Teaching myself to code: the journey and lessons learned
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Neha Batra outlines her journey of self-teaching how to code, detailing her educational background, struggles, and key resources she used. She shares important lessons learned, emphasizing the significance of forward progress, curiosity, initiative, and the challenges faced in this learning process. Additionally, she encourages others to document their journey and embrace their unique perspectives.
![How I taught myself how to code
Energy Consulting
1st Soft Eng Job1st Soft Eng Job
Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc.Intro to Logic + Intro to CS [scheme]
(9th grade via IMACS)
AP Comp Sci A (11th grade)
Intro to Python (MIT, not reqd.)
Got Mechanical Eng degree
Recurse Center
3 months
9 months
2 years
11 months](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/zybd12yzthuuvtajws6o-signature-3cf208a6306e9f353ba45cb32ae3d192d383830aa2411af8026b9a3ff69e4a05-poli-150408175727-conversion-gate01/85/Teaching-myself-to-code-the-journey-and-lessons-learned-5-320.jpg)
Teaching myself to code: the journey and lessons learned
- 1. Teaching myself to code Neha Batra @nerdneha April 2015
- 2. We’re from all over, you’re not alone Energy Consultant Software Engineer Floored, Inc. Textile Designer Front-end Web Developer Photoshelter Materials Science Software Engineer Venmo Community Organizer Content Intelligence Research Engineer Tumblr History & Sales Marketing Developer Avaaz Economics, Teaching Software Engineer, Cofounder, Teacher Telegraph Academy Physics Data Engineer Rent the Runway Operations Research & Math Data Science Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
- 3. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting Recurse Center 1st Soft Eng Job Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc. 2 years 3 months 9 months 11 months
- 4. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting 1st Soft Eng Job Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc. (the professional version that gives you ZER0 context) (this looks WAYYY TOO EASY) Recurse Center 3 months 9 months 2 years 11 months
- 5. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting 1st Soft Eng Job1st Soft Eng Job Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc.Intro to Logic + Intro to CS [scheme] (9th grade via IMACS) AP Comp Sci A (11th grade) Intro to Python (MIT, not reqd.) Got Mechanical Eng degree Recurse Center 3 months 9 months 2 years 11 months
- 6. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting 1st Soft Eng Job1st Soft Eng Job Recurse Center 6 months: Quit 1st job Applied to Recurse Center 2x (rejected) Used MOOCs/meetups to learn First hello world website Got into RC on 3rd try 3 months 9 months 2 years 11 months Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc.
- 7. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting Recurse Center 1st Soft Eng Job1st Soft Eng Job 3 months 9 months 2 years 11 months Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc.6 months: Quit 1st job Applied to Recurse Center 2x (rejected) Used MOOCs/meetups to learn First hello world website Got into RC on 3rd try
- 8. How I taught myself how to code Specific Resources: - Codecademy JavaScript - Girl Develop It: Android Course (small fee, several in-person classes) - Udacity - CS101 - Intro to Programming (quit job) - Coursera course on Scala - Udacity - Algorithms - MongoDB - Intro to MongoDB - Heroku tutorial on hello world - Vim tutorial - Github tutorial (recurse center) (this is detailed in a blog post if you want more info: nerdneha.tumblr.com)
- 9. How I taught myself how to code Energy Consulting 1st Soft Eng Job1st Soft Eng Job Recurse Center 1.5 months: Applied like everywhere Emailed like everyone Blogged made a shitty website Got an internship!! 3 months 9 months 2 years Full-stack Engineer at Floored, Inc. 11 months
- 10. Lessons Learned 1. Forward progress is key 2. Follow your curiosity 3. It takes initiative 4. It’s not you, it’s hard 5. Open source your journey
- 11. 1. Forward progress is key I thought once I took a class or two, then things would be…. I thought at least putting “hello world” on a website would be…. It was NOT... Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 12. 1. Forward progress is key For me, was a lot of this…. Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 13. 1. Forward progress is key ● do what keeps you motivated ● stop what makes you unhappy Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 14. 1. Forward progress is key Specific Resources: - Codecademy JavaScript - Girl Develop It: Android Course (small fee, several in-person classes) - Udacity - CS101 - Intro to Programming (quit job) - Coursera course on Scala - Udacity - Algorithms - MongoDB - Intro to MongoDB - Heroku tutorial on hello world - Vim tutorial - Github tutorial (recurse center) Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 15. 1. Forward progress is key Specific Resources: - Codecademy JavaScript - Girl Develop It: Android Course (small fee, several in-person classes) - Udacity - CS101 - Intro to Programming (quit job) - Coursera course on Scala - Udacity - Algorithms - MongoDB - Intro to MongoDB - Heroku tutorial on hello world - Vim tutorial - Github tutorial (recurse center) not my style not my style not my style Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 16. 