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neoan
neoan

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Don't underestimate your setup, learners

How to make your life living hell

If someone asked me how to design my work environment as uncomfortable as possible, I wouldn't have had good answers until recently. I started tutoring coding on wyzant about a month ago and have had students ranging form "I am almost there" to "I am completely lost". What I noticed was that the biggest frustration comes with not being able to operate one's tools.

IDE

Use it, modify it, set it up, learn it. I cannot emphasize enough how the time not using your IDE to the fullest will add up. Those shortcuts for the geeks alone? They'll save me an hour a day, five hours a week, over 250 hours a year. Introduction video

Touch typing

Pecking at your gaming keyboard? Within a week you can train yourself to be a touch typist. My kids love typing club, but there are countless options.

Version control

Those version-control-evangelists aren't wrong: after getting used to it, you will never ever accept a different form of development. Take your time to think about a strategy. Don't just learn the few commands and wonder what all the fuzz is about; use it to save yourself from the biggest threat to your code: you. Considerations

Conclusion

I know you are progressing fast. You are super busy jumping from one topic into the next and right after you thought you got the hang of CSS they throw Sass at you. But believe me: an hour spent on your abilities to work on your skills when it comes to tooling is an hour well invested. It will make the difference between a healthy future and carpal tunnel in your late 20s. The difference between being frustrated that repetitive processes take forever and having the time for that Side-Project you keep dreaming about.

Latest comments (3)

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osde8info profile image
Clive Da

should be '...those VERSION-CONTROL-evangelists aren't wrong ...' using any VCS makes you a hero :)

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sroehrl profile image
neoan

Very true

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sroehrl profile image
neoan

Seriously?