- In this video I've got three tips
for self-taught programmers.
So that's people who haven't gone through
to get a formal degree
or some sort of training from a university or college.
Let's talk about that in today's video.
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(electronic music)
Welcome back, my name's Tim Buchalka
with another programming tip of the day.
Well, actually specifically I've got three tips today,
and it's relating to people who have been self-taught
or are in the process of teaching themself how to programme.
Now the reason I'm bringing this up,
is because there's really two types of people.
People who go through a university degree or a college
and get training that way and learn how to programme,
and people who come through the ranks
and have learnt to programme by themselves.
Perhaps going through a course or an eBook,
or just learning basically
at their own pace in some way, shape or form.
So three tips that I've got,
if you're actually of the type who is self-taught
or going through that process:
Number one, best practises.
So make sure that you've learnt,
or are learning best practises when it comes to code.
So, what do I mean by best practises?
Well, there's a right and a wrong way to approach problems,
but also to solve them with programmes.
And the right courses, the right textbooks,
the right eBooks et cetera, the right training in general
teaches you best practises.
And this is one of the things that universities are hot on.
With some of their training and material,
they go through a lot of those concepts
so that you actually understand how to approach things,
you've got the right mindset and so forth.
So, if you haven't gone through that type of training
because you've actually self-taught,
it's important to try and make sure
that you've learning these best practises.
The reason why it's important,
is when you start a job, it'll be assumed
or they will want you to have those best practises.
So, how do you get these best practises?
Well, make sure the study material
that you're going through is created from someone
who is actually an expert programmer, number one,
or has a lot of experience as a programmer
and have been through that process.
So, in other words, vet the instructor
or the author of the material that you're looking at,
to make sure they do actually know what best practises are,
because if they don't know that,
but they haven't got the experience,
if they have just gotten a little commercial experience,
how can they possibly know
what real world industry best practises are?
So, make sure you vet your instructor,
and make sure that the material you're going through
is actually teaching you best practises,
and that's really essential
if you're going to obtain those best practises
and be able to implement them
and basically fit in with a team
when you do actually get your first job.
Number two, in light of that,
and this will help you with future employment possibilities,
is to actually get yourself a project.
Create a project of something
and start putting your code on GitHub.
So it's really important to make sure
that you've got something to show prospective employers.
Now the reason that's important,
down the track when you actually start applying for jobs,
or looking for a promotion,
is that you've got something to show them.
Because what's gonna probably happen
is you're gonna be compared to someone,
if you're applying for a job, and there's two people,
there's yourself,
who is going through the self-taught method,
and someone else whose perhaps got a formal qualification,
university degree, college or whatever it is.
You're gonna be compared, so you need to find a way
to differentiate yourself from this other person.
Because all this being equal,
you may well find that the employer
will choose the person with the university degree.
Rightly or wrongly they'll assume
that they are better qualified.
So, if you've actually created a project,
and look it doesn't need to be the next Facebook app
or the next Instagram app or anything like that,
but if you've shown that you understand
the concepts of programming,
and you've put together some form of project
and you've published it on GitHub,
that's a way for the employer to then check your code,
check that you actually are someone
who knows what they're talking about,
and has put a project together.
That'll give you enormous credibility
in the minds of an employer,
because you've actually created something.
And again, it doesn't need to be a really complex
or huge application or anything of that nature,
but really important for you to do that.
And then just the process of you actually going through
and creating a project,
you'll learn a lot in the process as well.
And, number three is also,
really it relates to a large degree
to the first one, with best practises,
is study other people's code.
And you can do that again on GitHub.
GitHub's really a great resource for finding code.
Because the more material that you study and understand,
the better those practises, if you're actually finding code
that actually is employing best practises.
And you start applying some of those concepts,
you're basically telling them that
to the code that you're actually writing yourself.
So, basically be checking other people's code,
is really important as well
because that's what you're gonna be doing.
If you think about it, when you actually start
a project or start working for an employer,
you're going to be given a code base to work with,
and you'll need to come up to speed with that.
So the more time you're spending looking through other code
and understanding it and figuring out bits and pieces,
is you're gonna be a more productive member
of a team as well.
And that's just another important skill
that you can have as a self-taught developer.
So, in summary the three things, the three tips
for people who learnt self-taught programmers,
number one, best practises, learn best practises,
make sure that the material you're studying, the instructor,
the author, or whatever, is teaching you the best practises.
Number two, make sure you get a project.
Create a project for yourself, put it up on GitHub.
GitHub is probably the site I recommend most.
But basically any version control type site,
and going through that process
will make you a better programmer.
And number three is make sure
you learn to study other people's code,
and use that code and go through it and understand it.
And that sort of links in to a degree with best practises,
because you're basically understanding that process better.
And that's making you more of a person who will fit in more
as a team member when it comes time
to actually get your first programming job.
Alrighty, so I hope that helped.
If you've got any questions feel free to leave a comment
and I'll get back to you.
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