

Ask HN: Where/how can I find a personal Programming Coach? - spking

I'm a professional designer, but I want the ability to build my own ideas.  I've stopped out of learning Ruby (and Rails) three times now due to frustration, lack of discipline and just not getting beyond parroting the tutorial examples from the books and videos.  I can follow along, but I'm just not grokking it.<p>I'm making this (learning how to code) a top priority in my life for the next year.  I'm setting aside an hour a night to learn, but I need a coach (and I'm willing to pay market hourly rates for an experienced developer's time).  I'm looking for someone who can spend an hour with me every week night helping me learn how to code, either in person (Pasadena, CA) or over Skype with a screensharing app.<p>Where/how can I find this person?  spking82@gmail.com or 805-404-7732.  Thanks for your help!
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Joakal
Lack of discipline sounds like you have focus issues. I suggest looking up
threads in HN on procrastination. You could also try
<http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=startups> Most likely will find some
procrastinators ;)

Codecademy does sound like a good idea. If you need to ask questions with such
material, you can make a post to forum, mailing lists or even stack overflow
depending on where most of the Ruby support is at. Especially if you only
commit an hour as responses may take some time.

Personally, I've learnt very well to know what keywords to ask in Google and
it returns relevant results so I rarely post for support help.

Keep doing your best.

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nurik
Maybe this also helps, I found it quite useful:
[http://495west.com/post/9885249988/the-wrong-question-i-
want...](http://495west.com/post/9885249988/the-wrong-question-i-want-to-
learn-to-code-what?73331330)

------
darrennix
Try codecademy.com; they've taken the pain out of learning introductory
programming.

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spking
Thanks, I have given that a spin. I follow along, but still struggle with
understanding the "why" and really grasping the concepts. I need someone to
answer my questions as I'm doing the exercises.

~~~
ericHosick
Yes. What gets me is that, in my opinion, most people think that learning to
code starts with coding.

Really, I think the most difficult aspect of programming is taking the real
world process, as you see it in your head, and turning it into an automated
process using a programming language and all of the "best known practices"
that have come about over some 30 to 40 years.

I suggest you look into Behavior Driven Development (BDD). BDD forces you to
look at the why and even forces you to run through the "does it even make
sense to make this".

You have the chance to describe the Behavior of your program in something that
looks almost like English (you should also use mockups of how you want your
program to run using pen/paper or something like balsamiq mockups).

Then, you start writing the minimal amount of code to make the program do what
you described using BDD (Gherkin).

This will allow you to focus on learning a few aspects of programming you need
to make that one behavior work.

I also wrote a book on programming that focuses on the "why" (I was able to
keep the number of lines of code down to like 10 if I recall). If we can
exchange emails in some way, I'll let you have a copy. (edit: doh, I just saw
you email above so I'll send you a link).

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njstartups
Hi Eric, may I please have a copy of your book as well? Like the OP, I too am
not a learner that learns just by the act of doing; I need to understand they
"why" behind it as well. Would really love it if you could help me out! My
email is njstartups (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks

~~~
ericHosick
Should be done. Let me know if it helps. Any feedback would be greatly
appreciated.

~~~
njstartups
Received it. Thanks!

