Everyone is talking about how coding is the future, and you’re thinking it’s time to take the plunge. Maybe you’ve seen the lucrative salaries that software developers can earn, or perhaps you’re intrigued by the tech startups valued at billions of dollars. Whatever the reason, learning coding is an excellent way to set yourself up for success in a variety of careers.
But how exactly do you learn coding? While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, most people recommend picking a method and seeing it through. Others suggest taking classes, working on freelance projects or even applying for entry-level jobs to gain experience. Regardless of what route you choose, most agree that it’s important to practice your skills regularly and have clear goals in mind.
Depending on your aims, you can generally expect to become a junior developer in three to six months. This is assuming you’re a beginner with no programming experience, spend 10 hours a week on your studies, and work through an immersive bootcamp or self-paced online course. If you’re more experienced, it may be less than that, and if you have a specific project in mind, you can cut down the time even further.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the best way to understand coding is by creating programs with it. This is why most beginners start with a language such as Python, which is easy to read and has extensive code libraries for building various functions. Alternatively, you can use a more complex language like C, which is wordier but has many of the same features.