Advice to New Students.How should they start ? What to do and what not to do.Guide for new students at free code camp

This topic is for following purpose :

  1. New campers needing advice.
  2. Online study material as well as offline text books they may follow for reference.
  3. Young developers below 20 years who aspire to have a career in CS field and want to start early.
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Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

This previous thread may contain plenty to help you get started:

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Thanks a lot jason. It’s helpful.I appreciate you taking your time out to reply :slight_smile:

Aye! Aye ! Captain. Notes taken…will follow what you listed in step wise step manner and will dedicate time sincerely to complete the tasks mentioned to become better. Thanks a ton :slight_smile:

Hello P1xt,

This was really helpful. I am a beginner as well, wanting to learn how to code. I do not know where to start or how to get motivated to learn. I tend to learn for 15 minutes and say “this is boring and useless.” I want to learn code, but I can’t seem to have the motivation or dedication to learn.

Thanks for putting this together. I really admire how much time you put into these forums and helping your fellow campers out.

Thanks,
Grant.

Maybe try searching for the reason you want to learn code.

Search for answers inside you.

Is this really you wanna do for a long term.

What benefit you can get?

What impact it would have on your life if you achive in getting for which you are learning to code.

And believe me when i say this best motivation is what comes from inside not from outside. You’ve got to find that burning desire inside you which would make your mindset so motivated that even if whole world says you to not to code then as well you say i will code and i will learn it no matter what happens.

Don’t hack your motivation.

Develop it from your core. Base it on your values. Build habits to cultivate it.
Then your motivation will be your weapon, not the tool of oppression.

Ask Yourself “Why?”

Why are you putting all this work into your business? Why are you learning to code? Chances are, because you have a goal. Maybe you want to earn money to travel the world or maybe you want to become an software engineer. I don’t know what your “why” is but you can use it to motivate yourself. Remind yourself that whatever you do isn’t just a trivial, annoying task that doesn’t serve any purpose. Every email you write is a step towards traveling the world, every hour you code is a step towards getting your dream job. Every time you feel like quitting, remind yourself of your why.

Break Big Tasks Into Smaller sub- Tasks

By breaking your assignment up into smaller sub- tasks, like writing the introduction to a paper instead of the whole thing all at once, you can make a big project feel less overwhelming. If you feel like you need it, you can reward yourself for completing an important sub-task by taking a break to do something fun after completing every small sub-task. Use something like the Pomodoro technique and take frequent breaks.

Go for it - and how to stay motivated

Now you should be in the flow and enjoying the process. And if all else fails you nevertheless feel excited as you are gaining greater understanding and knowledge as you go for it

There are several methods to stimulate motivation

Vision board - to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on a specific life goal, or learning
NLP (Neuro-Lingustic Programming) - techniques to do self hypnosis to modify behaviour
Taking FDA approved stimulants - like caffeine or modafinil (smart drug) to be more alert and eliminate your desire to sleep
and the list goes on

These methods are only meant to boost what you already have. These tools and methods are meant to aid you and not replace skills.

The skill to be motivated and stay that way is to work with a present mind. The quickest way to be productive and eliminate bad beliefs is to be here in the now, fully immersed and fully engaged. It is not in the wishful thinking of one day accomplishing your task, but it’s in the strides you are making now.

Go for it… with all means necessary. With a present mind you accept the journey and challenges with open arms.

In the end a quote from my favourite Johnny English to keep you motivated :wink:

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Thank you for your advice, I will really try to keep this while trying to gather motivation.

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In addition to the great posts and advice given above, I just wanna throw in my 2 cents.

Believe In Yourself
To me when it’s come to learning any skill, believing in yourself is very important. You can be how smart or intelligent if you don’t believe “I can do this, I can learn to code” you will be doubting yourself all day long and won’t learn to code, to the best of your ability.

Accept the Struggle
Programming/Coding is hard. I’m not saying this to frightened the newcomers but it’s the truth.There will be times you will get fustrated and overwhelmed. Don’t fight the feelings, just accept it, It comes with the territory. Take a break if you have to, when those times come. But never give up because you can do it. Just stay commited, dedicated and have the right attitude to learn.

Slower you go, faster you will progress
At that moment when you’re learning to code, there will be times you just won’t understand a concept or how things are conencted. I suggest to take your time and go very slow, read and re-read or go through the code line by line until you get it. Gather learning resources from different sources on that partcular topic and try to aborsb it from different angles to make sure the concepts sinks in my mind. Don’t rush your learning cause’ you will have to pay for that sooner or later. Make sure you you grasp what you’re learning before moving on to another concept.

Curiousity of a kid
Just as a kid playing with it’s favorite toy, he/she will be curious to know why and how things work the way it works. So that kid will breaks it apart and inspect every little piece of that toy to understand, “why” and “how” each piece is related to one another. Experiment and just play around with things in your spare time, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It will teach you more than any book can. Be like that kid.

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Curiousity of a kid that was unique and my favourite part.Thumbs up.well written :slight_smile:

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