So, how long will it take to go through
your first online programming course?
Let's talk about it in today's video.
(upbeat pop music)
Welcome back.
My name is Tim Buchalka,
with another programming tip of the day,
and we're talking about how long will it take
for you to get through and complete
your first programming course?
Well, the answer is that it depends,
and it depends on a lot of factors.
Firstly, the obvious one is how long the course is,
and if you look at the example
of my Java Masterclass course,
well, that's a 77-hour course, so in other words,
there's 77 hours of videos.
So, at the very minimum, to go through and watch
all those videos, which I would suggest you do,
that's 77 hours worth of time
to go through and complete it.
However, the chances are extremely high
that you'll need a lot more time than that.
Now, the reasons are, firstly, hopefully,
you're going to be following along, and I do recommend this,
and be coding as I'm showing you how to code in a course,
and this applies to any programming course that you take,
and also any book that you actually purchase,
programming book.
You should be following along
and actually typing the code in,
because that'll help that information
be retained in your memory, and you'll be able to reuse that
and just basically learn how to programme quicker.
So, if you think about it, if you're doing that,
if you're going through a book or you're looking through
a programming course through the videos,
you'll find that it'll take longer
because you're pausing the video or you're stopping reading,
you're typing in the code, and then you're continuing.
So, at the very least, you wanna allow probably
two to three times the amount of the total number
of hours in a programming course, for example,
and two to three times the amount of time
it would normally take you to complete a book.
Now, again, that's the minimum,
but in reality, again, on top of that,
you've got coding exercises,
which is a common thing that you'll find in books
and also in programming courses, and also, challenges.
In my course, I've also got challenges,
and that's where the author of the course
will actually present you with a challenge.
They'll ask you to solve a particular problem,
so you'll then need to pause and have a think about it
and come up with a solution to a given scenario.
Now, that can also double the amount of time that it takes,
so realistically, if you're looking at a 77-hour course,
that might be five or 600 hours to complete that course
by the time you go through it logically.
Now, obviously, with that many hours
and that amount of time,
it's unrealistic to try and cram that into a week.
Well, I think it's particular, well,
in this particular case, it's impossible, 168 hours.
You haven't got enough hours,
but I think the false economy today would be
to think that you can complete that in a few weeks.
It's going to probably take you a few months
to really go through the material properly,
and one tip that I would certainly recommend
you take heed of is to make sure that
you're not rushing through the course.
You wanna go through the course,
go through all the videos, watch all the videos,
which I've talked about before,
but make sure that, if you don't understand something,
pause, go back and reread that chapter,
go back and rewatch those videos until it does make sense.
So, how long will it take to go through a completed course?
Well, it's gonna take as long as it takes
for you to absorb that information.
Some people will need to go through and watch a video once,
they get the concepts, and bang, they're done.
They can go onto the next thing.
Other people might need to watch a video two,
three, four, five times to really absorb it.
I mean, think of the analogy of watching a movie.
Have you ever watched a movie more than once?
You watch it for the first time,
and then you go back and watch it again,
and the second time, you go, oh, wow, I didn't realise
that happened in that particular scene.
So in other words, you've seen something
the second time you've watched the movie
that you didn't see the first time.
That applies to going through a programming course,
so you might watch a video,
you'll get something out of that particular video,
but then, if you go back and watch it again,
you'll basically reinforce those concepts
and you'll learn something else,
you'll absorb something else,
and something else will come out into the forefront,
and you'll go, oh, okay, that makes sense.
So, don't be afraid to watch something more than once
to get a lot out of it.
So, there you go, that's today's tip,
so I would suggest, take your time,
go through the course or book,
and just make sure you really understand the concepts,
and how long will it take?
Well, it really is ultimately dependent on you
and your ability to learn and absorb that information.
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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