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Abdul Qadir Luqman
Abdul Qadir Luqman

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What is your number 1 advice to newbies.

Mine is that, don't approach programming as a reading subject. Learn the technology or language but practice more, more and some more.

Top comments (19)

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terrancecorley profile image
Terrance Corley

Build. Tutorials are great, but building is better. Even if you don't feel half as confident as you'd like in the tech stack you're using, build. I spent way too much time watching tutorial videos in a binge watching fashion when I should've been watching maybe a few short videos to learn the fundamentals of a particular language/framework and then starting a project.

Use the tutorial videos and the documentation site for whatever tech you're learning as a reference resource. Building projects (no matter how small) will show you what you know and what you don't, and you're usually a google search away from the answer if that's the case. Find whatever works for you but I usually go for 30-40% focused learning, 60-70% building.

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revskill10 profile image
Truong Hoang Dung

This is exactly the only advice that all newscomers need.
Forget all the hype, keep calm and build.

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luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

I can relate to that. I approached programming like a reading course. Just reading instead of building stuff.

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nebojsac profile image
Nick Cinger

You're going to hit a lot of walls, and sometimes debugging is going to become immensely frustrating. The problem you're facing might make you feel dumb, and will make you rethink your career path. The only thing you need to remember in these cases is do not give up. Even the best programmers are not geniuses.

The best programmers are just the ones that never gave up.

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luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

That's very true. You may think you aren't fit for programing but it's a lie. It's your brain playing tricks on you.

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sergiodxa profile image
Sergio Daniel Xalambrí

Don't try to learn everything, nobody does and it will only be a waste of time and energy. Instead focus on what let you build a simple project and start to work as soon as possible, experience will let you know what to learn.

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hcmlopes profile image
hcmlopes

Learn the actual language of choice, staying away from libraries and frameworks as long as you can, so that you can distinguish what the language can do and what the framework is helping with

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alainvanhout profile image
Alain Van Hout

Writing good software isn't about fancy one-liners, it's about writing maintainable code that serves a business need.

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luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

The key word is maintainable

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alainvanhout profile image
Alain Van Hout

True in this context, as well as most others :-).

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pavonz profile image
Andrea Pavoni

Put passion.

I don't have a better advice than this. IMHO, passion is the main fuel to study & learn, practice, improve, retry (several times until you reach your goal) even when it all seems frustrating.
After all, programming and IT-related topics can be very boring if you (really) don't like it.

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luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

Very true. I sometimes ask myself why I'm still doing this. But I guess it's because of passion.

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stevebrownlee profile image
Steve Brownlee

Stay calm and write code. You will be plagued with impostor syndrome, so remember that everyone else feels the same way, but they are just better at pretending than you are 😃

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revskill10 profile image
Truong Hoang Dung • Edited

Learning functional programming is a great first step.

 
luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

Ohk. Don't follow the masses. Get you now 👍

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luqman10 profile image
Abdul Qadir Luqman

They are easily tempted by the excitement of learning something new