.png)
Originally posted on Female Level Up Strategy subreddit. All rights reserved to u/xpressurself111
Hello Queens, I adore you all! This subreddit along with FDS have changed my life, I owe every one of you for all of the glorious upgrades I have been able to make for myself as a result of your guidance and love!
I have personally completed all of these courses and can say that they are very similar in content to my bachelor’s degree. These are completely free, though they might be persistent in their requests for donations, accordingly.
I am a software engineer and I also teach children game development part time. My degrees are in Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity. Anyway, if you like problem solving, being creative, and feel like you are curious enough:
Free Resources to Learn Coding
Freecodecamp.org (course) - All of their curriculum is excellent, it also has a podcast where they interview developers and find out how they got into software engineering, how they learned, and what they do now. This is taught in the language that was listed as the most requested on software development job posts last year, JavaScript. This is a seriously excellent course. https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/#basic-javascript
Kahn Academy’s Intro to Programming (course) This is a curriculum designed with kids and game development in mind. I used this curriculum when I helped facilitate a chapter of Girls Who Code. It’s also in JavaScript! https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming
Crash Course Computer Science (YouTube playlist)– Not all videos are relevant but it’s a really great way to digest the basics of computer science, I would highly recommend all of them for a well rounded education and if I may add, appreciation for computer science! https://www.pbs.org/show/crash-course-computer-science/
Lastly, CS50, (YouTube playlist, optional course) - The introductory computer science course from Harvard, one of the most popular classes for undergrad students! It’s fantastic, the professor is incredibly lively, smart, and takes a lot of time really breaking down the concepts. Also, the first lesson is taught in Scratch, which I really thought was funny when I went through it, that a language built by MIT, for children, is how Harvard students learn CS. Anyway… here is the most recent course. They film it every few years to keep it fresh, but each iteration is very similar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXxevp1WRQ&list=PLhQjrBD2T382_R182iC2gNZI9HzWFMC_8
Sisters, I hope these give you a solid launch point for pursuing your interest in coding. I would love to make a second and third part to this, a guide for creating a portfolio, getting interview ready, and a computer science related book list. If there are any lady devs that want to pair on this card, I would love to collaborate!
Link to the original post (there are more resources in the comments): So you want to learn to code? Great!
Credit to @unbearablelightness for sharing her experience
I will just drop my personal learning to code experiences here in hopes they will help anyone!
I had tried many many times to learn to code on my own, and I just couldn't really grasp HOW the fundamentals like doing simple math or holding simple variables/types, all of that stuff that you learn in the very beginning, related to building an actual working computer program. So since there was no immediate gratification or understanding of applying those concepts, I would give up every time.
It wasn't until I was in community college studying a different subject that I decided to take an intro C# course. This course used Visual Studio, which is an IDE (software that makes it easier to code) that has a drag-and-drop interface to make UIs, and together with the C# code, you can very easily make a little working program with a user interface and everything! So, that's when it all clicked for me.
We used this book, which is quite expensive at $52 used when compared with free options online, but you can probably pirate it somewhere, or look up different C#/Visual Studio tutorials online. But I thought it was an excellent book and much better than the previous beginners books I had tried in the past because the example projects are really easy to follow step-by-step.
My whole point being, is that C# is a good beginners language too because of how what you learn can be immediately applied to something. Anyway, after that class I was unstoppable. I switched majors and now I really love coding, and I'm almost done with my CS degree! If anyone here is struggling with coding in the language of your choice or needs help getting started, please don't hesitate to PM me and we can exchange info and I will be more than happy to help you out! <3
Stay safe.
I will just drop my personal learning to code experiences here in hopes they will help anyone! I had tried many many times to learn to code on my own, and I just couldn't really grasp HOW the fundamentals like doing simple math or holding simple variables/types, all of that stuff that you learn in the very beginning, related to building an actual working computer program. So since there was no immediate gratification or understanding of applying those concepts, I would give up every time. It wasn't until I was in community college studying a different subject that I decided to take an intro C# course. This course used Visual Studio, which is an IDE (software that makes it easier to code) that has a drag-and-drop interface to make UIs, and together with the C# code, you can very easily make a little working program with a user interface and everything! So, that's when it all clicked for me.
We used this book, which is quite expensive at $52 used when compared with free options online, but you can probably pirate it somewhere, or look up different C#/Visual Studio tutorials online. But I thought it was an excellent book and much better than the previous beginners books I had tried in the past because the example projects are really easy to follow step-by-step. My whole point being, is that C# is a good beginners language too because of how what you learn can be immediately applied to something. Anyway, after that class I was unstoppable. I switched majors and now I really love coding, and I'm almost done with my CS degree! If anyone here is struggling with coding in the language of your choice or needs help getting started, please don't hesitate to PM me and we can exchange info and I will be more than happy to help you out! <3
Great resources, thank you so much! Question for the ladies who work in this field: Assuming you devote regular study and practice to this, how long should it take to go from having no knowledge at all to having enough of a skill set to work as a coder? I would love to have this in my back pocket for a side gig or as a Plan B.
I actually needed this, if I'm in need of cash coding could my save my ass in a pinch. Thanks SayNad.