This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kirsten Hardern
Why am I changing careers?
One simple answer: I LOVE to code and program. Sure, I am not master of the trade yet, but dabbling in it here and there is enough to convince me that code is the perfect creative and logical blend.
For years, I have dedicated myself to studying Microbiology, Genetics and Biotechnology. I even graduated and with my degree landed myself a job in the laboratory. I should have been living the dream, right? Nope.
I would go home in the evenings, feeling exhausted and unsatisfied. Something was missing. I did not know what that something was until I started to help out family members build their websites on Wordpress.
Opportunity brought forward a curiosity and passion I never knew I had. I left the laboratory and instead found myself working in a corporate environment to align myself with the thinking patterns of businesses that work with tech. Even if only to a degree, understanding the way tech businesses make money and their consumer markets is eye-opening.
The journey of juggling learning and a full-time job
Well, I love learning new things about code. That makes it easier for me to forge my way through the unknown, despite there being mounds upon mounds of it.
I give my all in my workdays, but in order to avoid feeling lethargic or experience the dreaded burnout, I set a hard start and stop time for work to ensure that the hours I spend learning are uninterrupted and available to me. Sure, there are days I cannot follow this exactly due to emergencies or other odd circumstances, however, sticking as closely as I can to the work-home time boundary is life changing. Is it easy? No! Is it worth it? A thousand times, yes!
My findings: The best way to learn code and programming languages
I find that getting trapped in an overwhelming pool of tutorials and courses is the biggest pitfall when it comes to learning code. Do yourself a favour, stop placing pressure on yourself to be a whizz and be able to replicate code from theory. Code is best learned by practicing. This can be done by trying to replicate technologies that you are interested in making yourself.
Another issue is the feeling of having to learn at a rapid pace. If you don't understand something, even if you have put your "scheduled" time in for the subject, try other resources and practicing it until you have a firm understanding. The act of moving on to the next section because it seems like you are making swift progress is very destructive to your learning.
I mentioned getting suck in by many courses, however, whilst that is a problem it is also ok to learn the same subject through multiple resources. Not all teaching types are the same and one source may sit better with you than another. Remember though, practicing is where the magic lies. Don't hop several courses before attempting to practice.
My goal
I am building a solid foundation with code projects, whilst ensuring that I keep up with modern concepts through reading and interacting with tutorials that I find interesting.
With time, I hope to get a job that allows room for me to me guided and mentored by seniors so that I can adapt my practice to real-world standards and gain an even deeper level of understanding.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kirsten Hardern
Kirsten Hardern | Sciencx (2021-08-06T21:14:41+00:00) Career Change to Code. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2021/08/06/career-change-to-code/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.