Hello Nairaland,

Here are a few things that can be done to make learning software development easier.

Acquire Human Capital
- Find a group of peers who are on the same journey, using the same technologies.
- Grab a mentor who’s been where you are trying to go.

This can help you avoid many pitfalls, and put you on the fast track to understanding abstract concepts. The power of human capital is great for confidence building and extremely underrated.

However, be careful and take opinions of others with a grain of salt. Rules are meant to be bent if not broken, in the world of innovation. There are a lot of biased beliefs out there.
This text included.

Choosing Your First Programming Language
Your first programming language should be dependent on your first project.

If you want to be an iOS developer, your first language probably won't be JavaScript. Unless you want to waste your time.

All programming languages have strengths, weaknesses, and tradeoffs. No one language is better than any other in every situation or environment. Ensure you are using the right tool for the job.

A little research will reveal the most efficient language for your platform of choice.

Learning a second programming language will be easier after you have learned the fundamentals of your first.


Hands on Approach
When learning a programming language, the best method is to get hands-on experience, applying what you’ve learned in the real world. Whether it’s to someone else’s pre-existing code, or your own from scratch.

Make a Plan
Programming is hard. If you don’t have a plan. Break ideas and tasks down to small manageable comprehensible bite size pieces. You should sketch and write out drafts and solve problems on paper before firing up your IDE. Have access to relevant resource material, including human capital at the ready.

Minimal Viable Product - MVP
Once you have an idea for a project, strip it down to its most simplest form. It can be so rewarding iterating additional features and improvement as you realize or learn new concepts.

Open Source
Having a tough time initiating a project of your own? A great alternative could be to contribute to an open source project. There are thousands of Git repositories springing up everyday within online communities.

Git platforms:
GitHub
GitLab
Bitbucket

Immerse Yourself
I find it most efficient to grasp an understanding of concepts by using multiple learning techniques.

Example:
Studying from a book in conjunction with following along with videos, online courses, podcasts, and using the power of human capital. Also teaching others what you have come to understand can help you retain knowledge faster, longer, and easier. As I am doing here.

You have to fully immerse yourself in the art and culture of software development.

Books
Skimming a few chapters in these books helped facilitate my understanding of the scope of a great programmer.

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
The Programmer’s Brain by Felienne Hermans

Software Developers Are Artist
After displaying an incredible amount of resilience and patience. Most likely during a process known as refactoring. You may come to the revelation that code itself can be beautiful. And in fact what you are creating is, Art.


Warmest regards,

Metajinn

Thanks for sharing the information