

How to learn to program without going on a £1,000 training course - chuhnk
http://swombat.com/2013/5/28/how-to-learn-to-program

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ezl
Sure, it doesn't HAVE to cost money.

I make a living doing consulting on user acquisition and funnel optimization
for other companies, and I feel like I run into the same sorts of objections
when selling work.

Clients that have any sort of tech staff often want to do several sit downs to
try to get free directional consulting, then try to implement in house.

Learning to program is another similar path. Sure many people CAN program
without a $X000 course (1000 pounds sounds really low, esp here in Chicago
with dev bootcamp and starter league).

It's not that they _CAN'T_ do it themselves, it's that they _WON'T_.

Code schools are like personal trainers. Everyone who pays for a personal
trainer knows they can get stronger lifting heavy objects and they can get
thinner by eating less cookies, but after years of thinking "I could do that",
they capitulate. Having:

    
    
        - an expert resource available on hand
        - someone else invested in your success
    

makes the learning process faster and more the desired outcome more probable.

It's not that it has to be expensive, it's that sometimes that's the
activation energy to go down the path that actually leads where you want to
go, rather than the fantasy world that you _could_ achieve.

~~~
swombat
Part of my argument is that you will not learn programming via someone else.
You pretty much HAVE to teach it to yourself.

If you need someone else to make you learn to program - then you will never
learn to program. Conversely, if you really want to learn program, you don't
really need anyone else.

I don't think learning to program and funnel optimisation are similar. Funnel
optimisation is a highly specialised toolkit to be used in certain very
specific, narrow circumstances. You might arguably learn to make use of this
skillset in a timespan measured in days. Programming is an extremely broad
skill set that changes the way you look at the world and takes a decade to
learn to be competent at.

~~~
ezl
actually, i don't think we disagree on the "will not learn programming via
someone else".

personal trainers don't make you stronger/skinnier, either -- they're just
cheerleaders and a convenient source of immediate feedback which accelerates
the task.

arguably, sitting in classes in college was really just reinforcement for self
learning as well.

reminds me of the scene in good will hunting: "you dropped 150 grand on an
education you coulda got for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library" --
kind of true, but a lot of us need the handholding. (or maybe just me, but i
definitely didn't have the focus to learn much without undergrad to help me).

------
mortdeus
read a book?

