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Learning to Code

Hey, one sec! These are my notes on learning to code. They’re written with my actual friends and family in mind so please take that into consideration when thinking about what may work best for you.

For a lot of reasons many people are trying to learn to code these days. On one hand that means there is a lot of competition, but on the other there are a lot of jobs to fill. With the advent of things like AI1 Learning how to program is a long process, but thankfully it’s one which can be done by yourself.

I will give my opinionated and personal advice I give most people.

  1. University and a degree will not get you hired. CS Majors have highest post-grad unemployment.
    • BUT degrees are something employers look for to sort through candidates. So, regardless why, degrees still matter.
    • ALSO the structure of a university program gives you direction to go deeper on your own. In fact, if possible, learn as much about the material the semester before as you can so that taking the course you’re just getting better at it.
  2. Some of the best resources are free and online. Some of the best programmers in the world are the best because they actually read the manual (and that’s basically it).
    • Much of the content of my guides here is simply links to these materials
  3. Getting your first job will be the hardest step. It will likely require an incredible amount of grinding to get better.

  1. Does ChatGPT mean learning to code doesn’t matter?: No, but what to learn and how to learn has changed. Honestly, right now that isn’t clear yet how, but being able to ask the AI to help you so you can build quicker doesn’t work well if you don’t know what to ask. Also, while this seems irrelevant when you’re just getting started, technology isn’t finished and what ChatGPT knows about is only based on what had the most written about it in the past. New technology will be created that will require someone to understand how it works and how to use it. There is more to programming than just slinging code. 😁 ↩︎

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