Are you a newbie developer?

A Thread!

There are lots and lots of resources out there that can help you grow your skills, and as a beginner coder, you find that your interests are everywhere. You join developer communities, see lots of resource references and think all will benefit you.

One day you are on udemy, the next pluralsight... heck! someone tells you JS is the way cause it's scalable, another says python is the easiest. You find yourself shuttling between courses and platforms.

You probably have enrolled to more than 2 courses, related or unrelated on different platforms but you don't seem to be moving forward in your carreer. All courses are left halfway. Some have enrolled to JS and Python track, taking them concurrently without actually learning any.

You stack up courses for future consumption but the future never seem to come, as you getting distracted with more and more materials...

Stop!

You may never progress in your career if you get stuck in the cycles described above.

Here's what I think might work better.
Take a break from coding... Coding is the easiest part of this journey, trust me on this.

1. Identify what you want out of your career. Pen it down! (old trusty pen and paper works magic)
Think about it, make sure the end point is clear.

2. Identify the ways to get there.

Ask developers, read articles, ask specific questions.

You won't get similar views, don't worry. Examine differences in views, check for patterns, ask more questions...

3. Create YOUR road map.

What do you want to learn first, write your stack progression, possibly give a time line to measure your progress. Here you can create a daily routine that suits you, examine your limitations and ways around it.

4. Embrace project based learning.

Find a course, finish it. Build 2 projects with knowledge gained. This habit will really help.

The project is not production standard, who cares..?

Does it cement what you have learnt? That's the question. You'd want this boolean to be true.

NOTE:

a. Take one course at a time, finish it and move to the next till you cover the basics of programming.

b. Don't get lost in the tutorial holes, remember the courses and tutorials are there to teach you basics, not to handhold you through your career.

c. Take breaks

5. Jump on projects that aren't yours.

Make no mistake, you'd never feel like you are good enough, so don't wait for that gut feeling before you jump on open source projects.

Your friend is working on a project? Ask to help out. No matter how little you contribute, own it!

NOTE :
a. Be weary of imposter syndrome. We all have had to deal with it.
b. Be weary of developers who will make you feel like the dumbest living person. We are all dumb at first and yeah developers like this exist!
c. You will get frustrated, push on! we all had to.

6. Celebrate little wins and perform periodic self evaluation.

My man @MrRoryFlint said he evaluates his day for 5 mins daily. That way he's motivated to work smart and hard.

This is a golden habit to have. Perform self appraisals. And be honest about it!

7. As you get better help others..

As you progress in your career, there's always someone to help or mentor.

You'd find that you are equally learning by doing this.

Don't be like the silly developers described above, don't slander, encourage. This journey is a bumpy one

I think this thread is long enough. I'd probably share another soon. Thanks guys for reading through.

I hope it helps someone!

Cheers.