My advice for Software developers, who are just starting to learn how to code.
Learning to code requires lots of work, however, I have a few suggestions that can help you as a beginner. These suggestions are the things that helped me at the beginning stage of my software development career. I hope you find them helpful.
Learn how to communicate effectively.
Clear and concise communication is fundamental to success in software development. Effective communication is a vital skill to have as a software developer and developing this skill at beginning of your journey is very important. Good communication will save you time, reduce error, and increase your chances of getting help from the developers when stuck. Remember software development is a team activity. It does not necessarily mean more communication. In many cases, quality over quantity is the key. Your aim should be to say fewer things but without losing the main points.
Later in your journey, you will start interfacing with clients and other stakeholders. You need to work with others both in a professional and personal manner and be able to communicate your ideas and options effectively.
Learn how to learn.
Another important skill I would suggest is “learning how to learn”. Now, let’s discuss how “Learning how to learn” can make you a better programmer. As a software developer, you will be doing lots of learning. Development languages and tools evolve almost on daily basis. This means that you will have to update yourself as technologies evolve. In school, you were told what to learn but not how to learn it. And when you don’t know how to learn, you perform poorly in your classes and later at work.
In order to grow faster and perform greatly in writing codes, you need to be aware of your learning style. You are a unique combination of three learning styles — visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Some styles are more prevalent than others in how you learn best!
Visual learners, absorb and process written information very quickly and efficiently, by converting them into pictures.
If you’re a visual learner, you learn by seeing. You can quickly grasp and decode visual information, like diagrams, graphs, charts, maps, etc.
If you’re an auditory learner, you learn by listening. You learn, process, and retain information better when you hear it.
You’ll find yourself much better at remembering what you heard during a seminar than what you read off the slides.
And if you’re a kinesthetic learner, you like to learn by doing. You want to physically interact with your learning material and environment.
You probably struggle to study or work at a desk for an extended time and love experiments and sports.
Taking this FREE learning styles test will help you discover your learning style. Typically, you’ll find that one or two styles dominate how you learn best.
And the reason this information is so invaluable? Now, by knowing how you learn best, you can match your learning strategies to your learning style!
Finally, let me state again that great communication skills and learning how to learn are great skills that can accelerate your journey of becoming a Software Developer.
Happy learning! 😀😀😀
