Quora Feeds
Active Member
Daniel Friedman
There are a few common mistakes beginners often make (based on mix of research and experience with thousands of students at Thinkful):
See Questions On Quora
Continue reading...
There are a few common mistakes beginners often make (based on mix of research and experience with thousands of students at Thinkful):
- Learning many things superficially, and nothing deeply. Most people learning to code as adults have deep intellectual curiosity. That often leads to reading extensively on a subject instead of just diving in. Picking which language or framework to learn and which tutorial to use does take more than a few minutes, but you shouldn't spend weeks on that choice and once you've made it, don't second-guess! Most people err too far to thoughtfulness (and this is coming from someone who named a company Thinkful). Ask 3 friends what and how to learn, do a quick online gut-check to confirm those are reasonable choices, and stick with those decisions. Just because there are more people talking about React than Angular right now doesn't mean you should stop and switch after a week of learning Angular.
- Learning by writing code rather than solving problems. The hard part of learning is not getting comfortable with syntax, but instead learning to think algorithmically. Many tutorials or learn-to-code sites provide some form of "repeat after me" practice, which helps you master syntax but doesn't teach you to solve problems with code. If you find yourself executing code many times without really understanding what you're doing, or if you find yourself immediately writing code in response to an exercise (rather than first planning your solution), you're doing something wrong.
- Learning alone. Programming is a fundamentally collaborative skill. From asking and answer questions on Stack Overflow, to using open-source code written by others, to collaborating with colleagues through Version Control, nearly 100% of programmers today work collaboratively. If you learn alone, you're likely missing best practices, wasting time focused on the wrong things, and avoiding some of the key skills you'll need as a programmer (i.e. communication, reviewing code, handling feedback). Find a peer to learn with and pair program (there's real evidence that it helps you learn faster), and find someone who already knows what they're doing who can help you along the way.
See Questions On Quora
Continue reading...
