GrantCashel:
I ve taken the most unconventional approach to learning programming.
Being unserious in secondary school, it affected my progress in 2018.
You need to settle any problem you have with math if you dont want any issues. Google pdfdrive.com and download in this order developmental math for college students, college algebra and trigonometry, linear algebra, classical geometry, calculus, advanced calculus, vector calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations. If you want to avoid begging to build websites on nairaland, avoid web development, android or any shiny applications until you're theoretically grounded.

ProfAmaben:


Programming is not for the faint hearted o!!!
Programming is not theory that you can memorize, it takes practice practice, tears of frustration, loads of self doubt, spending of cash for online courses or bootcamps, fuel, internet connection etc.

You see that your son or daughter, once you start coding, you would beat the heck out of them cause it frustrates most times, you become antisocial because your brain is still trying to figure out why the simple 4 lines of code you learnt on Udemy didn't work.

The main problem begins when you start understanding the basis e.g. loops, for, while, etc. When it comes to implement your knowledge, you would start to understand how difficult this field is. Programming is very hard bro, although the joy that comes from being decent is immesurable.

At 40 it's kinda late o, except you are very good in mathematics or come from a CS background.

Frontend development, backend, Fullstack, machine learning etc no be beans o. As a Frontend developer with proficiency in JavaScript REACT framework, I practice for 4-7 hrs daily and it's not enough. When I became good at managing the state with Hooks and Normal OOP such as this.setState(), REDUX came out, you start hearing Actions, reducers and other terminologies that make you regret ever threading this career path.

Ask yourself, can I stomach this at 40? Can you sit down for 8-10 hrs watching tutorials and debugging your useless apps? Can you pass a programming job interview that requires algorithms? Can you? Can you build an enterprise grade app in 24hrs just to pass an interview for a job that pays 100k? Remember that those CS, CS engineering, mechanical engineering students are all gunning for the same job like you. They would even beat you blue black at the interview and request for smaller pay, because they love coding and want that experience.

Wishing you all the best in your endeavor.

Give it a try, if you discover that it's not making sense in 6months, move to something else, everyone cannot be a programmer

mlkraj:


Guy hw far na, who the hell would use JavaScript for a serious game when there is c++ ? Don't u know JavaScript is very much slower than c++ or even c# when real games are speed/performance demanding

Fact: all game engines are built on c++ and I just googled Fifa20 was also built on c++ with a touch of c# and Python

GrantCashel:

I started out with php and java.
It's was nice then showing off your latest android app(with help from stack overflow) and feeling like the next zuckerberg by building an fb clone.
Every guy in my lodge(at uni) knew laravel, but you'd search the whole campus to find someone who could implement a crude version of PageRank.
Of course you know it takes a great deal of theoretical cs to architect high performing software, and thats where the money is.
For me, getting into web dev without knowing the underlying theory would be a waste of your time......at least it was for me.

tensazangetsu20:

I dont blame them o. It is those 10k website development people I blame. One even said android development is outdated alongside web development at a time when most people are moving applications to the web. You are having full scale desktop applications running on browsers today and its outdated.

TheManOfTheYear:
Not all programmers are nerds. let's stop this stereotype abeg.
I'm a programmer and I'll still go and faaji at clubs, parties etc

Life is not all about coding, there's time to learn and there's time to take a break

castrol180:


I think we are in the same category...mine is that I always want to do many things at the same time which at the end of the day, I end up doing nothing much. The reason I have been longing to go into programming has been to be able to build all these mini sites where I can be advertising e-books and some other services like some guys did and make their cool money at the convenience of their room and one major thing that occurred to me before I went for my service and during the service some years ago was to build a news site while not thinking of ROI or profit, I just want to do it for fun and passion I have for journalism, even to the extent of wishing and willing to register with NIJ for PGD in journalism. Though, I try in my little way to learn the skill online as nobody is ready to train one physically. Up till now I haven't been so well stable as I still possess that personality of wanting to multi task.

Sofistcatdmoron:


Go to job sited and search for all these techniques, see the most sought after,
Thank me later ,
As a developer /programme u kerp learning new technologies,, dont depends only what u learnt many years ago

TheManOfTheYear:
"PHP is outdated"
"Programmers are mostly nerds"
"Web development is a joke"
"You must know calculus and advance algebra alongside molecular geometry and 70 almighty formula before you can go into programming "

Nothing I no go hear for Nairaland. Everyone claiming to have a valid opinion

Sofistcatdmoron:


Go to job sited and search for all these techniques, see the most sought after,
Thank me later ,
As a developer /programme u kerp learning new technologies,, dont depends only what u learnt many years ago

TheManOfTheYear:
"PHP is outdated"
"Programmers are mostly nerds"
"Web development is a joke"
"You must know calculus and advance algebra alongside molecular geometry and 70 almighty formula before you can go into programming "

Nothing I no go hear for Nairaland. Everyone claiming to have a valid opinion

TheManOfTheYear:
Lol. [b]Another over-exaggerated [/b]post. All you said is correct but dude it's not entirely accurate.
You don't have to sit in front of your laptop for 10 hours because you're learning programming. The truth is, many beginner coders have jobs they are doing while learning programming, some are students who also have studies to face. So where is the time to spend 10 hours in a day learning programming?

