I am a serial entrepreneur and have founded, consulted, and advised a number of startups over the years. I’ve recently realized that not knowing how to code really sucks. Besides the frustration of having a ton of ideas I would like to build and not being able to do it, there’s also the annoying little fact that I was recently screwed over by a developer who promised to help build the technology behind my newest venture and then totally didn’t produce anything. I am determined not to let that happen again. Hence, I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I recently enrolled in One Month‘s online class to help me learn the basics of coding. I am in the very beginner’s class now, but have plans to take many more of their classes so that I can become a lot more proficient in coding.
Part of my first week’s homework assignment was to interview current developers and find out why and how they learned to code. Both of the gentlemen I interviewed had helped me work on my very first startup back in 2011. It was interesting to see how different their reasons for learning to code were. Developer 1 wanted to learn to code because there was a video game he could not beat so he taught himself how to write a cheat that would help him out. Developer 2 decided to learn to code because a good friend advised him that it would be an important skill to learn for the future. They both had similar advice for me that basically boiled down to these key points.
- In order to be successful at coding, it’s important to find a problem that I am passionate about and tackle it first so that I am more motivated to learn—especially since coding can be tedious and hard when you are first learning
- I need to practice everyday. Be curious and try to constantly be learning
- Don’t take on too big of a project as my first real project. Make it simple
- They also said they would both hire me if I became more proficient because they think I am awesome (their words, not mine!) Yay!
I know it will be difficult moving forward as I already have a lot on my plate between launching a new company, being a mom of 2, and juggling the myriad of things that need to be done everyday, however, I am determined to learn this new and important skill.