I don’t believe in saving new year’s resolutions for the new year, so a few months ago I embarked on a little experiment. At the time I’d been learning how to code on and off for a while, but I felt I needed a bit of a push to take my learning to the next level. I decided on a simple approach: to practice coding every day for 100 days. I didn’t set myself any time limits, so one some days I only practised for five minutes, while on others I spent well over an hour and a half getting to grips with various programming languages. I’ve now met my goal, and while I still consider myself a beginner, my skills have improved significantly. Here’s an overview of what I’ve learned – don’t worry, I won’t get too technical.
1. The Basics of Various Programming Languages
I’ve grown my knowledge of Python, HTML, CSS and Javascript. While I’m not fluent in any of these languages yet, I understand a lot more than I did, which has helped me focus on where I want to go next.
2. Overcoming Challenges
Coding is very hard to learn, especially if you don’t have a STEM-background. I’d be lying if I said it has always been plain sailing. But I’m the living proof that you can learn how to code if your maths skills are mediocre, as long as you’re prepared to put the work in and don’t throw your laptop out of the window at the first sign of trouble.
3. Better Focus
Coding is a vast field and it’s impossible to learn everything. When I was starting out I found it really difficult to decide where I wanted to go. To be honest, much of what I read was gibberish to me. To people who find themselves in the same boat I’d say: just start somewhere. You’ll soon find out if the language you’re learning is right for you, and if it isn’t, you can make a more informed choice about what you’ll need to learn instead.
4. The Joy of Feeling Less Bewildered
I started to learn how to code after learning about creative coding. At the time the process seemed like magic to me. I didn’t have a clue how it worked or whether it was something I could do myself, I just knew it was something I wanted to explore. After a few months of consistent practice I’m nowhere near proficient but I feel less overwhelmed. And I believe that this is something I can do (and if I can do it, so can you).
5. This Is a Long-Term Goal
I always knew it would take more than 100 days to learn what I wanted to learn (1000 days or more is probably more realistic). That’s okay, Rome wasn’t built in a day either. More importantly, I’ve really enjoyed learning and practising regularly. I want to learn more about creative coding, I now know what gaps in my knowledge I need to fill, and I’m excited about continuing on this path.
Feeling inspired and want to give it a go? Here are some resources I’ve found helpful along the way:
Image my own @thecococatani
cococatani 