My Initial Challenges:
When I tried to self-teach myself programming, initially I felt overwhelmed by the huge number of resources online from various sites. It was confusing as to where to start learning, which language to learn, figuring out what and how to learn.
I searched online Reddit forums on how others learn programming, and many recommended the CS50x course created by Harvard University, which consists of 10-weeks’ worth of content, starting with teaching about Stack and C programming.
- I reached Week 2 of the CS50x course from Week 0, having created a few simple programs in Stack and C language. The programming exercises got more challenging every week compared to the course material, and it soon became quite daunting for me.
My family and friends also recommended freecodecamp.org, a site to practise programming.
- I also tried freecodecamp, and I realised that while I could do some of the practices, I was unsure if I would retain the knowledge as time passed. I tried writing down what I learnt, but found it might not be an efficient way of learning as it was time-consuming. I was rather lost on how to work towards being an efficient self-taught programmer.
Next Steps:
I am thankful that while browsing online discussion forums in Singapore, I managed to connect with Soham Chatterjee, a self-taught programmer/ developer currently also residing in Singapore. He very kindly offered to be my mentor in my programming journey and to provide guidance for me to become a more skilful programmer over the next few months. With his guidance, I am more confident of tackling the challenges mentioned earlier.
I will be documenting my progress and programming journey in this blog.
Stay tuned and read on!