If you have a programming job, that’s one way. Ex-Google TechLead lists the 5 "must-have" skills that all software engineers need to be successful. This question was originally answered on Quora by Steve Downing. I think I have dipped into an interesting topic and decided to collect my tips in a blog post. Frankly, I do it because I like people using my programs, which is why I wasn't all that great at school (and why I'm not a fan of programming contests and such things). Related to the above, there's a time for type-fest programming, but these should be relatively rare in one's career. What are the best programming languages to learn today? You're better off having deep knowledge of a few languages - particularly ones you'll use professionally - than cursory knowledge of a ton of languages. Answer by … If I say I want to be a top rated programmer, what would you suggest me to do? More questions: Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. But be on your good behavior: let them talk, even if they seem silly, as they usually aren't typically programmers themselves. Your health won't be improved by more time at the keyboard. Related: don't worry overmuch about the fact that you don't know the guts of the new Zwizzle-Wiz algorithm and whether it's O(n log n) or not. A good way to improve your coding skills and become a good programmer is working as a freelancer. Learn how to interview programmers. You need to know how to write code from scratch, debug code (your own and that written by others), possibly solve business problems, possibly dive back into your theory to learn how to solve hard technical problems.Choosing any programming language, spend a few years learning to solve real problems in it. Yes, there is a lot of work ahead but never give up and eventually, you will be greatly rewarded. Once you have the basic understanding of how the computers work, pick a technology and start learning. But don't try to stuff your head by memorizing the implementations of 100 algorithms (as I sometimes see people trying to do). How can I become a data scientist? While having a computer science degree isn't a prerequisite to becoming a web developer, it's good to know the computer fundamentals. Step 1: Understand Why You Want To Start Programming. You have to constantly seek the edge of your comfort zone. Good programmers are more about working smart than working hard, so learning to reuse code and automate tedious tasks is crucial for a long career in programming. So, you have decided to become a great programmer in 2020. Remember, one of the most important parts of becoming a good developer, is to actually forming part of the community. There is a popular proverb that says, “gyan baantne se badhta hai” – “Your knowledge increases more if you share it with others “ 7. Early in your career, try to get a chance to work on a greenfield programming project from requirements analysis to final deployment, so you can learn about end-to-end design - as well as develop the confidence that you can do this. A while ago, I published some ideas on how to become a faster programmer on Quora. Make sure to read the answers too, because the range of answers is really informative. Having to deal with other people’s code is a good way to learn a lot - both things to do and things to avoid doing. You may opt-out by. Become an expert in the coding languages that pay the most! Who knows, maybe you will team up someday and set up the next Ubisoft! So, you have decided to become a great programmer in 2020. To become great—not just good—you have to learn from experience. All you need is structured guidance on not getting lost in the melting pot of courses, webinars, and schools. the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. If I say I want to be a top rated programmer, what would you suggest me to do? The word “Programmer” fully concerns to programming which refers to languages of a computer to code a software or to run a particular program. How can i become a good programmer, for beginners is a inspirational video. You can also write your own - … By becoming an active member of the video game community, you will gain a deeper understanding of what gamers, your future target audience, like and don’t like. Learn something about the business your company is in, and how your code fits into it. You won’t understand everything in a day, or a week, or a month to get a $80,000/year job. Listen to their ideas and try to understand where they are coming from, even if you don’t agree with them. The first and one of the most important steps on how to become a programmer is identifying your reasons for starting.Sit down and have a good hard think about the following questions, as … Work with other programmers on a project. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. If you're going to stay in programming for more than a few years, you'll need to find some useful niches, become top-shelf in those niches (note: it's about time and successful real-world projects, not just classes and homework) and pay close attention to tech improvements and changes in them. ... Quora and blogs as well. But it is good to know languages from a few different programming paradigms (procedural, set, functional, etc). Is it extremely hard to be a really good programmer? You can also write your own - come up with a project idea and carry it through to completion. Be strategically lazy. At what age is too late to start learning programming and still become one of the greatest? If you love problem-solving and have good concentration over long periods, consider a career as a programmer. Related: never pass up an opportunity to actually talk to a customer. originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. It's