Rusty to Ready: Coding Tips for the Hobby Developer

No matter which programming language you use as a programmer you find yourself dipping in and out of coding. Whether you pick it up when you get inspired or need it for a specific project you might find that you are rusty and need to relearn certain aspects of the language you need. I have been a hobby programmer for several years working on personal projects and found myself in this situation many times as I come out of hiatus for projects. Below are some tips and resources to help get you back on your feet and back into your IDE as fast as possible.

Start today but start small- You may get overwhelmed jumping immediately into complex projects so build smaller projects, bug fixing, or simple scripts. But most importantly start today because it's very easy to procrastinate and wait for "tomorrow" and tomorrow never comes.

No excuses start now! -->https://code.visualstudio.com/Download

Review your old work- Go through old projects and figure out what and why you did the code. You may also refactor and update the code if you learned to make it better and more efficient or apply a different method. You are your own greatest teacher.

Embrace tutorial hell- Tutorials are natural for programmers. I'll still watch tutorials 30 years later no matter how experienced I become because it's impossible to remember everything and a waste of time to try. The key is to brush up on specific parts you forgot you don't need to watch a whole 12-hour tutorial again! Building projects is your top priority not watching videos.

https://www.freecodecamp.org/

https://www.w3schools.com/

https://www.coursera.org/

https://www.youtube.com/@BroCodez/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp/videos

Plenty of other resources and apps but only use them to get to the IDE faster

Focus on 1 language/framework- Trying to master every language is impossible and will only serve to confuse you. Narrow your focus and pick 1 single language and framework to work from at first.

Set daily obtainable goals- Something that helps me stay on track is setting a daily goal whether learning a concept or building a part of a project. This will keep you accountable to work on what you need to get done.

Bonus Tip- Reward yourself for achieving something bigger as well. Finish a 6-month certification or large project? Buy an Apple Watch, Phone, TV, game console, go to the casino, mini 2-day vacation something equally large that will motivate you to achieve a large goal. You get the idea.

Passion Projects- Probably one of the best ways to stay motivated is by working on something you are interested in. Do something you enjoy so you stick with it. If it's something that excites you then it's what you should be building.

Intelligent IDE and ChatGPT/AI- Build with IDEs that autocomplete, highlight, and error check. Not only does this speed things up but can keep you from getting stuck and frustrated. I use Visual Studio Code and extensions for my work.

https://code.visualstudio.com/Download

Use ChatGPT to help with code and error questions. AI is a very powerful tool for coders as it can explain things in a way you can understand and help with snippets of script and code.

https://chatgpt.com/

Community- Much like our great community in the finance space you should find other developers that share your interest. I know many people in finance also have some experience in the technology sector.

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