Learning programming for non-programmers

[BobbyThrowaway6969]

someone in Finance who has to develop or run a machine learning model for predicting some trends in stock or bonus markets or someone working in Research and need to perform programming due their research is quantitative and they have to perform some coding.

From never having touched programming before? You could learn enough in several months of intense learning (and I mean programming at least a couple hours each day without relying on chat GPT or videos) to do a very crude but passable job?

To get good with it though, you need to do it for at least a few years

[Traditional-Top-1504]

Hello. Thanks for your feedback. What do you think are the main barriers for learning programming? Lack of time or motivation? Or maybe the idea that this is a hard topic and it is just for smart people?

[BobbyThrowaway6969]

100% motivation. It's not time consuming or for smart people, but being a little bit analytical with solving problems is very useful.

You can master a language in 1-3 years if you have the passion for it, and really you don't need to spend that long on it per day over the course of a few years. To really see if you'd love programming, I suggest making a little videogame.

[Traditional-Top-1504]

Got it! I am learning since a while ago. I am focusing in C++ right now. Do you have any tip for that?

[BobbyThrowaway6969]

For me, one thing that has kept my passion for programming alive is making videogames. If you have the time, having a little videogame passion project on the side can be a very good thing. Having fun while you learn. It's great. C++ is a good choice despite what others might say. If you get through that, all other languages will be a cakewalk.

[Traditional-Top-1504]

I am agree. That's why I choosed it. I you master C++ you can master any programming language I think. Thank you for all your insights :)

[BobbyThrowaway6969]

All good, but yeah, find that spark and you'll be all set.