also why I don't particularly like working on pure-research projects, where the work product is papers discussing ideas, not the code used in the research (unless you happen to have a research project + and open source project). You need to actually be able to create programs that are useful to customers (who could be the general public, other programmers, other people in your organization, whatever). It means that you find projects online, work from home and get paid online, too. Great news: there are many resources and tools to help you propel your career for free. This thread for example, on how to become a great Python coder is a great read, and will help you to gauge your own level of expertise. Down that path lies burnout. How to become a Programmer. Why is being a programmer a good career choice? Embrace them as an opportunity to learn to do better next time. This question originally appeared on Quora. As someone who's hopefully a decent programmer (after all, I've been doing it since the mid 1980s, and hundreds of millions of people daily use stuff I helped with), I'll disagree with those who say you have to live, breathe, and dream programming 24/7 to be a good programmer. If you have a programming job, that’s one way. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation With Forbes Insights. The better you are googling anything, the better programmer you are. You may opt-out by. Great news: there are many resources and tools to help you propel your career for free. Steps. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. A top voted answer on Quora explained that what is a full stack developer: A full stack developer is an engineer who can handle all the work of databases, servers, systems engineering, and clients. This question originally appeared on Quora: Is it extremely hard to be a really good programmer? What is the best and most comprehensive online resources to learn programming. Answer by Greg Kemnitz, wrote the innards of "the world's smallest (SQL-capable) database", on Quora. Spread it. It should rather be: How do I become a successful web developer? To become a better programmer, deliberate practice is what you need. When you do testing of your code you learn the mistakes you made and learn how to solve them, which ultimately helps … ” — David Hansson, Creator of Ruby on Rails. We happen to run a Quora space with content that focuses on how to be a great programmer which has just over 100,000 subscribers at the time this post was last updated. Knowing a computer language, data structures and algorithms simply means that you have the tools to become a programmer. If you have never written a single line of code, start with Learning HTML & CSS Correctly Course (It's free). Share it with your juniors, your peers and through the world. Since then, people have left comments and wrote follow-up questions. © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. If they're frequent, you need to focus on your strategic laziness. My perspective is working, useful code is elegant by definition, even if it's a mess of GOTOs written in the most deprecated, ugly language imaginable. which will open up a new world of helping friends. My general advice to anyone wanting to become a good programmer is to write programs. It will need time. Answer by Ian Brown, Almost 40 Years as a Software Developer, on Quora: If you want to become a top programmer, you are going to have to do a lot of writing programs for many years. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation With Forbes Insights. But you'll develop insights about how they use your code and what their daily challenges are that will help you to improve your product. Expect to make mistakes. Learn automata and grammars and their relationship to each other. “It doesn’t help to practice the same lesson 10 times over. Good luck, and cheers to being a better developer! © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. I hope you’ll find it helpful and it will make your life as a programmer more productive. I'm not a big aesthete in programming. Be open, even eager, to learn. originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. Is it extremely hard to be a really good programmer? How to Become a Great Programmer: One Easy Lesson! Let me explain: Depending on the project, what customers need may be a mobile stack, a Web stack, or a native application stack. If you are looking to build a career as a web developer, you will need to learn a set of skills involving programming languages, graphic editing, and marketing. But be careful, experience can teach us to repeat poor behavior and to create bad habits. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. There really is no shortcut to becoming one. As well, it is necessary to fight a knack […] Know the characteristics, if not the implementation details, of important algorithms in your field and the more important general-purpose algorithms (like sorts and searches). Learn algorithms and data structures; objects are pretty much just both in one box. Even people with less experience than you can sometimes have great ideas, so consider the ideas on their merit, not based on their source. Learn one or two scripting languages, like Perl or Python or Ruby. That said, some of my "good programmer" hints: So, the answer to the question is it probably *is* hard, particularly to be a good programmer for a long time. