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So, you\u2019ve decided to become a programmer. Great idea, but what should you do now?<\/p>\nSo, you\u2019ve decided to become a programmer. Great idea, but what should you do now?<\/p>\n
There is a huge difference between having an idea and implementing it. You will face hesitations, wrong ways of learning, bugs, loss of motivation, laziness, lack of time, and so on. I don\u2019t think you can find an article that solves all these problems.<\/p>\n
However, you can definitely avoid at least some of them, if somebody tells you what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n
I can be this \u201csomebody\u201d for you if you want to learn Java.<\/p>\n
This article describes common mistakes of those who want to learn Java<\/a> and beginner Java (or students of any other programming languages). I am both a Java senior developer and a Java tutor, so I know a lot about the topic.<\/p>\n College or any other official educational institution gives you knowledge and understanding of computer science, but it hardly makes you a professional, industry-oriented software developer.<\/p>\n In college, you face an academic approach to programming. Your study is focused on theory and algorithms. You might also do some large close-to-scientific projects at the end of the year. It can be useful, but not for a typical industry-oriented software developer.<\/p>\n What I mean to say is that perhaps college is not the best source of software development knowledge, but it might suit you if you are dreaming of a scientific programming career. If you are a high school student and want to be a programmer, computer science college is also a good choice for you.<\/p>\n In any other case, IT college isn\u2019t a necessity, and pretty often, it is just \u0430 wast\u0435 of your time. Remember, not all programmers have a computer science degree. Unsurprisingly, most of them don\u2019t.<\/p>\n I remember Dave, who was one of my students. He tried different free online Java courses again and again. He bought, I presume, half of all the Java books on Amazon. He had a million pages in his browser bookmarks, all about Java \u2026 and \u2026 he didn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n He would start one course, then another, only to drop them one by one, again and again. Three years(!) of his learning endeavor passed before he met me.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, Dave, what topics are you on at the moment?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cScanner and reader,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, well \u2026 How are your object-oriented programming and collections going?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI tried them just a little bit, but not in depth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me you\u2019ve been learning Java for three years, haven\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c… Yes, but I stopped a few months ago, you know, and just started from scratch again.\u201d<\/p>\n He wasted three years just wandering around and skipping from one source to the next. Well, if you know Java even a little bit, you must be thinking that Dave just isn\u2019t made for software development at all. Fortunately, that\u2019s not correct.<\/p>\n His problem was that he started to collect courses and books instead of actually learning. He wasn\u2019t a bad potential programmer, but a bad teacher for himself.<\/p>\n Dave became a trainee Java developer within a year after he joined me and started taking his learning seriously. I am not trying to say to everyone, \u201cHey, find a tutor right now; you can\u2019t do it by yourself.\u201d Most people can do it by themselves, if they know what to do and have a proper syllabus. And that\u2019s what I did for Dave first of all. I developed his syllabus and learning schedule.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. I know many people who learned programming by themselves using only the internet. They have one very important skill\u2014the ability to work with information and to distinguish between what is useful and useless.<\/p>\n Mistake No. 0 can kill your dream quickly, and No. 1 does it by slowly and painfully eating away at your time and money.<\/p>\n It is easy to struggle with No. 0. Please visit any jobseeker platform and search for a Java software developer position. I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll find any that require a computer science degree but rather require technology knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n The No. 1 mistake, \u201cthe illusion of learning,\u201d is a tough one. It contains laziness, lack of decision-making, and the hunt to find the magic pill for successful learning. A potential developer gets too much reliable information and doesn\u2019t know what to do with it. They start to think software development is way too hard and stop trying \u2026 or try again and make the same mistakes.