Maciej Ścigała

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The willingness to change was strongly influenced by the decreasing respect for the teaching profession, the low earnings that education workers can expect, and the lack of opportunities for further professional development. Bearing in mind my interests and predispositions, I was thinking of becoming a professional illusionist, calligrapher or computer scientist. The latter option seemed to be the most appropriate in terms of employment stability, job opportunities and was the biggest challenge for me.

From the range of computer science courses available on the market at that time (2014) — programming, computer graphics, databases or network management, I did not find anything interesting for myself and decided to study IT at an engineering department of a local university. Which meant the urgent need to revise math and physics quickly, as these were the most important subjects in the first year. I picked these where I parted with them — in high school, which had been more than a dozen years ago. After successfully passing exams like mathematical analysis, linear algebra, statistics, and discrete mathematics, things got much easier.

Writing a program is not an easy task, and countless times instead of the desired result brought by the code compilation you will see errors of countless types. Do not give up, learning a difficult programming language can be daunting, unnerving and discouraging. But remember, that from every error there comes experience. The more errors you make, the better you are. Obviously, only when you learn from it, so treat errors as something good. Uncaught TypeError? This is good, google it, check the essence of the problem, study it, think of a solution and correct it. FileNotFound error? Check what knowledge you can get from it. Learn about paths, check if the file exists, again — google the problem if you hit against the wall. You see a SyntaxError — this is a perfect place to start checking your syntax and paying attention to details. Have a look at what it is — end of line, invalid syntax, error on token or whatever other thing this might be. Do not be afraid of googling anything you do not know, and never get frustrated that you do not know something. Arguably, every programmer has to check things online, as it is much easier than memorizing all the tips and tricks of the trade. So, learn from your own mistakes with stubborn determination, and have in mind, that debugging, or removing errors from the code is an important skill of a programmer.

Next thing, I thought that learning new things in IT is similar to this in the realm of history or literature. You read books and learn. Nothing further from the truth, as in programming it is about creating workable pieces of code, reading somebody’s code and understanding it, as well as problem solving. And this is a skill, not bookish knowledge, so it must come from practice, not studying theory. I am not suggesting that reading books on how to code is totally a bad thing, keep them and use them as a guide, but remember that writing and analyzing the code that is contained on the pages is necessary. So is doing exercises. If possible, follow tutorials that are available in great number on YouTube or other e-learning video streaming platforms. The benefits will appear soon — you see the whole process of how code is created, usually there is an idea behind it, a simple project of some sort which also facilitates learning. In addition, you not only read but also listen and see things being compiled and executed, and thus more areas of your brain are involved in the process of learning. So, get engaged in the practical aspect of programming, reading books will not get you a job, like reading a foreign language handbook will not make you speak this language.

Next thing, I thought that learning new things in IT is similar to this in the realm of history or literature. You read books and learn. Nothing further from the truth, as in programming it is about creating workable pieces of code, reading somebody’s code and understanding it, as well as problem solving. And this is a skill, not bookish knowledge, so it must come from practice, not studying theory. I am not suggesting that reading books on how to code is totally a bad thing, keep them and use them as a guide, but remember that writing and analyzing the code that is contained on the pages is necessary. So is doing exercises. If possible, follow tutorials that are available in great number on YouTube or other e-learning video streaming platforms. The benefits will appear soon — you see the whole process of how code is created, usually there is an idea behind it, a simple project of some sort which also facilitates learning. In addition, you not only read but also listen and see things being compiled and executed, and thus more areas of your brain are involved in the process of learning. So, get engaged in the practical aspect of programming, reading books will not get you a job, like reading a foreign language handbook will not make you speak this language.

As I mentioned before, at the beginning a specialization in one programming language is recommended. Yet, you should not forget to get some basic skills in tools and technologies that help you do the job. For example, you decided to become a frontend developer, so you learn JavaScript and React. This is completely fine, but in addition learn how to use a distributed version control system like Git, what is API, what kinds of databases there are, and a bit about network. You do not have to become a specialist, but some knowledge would allow for performing given frontend tasks faster, in a more secure way and provide you with the bigger picture of what it takes to create an extensive web project.

When getting the first job in IT as an apprentice or junior, try finding a mentor at the workplace. Usually, there is a person who does the onboarding, shows you the application you are going to work on, discusses standards of coding and addresses the potential problems you may have. It is worthwhile when you both meet at least once a week. Show the person what you have done, read your code together, ask for feedback, clear up any doubts you may have and ask for further assignments. Learning directly from an experienced professional will boost acquiring new skills and in addition will teach you good practices.

When getting the first job in IT as an apprentice or junior, try finding a mentor at the workplace. Usually, there is a person who does the onboarding, shows you the application you are going to work on, discusses standards of coding and addresses the potential problems you may have. It is worthwhile when you both meet at least once a week. Show the person what you have done, read your code together, ask for feedback, clear up any doubts you may have and ask for further assignments. Learning directly from an experienced professional will boost acquiring new skills and in addition will teach you good practices.

Getting on in the new job may be an experience on its own, and I am not talking only about programming. I my case for instance, working with computers was very different form being a public school teacher. I had to get used to working in prevailing silence and in a peaceful environment. No more kids running aimlessly in the corridor, no groups of pupils screaming and trying to outdo the others in terms of volume and intensity. Even sitting all day on the chair was difficult and meeting via the computer felt strange at the beginning. My advice — embrace the change, even when you are used to totally different working methods.

You want to start learning programming and think when to start? How about now? Check possible software development career paths, decide which you like best and get some free tutorials for beginners. Usually there is a step-by-step introduction on how to download and install environment, how to use a compiler and how to write simple programs or just parts of these programs. Trying a new thing may be scary and challenging at the beginning, but it also broadens your horizons and is satisfying. So, do not think too much whether to start learning or not, do not evaluate timelessly all the pros and cons, and avoid listening to people who claim that it is not possible to change career path as programming is too difficult. It is not.

Good luck!

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