Learning to code. Day 0.

Today is my 33rd birthday and I decided to start another programming curriculum yet again. My last attempt ended right before COVID began - I was in Nepal, my study buddy disappeared, things started to get a bit too hard, and motivation was lost. However, this was my best attempt yet. I actually wasn't doing so bad. At that point, I was able to finish a few simple games run through the terminal, but they were actually working and felt like big achievements.

My goal for the last time was to see if I like it and see if I can start making money with it at some point. I was working remotely in an unrelated field and had a pretty good life, but I was getting anxious from time to time that the work would dry up and I would be left with nothing overnight. I was saving like crazy but also thinking about other ways I could make money remotely. So this summer, having just passed my motorcycle license exam, I decided I need another project, and I should give the old programming a try.

I've been doing bits and pieces of it for a few years, starting with maybe 3 or 4 tries of CS50 course, 2 or 3 attempts at freecodecamp, and the 1 latest at App Academy. This time the goal is to learn as much as a can, actually try to do some portfolio-ready projects if I do decide I'm moving forward with it, or decide once and for all that I stop thinking and talking about it, and it's a failed idea, and I need something else.

So I'm going to start working on this, this time with The Odin Project, and will focus on JavaScript and Python. I picked up a few coupon courses on Udemy which I plan to try for Python, but going to focus on TOP most of the time. I'll see if I supplement with freecodecamp again, but I think based on reviews TOP might be a better choice.

I'm giving myself a goal for my next birthday to have some sort of result (either a skill and some finished projects or a total fail, but informed fail with a real try). This time I will try to seek out meetups, maybe organize some meetups myself, seek out study buddies (as having someone to talk through the exercises and keep one another accountable has been really helpful the last time). I will try to find some sort of group or a couple study buddies after finishing the fundamentals section of TOP. I'm probably not going to go with daily check-ins here (unless there really is a lot I want to share), and will probably aim at weekly posts - make them Sunday posts, as Sunday will be my Day 1, and Sundays and Mondays are usually my days off.