<\/p>\n Imagine \u0430 2-year-old little guy who is trying to talk. However, his mommy and daddy don\u2019t let him do it, because he is too little and knows nothing about the subject. They decide to explain grammar rules to him first and hire a speech therapist (the sooner the better!). Well, after all these measures, they let him try. Well, I guess there would be more speechless people with such an approach!<\/p>\n Or let\u2019s imagine a bigger guy who wants to play ice hockey. \u201cSorry, buddy. No ice for you until you read or listen to some lectures, such as:<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d the guy says, \u201cI\u2019d better continue my life without this game. Hockey must be very boring and scary. And way too complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n Seems ridiculous, doesn\u2019t it? However, many students and some teachers think this is how it goes when we talk about programming.<\/p>\n My message here is very simple:<\/p>\n From the very first steps, find a course or book with a lot of coding tasks, and solve them every day. If you do this, you will omit one of the biggest mistakes when learning programming: focusing too much on theory.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean to say you should ignore theory. Just \u201cless theory, more coding,\u201d with a 25:75 ratio. Writing code is the best way to learn Java<\/a>.<\/p>\n Does your code do what it should? Pretty often, the rookie programmer thinks it does, if they get the right result. However, it doesn\u2019t mean everything is working fine.<\/p>\n The earlier you learn to test your code properly, the faster you become a better coder. Learning unit testing is a very useful skill to have, but not for a complete rookie. You know, proper unit testing is a kind of superpower!<\/p>\n The first step to mastering your own code review is to think in a \u201cwhat if?\u201d way and try different data sets. It is not easy to consider all cases, but you collect precious experience with every \u201cwhat if\u201d at the right moment.<\/p>\n However, I must admit that in recent years, some really nice programming courses and platforms have appeared, equipped with automatic code review. They simplify your first coding steps significantly and give you a chance to concentrate your attention on the tasks.<\/p>\n Below, you\u2019ll find a couple useful links to resources with automatic code validation.<\/p>\n Do you know the most destructive and irrational way to develop practical skills? I can describe it with only one word\u2014\u201csometimes.\u201d Learning how to code is kind of like climbing an icy hill. If you stop, you will slide back very fast and probably even roll headlong down. It\u2019s the same story with your coding skills. When you stop coding, you start to lose the skill surprisingly quickly.<\/p>\n Learning that way wastes a lot of your time. Stop torturing yourself, and practice coding regularly. By that, I mean at least three times a week\u2014or, even better, every day.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if my question is stupid and other guys laugh at me?\u201d you may ask. Well, really, what if? You know we are living in the Great Trolling Era, so a good idea is just to ignore them.<\/p>\n Remember one important thing: You have the right to ask the dumbest question in the world for the sake of your learning.<\/b> But before asking, just google your question. Almost every beginner question has been asked by other students and has already been answered.<\/p>\n When it comes to programming forums, asking questions or just chatting with other Java beginners or software developers is really motivating. You realize that you are not alone with such issues, and there are many people who can help you, as well as those you can help.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to solve the task once and didn\u2019t get the right answer. I should ask Google \u2026 or my tutor \u2026 or that software developer I met recently.\u201d<\/p>\n Stop, stop, stop. You haven\u2019t even tried yet!<\/p>\n Of course, it is hard to estimate the right time to ask for help. However, first ask yourself why you want to get help right now. Probably, it is just your laziness or that you want to go through the task faster. If that is the case, don\u2019t do it. This is your learning we are talking about here, not a speed competition.<\/p>\n Well, this is the flip side of Mistake No. 5. Some students are ready to spend hundreds of hours solving one task, which is just too tough for them right now. I believe that solving a lot of simple problems for beginners is better than solving one difficult task, at least for the first two or three months of their learning.<\/p>\n I suggest you leave your tough task(s) for later, and go ahead and solve the others. You can always come back to the difficult task later. Maybe you\u2019ll find it is not as tough as it seemed to be?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand the topic \u2026 I am not good enough for programming. I should give up and try something else.\u201d Sounds familiar, eh?