Learn to Code: Find the right coding course for your learning style
Learning to code is intimidating and overwhelming, right? I’m there with you: all the terminology, different languages/systems/frameworks/[insert something scientific-sounding]. And the fact that there are so many resources where you can learn to code DOES NOT HELP! So I’ve decided to break it down for you to make it easier to find the right learning path for your needs. Watch my YouTube video and do the test below it to see what I think suits you the best:
Here’s the quick test I’ve created to help you figure out what’s the best approach for you to learn how to code:
Why did you get that result? Everybody is different and so are their motivations/learning styles, like I’ve explained in the video, these are the questions that I think you should ask yourself before going on this wonderful journey:
What is your end goal?
What are you trying to achieve by learning how to code? Why are you learning these skills? This is very important as it determines the desirable level of commitment and investment into learning.
– Casual: If you’re like me and you’re trying to learn it to get some basic skills and understanding of how technology works, maybe don’t invest so much money into it. Learn in your free time after work or on weekends. Some of the great free resources are:
Codecademy: https://www.codecademy.com Khan academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/ W3Schools: https://www.w3schools.com/ Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/
– Career change: If this is a career change for you, invest time and potentially money. Getting to a professional level will take some time and effort, so prepare to practice A LOT! Useful resources are:
General Assembly: https://generalassemb.ly/ Treehouse: https://teamtreehouse.com/ Udacity: https://www.udacity.com/ Code Avengers: https://www.codeavengers.com/ Stacksocial: https://stacksocial.com/ Udemy: https://www.udemy.com
How do you learn the best?
Everybody has a different learning style, what is yours?
– Do you prefer to work on a long project where you can see how different skills are connected with each other? Then bootcamps would be a great way for you to learn, some of the great places for them are:
Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/ General Assembly: https://generalassemb.ly/ Udacity: https://www.udacity.com/ Udemy: https://www.udemy.com Stacksocial: https://stacksocial.com/
– If you prefer smaller projects and learning all of the different skills separately and then putting the puzzles together later, then check out these resources:
Codecademy: https://www.codecademy.com W3Schools: https://www.w3schools.com/ Code School: https://www.codeschool.com/
What motivates you?
What gives you that drive and the desire to learn and get better? This is a very important question because learning to code can get a little tedious and boring. So what is it that would motivate you? Here are some examples that I could think of:
– Competition: Are you competitive? Do you like to validate your progress or benchmark it against other people? Then maybe you will feel much more motivated in a social environment, which can be achieved at:
General Assembly’s in-person courses: https://generalassemb.ly/ Coursera’s live forum: https://www.coursera.org/
– If you’ve paid: this is a funny one and I’m guilty of having this as my main motivator myself. If I’ve paid I’ll make time for it and appreciate the skills I got much more. There are so many resources where you can pay though. Ranging from very expensive, to easily-affordable subscription models:
General Assembly: https://generalassemb.ly/ Udemy: https://www.udemy.com Stacksocial: https://stacksocial.com/ Udacity: https://www.udacity.com/ Codecademy: https://www.codecademy.com Treehouse: https://teamtreehouse.com/
– And if your motivation is the pure joy of learning: You’re unique, don’t ever change!
So here they are, the resources and how you can find the right resources for your unique style/motivation/needs.
I would love to hear your ideas and comments below, as well as what motivates you? If I’ve missed something, I would love to add it in and help you find the right coding course.
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