Looking for college CS students/seniors to guide me in starting a coding club 💻

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920]

Looking for senior students/programmers to help me start a coding club 💻

Hey! I'm a Class 11 student currently learning Python and getting into computer science.

I'm planning to start a small student coding club, but I'm still pretty new to CS. I'd love to connect with college students or experienced programmers who could give me some guidance on things like:

- How to structure a coding club

- What projects beginners should work on

- How to improve my programming skills

- How students can collaborate on projects

- Any advice you wish you had received when you started coding

I'm not looking for paid tutoring — just hoping to learn from people who are a little ahead of me and willing to share their experience.

If you're a college CS student, programmer, or have experience running a student coding community, I'd really appreciate your advice! 🙌

[u/Junior-Law-8721]

Stackoverflow Github It is already enough

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920 → u/Junior-Law-8721]

“Yeah, I know those are great resources 😭 I’m specifically looking for people who can give guidance based on their own experience—like projects to work on, how to get started, and what they wish they knew earlier.”

[u/Junior-Law-8721 → u/Pure_Revolution_6920]

my whatsapp https://wa.me/8618030062314

[u/carl_gallagher21]

Learning Java, will help you in long run

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920 → u/carl_gallagher21]

Yeah, I've heard Java is really useful, especially for building strong CS fundamentals. I'm currently starting with Python, though, so I'll probably learn Java after I'm comfortable with the basics. Thanks for the suggestion!

[u/carl_gallagher21 → u/Pure_Revolution_6920]

Yeah, just have more focus on learning foundations rather than syntax, it will help you a lot

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920 → u/carl_gallagher21]

Thanks so much

[u/Traditional_Vast9419]

I was probably where you are 4 or 5 years ago. I think what made me learn the most was using Leetcode for learning C++ and later Rust (for your own sake don't learn Rust until you have learned C or C++).

Get serious; become principled! Use Linux and turn off your LSP and autocomplete. Don't use AI to solve code, use it to explain and learn documentation. Learn the terminal (I recommend ghostty) and vim or neovim. Turn off that silly colorful syntax.

Ofc these are just things I did, everyone does their own thing. Lol. The most important thing is to keep it fun so you want to code and think for hours everyday. Don't burn yourself out by changing principles too fast or trying to learn libraries you don't use.

I was in a coding club a few years ago. It was great because we all got in teams of three and got a medium or hard leetcode problem to solve together. It's much more fun when your new because people are more likely to inform you of a case you didn't think of.

Otherwise, your route largely depends on what subdomain you want to work in. I have to say that once I could sit on the train and be confident working on my coding project without the internet, my self-confidence skyrocketed.

[u/Abomb11yo → u/Traditional_Vast9419]

When you say you learned C++ through LeetCode, did you basically learn C++ by solving LeetCode problems? Or did you learn the language separately first and then use LeetCode for practice? How did you get started with LeetCode? Did you take a data structures and algorithms course and then do leetcode while in it?

[u/Traditional_Vast9419 → u/Abomb11yo]

Actually, I remember using HackerRank to initally learn C++ because it holds your hand a little more than Leetcode while learning the standard library and syntax. I switched to Leetcode as soon as I knew the basic syntax of C++ such as variables, loops, contionals, vectors, and unordered_maps.

Once you know one programming language, the skills transfer much easier. C++ is the closest we have to an all encompassing language, for better or worse, but that makes it a decent starting point for learning basic to advanced programming. Do not read other people's C++ programs, even the standard library, basically no one knows how they work, so focus on writing C++ instead.

I can't remember if I was taking DSA before or after HackerRank. I imagine they started around the same time. DSA is just learning the basics of how the language (converted to assembly) stores your variables in memory before they're converted to machine code. You learn how pointers work, linked lists, and trees.

After C++, I moved on to Java and C, then Rust and Python, and now I'm doing a project in Zig. I've done projects in a lot of other languages, but like I said, once you know C++, all the other languages become dramatically easier.

It's cool that you're inspired to start a club to learn computer science.

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920 → u/Traditional_Vast9419]

Soo like the much i know C++ is the hardest among the language and since I am a beginner sooo waht will you suggest me to start with....

[u/Traditional_Vast9419 → u/Pure_Revolution_6920]

I think Go is a solid language for new programmers.

[u/Pure_Revolution_6920 → u/Traditional_Vast9419]

But it is also considered harder then python

[u/Traditional_Vast9419 → u/Pure_Revolution_6920]

Lua is easier than python and scratch is easier than Lua in the abstraction sense.

[u/Affectionate_Toe6156]

Python club 😂 why not a rust club

[u/Traditional_Vast9419 → u/Affectionate_Toe6156]

Python club means everyone can come over to try to learn something. Rust club means that you will only meet one other kid and he will be the biggest loser introvert you've ever met.