- So what can you study when you're learning
to become a programmer that would start
to get you an income in a few months?
Let's talk about that in today's video.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back with another programming tip of the day.
My name is Tim Buchalka and the topic
was what can you learn, that you can really learn
to study in just a few months
that will give you the opportunity
to start earning an income as a programmer?
Now this is a question that I see relatively frequently
and the first thing I'm gonna say is
that is the wrong way of looking at a career in programming.
If you're purely looking at this as an exercise
to quickly start generating money
then you might be better off,
not focusing on computing but going back to something basic
to give yourself that income.
And then start taking, you know,
really taking a more structured, timely approach
to learning how to programme.
Because if you've got a need to earn money,
I mean let's face it, in today's society
we do need money to live.
If that's your overriding focus
and you wanna learn something
as quickly as possible then in my opinion
you're really setting yourself up for failure
because you're focusing on your end goal of money
as opposed to learning programming.
So you're gonna be taking shortcuts,
you're gonna be watching videos at,
you know, perhaps two times the normal speed,
you're gonna be skipping sections
because your goal is to quickly finish, you know,
finish your training as quickly as possible
so you can start earning money.
So, again, what I said earlier,
I would focus on taking your time
and making sure you go through a course in a timely fashion.
And I've got a video on that on this channel
where I talk about the reasons
why you don't wanna rush through a programming course.
So take your time to do that.
And if you do need money, which, again,
I know we all need money to survive in today's society,
then try and see if you can earn something else.
Go back to something, you know,
perhaps another career if you've done something.
You know, if you've worked at McDonald's
or something in the past perhaps you can treat this
as a more a long-term thing,
get the money, start earning that money
in whatever that base job is
while you're learning to programme.
That way you've taken the pressure
off yourself to earn an income.
Because I can tell you generally speaking
that if you're thinking that you can just
pick up a programming language
or learn something and then
within a few months start earning some money,
that's gonna be hard work for you.
I'm not saying it's not possible
because I've seen people achieve that
but you just have to think about this logically.
If you're thinking about someone or working,
or going for a job position or a job opportunity
against someone who's, you know, got a lot more experience
than you because they've taken the time
and they've been in the industry a lot longer,
they're gonna have better skills.
They're gonna better all round skills
and be in a better position to compete against you for work.
So if you're only spending like a few months
and, you know, worked really hard to learn the basics,
you just haven't got that real world knowledge
is what I'm saying.
It's just the analogy
that I've used before with driving a car.
If you start off driving a car
you can learn the basics really quickly
but you can't compete against a Formula One, you know,
Grand Prix driver immediately.
They've got years of experience, they've honed their skills.
You both know how to programme (laughs) programme,
you both know how to drive a car
but the Grand Prix driver has got a lot more skill
that he's built up over the years
from a lot more, you know, he's used,
he's driven a car a lot longer than you have
and has those skills.
So the same analogy works with programming.
That you're not going to learn the skills
to really be a productive programmer in just a few months,
at least one who's earning a lot of money.
So I would suggest you take your time,
realise that this is a journey, try and enjoy the journey,
take the stress off yourself of having to earn money
by going back and earning money in another area initially
and treat this as more of a longer term plan
to build the skills you need.
That way, if you think about it,
just as I finish this video
because I know it's getting a bit too long, but.
If you're in a rush to learn the minimum you need to learn
to become a programmer you are gonna cut corners
but you probably also are gonna make decisions that,
you know, that might influence
where you end up as a programmer.
For example, you might think,
well to become a game's developer, from what I can see
I just need to learn so many different things.
That's gonna take me maybe six months
or 12 months or 18 months.
I haven't got that amount of time
so you'll eliminate that as a possible area of programming
that you may have loved doing, you might be great at it,
purely because you've dictated
that you've only got a limited amount of time,
again because you need to earn money.
So it's really best to try and focus on this
and think that, you know, this is a longer term plan,
it's a skill, it's a career that you're making here
and try and earn some money in other areas.
And support yourself while you move forward
and learn the skills you need to learn
to become a productive programmer, which takes time.
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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