
Ask HN: Where should my dad start to learn to code? - kerposaurus
My dad&#x27;s in his fifties and will have to change his career from what he&#x27;s been doing for the past 20+ years. I recommended he should try coding as I believe he&#x27;s bright enough to pick it up and the demand for people who can code doesn&#x27;t seem to be decreasing. He&#x27;s now enrolled to a python class and slowly moving forward.<p>Obviously I don&#x27;t want to force this on him. Just want him to get enough of a taste at first to see if he likes it. If he does, how should he continue?<p>Should I just push him to try codecademy or similar sites? What would be the shortest path to learn for him to land a job?
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allthatglitters
I'm 67 and love programming - all self taught. Without knowing your father let
me suggest this with a caveat; there is no right way to learn something as we
are each different. What works for one fails for another. Here are my
suggestions. First, Python. A "class" or online course doesn't really allow
for setting a personal learning pace. I found "Python Programming: An
Introduction to Computer Science" by Zeile to be perfect for me. Second find
something - a goal - to motivate the process; a website for a local charity, a
payment site for a small municipal water company or for the local town office
or volunteer fire company etc. Build it out with Django. And along the way
build out a personal website with Pelican. Turn a Chromebook into a linux
machine with GalliumOS and use only text editors - IDE's just add unneeded
complexity. If you have a compelling reason to learn something - you will.
When he builds something - put it on Github. It becomes his resume - along
with his dialog of "the road to learning" he might post on his Pelican blog!
Results trump certificates and degrees.

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kerposaurus
Your comment is quite assuring comforting. I guess I'll just try to push him
on to lear new things until he's found something he likes :)

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jkujawski
It all depends on what you want him to learn :)

Codecademy seems fine, I've also found
[https://codecombat.com/play](https://codecombat.com/play) :) maybe it's more
fun :)

If you want your dad to be full-stack dev :) Maybe push him towards learning
backend development ( like python as you mentioned ) and use some MADPs (
Mobile Apps Development Platforms ), like
[https://www.kinetise.com](https://www.kinetise.com). Which basically allows
you drag and drop mobile application and connect it to your backend. It will
give him more fun to create mobile apps as well.

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kerposaurus
Well I kinda want him to figure that out himself. I've been thinking of giving
him a quick hands on overview of some tools, algorithms and design patterns.
Maybe even give him some sort of hobby project to work with.