<\/p>\n Every\u2014I mean it\u2014every<\/i><\/b> beginner programming student lost their motivation at least once. It happened to me many times. Way too often, in fact. All my teammates, as well as all my successful students, experienced this as well.<\/p>\n Remember this when it hits you again. If your lack of motivation seems serious, try to change the topic you\u2019re learning right now. And don\u2019t forget: Almost anyone can code. It is not easy to learn, but it is definitely possible.<\/p>\n I collected some good links for my students and for simplifying my own work as a tutor. They will be useful for you as well.<\/p>\n CodeGym<\/a> is for beginners to upper-intermediate students. It is a practical online course where you can find an excellent Core Java syllabus, about 1,000 (I presume) coding tasks with automatic code validation, as well as hints and tips. It seems a little bit like a video game: You have your character (a roboguy) whom you have to level up from a rookie to a Java programmer. The more coding tasks you do, the more points you get, and you spend these skill points to open new lectures and tasks.<\/p>\n CodinGame<\/a> is for lower-intermediate to advanced students of Java or other languages. It gives you the ability to change the game right in the browser-based integrated development environment, compile it, and look at the changes in real time! Take some tough challenges and become a better developer. It is not an online course but a fun way to code, with enjoyable, challenging exercises for serious beginners and for pro developers.<\/p>\n GeeksforGeeks<\/a> is a huge computer science portal for geeks. It contains some academic courses for different programming languages with nice syllabuses and a lot of practical tasks, quizzes, and puzzles. You can also find useful problems connected with algorithms and data science.<\/p>\n Oracle Docs<\/a> is the main source for every Java developer or student from the authors of the language.<\/p>\n Three good Java theory tutorials for everyone from absolute beginners to advanced students: Tutorialspoint<\/a>, w3schools<\/a>, and javaTpoint<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stack Overflow<\/a> is the biggest developers society where you may ask your questions or search for the existing solutions to your questions (asked by other students).<\/p>\n Coderanch<\/a> is smaller than Stack Overflow, but it\u2019s very beginner-friendly and good for Java developers.<\/p>\n Reddit is a huge site where you can find the answers to your questions. Beneficial subreddits are learnprogramming<\/a>, java<\/a>, and learnjava<\/a>.<\/p>\n You are not alone. All beginner Java students face challenges on their way to mastering software development. It\u2019s okay to make mistakes; you\u2019re still learning!<\/p>\n If you are stuck in your studies, perhaps you are faced with one of the problems I mentioned above. Remember, they all have an easy solution. Keep this in mind, and practice the right way.<\/p>\n Stop worrying, and start coding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, you\u2019ve decided to become a programmer. Great idea, but what should you do now? There is a huge difference between having an idea and implementing it. You will face hesitations, wrong ways of learning, bugs, loss of motivation, laziness, lack of time, and so on. I don\u2019t think you can find an article that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1174,"featured_media":31351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14560,415,1017,162229803,162229840,2260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-guest-post","category-java","category-programming","category-skills","category-web-development"],"yoast_head":"\nBefore You Start \u2026 Mistake No. 0: Thinking IT College Is a Must<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 1: The Illusion of Learning<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/reading.png\")
Well, my main advice is to do it the right way:<\/p>\n\n
Mistake No. 2: Reading Too Much Theory and Not Practicing Enough<\/h2>\n
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Mistake No. 3: Not Checking Your Solutions the Right Way<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 4: Infrequent Practice<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 5: Being Too Proud to Ask for Help<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/question.png\")
Do you know what a professional software developer does when they aren\u2019t successful in trying to solve a task with possible solutions they already know? They go to Stack Overflow to ask others on the forum. Why don\u2019t you, my dear Java beginner, do the same?<\/p>\nMistake No. 6: Giving Up or Trying to Solve Your Task too Quickly<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 7: Choosing Tasks That Are too Difficult<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 8: Losing Your Motivation<\/h2>\n
Links for Successful Java Learning<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/java-programmer.png\")
What to read\/watch for your career: <\/b><\/p>\n\n
Face Java Challenges With Confidence<\/b><\/h2>\n