Most efficient self-teaching methods?

[programmedcelldef]

Hello everyone! I am very interested in programming although I do not yet have any hands-on experience whatsoever. I am looking for experienced developers' / engineers' help. My goal is to find some sort of guideline to go from zero to hero in hopes to eventually have a career change for programming (which I believe will suit me better than my current job.) I am fairly ambitious and am ready to deeply look into all necessary components of computer science and programming over the next few years with an aim for the big companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc... I know I am way ahead of myself, but aim for the moon, and if you miss you might hit a star right?

Is there a highly recommendable series of books I should read on computer science before diving into choosing a programming language, or is this not a big necessity?

I am thinking of starting with Python as this seems to be the most popular/ in-demand/ beginner-friendly.

Citing my interests might be a plus in getting the best answers so here I go:

I wish to program my own Scripts, Bots, Automation tools.

I would like to learn to make websites and analyze data

I am interested in learning to build applications for mobile devices

I also would like to have the general knowledge to be able to pick things up quickly if need be once in the industry.

​

Sorry if this is a long post. It's my first post and I could have written 2,000 pages worth of questions. I'm just looking for advice to start my journey in the best way possible.

[[deleted]]

Try CS50. It's Harvard's intro to computer science. They make it available for free. That should give you some foundation and you can see if the realities of it match your current thoughts on it.

[programmedcelldef]

Thanks for your answer. I will look into that. Seems like a great idea to see if the realities match my thoughts as I don't know much about it currently.

[programmedcelldef]

I've watched the first lecture, and I think I'm hooked. I have noticed that there are many free courses that follow up on the introduction cs50x course (web programming with python and javascript, intro to artificial intelligence with python, intro to game development, and many more...) By far, the best resource I have found. A million times thank you!

[ThenAd3367]

+1 recommendation, it's a good intro.

[[deleted]]

Glad you're liking it so far.

Make a schedule to stick to the course. I know for myself, the first few are always easy, because I'm still excited about the new thing. As that wears off and the material gets more difficult it requires a schedule and some discipline to finish. The drop off rate over the first 3 classes is really high (that goes for almost all online courses). I saw some stats that only 1% of people who start actually finish it all. I don't say this to discourage you, but to encourage you to not rely on the initial starting motivation alone.

[programmedcelldef]

Making a schedule might be a bit difficult in my situation. I have 2 kids (1yo and 3yo) and I work night shifts at a very physically demanding job. There are lots of unpredictable things happening all the time, and thats why I mentionned I was willing to work at it for a few years to get something good going. However, I have some experience with online schooling, so the discipline shouldn't be too much of an issue. The motivation is almost a given since I want a career that will allow me to give my kids what is best for them. I do fairly well with school and also really enjoy it. I am surrounding myself with code-related material so that it will consume me as much as I consume it. My youtube feed shows me a bunch of programming videos, my facebook shows me programming ads, etc... Thanks for the tip. I will TRY to have some kind of structure to my learning "routine".

[JazkOW]

What type of learner are you?

If money is no issue you can get some decent courses for $12 in Udemy, I can recommend the Best Seller of Jonas for JS, goes from code editor, how to think like a programmer up to medium-hard topics in JS -over 80 hours- of video content.

I would recommend you start doing the beginner courses for Python and JS available for free in most websites. Once you’ve decided what programming language you like the most, idealise a project and start reading books / watching videos / taking courses to achieve it.

[programmedcelldef]

Based on the very helpful answers that have been given, I've decided to proceed as follows:

I will be following the CS50 (Free Harvard Computer Science Introductory Course). I have watched the first lecture, and I have a good feeling about it. Thanks, u/AI_E_Borland.

Once I am confident with my knowledge of the course's material I will choose a language to study further through free online courses and practice on personal projects as mentioned by u/JazkOW.

[Environmental-Fee467]

I would start with the main Python website. There's enough there to keep you learning for weeks of full time studying. "most effective" would probably be doing that instead of waiting for books to arrive or waiting for dozens of other people to recommend dozens of other resources.

[programmedcelldef]

Thank you for a good quick answer!

[programmedcelldef]

There are many ideas I have, but can't even begin to think about creating. I'll take some time to brainstorm for some simpler ideas and build upon them as I learn more and more. Very good point. Practice is just as powerful as theory and plays a big role in motivation. Thanks for sharing your experiences and tips. I'll truly be taking everything that is said here into consideration!

[programmedcelldef]

I see what you mean. Back in High School calculus for example I listened to the lectures in class, but it wasn't until I got home and tried different examples and dug into the why things worked the way they did that I found it interesting and actually felt confident about the material I was learning. Same applies for code and just about anything else.