How to Become a Self-Taught Programmer

Some may think that it’s impossible to become a programmer by self, others consider such people less proficient in programming. But the fact is that the most famous programmers of our time such as Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), and Kevin Systrom (Instagram) were by and large self-taught programmers. So how to become one and what mistakes to avoid? Let’s figure it out in this short review.

The Portrait of a Home-Grown Prodigy

Becoming a self-taught programmer is a long and exciting journey, which demands from a programmer tons of persistence, curiosity and hard work. But those who had patience to go through this way acquired following positive characteristics:

• experts in their programming languages as they figured how things work by themselves;
• excellent in problem solving as they used to fix everything on their own;
• know special or very rare algorithms and methodologies of coding;
• very often good at adjacent skills like manual and automated testing, deployment, design, etc.;

It seems like becoming such a talented specialist is impossible, but Geeksforgeeks state that 70% of the programmers consider themselves as self-taught ones, and this number is increasing constantly. What did they do before they came to success?

But first things first.

Stage 1. Get General Overview

Do you know what exactly makes computer programming? What are the definitions of programming language, algorithm, class, module and function? Make sure you understand the basis as it will make the foundation for your future development and success. It’s good to subscribe to related YouTube channels like Introduction to Programming and Computer Science or read intelligible resources like How to Become a Full-Stack Web Developer in 2020.

Stage 2. Choose Your Specialization

You can’t be a specialist in everything, but if you choose a certain niche to develop in, you will have enough time and resources to succeed without overwhelming yourself. Would it be web development, mobile or desktop apps, data analytics or something else, find structured resources to learn languages, tools and technologies used in your field and go on learning. Remember that persistence is everything and 1 hour of studying a day is much better than 10 hours but once a month.

Stage 3. Learn As Much as You Can by Reading and Doing

It’s good to read books and watch videos, but the main part of learning is practice, as usual. Lots of people are forever stuck in tutorials and never get themselves to write a single line of code. Just start to try everything you learn in coding, checking new algorithms and solving simple tasks. Set weekly goals to achieve and continuously iterate between learning and coding, then build your first pet project.

Take a break to get more project-related info and think of the features you can add to it. Rebuild your project with the new knowledge and compare it with the first version. Think of your second pet project and never stop learning, setting new weekly goals and achieving them.

Stage 4. Solve Problems in Coding and Seek for a Network

Don’t be afraid of the arising problems in coding, but try to use your knowledge and additional resources to solve them - this will make you a problem solver. Then decide what you are going to achieve in programming: make good money freelancing, get a job in some promising company or build your own startup, and find a related community at platforms like Reddit or Quora.

It’s always good to keep in touch with a group of professionals in your niche: you can not only turn to them with a problem, but also check the level of your knowledge, discuss the latest news and stay updated with what’s going on. Just don’t be afraid to ask questions, propose your solutions and discuss the topics arising, and soon you will become a part of the community.

At this stage you have already become a home-grown programmer, but the process of learning never ends: don’t forget to refresh your knowledge, keep up with the software updates and read professional literature.

Remember that the difference between a programming genius and you is just practice, so never stop growing as a professional.

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Thank you for reading and if you want to find more about what makes a good developer, check this article: Good Developer. How to Find and Identify.