Hey Andy, Great advise. It’s very easy to over complicate the learning plan and course collect. Would love to hear more about the different types of “disciplines” to specialize in (e.g., web dev, front-end, back-end, database, applications, games, others?). What the work looks like to know if I’d like it or not, and if so what next steps would look like after your 3mo plan? Thanks! Alex
Thank you so much Andy for this super helpful video! My notes from this video: 1. Keep things as simple as simple. (Remove complexity when possible as it can kill you. Do not buy more courses or books) 2. Whichever language you learn make sure you are building projects along with going through your learning resources. Implement what you have learnt. Build projects on the side in your portfolio to make sure that you are using those concepts you are learning. If you are really a beginner make sure you learn these basics of web development: 1. HTML (2 weeks to month- Head First HTML and CSS book) 2. CSS 3. JavaScript (2 months or more Head First JavaScript Programming 4. Git (working on the same code or project collaboratively other people. It is a way to save the state or history of that project over time) 5. Client-server architecture (basic paradigm of how the internet works and how websites work) If you spend 15 hours/week learning you can master the above in about 3 months. * For HTML+CSS: Build project to cement your learning. Use HTML and CSS to build one or two static websites as you learn. (personal or for a friend who has an online business who likes an online presence. Keep it simple. *For JavaScript: Build 2 to 4 projects to paint on your skills and see how quickly you can progress. Keep them dead simple. Build a to-do list, a calculator. Work on the basics and fundamentals. Get better at your problem solving skills to understand programming in general. *For Git: Get comfortable with the git command-line using github, posting projects on github. *For Client-sever architecture: Understand the basis of that. Understand more about HTTP traffic, networking in the internet.
Hey Andy? Could you do a video that lays out EXACTLY the steps that YOU took yourself? I mean, from the minute you thought you'd like to do this. How did you start- PRECISELY? I'd be interested in knowing your personal timeline and the projects/languages you decided to go with and WHY. xx
This video is very helpful, thank you so much! I spent a lot of time trying to learn CSS on video tutorials. Now, I am learning CSS in the "Head First" book and suddenly it becomes easy!
Nobody talks about: 1) what kind of system/computer/configuration you first need to start or how many screens 2) what you need to Install 3) what is the Environment they talk about 4) what is an editor 5) how to check your work and where 5) how much levels to pass and ideal time to spend. Thank you.
Especially in college. In college its like "here is the textbook. Chapter 1 lab is due next week." - im currently taking the college journey for cs learning java
I've been a dev/devops/sysenginer guy for 20+ years, it's more about knowing concepts and learning to not reinvent the wheel and look around the internet for approaches because someone most likely have come across your use case and has wrote about it or have some library. Don't over complicate things, set limits to your sprints, don't over engineer and don't get caught in the trap of if you can put this feature in then we can do this then we can do that. Set limits to each release and don't promise the moon. Knowing concepts is more important than knowing the specific code off the top of your head, I hop back and forth between bash, python, ruby, c#, and even legacy perl. You just can always google how to implement the concepts in each language its more important to know whats possible and realistic than knowing the specific code.
How is Perl any more 'legacy' than Python, Ruby or Bash (the last one isn't even a programming language, by the way)? Perl programs run faster than their Ruby counterparts; the language supports multiple inheritance in OO paradigm (which Ruby doesn't). There are some language specific features which don't seem very intuitive at first glance (like passing named parameters to a function in the hash-form, declaring data categories - scalars, arrays, hashes - rather than data-types or using hashes as objects) but turn out to be very powerful and logical when you get used to them. The only reason for Perl's falling off TIOBE index's first-ten was painful transition from Perl 5 to Perl 6, which caused lots of confusion in Perl community and was finally cancelled due to both languages incompatibilities (Perl 6 was finally renamed to 'Raku' and is now perceived as a separate language, as You probably know).
I've spent days trying to figure out where to start and this has been the most helpful for a complete beginner. Other channels were ok to follow along but this is invaluable information. Thanks!
