"Learn to code"

[Howaboutnope]

I've read this on a few threads recently - IT is where the money is at. But its all double dutch to me- I'd love to learn and try a new career and earn more money but I'm 34 and really don't have much IT knowledge bar the basics and using a laptop everyday. Is it really that easy to learn?! And how does it translate into a new career? Tips for dummies welcome!

Start with one language. Get a feel for how it works, get your head round it. It’s like pushing buttons, what is a button, what do they look like, when do you push them? As if learning it from scratch. But once you know what a button is, it’s about the combo of button pushing.

I recommend python, or even html to write your own website to get a feel for it for a total novice. About how text can turn into instruction.

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/intro-to-python-development/

www.funkychickens.com/main.asp

visual Basic (vba) is good if you’re using MS office at work already, it helps to learn when you’re doing something useful for you, you could automate a sort or copy and paste in excel.
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/overview/language-reference

Following

Thank you, if i learn a language how do i then turn it into a career IYSWIM? How does that then qualify me to do IT jobs? Would i need other qualifications?

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/library-reference/concepts/getting-started-with-vba-in-office

Try www.freecodecamp.org/ free courses, certificates and lots of videos. Front end, back end, web design all sorts. You learn via projects, so you have practical examples of your work.

This is really interesting. Thanks for the info.

Don’t bother with vba, it’s horrible. If starting from scratch see if there is any scope to get involved in your current workplace, and if not, start with something simple, and very desirable in the job market like Python

So coding is basically a language that creates the building blocks to create websites and things? (Told you i need it dumbed down)

Think of it like a skill such as public speaking or speaking a foreign language, rather than a qualification like nursing, or accountant where you can’t do the job without it.

You could use coding in your job now to automate boring repetitive stuff. Then it’ll be part of your skill set and an understanding of it may lead to digital related roles.

For coding production jobs, it’s all practice. The big bucks comes from crunching and problem solving, so it’s the hours of practice and then getting a rep in the industry. Join the networks on LinkedIn.

girlswhocode.com
www.linkedin.com/learning/topics/programming-languages

If you want an idea of how to target your learning, then look up jobs near you and see what languages they ask for (e.g. sql).

There's two separate questions here: how do I get my head around coding and how do I get a job in coding. The first is just dip your toe in, watch videos see if you have a passion. It’s intensive and takes hours of sitting in front of a screen (which I would hate). The second, is on the job learning, entry roles. A qualification shows you have aptitude, but there’s so many different languages and the jobs are specific to the software structure, and it’s more about whether you’re a coder, tester, manager than the language itself - again look at the jobs that come up on indeed near you.

I think the best way to learn is to do stuff that is fun or useful to you. You could buy a raspberry pi and do the fun stuff around your house:
www.raspberrypi.org
thepihut.com/products/code-club-book-of-scratch-volume-1
thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-projects-for-kids

There’s tutorials out there on how to make your own game boys and basic digital cameras.

You are all so fantastic thank you @BakeOffRewatch particularly, you must have vast knowledge on the subject please feel free to keep sharing!

I can echo some of the opinions already here.

Python is a good language to learn with. It's quite predictable in its design, so when you learn how one bit works, it gives you a bit of a conceptual leg up with the next bit. It's also quite popular in the software engineering industry.

VBA is much more "organic" in design. Or messy, to put it another way. And it's not as commonly used as Python.

I really don’t @Howaboutnope , but I was gutted to hear the comments about how “girls just aren’t interested in hard maths” and whilst I usually avoid AIBU I wanted to answer here. But maybe that’s why my answers are useful, as I am not a coder.