What really matters is consistency, even if you spend just 3 hours, just be consistent, do it everyday. Yes, programming is frustrating, that's why I recommend anyone who wanna go into it to ensure they have the passion and drive for it.

saajus:
A lot of issues about PHP. It worked perfectly for small jobs but I doubt if any big organization will use PHP for advanced applications like big financial applications. PHP is vulnerable. A little coding mistake will expose one application to hackers. It's also slow, it eats a lot of memory. You won't feel that speed deficiency in a simple website, but you will feel if you want to develop an application like zoom. People always refer to Facebook to defend PHP efficiency, but many people don't know that Facebook develop their own PHP version (HHVM) to fix those disadvantages in the original PHP.

ProfAmaben:


Laughs. If you solve the algorithm challenge I got at an interview with a foreign company recently, I would wholeheartedly agree it is an overexaggeration.

When I talk about programming, I don't mean guys that build e-commerce websites and start jumping up and down, I mean programmers that are on top of their game. I'm expecting your reply.

TheManOfTheYear:
Bro gbogbo eleyi ko neccessetry, I was only tyna say that one doesn't have to spend 10 hours a day in front of a laptop, trust me my G, I can understand all these things without having to spend 10 hours on screen (not even healthy for your eyes and neck).

Besides I don't code PHP and I have nothing to prove to you. Thanks

GrantCashel:
I ve taken the most unconventional approach to learning programming.
Being unserious in secondary school, it affected my progress in 2018.
You need to settle any problem you have with math if you dont want any issues. Google pdfdrive.com and download in this order developmental math for college students, college algebra and trigonometry, linear algebra, classical geometry, calculus, advanced calculus, vector calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations. If you want to avoid begging to build websites on nairaland, avoid web development, android or any shiny applications until you're theoretically grounded.

ProfAmaben:


Laughs. If you solve the algorithm challenge I got at an interview with a foreign company recently, I would wholeheartedly agree it is an overexaggeration.

When I talk about programming, I don't mean guys that build e-commerce websites and start jumping up and down, I mean programmers that are on top of their game. I'm expecting your reply.

QuantAnalyst:


Hi ProfAmaben. I can try if you don't mind? It's similar to one of the questions on Euler 50.

mcqwerty:
Hello Friend,

I advice you as a Programmer doing Website Design & Software development and not a Website designer.

I am also assuming you said "Programming" as a career switch and not website design.

If family or girlfriend is not in the way, go to a good computer college and enroll for C++ & Java programming or Python. You can even write oracle Java certification later on to boost your career.

To succeed in anything, you will need a considerable amount of time learning, practice and internalising. You will be patient while learning and honing your skills.

Don't waste time with YouTube or online coding schools. It's for those that already know their way around coding.

Do not go for HTML5, css and JavaScript lessons. Do not go for new and shiny stuffs like Js and the likes. You can add those later when you have mastered Core programming languages.

Web Design is not real career. Don't come to be begging for website design on Nairaland.com like a good number of us.

Take this advice from a 39yo man like you and you will not regret it.

Cheers.

TheManOfTheYear:
Bros PHP is still the most demanded server side language from now till even 10 years to come.

Just because newer technologies are available doesn't just mean everything would take an immediate curve. More than 70% of companies still use PHP, because it's not that easy to switch to a new technology, many of which are still in development and does not even have good community support yet.

Una dey make me laugh abeg

Maj196:
I update myself alright but don't relegate php it's not going down anytime soon. And as for jobs. It's still very much in demand, especially in Nigeria

Macwrites:


Yes you can. Provided you want to practice it for the next 5 to 10 years.

Anyone can learn programming in a few weeks/months. But it will take months/years to be good at it.

You need a lot of hours to build up, fix bugs and improve your codes to become good.

Yes you can switch at 40. And yes you can turn it to a new career.

BuddhaPalm:


In your experience, what have you programmed that required all this maths. Or any maths at all?

luvsesan4eva:
Download "Grasshopper" on your device and thank me later.

Grasshopper will teach you all the basics and fundamentals and the rest of the courses with Certificates