Let me tell you something, I think we get confused about it because we don't even know what programming even is, it is not about language but it's about thinking literally you may know 10 languages but if you don't know how to think it's all trash, so I would highly suggest getting a environment where you can develop algorithmic thinking, it may feel intimidating but you will kinda regret it later on if you decide to just focus on code and not programming, I think a really good way to develop that is by learning game development, game development uses tons of complex logic, algorithms etc. Just download processing and start learning along the way create little projects aiming to make a some pretty neat game at your level.
All other youtubers are telling us to have a fucking jump start into a language like python without having any feedback about any thing or any shit about computers and internet. But your learning line is the only one that convinced me . Thanks man❤
I recently decided I wanted to get into programming due to health problems that are forcing me to work from home and I’ve always been interested in programming. I watched a few of your other videos and had decided to learn JavaScript first so I picked up a book you had mentioned, “Head First JavaScript Programming”. That book recommended knowing and understanding HTML and CSS so I picked up “Head First HTML and CSS” and so far the book is a GREAT resource!!! I’ve been doing like you said and trying to spend at least 1-2 hours every day studying or practicing coding. I haven’t started a side-project yet but I think that’s a great idea and will start one soon! Thank you again for your awesome channel and I don’t think I would have come as far as I have as quickly without your videos!!!
genius2012 hello! I am also learning HTML and CSS. Have you started your project yet? I want to start one but I keep thinking to myself that there is more I need to learn before I start a side project and I think that’s holding me back a lot.
something that I love about you Andy is your sincerity which is obvious in your face and words when you talk about software development. not like some frauds (rafeh qazi) who try to sell their garbage tutorials and pretend if you learn very basics of programming you can earn six figures salaries within a couple of months.
Thanks Ramin! I really appreciate your sentiment. I know what you’re saying about other RU-vidrs and at the same time I imagine they mean well. At the end of the day it all works out for everybody. Cheers! 😊
Thanks for sharing your experience, it's very helpful have some direction or path to go. I'm get starting to learn programing and i want to get into IT career. cheers from Brazil!
This is super helpful advice. Long story short, I originally wanted to do web development when I first started college but the job market wasn’t great and I needed more job security. Through many twists and turns, I landed in HR and have been in the HR field about 5 years now. I’ve been thinking about switching careers for quite a while and right now is a good time to prep my self for this leap. I’ve just switched roles internally working as an Analyst and I now have more time to focus on “me” time in the evenings. I’ve got 6 months to prepare myself! Thanks the motivation and making these videos!
I'm a beginner and I have found this video to be very helpful. I was initially intimidated by the volume of courses on programming and software development. This has given me a direction. Thumbs up 👍🏽
Longtime viewer here and fan of your content. I just started working my way through Head First JavaScript (currently on page 200 wrapping up chapter 4) along with the ZeroToMastery web development course on Udemy. I'm able to average slightly under two hours per day at the moment, but my question is the following: when you get blocked on a problem in the Head First book, or if a concept doesn't seem 100% clear to you, how do you proceed? How do you get a more thorough understanding of what seems like simple concepts not sinking in? I'm plagued with doubt of if I move forward with my reading without comprehending each component perfectly that it will come back to haunt me later on.
Thank you very much, your video really let me realize I should focus on learning the basics first with web development regardless if I want to do game development or whatever else. Im changing careers from customer service/collections to something coding and this helps a lot.
Yes, I am doing this tips right now, build a static website while learning, so I am fully aware on where I am in my studies. Thankyou sir, more power to you...
