How to get started in programming?

ashay mandwaryaBlockedUnblockFollowFollowing

Oct 23

Microsoft Virtual Academy homepage.

I started with coding and computers almost 4 years ago. In cyber terms 4 years is a long period and is sufficient for a person to go from a noob to a pro(if not pro ~ intermediate). Well why not, it is what we watch in movies and we are pitched the same thing when we read success stories of coders and developers who made it big in the world. Seems easy, just work your ass off so that you can be good at something, but the real problem arises when we actually start on the path.

When I started with coding and programming, I didn’t have any guidance or good knowledge about source on which I can rely and for almost 2 years I was stuck on the basics. I was happy with that too as I didn’t knew what was out there and what actually I was missing. I was stuck on the basic knowledge of C and C++. I didn’t had confidence in myself that I can solve this particular piece of problem as I never got my hands dirty.

Glimpse of the courses they offer & you can receive certifications too, which frankly aren’t that useful.

Months passed and one day I overhear some guys having conversation about Microsoft Virtual Academy. As soon as I reached home I opened my laptop hit search and I still remember was so excited like I found a treasure chest. It sure was for me. They had courses ranging from web development to cloud development and almost everything in between. But the most appealing thing was that the courses were self paced and were absolutely free. I one by one joined and started learning. It was a very good experience and with the help of that I found many more new websites which provided top of the line content and forced you to code and test your skills so that you can excel in the field.One of the sites was freecodecamp.org, it is a great website if you want to get started with web development.

Freecodecamp.org Homepage

View of freecodecamp.org

I waited 24 months just to discover the right source for me, which was wrong on all levels and you should not repeat the same. There are 1000’s of such websites and courses and books available claiming they are the best and they can make everything easy, but the only thing you know is maybe they are right or they aren’t. The only way is to try different things and find what suits you the best, and when you do continue with that and never look back again.

This article isn’t intended to direct you to the said websites but to find what is actually good for you and how to start with a career in programming. The above websites helped me a lot and maybe you don’t feel the same, maybe you are comfortable with other materials, it’s your choice but the point here is that you have to try what you learned, you have to get your hands dirty with the code otherwise all your time you invested in learning and remembering codes will be useless in the long run.