How did you learn to write code?
Did you take a CSS class? An HTML, jQuery, PHP, WordPress, or SASS class?
When did you first begin? What was the first thing you ever coded?
I’ve been asked several times, the past few weeks, about how to get started on learning how to code. I would be curious for many of you to weigh-in, and shed some insight and experience with those first starting out.
There are a lot of hungry coders out there. I believe many stumble onto it. It all starts fairly innocent. You start a blog, you play with themes and plugins, you move it to self-hosted, because you want to create something special.
Before you know it, you’ve broken into a whole new world, and knee deep in code and want to learn more. You want to learn more, because you want to do more. You want to do more, because you want to create more. It is the perfect storm for learning.
We’ve covered a few apps that can be used to introduce children to computer programming. Learning through play is that perfect storm of learning. Kids call them games. Adults can learn the same way, we call them websites.
It isn’t just about code, either. The same principle can be applied to just about anything.
My wife sent me an article, yesterday, by James Somers for The Atlantic. The title of the article was, “How I Failed, Failed, and Finally Succeeded at Learning How to Code”, and I have to tell you, I didn’t feel like reading it.
It was long, and I was tired, but by the time I finished reading it, I was inspired!
James Somers tells a personal story of his journey from an eleven-year-old kid to today, his journey to learn code.
Through his journey, he encounters this perfect storm I was referring to.
It reminded me of my own story.
My Story
I hacked away on my Dad’s old Timex Sinclair 1000. The fact I remember the name is proof of its impact on me. I had a Nintendo, and loved to play it, but creating something of my own? How awesome was that!?!
Unfortunately it died after a few months, and so did my fun.
Fast forward to my college days, and I accidentally stumbled onto QBASIC. It came “hidden” on the Windows 95 disk. I spent hours building my own text based adventure game. After creating a question answer loop in which the program asked the user questions, and then used the answers to intelligently converse with the user, I was hooked!
At the time, I was doing some web design, so I decided to look at learning some more advanced stuff – Perl, C+, etc … After checking a book at the library, my initial drive to learn how to code died under the weight of the text.
Maybe I wasn’t smart enough?
Fast forward over 10-years, and I stumbled onto WordPress. This time, my drive didn’t die under the weight of a text book, but was fueled by a robust online community that has propelled a drive to master it (as well as inspired me to learn other languages that can be applied to WordPress).
Every time I find success, is like saving Princess Peach. Every time I crash a website, is like getting hit by one of those pesky, jumping Hammer Bros.
So, that’s a little bit about my story, and I would love to hear from you, too.
Give James Somers article a read. He ties his life experience with a learning theory that is sure to inspire and encourage you.
[HT: The Atlantic | Image via Squiggle, Mike Cattell & Eston Bond]
Eric Peters says
I started out in QBasic too. I took a programming class in high school because my friends were taking the class. Coding just made sense to me. I finished all the assignments and started making a stick figure fighting game while in class. I have coded many different things, and in many different languages. I understand the “princess peach” high, when something I have been coding on for hours, finally works.
Eric Dye says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your story! It’s amazing how many of us have experienced this.
Tom says
Got into computing when I was 10 years old with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. From there, I began to get more and more curious about how things were actually getting put on the screen.
I started with an … acquired … copy of VB3 writing little proggies for AOL. From there, i kept pursuring it through high school, majoring in Computer Science in college, and then ultimately making a career out of it.
That’s the short version :).
Ben says
The long version is probably coded in your comment somewhere.
Eric Dye says
More like an awesome version!
Great stuff, thanks, man.
Ben says
I…uh…started when I was 27 on an old machine desktop computer. The pastor said we needed a better website for the church and I said I wanted to do it. I began asking questions, learning terms like CSS and HTML and php and just kept going.
The time I knew this is where my life career was headed was at a M2Live conference in Pensacola Florida. John Saddington (@tentblogger) spoke and I it was settled. I immediately bought books and began focusing on areas that interested me.
I have to say that community is what keeps me going deeper.
Eric Dye says
AWESOME!