When you enter the programming world, you should ask yourself, “Why am I learning to program?” The majority of coders are doing it for a paid job at a reputable software firm. And while it is true that survival is difficult without money, when it comes to programming, a paycheck should not be your only interest.

So, besides a big pay slip from an AAA+ company, where should your focusing turn? Consider growing your skills and changing the world. If your only goal is money, you won’t be able to improve at all.

Programming is one of the most creative and exciting fields in the world. A programmer has to be diligent, and it takes great skill and efficiency to realize your true value.

Programming is also about helping the community. Without programmers, there are no games, apps, messengers, websites, or entire operating systems. To make yourself worthy enough, you should always follow the right path and be original.

There are a lot of lessons that need to be learned if you want to be an awesome programmer. Let’s discuss ten essential points to achieving this goal.

The Secret Ingredients on How To Become A Coder

1) A Spoonful of Continuous Learning

Human beings have an enormous capacity to learn and remember, with no additional cloud memory required. The traditional, and still effective, ways to learn include reading books, blogs, journals, etc. Our website Education Ecosystem provides learners the best way to advance their skills from intermediate to advanced.

Watching professional-level coders and gaining knowledge and experience from them is a splendid way to both learn new concepts and reinforce what is already known. The process of learning should always be continuous. A programmer should never hesitate to ask questions or clarify his doubts. It should not matter to a programmer whether he learns from a junior, or someone with professional experience.

2) Skim Away a Fear of  Breaking Things

Hyperactiveness and overconfidence are bad attitudes when it comes to any profession, and that includes programming. A professional programmer will always keep his calm.

Mistakes you make while programming, and you will make some, should not be considered worthless. Instead, make sure to learn from these mistakes and how you found ways to correct them. Remember, errors aren’t something just beginners deal with, every programmer makes them regardless of skill and experience. The way you know if you have learned from your mistakes is that you do not repeat them.

Your work quality can suffer through tension and losing hope. Therefore, programmers should always seek assistance on things they haven’t mastered, and not be afraid of breaking things. Simply go back to where you know everything worked, apply the lessons you got from your mistake, and press ahead in a new direction.

3) A Touch of Mentoring

Having a guide can help a programmer produce remarkable results. A code mentor is an experienced programmer who has dedicated many years to sharpening his skills, and is willing to use his experience to teach others.

A mentor can provide an essential resource to a novice programmer. A mentor can help in determining the strengths and weaknesses of an individual, and offer valuable feedback to help with further improvement. The Internet is a great tool to get professional help, with many existing forums available to post your questions and get great solutions. Education Ecosystem is an excellent place to find dedicated mentors on a wide variety of languages and technologies.

A mentor will always help you in polishing your skills.

4) A Dose of Becoming a Mentor

When you can solve issues by yourself, it may be the time to start helping others. So, ask yourself,  “Am I ready to become a mentor?”

That is a question only you can answer. Have you worked to improve your own skills and feel ready to give back to the coding community? Do you feel you are an advanced programmer and can help others tackle related problems? Are you confident you have a reached the point in your own development that you are ready to let others pay you to teach them? If these are all “yes,” then it is time to consider becoming a mentor.

5) A Splash of Updating

A good programmer always keeps up with the latest technologies. Just like updating your gadgets, making sure you have the latest coding tools and techniques is a vital part of your job.

Using the new tools and technologies enables you to be more productive by making your more efficient and boosting your performance. Therefore, always make sure to help yourself with the latest updates.

6) A Dash of Diversity

Diversification is an essential element to improve your programming skills. A good programmer is the one who never sticks to one programming language, but learns new ones with enthusiasm. As a great coder, you should have experience in an OO language, functional language, compiled language, scripting language, low-level language, and high-level language. Although mastering one or two languages is essential, to ensure quality output as a programmer you need to have at least a basic level of proficiency in several.

7) A Pinch of Code Analysis Tools

Tools used for analyzing code make the job of a programmer far easier. Traditional testing methods, like reading the code line-by-line and verifying it, is no longer preferred by programmers.

Using code analysis tools helps a programmer rectify simple errors, simplify the complex code by using plugins, and get access to a variety of additional features. These features can help find creative solutions to complex issues and eliminate the arduous task of finding and fixing simple human errors while coding.

8) Mix in Strong Fundamentals

Just think about the roots of a tree, which stabilizes it and helps it withstand any weather condition. In the same fashion, programmers who want to make an impact will always have an in-depth knowledge of the basics.

Making your fundamentals strong and stable is an essential point to bear in mind during the initial stages of learning to code. The basics taught initially have to be robust enough to make sure you do not lag in the future. Programmers always work on their basics before getting to more advanced concepts.

A good way to practice more on your basics is streaming while coding, as it helps you to interact with the coding community. You can sign up to be a content creator here, and share what you are learning as you grow as a programmer.

9) A Layer of Real-World Projects

Real-world projects always help enhance your work quality. If you don’t see a way to apply what you are doing, then it becomes easy to lose your motivation. Originality should always be a priority, avoiding copy/paste jobs as much as possible. The major focus of working on these projects should be gaining more experience.

A programmer can choose to work on a variety of real-world projects. Some of the best options include renaming or copying a batch file, building a parser, or creating some task management tools.

10) Top With Practice, Practice, and More Practice!

An old saying states that “practice makes perfect.”  Athletes always play scrimmages and spend hours on warming up just to be able to give their best. The Army, for another example,  conducts frequent drills along with regular training.

The major goal behind all this practice and training is to achieve perfection. A programmer should always work on his projects with the same mindset. It could take years of work and experience to achieve this perfection, but losing hope and giving up is the worst option.

Working on your issues and rectifying them regularly will always help you learn more and attain real knowledge.

Conclusion

Only you can push yourself those few extra miles and find the success waiting for you. Practice more and attain the most you can. Keep yourself busy with projects and complete unsolved situations to enhance your skills.

Never play on the safe side even if an issue scares you off, stand your ground, solve the problems you face, and never back down in any circumstances. When you follow all the points listed above, you can ultimately end up an awesome coder.

If anything caught your attention, share it with us in the comment section below.