I learned more coding in the last 3 months than I did in the past 1 year and here are the 5 things I did differently.
Don’t skip the basics!
Please…Please.. Don’t do that!
I did that mistake in my journey, I jumped onto Reactjs straight away without learning the basics of JavaScript.
I didn’t even know what classes, objects, lexical environment, and scope means in JavaScript, or how JavaScript behaves, and later found myself pulling my hair while learning Reactjs and Nodejs.
I did the same mistake while learning Backend development. Didn’t focus on the basics of Networking and how the web works, and later found myself struggling.
Consistency
I know you might have heard it multiple times but believe me, consistency makes a difference of a leap. Earlier, I used to skip coding for days and weeks, but the day I decided that I am going to code daily (practice DSA) no matter what happens, is the day when things started changing for me. Just make coding your non-negotiable and things will start falling in place.
Focus
Earlier I used to keep switching the tasks every 15-20 minutes, my sittings were quite short.
Then I came across this revolutionary app called productivity challenge timer on the play store. Here’s how to use it
1. Set a goal for 1 hour
2. Set a timer of 1 hour and try to finish that task
3. Void the timer if you got distracted (This will give your brain a sense of sunk cost)
These were the methods to force your brain to focus. But how to make your brain want it? By the next tip
Set long-term goals
Tell yourself what you want to be in the next 1 year and research the path you’re gonna take and then divide that path further in 6 months, quarterly, weekly goals.
Don’t switch technologies and stacks this early in the career
I know, you might use to feel the urge to jump from React to Angular, Angular to Vue, from Expressjs to Django, and so on. You have to understand that this will take you nowhere.
First, get the hang of one technology and programming in general, later you can think of switching technologies/languages and it will become easy too. So choose which technology you want to work with after doing thorough research, depending on what you want to achieve, and then stick to it.