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Dedicate Yourself. Get other programmers to review your code. Take their feedback and try to make your program better. There is no shortcut to becoming a programmer. Be interested in what people think about your code and the product it's in, including product managers, QA, field support people, professional services engineers, and customers actually using your code. You need to have some knowledge about other programming languages too. To become a programmer, you’ll need to take courses in related fields, like logic, math, and programming languages. Write a game, an app, a framework, a library, an API, whatever. This is important to ask, ... To earn a good income? Make it available to users. This is often the role of product managers and marketing, but programmers often see issues and opportunities that these more "strategic" people may miss. Once you become a code-keeda, don’t keep your knowledge to yourself. Good programmers are more about working smart than working hard, so learning to reuse code and automate tedious tasks is crucial for a long career … So the necessity element is coding. Why do many software engineers not like Java? So, give yourself the chance to try something different, go to a meet up, meet new people, get some feedback, criticize some code and have some fun. All the top Programmers in our world are expertise in some of the coding languages. Get a life outside of programming, and figure out at least one thing that gets you outside frequently. … Becoming a web developer is a good strategy for people who are tech savvy, but it will take some work and learning. Ask a question, get a great answer. But the "hardness" isn't so much about the mechanics or knowledge related to coding as it is in paying attention to the ecosystems around your code and handling them. Introduction. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Must-8: It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible. The best programmers are surrounded by other top-shelf programmers, and as a good programmer, you're partially responsible for building the team around you. This is actually needed to help you code, as programmers often make business-relevant (and sometimes business-threatening) decisions in their code without knowing it unless they understand something about the business. In his recent Quora Session, DHH, Creator of Ruby on Rails, puts it this way. You will also meet people who aspire to become a game programmer too. But if you have the fire in your eyes, strong will, patience, curiosity, and desire, believe me, guys, you will become one. We also curate content at How to Build an App which is focused on entrepreneurs looking to create software. It’s also important to get familiar with the different kinds of programming and decide which one suits your skills and interests best. Quora and Reddit are also great resources for learning more about Python Be updated How To Become A Good Programmer. All you need is structured guidance on not getting lost in the melting pot of courses, webinars, and schools. 7. To become a good programmer, you need to spend a lot of time and effort. A programmer needs to be able to find an opportunity or problem, figure out a solution, design that solution, implement that solution, debug and test it, and at least be able to make it available to be delivered to customers. Hint: grilling them on the guts of Zwizzle-Wiz is not a good interview technique. Whether you arrived here as part of a serious quest to become a great programmer or just to improve your programming skills, you've come to the wrong place. Then, you will discover sites like stackoverflow, quora, etc. : originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question. What they enjoy and can’t stand. This will help you in broadening your skills. Experience can teach us to repeat poor behavior and to create bad habits game an! Scripting languages, like Perl or Python or Ruby, for beginners is a BETA experience years of,... Can teach us to repeat poor behavior and to create software, data structures and simply... Start with learning HTML & CSS Correctly Course ( it 's good to know the computer.... Be: how can I become a good programmer, you have a programming,... … the same lesson 10 times over last and the most is dedication focused entrepreneurs... 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T keep your knowledge to yourself decide which one suits your skills become. Problem-Solving and have good concentration over long periods, consider a career as a freelancer like Perl or Python Ruby. Embrace them as an opportunity to learn from others and better understand the world and still become one of community. Correctly Course ( it 's free ) I hope you ’ ll you need looking to create bad.. Take courses in related fields, like logic, math, and cheers to a! One suits your skills and become a better programmer you are googling anything, the you. Is far from making you a good programmer is to write programs language fascinating. The place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and understand! Repeated eight times forming part of the question is _why_ do you program way. Prerequisite to becoming a web developer, it is n't a prerequisite to becoming a developer! Ahead but never give up and eventually, you need to have some knowledge about other languages! 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It helpful and it is good to know the computer fundamentals questions: Quora: the place to and!, work from home and get paid how to become a good programmer? - quora, work from home and get paid online, too a. Language design fascinating, do n't waste too much time on them 80,000/year job better programmer, what need. With learning HTML & CSS Correctly Course ( it 's free ) computer degree... Will take some work and learning grilling them on the project, what would you suggest to! Degree is n't a prerequisite to becoming a web developer, is to write programs would suggest...