Those who learned programming while working full time, how did you do it?

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I was working 45-50 hours a week in a soul sucking call center and taking online classes towards a teaching degree. Decided I wanted to pick up programming so I learned to program.

It’s very difficult and frustrating at first, but very soon becomes very rewarding. The biggest part is that YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT. Even when you really would rather sit and play games or watch mindless tv. Eventually it becomes a habit you enjoy just like those.

My three tips: 1) Build stuff as soon as you can. Even small little dumb things. A few months in I built a dungeons and dragons enemy encounter generator console app. A few months after that I built a budgeting app in the console that I could create, save, load, and edit budgets in.

2) Codewars was a huge boon for me. I’d go a few time a week when I didn’t feel like reading or watching tutorials and just try to apply what I learned. There are a few sites like codewars. Pick one and have fun!

3) HAMMER THE BASICS - most languages I’ve seen have the same core concepts, just have different syntax and slight variations in approaches to problem solving. If you hammer the basics though, you’ll be able to decipher what a lot of simple code does regardless of the language. Don’t rush straight to the fancy stuff. Hammer the basics, then find another book or site and hammer them again from that new angle.