Introduction:
Hello Friends. How are we doing. So great to have you here with me in my second article. It has been a common issue among beginners with regard to how one can learn to code. It looks magical or sometimes impossible for them to relate with all the logic, figures and all in a text editor. It sometimes sounds crazy but in the actual sense it is very interesting, depending on your approach to learning. In my last article, I talked about the Possibility in learning to code. I showed you why it is possible to learn how to code. It just takes being positive, goal oriented and determined. In this article we would be looking at the “Build-to-Learn” method of learning to code. This is a very interesting method because it is very practical. Definitely before you can carry out this method, you must have read the theoretical aspect of the coding concept. You should have some knowledge of what you want to practice. This is the same approach we used back then in school. Our teachers gave us notes and the theoretical part of the subject and thereafter we had practical classes. The same applies to learning to code. You read the theoretical aspect through online resources like free code camp, w3schools etc. After doing that, you can then go into the practical aspect which we’ll be focusing on in our article for today. If you’re are a beginner, I’ll advise you to start with learning HTML and CSS. This is because these two technologies form the foundation of everything you’ll see in programming. There is actually no website without a touch of HTML or CSS. Therefore it is paramount you have a good knowledge of HTML and CSS. Now that we are on the same page, let’s dive in and explore our interesting method of learning to code.
# Picking up a Project
This is a very important step. To build to learn, you must have a project which you’ll use to learn. This project should cover all the coding concepts you have read in the theoretical aspect. For example in HTML and CSS we have tags, classes, divs, sections and all. So your project should cover all these concepts. You may pick a project to Build an Advertisement Landing Page for a Business with HTML and CSS. This is a very good project to test your skills. Do not be afraid of picking challenging projects as the more challenging the project is, the better you become. Through the projects, you’ll be able to master and understand those things you didn’t understand while reading. This is because you will see it practically. For the Build-to-learn method of learning to code, you will have to use the right resources to learn. We’ll consider this in our next point.
# Learning Resources
There are thousands of learning resources online but the challenge we may encounter is picking the right resources. When picking your resource, you must consider the person that either wrote the article or recorded the video. Does the person explain properly? Does the person have a good knowledge of what he/she is teaching? Also look out for how much audience the person has. YouTube is a very good place to learn as regards video resources. All you need to do is type in your question or the project topic you want to work on. You’ll type that in the search bar and boom!! you’ll see your result immediately. Try to start with simple projects then advance to more complex ones as you get better. In the video resources, you’ll be guided by the instructor on how to apply those coding concepts you read about. You will see it practically in the video step by step. You are very free to change to another video resource if you’re not satisfied with the one you are using. Try and locate the best coding channel to use on YouTube. I recommend: Traversy Media, Dev Ed for a start. Feel free to locate others too. When you are done locating the video resource, you have to know how to benefit from the video. The question will come to your mind; “How do I learn from this video. How do I apply it?” This brings us to our next point; Coding along.
# Coding Along
This is where the major work comes in. Coding Along is the act of following your instructor step by step and applying the concept on your text editor as your instructor demonstrates. It is a very effective method because it gives you an understanding of the concept and let’s it stay in your subconscious mind. You may not notice that you are learning anything but the more you do it, the more it sticks. Most people are visual learners. They learn better when they see things being demonstrated. This method will be very effective for you if you fall under this category of learners. If you don’t, not too worry you can still learn. It’s all a learning process. All you need to do is set up your text editor, then try to follow the video step by step. Feel free to pause at any point and even replay. Just make sure you are replicating what you are seeing in the video right into your text editor. When you are done with coding along and you feel you have understood the concepts well enough, you’ll have to move on to the mastery phase. We’ll look at this in our last point below.
# The Mastery Phase
This is the most important phase. Most of us don’t do this part, that is why people feel the Coding along process is not effective. That’s because the learner felt comfortable at just watching the video once and replicating the video in the text editor. It doesn’t just stop there. You must master it. You must repeat the process of watching and replicating the code so many times till you become very good at it. The only time you’ll know that you’re very good at it is when you can code the concept properly on your own without referring to the video resource. This is what we mean by Mastery. As a web developer you must be a master of your skill. You must be the very best so that your clients will look for you. The better you are, the higher you’ll be paid for your work. When you master it, you’ll also feel confident, happy and fulfilled. You won’t struggle with it. Mastering it will increase your work speed. You’ll be able to finish before deadlines because you love what you do.
# Conclusion
It has been an interesting read so far. We were able to look at the Build-to-learn approach of learning to code. Coding is basically all about learning, learning, learning. Practice, Practice, Practice. You never get enough of coding. This is why you must enjoy what you do. Do not learn to code because of the money. Yes the money is important but that should not be your reason for learning. You should learn because you have passion and love what you do. This is very important because there will be some moments you will have to fix crazy bugs and have crazy deadlines too. It could get very stressful so if you don’t have that love for it, you’ll easily quit. This is just to encourage you to love what you do, keep practicing, keep building a lot of projects. Fill your GitHub account and Portfolio sites with your projects. It’s very important. Hope you had a wonderful time reading. If you’ll like to contact me to ask me questions or share you ideas, you can reach out to me via:
Email: michaelabaniwo@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +2348076578993
Top up your efforts with Prayers. It truly works. While learning, I always commit all to Jesus Christ and He never fails me. Thanks for reading. God bless you!
Image credit: hubspot blog - You can get your coding resources here too.