₦airaland Forum

TOmmyJidex:
I enjoy learning on my own... Its gonna expose you to alotta things.

Not really

The code works, are you trying to read the json?

Now that I work in a tech company, I hear the word self-taught pretty often. Much like learning an instrument or natural language, programming can seem incredibly intricate and complex. How do you dissect something like a programming language and put the pieces back together?

What Is It About Being Self-taught?

What interests me about the autodidact is the idea of genius. It seems to me that for someone to master a complex topic without guidance or instruction requires a certain level of genius. However, this assumption can be dangerous, and it’s often inaccurate. Conflating the autodidact with the genius leads to the misconception that you must be a genius to teach yourself effectively, so … how much self-teaching is required before you’re self-taught?

Another mental hurdle I can’t bound when it comes to the self-taught designer, musician or programmer, etc. is how the Internet fits in. We are now a Google away from so much information that it’s hard to imagine anyone figuring out anything without YouTube or Instructables guiding him or her.

What Does Self-taught Really Mean?

When I was younger I had no idea what self-taught meant. I assumed self-taught equaled no guidance or materials at all. Once I was old enough to track down interviews, it turned out that many learned from books, friends, videos, and other resources. Now, of course it makes sense that people don’t typically learn in a vacuum, but I was a kid, so what did I know? .

Self-taught typically meant someone learning without a formal teacher or program, but access to teaching materials was fair game. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines self-taught as, “having knowledge or skills acquired by one’s own efforts without formal instruction.” This seems pretty open-ended to me. It also seems less intimidating to approach a topic if someone can be self-taught and still use a ton of educational resources. Maybe self-educating isn’t so bad if I’m allowed to get a little help.

The Benefits of a Good Teacher

In my experience, good mentors and teachers put you on a fast track. A good mentor knows where the sticking points are and how to overcome them. A good teacher knows how to connect things in a meaningful way. You may find all the information yourself, but it will take you far longer. If your teacher has 25 years of experience, you get to build on that. You are no longer starting at zero. You have the advantage of learning from your teacher’s mistakes instead of having to painfully make them yourself.

A good teacher will also push you when you want to stop. It’s easy to become frustrated when the going gets tough. When you are the only person holding you accountable it can be a slog to keep on track. Sometimes a teacher or a program can make a world of difference when it comes to motivation.

The Benefits of Being Self-taught

I feel that there is a huge benefit in pushing yourself to learn something on your own and achieving that goal. Perseverance is a valuable skill, and you will need it if you want to achieve anything that really matters. Learning to teach yourself will aid you well when you have to learn something for which there is no teacher and lacking internal motivation. In programming this happens all the time—there’s a new framework out, you have to learn it for work, and there is no tutorial.

Some people don’t learn well in structured environments. The danger of reliance on teachers is that we can unfairly decide that someone is good or bad at something based on his or her ability to learn that thing in a single context or curricular structure. I have known many people who thought they ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT understand something until it was explained in a different way. I’ve had this experience. By teaching yourself, you inevitably come across a topic explained multiple ways.

By exploring ideas on your own you also find little helpful tidbits that might have been excluded from a formal program. Digging around for a piece of knowledge on your own helps you critically understand something beyond the way a teacher thinks you should comprehend that topic.

Where Does this Leave Us?

So, what does it mean to be self-taught? After toying with the question a bit, I feel like being self-taught is nebulous. We no longer live in a time where information is difficult to find. However, the Internet is still short on formal educational programs. We are somewhere between being self-guided and being instructed. In a way, I think this is a good place to be, it’s the best of both worlds.

In the end, I think it’s less important that someone be self-taught or formally educated. The truth is that curiosity is what matters. The desire to be self-taught is a good one, because it means that you are actively thinking and motivated to learn. I still hold people who are self-taught in high regard, because we often assign genius not to people who have an extraordinary ability to learn but to those who are incredibly tenacious in their desire to learn.

barackosama:
What? Am a Web Dev/Designer. Am very good in web designing. Using Boostrap doesnt mean you dont understand CSS very well but we use it just to save Time, Stress and Resource.

"Boostrap doesnt mean you dont understand CSS"..So you honestly believe that? I'm not against using bootstrap but i don't think its the best advice you should give to someone in this case...

DonSegmond:
What programming language?
How long did it take you?
What platform? iOS, Window, Unix, Android, Javascript?
How big was your code base? 1000 lines of code? 10,000 lines of code? etc

Mine was : https://www.nairaland.com/2426946/toughest-algorithm#35971080

yahayya1a:
Guys please i need answers, i learned html and css, i know how to design a web with javascript and php.
Now what's next?

Only go for Bootstrap if your css is below average, I think you should start building web apps for clients.

barackosama:
Bro i'll advise you go learn how to use Boostrap Framework and save your self the stress. It is widely used.

WTF?

Was not what I expected but nice one bro.

DualCore1:
"Swith to a language like Javascript"... what did you smoke?

JavaScript compared with A server side script? , maybe he just read an article on getting started with NodeJs (Written in‎: ‎C & C++)..
But I still think He's High On Meth.

DualCore1:
I retired September last year, in preps for the fulltime Iyawo project which I took on 4 months back

It was interesting and challenging but its not fun to create apps for people and you get to see their corporate names credited for your apps while you are expected to remain silent based on their NDAs.