Thanks for sharing. Really useful and to the point. Would you recommend any particular resources for the points 3 and 4 (GIT and Client-server)? I have learned some things along the way but would really love to get a good, systematic overview of it. Thanks a lot!
im 17 and just started programming. Have about half a year expirence in cs from my class😂 and i constantly have to watch toturial videos and its hard. Im gonna follow in your footstep HTML & CSS JAVA AND GIT THANKS for the Advice🙌
I'm 53 yrs old and I'm just looking for a language to play with, my only experience is with DOS 6.22 and stringing different commands together along with autoexe bat so starter projects will be my main focus, also someone told me about Smalltalk and I have a video game on steam I'm going to start with, thank you for your video and time you have taken to help us, beginners
This is really helpful and I can relate a lot. I've been doing html and css for about 4 months now but I constantly feel overwhelmed and feel as though I don't know enough because i'm always thinking from an employer's perspective. I've been putting off moving onto JS for that reason. Thanks Andy
Bro, thanks you so much for recommneding us the Head First book, OMG! I love it so much, they really did a great job on teaching their readers the basics, also, the pacing is just *chef's kiss*. I'm already at the 500th page, Head First JavaScript is going to be my next goal, again, thank you so much!!!
Andy- you’ve been with me on this journey for the past month. Thank you soooo much for your invaluable videos! Got through HTML and am halfway through CSS. I’m going the route of the Pro Career Path on Codecademy for Front End Engineering. I feel like I’m not getting enough practice. Would you suggest I check out Udemy after I finish CSS for something more in-depth with a built-in, real world website build project? Something I’m considering. Thanks again!!!
The idea is to learn in layers. You are never going to fully understand the scope of each subject without layering various angles of learning and material together. Do some theory, then do one mini project or practice problem. Don't be afraid to look at the solution and copy it. Then, try it on your own. Once you have seen it all for the first time, now go to a different source and strengthen that knowledge while also placing the missing pieces into your knowledge puzzle. You will see things click. Once you see things click, you know you can do it and your confidence will sky rocket.
This video couldn't have come at a better time to me. I felt completely lost watching udemy course for a month now (currently at CSS), I wasn't sure if I even want this anymore because a) simply overwhelmed by the enormous amount to syntaxes to follow, b) not even sure what to do with those syntaxes. I guess this is a downside of the remote learning and frankly I've been out from uni quite a long time ago so learning a new skill has been intimidating. This helps me a lot, i will focus on working on my own projects based on what i learn from the course to really develop my skills. Thanks!
You got me Andy. Just started MEAN Developer Course but the instruction is "NULL" and it said no experience necessary. That turned out to be a lie. So I'm crash coursing html, css, javascript, and everything else needed for the stack. I've found trying to teach myself has been more productive. Mostly I feel getting a "mentor" is absolutely necessary in the beginning. Glad I found you, hope you got room for another.
Just came across this video. Best take away I learned is that I have been course collecting. I need to just pick one and stick with it for at least the 90 days instead of one chapter here and one chapter there. Thank you.
Hi Andy. I’ve been told to TEACH Introduction to Programming to middle-schoolers without knowing what it is! Virtually, this will begin the last of January. I’m so very stressed because the kids will know more than me. I also have to oversee a coding club for 6-8 graders. This helped me to know what to do 1st. I’ll follow your suggestion. Thank you.
I know that most probably you`re not going to see this,but still I`m gonna write it. I started with HTML in January 2020 and after maybe 7-10 days I started learning CSS. I understand basics of both and It was not so hard to learn it (at least I like to think that). Then I tried to build something. It would start great and then I would get overwhelmed and frustrated. I hated what I made because it was simple did not look nice and when I would compare it to other websites I would just delete the entire code.. I never thought of quitting it is not in my nature but I get stuck often and I feel like I am wasting too much time and not making a lot of progress because I don`t have a clear plan.. I feel like too little butter spread over too much bread. I know you said we should build our project as we learn but somehow I feel like I am only watching how it is done and then just type it in sublime and that is it. I don`t feel it is something that came out of my head but rather me copying and pasting (not literally ). A couple of days ago i started with JavaScript and I feel like I skipped something about css and html and it is constantly buggering me . And with js is the same.. When I watch or read I understand all of it but I don`t know when and why to apply it and it is just wearing me down. I know I wrote too much already but I feel like a baby trying to talk (only in code language) but I can`t. I know I have made a huge progress in these 30 or so days because I knew nothing about HTML and CSS before and now I can build a basic layout but navbars,images,videos, etc. but still I have this constant feeling that I am missing something and that I am not very organized in my learning and practice. I know it`s a huge comment but I just had to get it out of the system. Thank you for all the good work you do for us noobs :)
Thank you for the advice, I appreciate you man. I know that I am really interested in this field, but found myself doing pretty much everything that you were suggesting to stay away from, and I wasn't getting anywhere... Your advice makes perfect sense. Thanks again!
