What you are about to read here is compiled story from a Brazilian pharmacist facing all kinds of obstacles when decided to learn how to code.  My ultimate goal here is to give you hope if you want to face the challenge too. Because I got a software developer position after all, so you can do it as well. 

I will be concise here and split the whole text in 3 topics: Time, Learn, and Look for a job.

1 – TIME

Time is your best friend and your worst enemy in this journey depending on where you are now, what stage of life you are in. But be sure about one thing: You need to be in peace with time in order to accomplish anything that you want (even if it is not related to code). 

So first tip: Give time to your brain to build the new connections. 

Here it starts my journey. When I set down to learn how to be a developer, I was 27 years old. I enrolled to an online course: CS50 – Harvard (which I highly recommend if you are starting from scratch: CS50 course). 

So, I start watching the videos and I had only two feelings. One saying that I was not learning anything by just typing the code I was seeing. The second one was devastating because is related to downgrade me when I got an error on my code when I was just typing the code I was seeing. 

The main point here is: DO NOT GIVE UP! Fight against these feelings. It takes TIME to your brain to adapt. I don`t want to get too technical here, but in order to learn something the brain rewires your neurons (it is called plastic property of the brain) and memory and recall are strengthened by frequency and recency, which requires time to accomplish it.

Personally, I realized that my brain had this brand-new set of connections when I start to break down the problems before starting coding. Believe or not, this is the main characteristic of a good programmer.

Passed this point that I call “breaking point”, because is where most people are going to drop off, you are all set to start learning how to code and become a professional with solid foundation. 

This is our first stab. While I am sharing this small piece of personal experience, I hope that I could spark something inside you or maybe give you strength to keep moving forward. Trust in yourself and in your brain process.

Stay tuned for the next posts about learn and finding a first job coming up soon. 

See you.