I think its wiser to spend time developing your own thing. The hardwork begins to pay off after a while, especially if you have developed a couple of things.

on point

[quote author=bestiyke post=36602826]Pls can I get it.[/quote]08102064720

bestiyke:
Pls good nairalanders, I need visual studio 2013 or 2012 professiona or ultimate or any c++ edition that support MFC. What I have is VS 2008 express edition. It does support MFC. I learning c++ and one materials am working with require the version of visual studio that support the MFC for to cover chapter that treat write windows gui application with MFC. As well as using the window form for applications that suport CLR .NET framework. I check some computer and software shops in my town I didn't get any. Pls i need your hlpe. Thanks

I have Visual Studio Ultimate 2013 Full Setup (5.4GB)

Yungwizzzy:
Hungry web designer

No, inexperienced

bassdow:
People like this will do the following:
1. Purchase $0.01 domains for their clients (Disadvantages of this includes very high renewal costs)
2. Who knows they might be or rather would be using free web hosts
3. Lots of other etc;

This are the only ways I believe such a person would achieve that. Moreover the design alone, Only God knows.

NB: Funny enough, Many of them gets lots of customers BUT end up struggling to retain less than a hand full of them.

Some of them will charge much when you want more than 5 pages.

BrAkingNews:
please can you show us a link of an Android game developed by a Nigerian or even a company? We are not talking of application, btw you should know the different

Oh So you need some kind of award...?

0luwatope:
Javascript simple? I sabi html, i sabi php, i sabi css, i sabi mysql e remain javascript, now you that u are saying javascript is simple, give me a code that displays the current year only in js language. Op, start from the easy ones, i still recomment u start with html

Yeah start with html and css after a while add javascript.

Olumyco:
Good work man. Love this.
I see this more like an IDE and not an editor.
Infact it came at d right time. Can't wait to see it.
If I may ask why have u chosen to use the word 'hack' for the IDE.
Also are u developing d shell directly with C# from d scratch because electron and nwjs could help.
Thanks

Cant think of any name right now, "electron and nwjs" already got that covered.
thanks

mbz101:
You are a good coder ? Advice

I don't understand

"First Nigerian Android Game Is Here" crap..

Scout60:
I want to learn JavaScript during my holidays coming on September.
I want to take up with a private instructor for three hours on Monday and Wednesday for one month

my course include HTML CSS and JavaScript. I will also practice on myself.
is it possible pls

Javascript is simple but it takes time for you to master it.
Just learn it while you can.

FincoApps:
Not at all. For example, you want to find all the places you used "for", just click on one and the others highlight.

For the second one, see the image of dreamweaver

Hmmm ok

FincoApps No. 1 has been added, Are your saying it should have like and inbuilt browser?

directonpc:
Hmm even without solid points to form an odd?

"solid points"? Where?

directonpc:
Since mobile friendliness isn't about layout alone hope you are convinced that responsive design ain't it.

No

FincoApps:
I'm beginning to get really confused. But that's the OP's point

"Why Responsive Design Sucks"? that's the argument.

directonpc:
Brother u are yet to make any solid point...
Your second point: css is not enough to control contents that you will rendering to mobile browsers if you are a true programmer u will know this. For example let's say you have a form that uses jquery onkeyup event for some manipulations these stuffs won't work on opera mini can css control that?
Your third point: m.fb.com is not responsive it supports my views

"form that uses jquery onkeyup" how would css control that.?, Responsive design is more of Layout and less features.
m.facebook.com.

Nairalander01:
some one on NL actually does his for 2.5k

goalburner:
Thank you Sir for the advice. I really appreciate.

But what type of terms violation your client must had committed for his 300GB website to be pulled down?

They sent an email saying a spam was detected on the website, they never replied our emails

directonpc:
I seen a lot of webmasters on Nairaland over hyping responsive web design.
I am going to state 3 reasons why responsive design sucks and why you should take the stress of designing mobile versions of your site.
1. Responsive sites load slow on mobile and consumes users data(megabytes). This is very true as responsible sites download same high resolution contents that were designed for pc version of the site it only useless css to cut some put and change width and height for others.
Unlike responsive design a lite simple dedicated mobile version won't include contents that are heavy.

2. Less low-end device/browsers support. A responsive site might look good on high-end mobile devices and browsers but it is the opposite on opera mini and stock browser of older devices.

3 . Facebook, YouTube and google are not doing it so you should know that it is crappy. That is all and nobody can counter these points

.

For Me, these points doesn't sound like you are talking about responsive design at all, except the web developer. doesn't understand what it means then he can make the mistakes you mentioned.

1. "Responsive sites load slow on mobile and consumes users data(megabytes)." WTF?, it all depends on your site contents when designing a responsive site you have to add less sized images..

2. Less low-end device/browsers support. -- Every developer should know that opera and some other browsers do not support HTML5 so there is always a backup css for that.

3. Facebook, YouTube and google are not doing it - False why is there m.fb.com, m.youtube.com and m.google.com, this was created because it loads images in smaller quality and also some features has been removed....

FincoApps:
Hostgator is quite good

goalburner:
Thank you for your reply.Which webhost can you recommend for me with unlimited spaces?

Yeah its quite good but don't violate their terms, Last Month I had to quickly pull down a website of 300GB for a client who uses Hostgator, they gave him 3 days before they delete the Cpanel, plus customer support is bad..
You can try Godaddy or MyWindowsHost

afreekah:
These guys ain't smiling at all. . . That's Google Pitcairn Island

http://google.co.pn/

its https://www.google.pn/ not .co.pn

bizycodin:
Great! Can't wait to use a "made in Nigeria by a Nigerian" IDE. Curiously waiting and hope it's gonna b innovative? I also don't mind being a part of the project for leisure coding..

"made in Nigeria by a Nigerian" Lol....