Yeah im in the same boat, i decided to start with c# with The c# players guide book but i think i made it harder on myself, i learned things for sure but it also went over my head a bit i think, im gonna start fresh with html and javascript because i really enjoyed experimenting with c# and visual studio even if it was hard.
This video is pure gold ! Helped me a lot . Decided to become a software engineer and my school starts next month . And I was studying Java lil bit with not much progress but I will first go to html and css as you advices then back to Java
Currently Backend Oracle PLSQL Dev with some ordsapi experience, trying to get into Ng Development, so I can get closer to Full-stack, your other vid on Observables helped a lot so I think I am going to start following all the videos you have up on breaking into that career path. Cheers!
I agree, head first series is good. Among an ocean of iformation this series is worth every penny you spend. They have online projects, forums, youtube videos and some support for everyone.
Thanks, I just started reading the Head First HTML/CSS and it is really a newbie friendly book. I also used Notepad++ to follow through the exercises. Oh and , on the Bullet Points in chapter 3, I think Tony had an accident with his Segway, his hand seems like it had a deep cut on it (not sure if it's in the book, im using an ebook). lol
if u want to learn, learn the new thing. -if .net - learn azure -if phyton - machine learning -mobile - andriod or ios -domain driven design -docker Companies loves new tech in your resume. Coz they want their hands on that thing..
You are the second person I know that recommend the Head First books after Derek Sivers. I am currently at chapter 8 of the Head First HTML & CSS book. It is really fun.
Hey Andy, I made up my mind this morning to learn coding and found your videos really wonderful for start. I really want to take this 3 month journey. Can you recommend a resource for learning client server architecture?
don't lose confidence if you don't 'get programming' right away. It takes time to get comfortable with learning on your programming journey. There's tons of literature out there promoting the building of projects - but its almost made to seem like if you're unable to do this 'right away' as a beginner than you're somehow behind the curve; don't listen to that voice. You aren't. this stuff takes time to grasp. start off with very simple projects.
Andy, thanks very much. Your suggestion gave a clear way for my next learning step. Looking forward for more helpful video so I can continue my journey.
I recently finished a HTML and CSS course and wasn't sure what to do next and your video helped me a lot in finding a path, I'm gonna start learning JavaScript, thank you so much!!!
The core of html/css/JS have not changed. There are new concepts of course as well as browser related nuances, but those are things that are constantly changing anyways. Very few actual necessary keywords have been added for introductory use.
Without knowing computer science and programming fundamentals, getting into HTML, CSS may not be very efficient. I would start with a common "introduction to computer science and programming course" to build cs fundamentals. There are many out there. The most popular ones are CS50 or MIT 6.001. You will be already introduced many languages & technologies in those courses. So you will have a bit of flavor from every fundamental concept in CS. After you finish those courses, you can start with front-end (html, css, javascript, etc.) or go for a back-end (python, java, c++, etc.), anything you want. Without a strong foundation in computer science, the things are going to be still abstract..
I definitely like that you focused on reducing complexity, which is actually a good life lesson in general. I'll be honest, though, as someone starting his coding journey today, hearing spending two weeks on HTML and CSS was terrifying! It looks like a beast to me.
Your videos are always amazing thanks allot for making it simpler for us new be.. Am type that always download every books I come across related to programming without finishing the one at hand ...
I love the part where you say keep it simple your just learning JavaScript you don't have to build an actual application .. I don't know if I want to be a software developer I want to learn how to make the actual application for my business I'm going to start. This video was great I hope I took good notes. Thank you!
I really like your videos, I am currently working as an administrator for tool and I am thinking to start learning Python, but I do not know where to start from. Thank you.