1. Forward progress is key Specific Resources: - Codecademy JavaScript - Girl Develop It: Android Course (small fee, several in-person classes) - Udacity - CS101 - Intro to Programming (quit job) - Coursera course on Scala - Udacity - Algorithms - MongoDB - Intro to MongoDB - Heroku tutorial on hello world - Vim tutorial - Github tutorial (recurse center) not my style not my style not my style now we’re talking (I didn’t finish any of them!) (You don’t have to!!!) Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 17. 1. Forward progress is key ● do what keeps you motivated ● stop what makes you unhappy I also: ● kept network of positive friends ● got programmer friends to spend time with me/my code ● met others going through my struggle ● figured out my motivating environment (cafes) ● allowed myself days off ● celebrated everything obnoxiouslyForward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 18. 2. Follow your curiosity ● scratch the itch ● break to explore a new topic ● rabbit holes are okay! always something to learn Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey explore the depth, think of it as an investment for the future
- 19. 3. It takes initiative ● temptation: learn first, ask after ● fear: wasting others’ time ● skewed reality: “this is a stupid question” RESULT: you shoot yourself down before you give yourself a chance to learn Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 20. advice: ● let others help you ● pair up (pair programming ftw!!) ● get your code reviewed ● coding schools/programs are great environment ● go to meetups!! many meetups have office hours 3. It takes initiative Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 21. advice: ● let others help you ● pair up (pair programming ftw!!) ● get your code reviewed ● coding schools/programs are great environment ● go to meetups!! many meetups have office hours 3. It takes initiative Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey see what I did there? let others HELP YOU. nothing better than being asked a question you know the answer to. everyone wins!!
- 22. my mental strategies: ● allow yourself 6 month “stupid questions allowed” period ● only way to learn is to ask 3. It takes initiative Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey if someone gives you shit, it’s a reflection on them, not you. don’t let them make you feel bad for asking! you’re taking charge. do what you gotta do.
- 23. just making first “hello world” -- 2 learning curves?? o python o vim 4. It’s not you, it’s hard Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 24. just making first “hello world” -- 5 learning curves?!?! o python o vim o bottle framework o html 4. It’s not you, it’s hard Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 25. just making first “hello world” -- so many learning curves!! o python o vim o bottle framework o html o github o heroku o domain 4. It’s not you, it’s hard 7 LEARNING CURVES?!?! not to mention algorithms, context changes, translating brainwaves, googling for forever... Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 26. 4. It’s not you, it’s hard ● so many learning curves!! ● people forget how hard it was ● reflect to help you realize that you can make that progress ● read/learn about imposter syndrome o if you feel like you’re the dumbest one in the room and don’t belong, you’re not alone!!! Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 27. 4. It’s not you, it’s hard ● so many learning curves!! ● people forget how hard it was ● reflect to help you realize that you can make that progress ● read/learn about imposter syndrome o if you feel like you’re the dumbest one in the room and don’t belong, you’re not alone!!! my personal phrase to help me through this: “you’re not stupid, you just don’t know it yet” Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 28. 5. Open source your journey Make yourself unique. Own your individuality. Have an opinion ● website ● github ● blog ● twitter Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 29. 5. Open source your journey Make yourself unique. Own your individuality. Have an opinion ● website ● github ● blog ● twitter www.nehalita.com Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 30. 5. Open source your journey Make yourself unique. Own your individuality. Have an opinion ● website ● github ● blog ● twitter nerdneha.tumblr.com Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 31. 5. Open source your journey Make yourself unique. Own your individuality. Have an opinion ● website ● github ● blog ● twitter Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 32. Blog ideas: ● cool things you learned from event ● clarify existing instructions ● show how you did something differently ● explain a concept in your own words ● talk about what is SO COOL ● talk about what frustrates you ● make random lists o my specialty: compile advice and blog it ● reblog/retweet someone else’s awesome 5. Open source your journey Forward progress is key | Follow your curiosity | It takes initiative | It’s not you it’s hard | Open source your journey
- 33. Lessons Learned 1. Forward progress is key 2. Follow your curiosity 3. It takes initiative 4. It’s not you, it’s hard 5. Open source your journey
- 34. Go kick some ass @nerdneha
Editor's Notes
- #2: we need programmer: job opportunities, great community, these are my friends (for life), same way, it’s actually better because we’re coming from different backgrounds, our differences make things interesting. traditionally you’d think you need cs degrees but you don’t
- #19: example: wikipedia clicking links on links on links. it’s going to happen you can still take your time and feel out those concepts, it’ll come in handy later.
- #20: vulnerability based trust
- #21: example: learning a language
- #22: example: learning a language
- #23: example: learning a language