The Top Three Mistakes That Slowed Me Down When I Started Learning to Code
In 2020, when the pandemic had halted the entire music industry, I decided to pick up coding.
From March until September, I watched Udemy courses, read books, and completed programming exercises. After a three-month boot camp and some more months of self-study, I got my first job as a web developer in March 2021 (backend developer at a Fintech startup; I still work for them). It took me about a year to become hirable.
In hindsight, I could've done it even faster; most of my self-study time was wasted.
I made three crucial mistakes that slowed me down.
Mistake 1: Coding while watching course videos
By "coding along," you rob yourself of vital learning experiences.
You reduce the course to a mere copy-pasting exercise. While writing, you won't be able to focus on what the instructor's explaining — you're too busy avoiding typos. In addition, you won't force yourself out of your comfort zone; you can only do so by staring at a blank page and trying to come up with your own solution to the presented problem or task.
To learn efficiently, finish the video, and only then start to code. Try to recreate what the instructor did — on your own. (If you get stuck, feel free to rewind the video.)
You will teach yourself using code to solve problems rather than copying it by hand.
Mistake 2: Purchasing only a single course for a topic
Both courses and instructors have strengths and weaknesses.
When I did my first web development course, I struggled with understanding CSS specificity (a rule set determining which styling statement will apply if you have conflicts). For the longest time, I blamed myself, but once I purchased a second course, I realized the first course simply didn't explain it that well. The second course got right to the point and made the topic seem simple.
Since then, I always purchase at least one additional resource when I'm learning a topic. I never watch or read it in its entirety, but use it as a reference when the primary course feels lacking.
I closed many gaps in my knowledge by doing this.
Mistake 3: Trying to learn shiny new tech instead of focusing on principles
Once you realize how many technologies exist in web development, you'll enter a frenzy.
React, Vue, Express, Fastify, Tailwind, ShadCN — they all seem so exciting and you'll want to learn them all. The truth is, they are all different sides of the same coin. They have common principles, such as state and rendering (Vue, React); route handlers and middleware (Express, Fastify); or reusable components (Tailwind, ShadCN).
Instead of treating them as separate things to learn, study their similarities. If you improve at a part that's shared between these technologies, you improve at all of them at the same time.
Plus, once you've understood the basics, switching between them will be so much easier.
And that's it! I hope you can see how not making these mistakes will speed up your progress.
If I could start over, I'd certainly avoid them.
Who knows how much better I could've gotten during my first year if I had!