It’s intimidating to learn any skill, much less learning to code from absolutely nothing. There are so many options out there that you don’t know where to begin and you find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere with no sense of direction. Picking a programming language to learn is harder than learning the language itself. I’ll show you how I learned to code, absolutely free.  

How to get started

Like learning ANY skills, you start with the basic fundamental knowledge of that skill and slowly move up in complexity. The same concept applies when learning code. Start from basic fundamentals of web development such as HTML and slowly move upwards in complexity. 

When you are doing this, you are learning through trial-and-error rather than reading the documentation. The higher in complexity you go, the more challenges you face. The more challenges you face, you’ll learn how to deal with those problems when you see them again. 

The key is to move up in complexity SLOWLY. Going too fast will overwhelm you and you’ll lose faith handling too many problems at the same time. Learning to code is similar to learning ANY skill. Learn the fundamentals and learn them well. 

Start with HTML and Javascript

HTML and Javascript make up the base for all websites and applications. That makes them the perfect fundamentals skills to start learning how to code. 

Many would argue “Well HTML isn’t considered a programming language, so learning it might not be worth it”. 

You’re not trying to learn code by learning a programming language. You’re trying to learn how to code by first learning HTML. 

HTML is fairly easy to learn and almost everyone in the tech industry knows it to some degree.  While HTML itself is not a programming language, the logic behind how HTML structures a web page will teach you how a computer renders web pages on the screen. The more practice you get with HTML, you’ll start to see some programming logic that will translate over to other programming languages. 

Once you’re a bit comfortable with HTML, move onto Javascript. Javascript is a scripting language that allows you to implement more complex features on webpages. While a webpage with HTML alone just sits there and displays static information, Javascript allows you to display more dynamic images, such as interactive maps and push notifications. 

If something moves on a webpage, chances are JavaScript was involved.  

While Javascript is considered a scripting language, there are definitely programming t concepts that you can learn. Loops, If-else statements, and data types are programming concepts in Javascript that are ABSOLUTELY transferable to other programming languages. 

Your first HTML assignment should be to create a table on an empty web page. Now create a 4 X 5 table and give the columns and rows proper names. Now create a button that adds a row. Create a button that adds a column. Create a button that removes both columns and rows…

As you can see, when you slowly increase in complexity, you’ll face a new challenge. For every new challenge you overcome, that is one extra skill you gain. As you continue this trend, you’ll eventually become a pretty competent programmer. THIS is how you learn how to code. 

Create your own web application

So you’ve been playing around with HTML and Javascript by experimenting with modifying rows and columns. Let’s take it to the next level. 

Creating your own web application might sound a little daunting at first, but don’t stress out about it. There are tons of samples you can use on GitHub to get started on. 

Start with a very basic web application. You can create your own to-do list web application. 

Remember, start simple then slowly move up in complexity. 

Create an item in the list. Remove an item in the list. Create multiple to-do lists. The more features you add, the more challenges you’ll overcome. The more challenges you do, the better you’ll learn how to code.

Before you make your web application, first pick a technology stack.

A stack is a set of programming languages and frameworks that work together to create an application. Stacks covers areas from front-end, middleware, to back-end. 

For example, the ASP.NET tech stack consists of ASP.NET MVC, IIS, Angular, SQL Server and Microsoft Azure. It’s important to remain in a tech stack since all of the components are designed to work together. There are other tech stacks out there, I’m a bit biased, but ASP.NET is the way to go. I’ve made a living staying in this tech stack. 

If you’re interested in learning C# as your programming language, check out these posts:

1. Why C# should be your first programming language
2. Top 3 programming languages to learn in 2022

Create an API

API stands for Application Programming Interface. An API is a service with the sole purpose of providing data, usually in JSON format. 

For instance, let’s say you wanted to create your own website online that contains a directory of your products. You can search by many filters, such as price, size, color, etc. All these filters can be sent to your API. Your API then processes this information and returns data. 

Why can’t you do all of this in the web application? Well let’s say you wanted to create a mobile application version of your website. You then have to rewrite the code from your web application onto your mobile application. 

APIs can serve data to multiple applications from web to mobile. The way the data is displayed is up to the web/mobile application. 

APIs are increasingly becoming popular and no doubt you’ll be tasked to create (or manage) one. Learn how to create APIs and learn how to debug it.

Learn Python

Python is considered among the easiest programming languages to learn for beginners. Python eliminates a lot of boilerplate other programming languages use, even to make a short simple program. 

However, your goal isn’t to learn Python: it’s to learn programming concepts. 

What Python provides is a lower barrier to entry that enables you to learn programming concepts quickly. 

All object oriented programming languages are essentially the same. 

Python is an object oriented programming language. If you familiarize yourself with Python, you can easily transfer that knowledge to other languages. 

Final Thoughts

Learning to code has completely changed my life for the better, both professionally and financially. The steps I’ve listed above are PROVEN to work. Why? 

Because I did them myself. 

There’s a saying that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Well, so is learning how to code. Start with basic fundamentals of coding. Once you get that down, start programming very basic applications. 

As you slowly increase the complexity of your application, you are learning how to code at an accelerated pace. 

Learning to code has given me so many opportunities and allowed me to become financially independent. I’ve reaped the benefits of coding and so can you. If you have a passion to learn code, I’d love to hear from you!

Happy learning!

-Bao 

If you’re interested in Software Engineering, check out these posts:

1. Software Engineer Entry Level: how to become one (step by step)
2. How to become a Full stack developer in 6 months