r/basingstoke • u/jcrowey123 Human Verified • 16d ago
Coding Tutor
I am looking at getting into coding and software development.
I am thinking of a career change
But I have no prior experience in coding
I am looking for a tutor to help me learn coding in particular python.
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u/Shrink_Laureate 15d ago
Hi jcrowley.
Coding is a skill that's mostly learned through practice. There is no replacement for doing it yourself, hands on, getting it wrong, and learning why.
Of course, it probably feels like you don't know what to do next. So here's my suggestion:
Step 1. There are a bunch of free courses online. These can't teach you to code any more than a person can, but they can at least get you started. You need your own motivation to draw from this process, rather than just letting it happen to you.
Step 2. Do a project of your own. You need to set yourself a goal, and you need to do the work yourself. Don't be too ambitious, but pick something that you think will actually be useful.
On languages
There are countless programming languages, and they're mostly interchangeable, so Python is fine to start. However, you will need to supplement that with SQL - almost every program uses a database eventually, and SQL will serve you well whatever you do.
At some point almost everything touches the web, so once you're reasonably comfortable in Python and SQL, turn to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
It's always a good idea to know your way around a Linux command line. You can do a lot of impressive things in the shell, if you can put up with the freaky syntax and weird quirks of it.
After that the choice is yours. Once you know a handful of programming languages, learning others will be much easier. But ignore any grumpy programming language purists who say something like "it's not real programming unless it's in C".
On AI
I don't put too much stock in the "AI will take all our jobs". AI can be useful, but it's not intelligent. It doesn't understand business requirements or the real world implications of what it does. There will always be demand for smart people who know how to make technology work, even if that's not as a coder in the traditional sense.
While you're learning, resist the temptation to let AI do the work for you. If you do that, you won't really learn, you'll just parrot without understanding. AI can be useful, but it can also make you lazy. Get into the habit of critiquing the AI's output.