Wouldn’t it be better to write a song knowing which notes work instead of finding out ALL of the notes that don’t work
Beginnings
Wouldn’t it be better to write a song knowing which notes work instead of finding out ALL of the notes that don’t work? That’s how I equate learning software development—it’s like music theory. Yes, there are tons of musicians who don’t know theory and can write chart-topping hits. There are also musicians who know theory and can write chart-topping hits. It all depends on what kind of artist you are at your core. Theory definitely helps but isn’t a must to be a successful developer.
At 34, I’m finally starting a university program in computer science, and I have yet to take a ‘proper’ computing class. But that didn’t stop me from learning how to architect various software solutions. I found other ways to scale the mountain.
I used the internet.
Don’t get me wrong—the internet is filled with great material. It’s also plagued with bad tutorials and misinformation. It’s tough to find production-level tutorials or courses that you can actually apply to your portfolio.
I never had anyone teach me the ‘right’ ways to do things. I learned by reading documentation, discovering O’Reilly (thank God for O’Reilly), and using PluralSight for a more structured learning environment.
Still, even after taking courses and reading books, something was missing—they didn’t give me the opportunity to submit code for review. You’re left to your own debugging skills when things inevitably go wrong.
It was a lot of trial and error. I emphasize error because I failed—as most others learning software development do—numerous times to get to where I am today. The idea of "failing forward" resonates with me deeply now that I’ve lived it.
Would I change any of it? Of course not.
No Mentor = No Prejudices
I approached learning with an open mind. I didn’t have a preference for programming languages because I knew none. I didn’t even know how to set up a simple web server from the command line—yet. I wanted to take it all in and make choices for myself.
Who knew the choice would be so hard?
I ended up falling in love—with creating something out of nothing. It felt like writing a song. I had an idea in my head, and I sat down to hack it out, letting console errors guide me along the way.
No Mentor = No Opportunities
While not having a mentor helped me stay unbiased, it also showed me why having a network matters. I have no one to connect me to opportunities in my community. No one to vouch for my skills and knowledge.
I’m not complaining—just stating a fact.
Without a mentor, there’s limited guidance on how to grow as a developer. It’s a huge advantage having someone point out your shortcomings and help you improve professionally—and even personally.
No Mentor = No Excuses
Not having a mentor isn’t an excuse to give up.
I want to reiterate a point I made earlier: I HAD THE INTERNET. Good or bad, the sheer amount of information available online is mind-boggling. There are both free and paid resources to teach you coding, cloud, IT—whatever you want to learn.
The only excuse you have in your bag of lameness is laziness.
And that’s not good enough.
Get out there and become what you want to be.
Resources To Learn Anything Development and IT
freeCodeCamp
O'Reilly
Roadmap.sh
PluralSight
Udemy
YouTube
Packt Publishing
How did you start your coding journey? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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