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Original poster

Need Coding Advice

91 replies

NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 21:23

Hello,

I have fallen on hard times and have children to support (don't want to bore you with the details) and I need to pull myself out by re-training in coding. Can anyone in web development etc please advise me which coding language I should learn please? I need to be able to secure a job in 6 months to a year. I am a complete novice so any advice will be really appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

OP posts:
slightlyglittermaned · 19/01/2018 21:29

That's a tricky question to answer without knowing anything else about you, your interests, existing skills, job market where you live etc.

Your best bet might be to sign up here and pick the "start coding" option: 2018.codenewbie.org/

It won't cost you any money, you will find a support network, and it will help you figure out a plan. It starts next week so sign up tonight!

slightlyglittermaned · 19/01/2018 21:34

Note: I'm not involved with Code Newbies, but I read Saron's blogpost and think it'll be a good course - I signed up for the Code More option. Here's the blogpost:
medium.freecodecamp.org/the-frustrating-answer-to-how-do-i-start-learning-to-code-a243fcf28720

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 22:09

Hi Slightly,

Thank you for that link, I will check it out. I live up north and I havent worked in 8 years. I have never coded. Checking that link now...

OP posts:
MongerTruffle · 19/01/2018 22:11

If you want to work in web development, start with HTML and CSS, then progress onto JavaScript.
www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css
www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/programming

lljkk · 19/01/2018 22:13

SQL is good. I'm working thru several website tutorials at the moment.

Bellamuerte · 19/01/2018 22:21

Look at job adverts and see what they're asking for. Definitely XHTML, CSS and JavaScript, possibly SQL, PHP and .NET, and perhaps Ruby, Perl, Java or Python. They probably also want software skills like Dreamweaver and Photoshop. You're probably better off signing up for a course as they will provide access to the expensive software you'll need as well as tuition.

CBB79 · 19/01/2018 22:27

To retrain as a developer you could look to makers academy, general assembly, code first girls or code clan to name a couple. Hope that helps.

CBB79 · 19/01/2018 22:30

Regarding languages to learn, look at front end, or mobile development as they skills are in such high demand - JavaScript, react, nodejs etc

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 22:54

Can I ask, how long would it take to learn something like javascript? Is the job market good? Is work from home an option in these jobs? Or is it an office setting type job?

Really appreciate the advice.

OP posts:
slightlyglittermaned · 19/01/2018 23:02

Good luck Never! There is a ton of stuff out there on learning to code, and especially web development, but as a newbie there's almost too much!

It's tough to figure out where to look first, how to get help when you run into your first problem that you can't figure out in half an hour of Googling and trying different things, and most of all it helps to have some moral support. You will get stuck loads - professional developers get stuck every day on something or other. Feels good when you get unstuck though.

Don't rush into plonking down a big wad of cash for a course - figure out what's good for you first. There's a lot of good free material out there ( www.freecodecamp.org/ or www.theodinproject.com/ are examples) so you can still be learning. If you do decide to go for a bootcamp type course, make sure that you find out about what they do to help their students get jobs afterwards, and how they prepare you for tech interviews. Some of ones mentioned by a previous poster are based in London, but do online courses for remote students.

Maybe we should ask MN for a Learn to Code board Grin

Rawgarlicbreath · 19/01/2018 23:05

Www.freecodecamp.org is brilliant and will take you through web decelopement in a decent order and lots of projects, I switched careers and got into programming by first doing treehouse and freecodecamp then got took on in a job where I got to learn a lot more languages etc and moved out of web into more software development

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 23:15

Aah, perhaps I should have mentioned that I am 40. Will this affect my chances of getting an entry level job once I learn coding?

OP posts:
AnguaResurgam · 19/01/2018 23:17

Maybe we should ask MN for a Learn to Code board

There's some good suggestions on this thread. Shame if it just expired in 90 days. OP - wouod you consider asking MNHQ to move it to 'geeky stuff' ?

Rawgarlicbreath · 19/01/2018 23:21

Also another great resource for computer science rather then web Dev specifically but might help others or if you want to go in different direction is: ossu.firebaseapp.com/#/curriculum basically a collection of open courses designed to mimic a computer science degree

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 23:25

Ooh, maybe we could all start our journey through coding and use this thread as we progress. I will ask MNHQ to move this thread to geeky stuff.

Ok, now I will really give away how rubbish I am with IT, how do I contact MNHQ? Grin

OP posts:
Rawgarlicbreath · 19/01/2018 23:30

Click the 3 dots if your on mobile I think on desktop it's just text saying report, report your post or thread and just put in the text box about the moving thing

karalime · 19/01/2018 23:33

I started coding last March. I did FreeCodeCamp, got a onto a funded bootcamp which finishes in a few weeks and I'm now applying for junior developer roles.

I could have done it quicker but the course I wanted to do started in October.

I've learnt HTML, CSS and JavaScript which leads into all the other jazz you need like Node, React, Git.

I would say I learnt the basics of JavaScript in about 3 months of 1-2 hours a day.

Look for meetups in your area and I highly recommend Codebar if you can make it to one!

altkat · 19/01/2018 23:36

DH is a web developer/software engineer and recommends javascript as you'd be able to do both front and back-end development. www.codeacademy.com has lots of good beginner courses and is free. HTML and CSS are pretty much necessary too in lots of places. He does caution that it's not hugely easy to jump into a job without either experience or formal qualifications, but once you got a bit more up to speed you could try bidding for small freelance jobs to build up a portfolio, or try to find a job that has scope for using those kinds of skills (lots of admin roles have opportunities for website maintenance, database work and designing skills, for instance).

As a beginning - hit the F12 button on your keyboard whilst on this page. Then start changing things and see what happens. Smile

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 23:44

Some amazing posts on here. I am checking out all the links and am motivated after reading the web developers at age >40 posts.

I have messaged MNHQ as per instructions by RawGarlic Grin

I am on my ipad at the moment, so will do the F12 thing on my PC tomorrow and will see what happens. I am intrigued Smile

OP posts:
Rawgarlicbreath · 19/01/2018 23:48

F12 basically allows you to look under the hood so to speak, See the HTML, css etc and other tools like page loading etc edit it to see what's doing what type thing, a much better explanation here: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/What_are_browser_developer_tools

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 19/01/2018 23:51

Oooh, just browsing those links and html looks quite straight forward to grasp. Am i right?

OP posts:
Rawgarlicbreath · 19/01/2018 23:54

For the basic 3 of webdev, JavaScript, HTML and css, hrml is definetly the easiest, followed by css and then JavaScript, html is the basic foundations you lay down, or doesn't "jazz" up the website that's down to css. So yep HTMl is fairly easy to pick up!

Original poster
NeverNotTired · 20/01/2018 00:01

Ok, so I will look at html, then learn css, then javascript. Then shall re-evaluate. Does that sound sensible and achievable in 3 months?

OP posts:
Rawgarlicbreath · 20/01/2018 00:08

3 months is kind of short if you're starting from a complete beginner, although it is a how long is a piece of string question, how long each day will you have, how quick you grasp it, you'd get the fundamentals down for sure but job ready would be a hell of a push!