Hello! And glad you’re here. If you’re reading this, then chances are you’re interested in learning to program. I still remember a few years ago the many questions I had when I first started, and I’m sure you have the same questions as well. But don’t worry! I’m here to share the lessons I’ve learned and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.
Why I started this blog
I started this blog to document my own progress in Software Development. I’ve been programming since 2017, but it feels much much longer. My sense of direction as far as a career path was blurry at this point and I’m sure that I’m not the only one that feels this way.
I want this blog to reflect what I’ve learned over the years as a Software Engineer and efficiently transfer this knowledge onto you. I’ve known what it’s like to feel stuck career-wise and programming was an outlet for me to establish financial stability. I’ve known at the time what Software Engineers are but I didn’t how you can make a living learning how to program, without a CS degree.
Lastly, I’d like to give back to community that has given so much to me. Seeing other blogs and articles have inspired me to carry on and learn something new each day. I’ve received help from so many other software developers and I hope that my blog can help you as well where ever you are in your programming journey.
How I learned to program
As mentioned, as a self-taught Software Engineer, I relied on mostly free resources online. Some of those resources include:
- YouTube
- StackOverflow
- W3Schools
While video tutorials helped me out in terms of learning the basics of programming, my skills really took off when I started doing my own side projects. While there are plenty of online tutorials out there, the only way to learn is to get your hands dirty and start your own projects. Remember, while there are plenty of tools out there, the most important one is your dedication and consistency.
My journey thus far
I am a Full Stack Software Engineer for 5 years currently and it still feels like I am only just starting.
At first I started with a simple program. As all tutorials go, printing “Hello World” is normally the first step into learning a new language. I started out with basics such as printing “Hello World” on a loop, printing “Hello Bao”, printing “Hello Bao” 10 times, etc.
You can provide instructions to the program via code and the program will execute itself based on given instructions. These “instructions” are simply code that executes from the top down.
The point of all of this is that you can instruct the program to execute tasks that you’d normally have to yourself aka automation. I found great value in this and ultimately lead me to learning my first language: C#.
I started learning the fundamentals online and realized that there is an entire framework built around C#: the .NET Framework. I then added HTML and CSS as part of my regimen.
And I haven’t stopped since then. It’s been an amazing journey for me and while the learning curve might be steep, nothing worth learning is ever easy.
And to be able turn this into a full-time career has been very rewarding, both financially and spiritually. And if you think I’m a programming expert with a Computer Science degree from a distinguished university: I’m not. A lot of the skills that I picked up were simply from free resources online and putting in the time and effort on a consistent basis.
Wrapping it up
If you’re still with me, happy to have you around! My goal for this blog is to provide you with valuable information to aid you on your journey to programming. I’ll be updating this blog with content that is most relevant to you and will document my own journey in Software Development as well.
I’d love to hear from you and where you are currently at in your programming career: Are you currently started out? Or do you have years of experience and are looking to expand your knowledge? Where ever you may be, I’m happy to have you along and we can both learn to grow from each other. And of course drop a comment below! I’d love to hear your experience with programming.
- How did you learn to program?
- What problems did you run into and how did you overcome them?
- Is there a topic that you’re interested in?
Best of luck and happy programming!
-Bao