How To Become A Serial Programmer In 6 Easy Steps

#programming #productivity #learning #advice

Wait What, Serial Who?

Yeah, I know right, not the best decision for an article title, but it was the only thing that inspired me to write so, I hope it will make more sense to you eventually, than focusing on how crappy the title might sound.

But whichever way, I haven't really heard this word before or even researched if it existed, but the idea is that you can learn any programming language you want to learn as long as you have a deep understanding of the fundamental concepts from your first language.

So, for a proper definition if you care, I say a serial programmer in my opinion is a programmer that sort of have a good proficiency level in several programming languages like; Ruby, Python, Javascript, Java et cetera.

If you fancy quotes, here is one:

"Knowledge is transferable"

Who said that? I don't know.

Alright, with that out of the way let's dive in!

Step 1

Decide the programming language you want to learn

Well, this as you might have guessed is where you have the desire to expand your knowledge and attempt learning a new language. Maybe you are a JavaScript guy, and you want to vibe with python also, well this is for you, keep reading.

Step 2

Focus on a problem (maybe from personal or external experiences)

When, you have decided upon a new language or tech stack, then you have to find a problem, you have a lot of them I know, make a choice from all your problems, say you always have to manually check duplications in a data entry job you are doing somewhere for passive income, decide to automate the boring task by learning python and implementing that knowledge.

Step 3

Develop a solution to this problem (brainstorming)

Oh you're doing great, almost there! Now you have a language and a problem, it is time to think of a way out of that hell you're in. So, what do you think could have been done better, what can be done now, if you have that answer, and you know it is very possible and achievable, then you can make a couple of solutions and choose which one works best for your own case, and maybe that is why you have to choose a subtle problem, like I said, could be a productivity app or music player or whatever.

Step 4

Build out the product or service

Congratulations you are now an LPS(Language-Problem-Solution) expert. So, you have a language you want to learn, you have a problem or challenge, and you have a solution, and somehow it should be implemented.

Pause, this is the tricky part, a lot of people go in head start to the docs and get immersed and bury themselves in the docs for days, even months. Now, that has it's benefits, but the world is not waiting for you or something, so you got to fast track right, and watching hours of YouTube will not ordinarily help a lot, or maybe just reading hundreds of articles. What you can do is instead of learning so many concepts about the new language in isolation, I suggest that since you have a problem at hand, you should direct your attention to learning the particular concepts from the language that can help to implement a solution for the problem. Doing it this way, has proven to be very effective, because you will learn a lot from the process of researching and implementing, and at the end of your learning journey you have a product to show off, how cool?

Step 5

Launch the product or service and write about it

This is the part where you make the solution public, and see if others have similar problems and find your product or service useful, and then talk about what you have done and what you have learnt also. This is a good way to retain information and also document your experiences, and trust me when you need it again, you can get back to it however you want to consume the information.

So you are not only writing, but you are also taking a responsibility of teaching others by merely sharing your experiences, that's massive.

Step 6

Repeat Step 1 to 6 for a different problem or for a different language

Ok...ay, I hope you have been following to till this point, this wraps up the serial thingy, and umm yeah just repeat it again and again and again, you will be a badass in no time.

Thank you for reading, and I will talk to you in my next article.

Cheers!