

Advice? - pariya

I am a woman teaching myself how to code- does anyone have any recommendations or resources for me? I&#x27;m currently using Codeacademy.
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reitanqild
My best advice for anyone like myself is to create real projects, try to
create something that scratches an itch, something that can be sold etc.

For me this is my motivation: if I was doing it only for the sake of learning
it I'd give up in a day.

Of course most of my inventions had fairly short shelf life if aby but I
learned to program, well enough to get a well paid job. (And: one of these
projects went ahead to save hours at a small company and another simplified
procedures significantly at a local non-profit : )

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pariya
thanks for the advice, reitanqild! I've been working on a project for a while
now and wanted to be able to have more control over it and build it myself...
so in that sense I'm super motivated...

Glad to know it's possible to teach yourself to code enough to get a job
coding! Gives me hope!

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jtfairbank
I'd pick an area you want to learn (web dev, cs fundamentals, ...) and start a
small project to practice on. Codeacademy and other online resources are great
for learning the how of specific topics; working on a program will reinforce
that knowledge while giving you a higher level view on how those topics apply
or interact.

Project Euler ([https://projecteuler.net/](https://projecteuler.net/)) is a
great resource for learning the basics of a language. Just do some of the top
100 each time you pick a new one up. Also, if you're into math the harder ones
are quite interesting.

If you're interested in web development, I'd be happy to talk on Skype and
point you in the right direction. I could also do some code reviews every now
and then to give you feedback on a project. Hit me up:
jtfairbank+hn/at/gmail/dot/com

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pariya
jtfairbank- I will definitely be hitting you up! Thank you for the suggestions
and offer to connect.

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S4M
Why are you learning to code? To find a job as a programmer? Because you think
it will help you at your current job? Because you are looking for a new
challenge? Do you have something in mind that requires coding?

If you don't know anything about programming, I would recommend you "learn
python the hard way" (
[http://learnpythonthehardway.org/](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/) ) to
get yourself familiar with Python, a programming language popular and easy to
learn, and then start whatever you are interested in.

One more thing, why are you mentioning that you're a woman? I believe tech is
a field where it shouldn't matter (I would matter more that you are a woman if
you were asking, say, how to use a body building machine).

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pariya
S4M - Learning how to code because I'm a non-technical cofounder and would
like to become fluent. This won't be my first company/product so I know it
will serve as an asset for the future. Thanks for the python site
recommendation! Could I trouble you to explain to me a little more about
Python? Is it a starter platform?

Also, I mentioned I was a woman because I always read about agencies which
help women learn how to code and provide various resources for women- I'm just
not entirely sure what they do.

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S4M
> Could I trouble you to explain to me a little more about Python? Is it a
> starter platform?

Python is a programming language, that is used to do lots of things - it is
used in production at Google, and you can do pretty much anything with it,
from data analysis/machine learning to web development, from game development
to shell scripting. It is also quite easy to pick up, so it's a good choice
for beginners - although lots of experienced programmers use Python. That's
why I recommended you python.

Since you want to help for your startup, I'd recommend to try to pick up
whatever they are already using, since there are probably programmers with
some experience working with you.

EDIT: by the way, my email is in my profile, so feel free to contact me if you
need something, and I'll see what I can do.

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LarryMade2
First what platform have you chosen? What sort of programs do you want to make
or are interested in developing?

Computer languages have their strong and weak points. Doing Windows, Apple,
Linux, desktop, mobile or web, data, games, audio or art? There are lots of
different ways to get things done and selecting the right tool that works for
the task and that you like is a good start.

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pariya
Hey LarryMade2 - I'm the non-technical cofounder of a company and I'd like to
build a simple sales site. Our tech isn't too complicated, it's basically a
sales site with Stripe/Payfirma (haven't decided) thrown in. Our company sells
a physical product so it should be well integrated across all platforms.

What would you recommend as the best way to go?

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vishalchandra
Not sure what level you are at, but for HTML, CSS basics, this is an ideal
resource. Little more than the basics, and not too extensive either.

[http://learn.shayhowe.com/](http://learn.shayhowe.com/)

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pariya
vishalchandra- I'm super basic for now, thanks so much for the link!