I learned coding as part of my degree, C++ was a foundation module, and we learned R (free statistics package) to do statistical analysis. That’s what I mean about it not being a job you need to be qualified for, it’s a skill you apply to any job. We then as students used coding where required and self-taught/asked tutors for help where it was related to progressing our projects, we might have been using software (like excel or something else) which needed a new language and learning it’s quirks. So the skill wasn’t a specific language, it was understanding and appreciating different programming structures and syntax (grammar).
www.r-project.org

I live in London and a lot of student peers went into coding jobs, but don’t have “coding” qualifications. They might be people looking after a system in a big organisation in an old language that needs maintaining and is too expensive to replace, but it does something really important. They might be working for a card manufacturer building new security systems like your PIN or card check, or they might be the ones user testing it. They might be building new cash machine software. They might be building the mechanism that delivers the ads to you at the top of this page. Or asos recommended items. There was a great paper I read once about how asos developed relational databases to suggest items you’d want to buy, rather than suggesting more socks to you because you bought socks once - the valuable skill is the thinking in the problem solving, rather than the language (how do you make a group of stuff that are related but not the same thing?).

www.deloittedigital.com/us/en/careers.html

So I don’t code, nor do I want to, but it’s everywhere around me, so I find it really alien when people don’t know it at all. It makes me sad that not everyone has had the same opportunity to live and breathe it when is literally EVERYTHING we touch, use and consume now.

Haha, my day was the same. A property kept mutating and I couldn't figure out why for six hours

I'm just off to bed but I'm going to properly read and digest this tomorrow and reply. Thank you so far.

We all had the same day. A new error is progress 😁

Like others here, I'm a self-taught coder. There are lots of different jobs that use coding skills and lots of different subareas. If you want to get into this area, first you need to learn the basics of one language. As others have said, Python is a good starting point because it is very general and there are lots of resources. you need to learn how to use IF / FOR / and simple variables.

After that, you can start training in the area where you want to build a career. So someone who knows how to build front-end websites (the bit the user sees) will have different skills to someone who builds back-end websites (the database behind the scenes) and they will both have different skills to someone who does data science.

For front-end websites, you want to understand html and css and have at least a bit of a feel for graphic design & how to make things work for a user

For back-end, you probably need SQL (that is databases) but I don't know so much about that.

For data science, you need to know Python or R and then be able to make nice graphics and do some statistics on big datasets. Maths A-level or willingness to learn more maths is v good.

As a total beginner, I'd recommend starting on the web design side by building a website in HTML and learning how to use that. Then do a course in Python and see if you can add some of that to your website. You are looking to build a portfolio which can show employers what you can do.

you may also be able to apply for apprenticeships which teach you to code while you earn, e.g.
uk.indeed.com/Apprenticeship-Python-jobs-in-England?vjk=f546a66a4423a18e

Sure and feel free to PM your location, I can send you stuff local to you (like in London there’s loads of coding events and Deloitte for example hold careers talks). For a career change, you don’t necessarily have to be (or can be) a supercoder, or have the patience of PPs to spot bugs. But you might come up with the scope, design, how it should be tested, list of user interface needs, purpose or advise a client on it with the understanding you have. Good night!

I was looking for a career change and I considered this. Forget about it. A lot of online schools and Facebook ads started popping up during the first lockdown and a lot of people retrained. The truth is, I have a few Friends working in IT (College degrees and many courses) and they earn 30k after many years experience. They told me that yes, it is possible to make 100k if you are exceptionally good at your stuff and/or take management route (this is true for every other job in the world, wether you are a cleaner or a nurse if you are exceptionally good you will eventually move up the ladder or create you own business and become rich).

Great post @parietal .

Even babies are learning computing language now 😀computerengineeringforbabies.com/?variant=42589692199162

It's not difficult to learn the basics of coding. You need a certain type of logical brain to do it well and you also often need a creative approach to problem solving.

What is difficult (and, to be frank, it's something a lot of "self-taught" coders struggle with in my experience) is being able to write good code that is efficient, maintainable and robust. That takes years of practice and it takes a proper understanding of what decent code - rather than just a jumbled, hacked together mess - looks like.

@Notgoodpt do your friends work in IT or as software developers? IT deals with the hardware and isn't part of the technology function of the business, ours is treated more like HR and the wages aren't great. I have 2 years experience as a test engineer and have gone from 30k to 43k with scope to improve that as I get senior/principal/lead roles, I am in Scotland so London wages would be even more

Yes I find it a bit insulting that people think they can just decide to do 'coding' and be better/earn the same in weeks than people who have actually been doing it with years of experience. It would be like me saying yep I've watched a video on heart surgery, I'm now as good as a trained surgeon.