My background
My name is Thabi and I am a Visual Communications Design graduate who recently moved to Berlin. I have a goal to work in the tech industry by 2020.
I was learning how to code with various online learning platforms before moving here. The main obstacle I had with self learning was a lack of direction and no clear path to follow. I would jump tutorial to tutorial in a quest for the next best one. I am happy that Berlin offers many Meetup communities that are dedicated to tech. I recently started a Javascript Crash Course with Women Techmakers Berlin and I am excited for the next few sessions. I have experience with Javascript, but this learning path will help to fill my knowledge gaps. The course is also tailored for beginners and you never have to feel stuck because there are many mentors available.
My personal motivation to join the Javascript Crash Course Session 3
- Get a job as a frontend or full stack developer. I find the course very comprehensive and I am excited to learn about the following topics:
- JavaScript & ES6 Fundamentals
- Node.js
- Asynchronous programming
- REST APIs
- MongoDB
- Testing
- Deployment and Scaling
- Make new friends and be inspired by others.
My personal advice to other new developers
- Join a meetup, going to meetups helped to accelerate my skills and motivation.
- Your voice matters. As a beginner, it is sometimes difficult to follow along with certain tutorials or even documentation. I have gone so far with learning from other beginners and also teaching another person whatever I have learnt. It helps to solidify my learning.
- If you do not have meetups in your city, try to find a learning partner. Start a whatsapp or a wechat group. I used to live in Wuhan, China which did not have active meetup groups. I started a Wechat group where we aimed to meetup at least once a month, or video call to track our progress.
- Do not get stuck in tutorial purgatory. Watch a few videos if you need to and then start building anything, google as much as you can.
- It will get frustrating sometimes, and that is okay. Use that as motivation, and realize that you are growing. Accept that you will spend hours trying to debug complex problems. Do not forget to take breaks when you are at the peak of your frustration. Be patient with yourself.
I hope that my post will help you avoid some of the setbacks I encountered when I first started to learn how to program. Good luck in your journey. I share alot of learning resources on my twitter account, feel free to follow me along my journey of becoming a full stack developer.