Part 2: Learning the Language
1. Think about going to School. While most companies hiring a programmer will care more about your skills than the college you went to or your grades, it greatly helps to have a college degree to point to. You will learn more efficiently than if you teach yourself, all while getting expert guidance from your teachers (and maybe your friends).
- There are often scholarships and grants available to those doing degrees in this field. Don't feel intimidated by the price tag of a degree: it is possible!
2. Learn from online universities. Whether you do an online degree with fees and an actual degree at the end or you're attending a free program like MIT's wonderful Coursera, you can learn a lot about programming from these structured courses.
3. Try using online tools. Use free services like Google’s University Consortium or Mozilla’s Developer Network to learn more about programming. These companies want more developers to help their platforms flourish and their resources can be some of the best on the web.
4. Learn using online tutorials. There are loads of programmers with websites where they will teach you the individual basics, as well as a few tricks. Look up tutorials on the language you want to learn to find these.
- Many free online classes are available to learn coding from. The Khan Academy teaches computer coding, with easy tutorials and videos. Code Academy is another free site to learn from, with step-by-step tutorials.
5. Start young if you can. There are several programs designed to teach kids to program. Programs like MIT's Scratch are very helpful and the younger you are, the easier it will be to pick up (like any language). - Avoid kits, as these rarely teach anything useful.
