[35+5] Advice you could give to your younger self about coding

I was wondering what are the best pieces of advice a coder could give to his/her younger self...

So I asked my lovely friends on Twitter😊

What advice would you give to your younger self regarding coding?

— Eleftheria Batsou (@BatsouElef) March 2, 2021

Here are the most common (or unique) answers:

• Start earlier. "More years means less free time, and coding would've been a valuable skill to learn when I had lots of free time." said py. I hadn't thought of that, I started coding at 18... But I noticed in the comments many people agreed on starting at a very young age. I think this is because as developers we have to learn a tone of stuff and time feels very limited as something new always pop up
• Yes, you are right obsessing about naming variables, classes, modules, etc. it's probably the most important thing.
• Learn earlier how to configure and use linters, clang-formatter, etc.
• Learn earlier how to do CI.
• Learn debugging.
• Use immutable objects more often (if creating/destroying objects too much is not a concern). It simplifies multi-threading so much when you don't have to worry about the existing instances changing.
• Build and have fun.
• Fail as much as possible, break things and understand how they work.
• It’s okay to take breaks and not always code every day!
• Learn the fundamentals very well.
• It doesn't matter what other people think. You should measure yourself against who you were in the past, not what you see on social media or what other people tell you. See the forest, not the individual trees. <-- Katina
• Don't test on production
• Don't try to learn everything at once.
• Don't become a photocopy of someone.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions.
• Don't use rad applications or code generators.
• Don't follow tutorials blindly and try to write your own code instead.
• Don't get so hung up on how individual things work until you get more experience.
• Understand and analyze every line of code you copy from Stack overflow.
• Code 3-5x times as much as you do tutorials/docs.
• Get rid of your smartphone. In a world of constant distractions, focus is the key to stand out.
• Read the documentation.
• Refactoring is an evolution not a revolution.
• Imposter syndrome doesn't exist, get over it.
• Try to understand the why behind each line of code.
• Take time to reflect on your code.
• Reuse as much as you can.
• Start with CS fundamentals and you'll get a great result.
• Set goals and give yourself a time limit to put on a challenge.
• Do your research and have a clear idea of your end goals with a particular programming language or framework before diving in.
• Not just learn things, create something from what you have learned.
• You’re not as good as you think you are, but you’re also not as bad as you think you are either.
• Google is your first TEACHER
• Find a good mentor
• Just start!

Some things I'd have NEVER thought of:

• Buy Tesla shares.
• Buy some bitcoins..
• Open a pizza place, asap.
• Don’t ask advice from Twitter
• R-U-N

Do you recognize any of those things? What is your advice?

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👋Hello, I'm Eleftheria, a front-end developer, master student, freelancer, public speaker, and chocolate lover.

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