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Tech. Tech. Tech.

Tech is the “in-thing” for most graduates now with or without prior knowledge on programming. Unfortunately, like learning every other new skill, knowing where to start from can seem like a big hurdle to cross with either little to no information out there or too much information that you would get swamped in and spend weeks and months sorting through them with no headway yet.

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Fortunately, many programmers or developers have shared their journey on how they learnt to code. While this may seem handy, everyone’s journey is different. As such, you may find several ways they learnt theirs. Today, I will be sharing a non-techie’s guide to learn to code. This is relevant for newbies and for beginners that still think they have not found their footing in the tech world yet.

Coding is an important part of the tech world. It is what makes it possible to convert designs and ideas into computer software, apps and websites. You know how the computer’s language is different from the human language and how previously the computer understands things in zero’s and one’s, so also in coding, you are basically designing or building a computer program to accomplish what you want in a way the computer will understand and execute the instructions. Here are five steps to guide you on your journey to learning how to code:

Learn HTML and CSS:

HTML and CSS are like the foundation to learning to code. They will help you understand syntax, how to create layouts and style web documents. On the other hand, don’t spend too much time learning this as this is just one of the many things you will need to learn.

Familiarize yourself with command line interface

Get acquainted with the command line interface on your computer. This is to help you become comfortable with the interface for when you start coding. You can learn how to create directories, move, delete and rename files and how to navigate from one directory to the other amongst others.

Learn a programming language

Like human language, there are a lot of programming languages with each one going through several updates to enhance its efficiency. The choice of which programming language to start with will depend on the project you want to work on, the ease of learning and the resources available to learn it while also considering the fact that you may need to work on several languages over time before choosing a niche or language that you’d stick with.

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Set up your coding environment

Setting up your coding environment entails installing files and technologies you will need for the project you want to work on like code editor. To avoid sad stories, back up your system files on your hard drive before installing the technologies so you don’t remove important system files while deleting things.

Start building your application

After going through point 1-4, you are ready to start working on your project. That project may be a side project, work project or some problem you discovered in one of your favorite app or website or even building a solution to a problem in an interest of yours whether music, art or an NGO.

Lastly, you do not become a programmer by reading, you become by doing. You can read up one of my posts where I shared on learn by doing and how to do it.

Today’s last words is something by Brian Herbert:

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.”

-Bran Herbert

Featured Image Source: The Guardian NG

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This article was first published on 13th February 2020

aanu-olajide

Aanuoluwapo Olajide is a freelance writer who believes that words are fundamental blocks and are the force of life and death. She is a tech enthusiast, fashion designer and a lover of words.

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