy for the super valuable advice! 🙏 ❤

You know that motivation feeling that suddenly goes all the way through you at 3 AM? For some reason it “broke” for me today, this night I had completely no motivation to even try coding my own web project, but now is 10 AM and I’m full of motivation

You had me at Rocket League! I love that game! Putting that aside. I actually wanna learn to code and 've found your videos super helpful. Thank you

THIS VIDEO IS SOOO GOOD!!! I needed it 😭 perfect timing. I have to add a second comment 😭😂 to express my gratitude

Loved the video. Thanks a lot!