Computer programming is one of the hot industries in the world. It pays good paychecks but also it gives you job security in times of pandemic too 😃. This industry has grown by 66% in the US in 10 years and expected to grow by 20% annually. You want to be part of this amazing industry, but don’t know how to do programming or how to code. That’s OK. Everyone has the same doubt when they are beginning. In this blog, I will share with you some of my tips that my mentors gave me when I was starting, which I think useful to share with beginners. Throughout the blog, I will use the programming and coding words interchangeably, for sake of simplicity. So let’s begin….😉 #Advice No1: You don’t need to learn every programming language or technology. Professionals even, don’t learn each and every language/technology. Remember this advice will prevent you from burnout. How to Start Programming Hang out with people with the same interest - who want to learn to program. Step 1: This is the most important step than straightly jumping on learning any programming language. You may ask, what the benefit of this step? This step will help you keep motivated throughout your journey. I have seen most of the beginners when they start learning any programming language. At first, they are very enthusiastic but as they go on through learning - whether they are learning from a course or a book. They get bored. They don’t have that much enthusiasm that they have at the beginning and as a result, they start procrastinating. And here is what, your coding group buddies will help in 😉 . When we tend to work or learn something in a group, as we go further we get more enthusiastic and more motivated to learn and achieve more. Your coding buddies will help you in the same way. When they discuss a programming problem in a group and you realise that you are not able to solve the problem whereas others are able to solve the problem, you will get embarrassed, then you feel, you have to be like them or more than them and, and that’s the motivation, you continue learning with more energy than you were at before. That’s the power of learning in a group. 💪 Well, how to find these coding buddies 🤔? You can start following professional programmers on social media like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Mostly nowadays they all have discord servers. You can join their servers (for free) and able to meet awesome people hanging there, and most probably you will find your coding buddies there, too 😉 Another way to find coding buddies is to go to programming events / online events and meet people or you can make a WhatsApp group of your college classmates, who are passionate about coding. And most probably you will also find a mentor for yourself. Decide what you want to become. Step 2: There are a lot of technologies out there in the market for different domains of computer science - Web development, cloud computing, blockchain, etc, and it’s not possible to learn all these technologies for any human being on this planet. So first decide what is your end goal is, what you want to become. You can search about different domains of computer science or I will also write a blog on this topic with salary expectations, on your demand. You may fall in these 3 categories, there are many categories in the industry  but I am taking the overall picture : If you want a job within a year or two, then you just need to focus on one programming language, I prefer C++ because it’s faster than other languages. Know some basics of the language and then learn Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA). 1. Want a job within a year: When you apply for a job, companies don’t see how much or what projects you have made, but they see whether you are a problem solver or not. DSA is the only key point that can prove that you are a problem solver. Learn DSA from anywhere of your choice, there’s the tone of free and paid DSA course on the internet. After learning DSA practice on sites like LeetCode, InterviewBit, etc. These sites are interview-based sites, here you can find questions that were asked in the coding interview round of different product or service-based companies. The more you practice the more confidence you get, in cracking an interview. You may want to make a mobile app or a web app or social networking sites like  Instagram or Facebook, just for fun. Then I will suggest you learn Python or JavaScript. Then you can learn SQL or MongoDB - databases as per your requirements. These are the common requirements for a web app or an android app. 2. Want to develop Apps, just for fun: Python and JavaScript are used as the backend for app to run continuously on the server. For web App - I will suggest HTML,CSS,JavaScript. HTML, CSS are used to make frontEnd - the interface you are seeing is the frontEnd, of an application, whereas JavaScript is used to make frontEnd interactive. It’s not very hard, you can learn frontEnd within a month or so. Afterward you can also learn Reactjs, Angular.js, Vue.js - these are frontEnd libraries and frameworks, to enhance your front-end skills 😃. This is where I lie 😄. If you want to be a software developer then first learn a programming language and make a stronghold on it. I suggest you learn C++ first as it fastest programming language and as well many other programming languages like Java has evolved from C++ only. Many other programming language or run-time environment also uses C++ under the hood like CPython, Node.js. 3.Want to be a software developer and have plenty of time: C++ developer has a higher salary than any other programming language developer. #FunFact: It will be really helpful for you if you have a strong grip on C++. It will help you to understand DSA in greater depth. It will take few months to learn it because it is your first programming language but it will also help you to learn a new programming language (if you decide to learn in the future) within a day or a week because concepts are the same in every programming language, the only syntax is different. After learning your first programming language, learn DSA. As stated in category 1 that DSA is very important because, in the end, you want to do a job as a software developer, na!!. #Advice No2: Don’t try to learn two programming languages simultaneously. Lots of beginners make this mistake and hence they are not able to make clear concepts in any of the programming languages. Spend time on learning one language, the more time you spend, the more benefit in the long run. Choose a project This is the most crucial step. If you don’t do this, then no one can believe you that you know to program. #Advice No3: Learn technologies as per your project requirements. This is one of the pieces of advice given by my mentor. He said that it’s not possible to learn every technology it can take you ages, learn technologies as per your project requirements. If you start learning every technology then you will keep on learning and you will not able to implement it practically. Now decide which project do you want to make. For example, you can make, a simple calculator, a Coffee ordering app, or a game😃. #Advice No4: No need to make the full-fledged project, that the public will use. Start with a simple project. After making some simple projects, make 2-3 medium-level projects from which you can learn something new while developing it. In last, one last piece of advice I will like to give : #Advice No5: Practice, Practice, Practice. Practice makes everyone perfect. If you follow these steps sincerely, then I can guarantee you that you will become a better programmer, even within a year. I will also post a roadmap for learning your first programming language, so stay in tune 😉

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