Watch The Wall!

During The California Gold Rush, people set out to find gold. Samuel Brannan did something remarkable. He publicized the gold rush and made wealth by selling shovels to those who went to dig for gold. What Samuel Brannan did is being replicated in our tech space currently. It’s overwhelming.

There are more learning resources — “free” or paid — than anyone can ever have the time to learn. Also, too many carefully curated and targeted ads are vying for attention every day. It reduces the attention span and makes it difficult to complete anything worthwhile.

A tech career is not what it looks like on LinkedIn, at least not at the initial stage. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Focus, hard work and commitment are some requirements to thrive. So anyone who wants to get in or make a career switch needs to be mentally prepared.

You may not have experienced this, but I realized that I get excited when I want to try something new. A couple of days into it, I hit a wall and go back to my comfort zone or move on to something I find more exciting at the time. Motivation is fleeting. All these explain the unfinished courses all over cyberspace. 😂😅

Before you dive in and get overwhelmed with the ever-increasing learning offers that promise to get you a career in tech, you have to sit back and get a few things straight.
Consider the following:

1. What is your reason for taking a career in tech?

People have different reasons for getting into the tech space. Some people want to try out something exciting. Some have experienced challenges and have decided to tackle them for themselves and others. A handful of people think it’s cool and want to be a tech-bro or tech-sis 🤲. Whatever the case may be for you, it’s understandable. Personally, Aubrey Graham put it best:

Yes. Creativity is limited when you are at the bottom of Maslow’s Pyramid.
Also, tech offers a level ground. There are no entry barriers. You will get opportunities if you can get the job done.

Furthermore, programming is challenging. It helps me think and communicate better. Computers do what you instruct them to do. Technically, bugs are communication flaws 😅

Whatever your reason may be, be prepared to hit a wall. You will not always be excited. The reason that got you in should keep you going.

2. What is the return value?

Have a goal to become a better version of yourself. What career path do you want to take? There are numerous rewarding career paths in tech. Anyone may have a hard time trying to choose. For instance, You may get into the space thinking you prefer to be a full-stack engineer. Along the line, you may start to fancy Artificial Intelligence.

You may not be able to place your finger on it early, but at least you can start by noting the paths that are not for you. Gradually, you will be able to zero in on what you want.

p.s. You can take a programming personality test to put things in perspective for you. I tried it too. It's fun.😉

3. How do you learn?

We had an online session one day. Quite frankly, I was not all in on the session. I was behind with my tasks. I had to turn them in within the 24-hour deadline. It was a Q&A session with four technical mentors. Suddenly, a student asked them to recommend books. I looked at the screen briefly. It was a bit hilarious. One after the other, they retorted:

"Nah, I don't have time to read books." 

"YouTube is my friend. You should make YouTube your friend too." 

"Books are quite long, and I don't have time." 

"I prefer articles." 

I was not surprised. I hardly complete books unless they are about things that interest me and are within my area of core competence. It's a total waste of my time because my eyes will start skipping words. We all know what happens next.

I need to be emotionally involved because I have no background in tech.

Different strokes for different folks. I have friends who can extract information from books after reading them once or twice — depending on how technical the content is. I am not that guy, at least not with codes. I started watching a 3-hour video about two weeks ago. I am still not halfway through. I spent hours trying to write “Hello World!” in python language on VSCode! You best believe I don’t quite understand programming books yet, let alone recall what I read. To learn, I watch videos, enable the captions and make sure I do whatever I see in the video tutorial. Only then can reading make sense to me.

💡Tip: If you ever have difficulties, checkout Stack Overflow.

Find what works for you. But first, check this out.

Other things to consider:

Repetition

Mastery requires excellence at the basics. This type of excellence is a result of repetition. When you get introduced to foundational concepts, learn and practice them repeatedly. This way, you can easily recall and apply them when needed.

Peer Learning

Interacting with other budding programmers on the same career path as you will help you grow faster. You can motivate yourselves, bounce ideas and be accountable to one another.

Share your Knowledge

Teaching is a great way to learn. When you teach, you first have to understand the concept thoroughly. Then you have to consider the people you will teach. By doing this, you simplify complex programming concepts. In the bid to simplify for others, you get a better understanding.

Take Breaks

When you get tired - you will! Take breaks. Don't quit!

Summarily

• Be mentally prepared to go the long haul.

• Find out why you want to get in or switch to tech.

• Zero in on a career path.

• Learn how you learn, practice repeatedly, learn with your peers, share your knowledge and rest often.