Should you learn to code?

Preamble

This post was originally published to LinkedIn on March 22, 2020. At the time, I was receiving a huge influx of messages from friends and strangers asking me for input on whether they should learn to code, given the immediate move to remote work due to global lockdowns. In the upcoming months, I will be republishing my old LinkedIn articles on Medium. This article has been edited to reflect my current views and experience since the initial publication.

Below I will list what I believe are some good reasons to learn to code and some not so good ones, followed by some good resources to get you going. But don’t let me tell you what to do! I’m just a blog post. If you really want to use your time to learn a new skill, coding is an excellent choice. It can be a fun side-project or way to pass the time, and maybe it will turn into your career one day.

Why should I learn to code?

You don’t need to check off all of the points listed below to decide to learn to code, but these are all good indications that you might enjoy a career in web development:

• You are motivated and driven. You find that you have been able to master your previous and current work with little effort. You are bored without regular challenges in your day-to-day life.
• You like solving puzzles. You may not be the quickest or best at them, but you enjoy challenges when you see them.
• You are not easily frustrated or short-tempered. One roadblock is just an opportunity to find a new and interesting solution.
• You take pride in everything you do, no matter how small the job.
• You come from some kind of STEAM background (this was definitely not the case for me, but is for many people).
• You like to create. Maybe you are a tinkerer or an artist, and you love seeing a project through right to the end.
• You are a life-learner. Doesn’t matter what the subject is, you are always ready to learn something from any possible source.

Why shouldn’t I learn to code?

1- It seems cool to be able to work anywhere and I want to travel the world.

2- Tech is a cool space to work in.

3- Everyone else seems to be doing it these days.

While all these points are valid and can be a part of your decision, they alone should not have you jumping to make this very big career change. Learning to code was the hardest things that I have ever attempted and it is really frustrating to learn something with such a steep learning curve. Here is why I think that these are points are not strong enough alone to make the career change:

1- It seems cool to be able to work anywhere and I want to travel the world.

While remote work seems to increasingly be a good option given the state of the world today, it isn’t as glamorous as it appears. Time management and self discipline are not intuitive to everyone — I personally really struggled with the transition to remote work at the start of the pandemic to the point where I nearly lost my job. Balancing normal life with work life without the structure of an office means that you need to be tough on yourself and be able to set and enforce personal boundaries like you never expected. I also cannot stress enough how valuable I found working in an office as a junior. Just by being in the same room as my co-workers I was able to listen in and learn so much from intermediate and senior talent.

2- Tech is a cool space to work in.

Tech is awesome! But that doesn’t mean that you should jump neck-deep into coding. There are so many other incredibly valuable roles in the tech industry. Every company needs HR, PR, customer success, management, project management, product, and more roles in order to be successful. Before you corner yourself into a very long and difficult journey, try to consider your current assets and what you are able to offer because there are a lot of non-technical opportunities in the tech sector. You don’t need to start at square one to get into tech if you don’t want to.

3- Everyone else seems to be doing it these days.

This is cliche but: If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you? You would be surprised at the amount of people that I talk with who tell me that they want to get into coding simply because everyone else seems to be. Learning to code was one of the hardest things that I have ever done, and I have nearly quit hundreds of times along the way. To make a career pivot into something so technical requires a lot of time and dedication — you have to really want it in order to succeed. And as I mentioned above, if it the tech space that interests you, you would be surprised at how many roles you might already qualify for.

Okay, I still want to code. Now what?

Set a schedule

When I first made the decision to learn to code, I wanted to do it as casually as possible. This was a mistake. You need to give yourself a regular schedule and commit to it. When you do you should give it your full attention. Learning how to code is effectively learning a language and you can’t do that while marathoning Love Is Blind in the background.

Be kind to yourself.

Like many adults, I wasn’t used to failing nine out of ten times when I started to learn how to code. Take the time before you start to learn about Imposter Syndrome, and find ways to keep yourself positive and motivated. Coding is all about errors and learning how to read them. You will be wrong 9.9/10 while learning to code and that is totally normal and part of the process. Celebrate your small successes and take it one step at a time.

Ask for help!

As someone who has always been able to independently problem solve, this was extremely hard for me. I tried to write my first lines of code on Text Edit instead of an IDE and needed help just getting setup to even attempt coding properly. If you don’t know any developers, you will be hard-pressed to find a question that hasn’t already been answered by the amazing contributors over on Stack Overflow. The Reddit community is also an amazing resource that I have come back to time and time again. If all else fails, give rubber-ducking a go — it’s saved me many times.

Resources to get started

I have a confession: I failed at teaching myself how to code. I had a very demanding job and I was too proud to admit that I just sucked a lot. With the right focus, it is totally possible for you will be able to accomplish what I simply could not. I personally went the bootcamp route for that reason, but I know many successful self-taught developers who relied on free or very affordable resources.

The resources below are great ways to get a taste for coding, but if you plan on moving in the direction of a full career pivot, you will benefit from a more complete program (most of these will have a price tag attached, but can be pretty reasonable).

1- Free Code Camp: As the name indicates, it is totally free and it is a massive archive of coding resources at your fingertips.

2- Code Academy: Free for a bit, then you can upgrade to some affordable paid options if you are feeling it.

3- Udemy: A really great platform where anyone can upload videos and teach. As a result, this can be hit or miss, so be sure to read the reviews on instructors. Wait for sales or dig around for discount codes before you buy anything!

Good luck!

Making the decision to change your career is a big one, so do some reflection and make sure you are making the right one! It is very easy to decide to code and then invest thousands of dollars before realizing that it might not be for you. Remember that most coding schools and online programs are for-profit companies so only you know what is right for yourself. Once you know you want to code for a living, you’ll have a whole universe of options at your fingertips!