How long does it take to learn to code?

Key Takeaways

when i was a wee lad learning to code i wanted to know how long it would take me could i realistically make the time commitment to do it and when would be a good benchmark as for when i should start to feel like ready to apply for jobs i didn't need a bloody specific answer just some indication of how long it would take and yet i was always met with answers like well you know how long is a piece of string or it depends no that wasn't helpful to me that is why i'm here today to share with you that it takes about two or three hours a day for anywhere between six and nine months to become a proficient developer somebody who can build applications independently without help and somebody who has these skills and a good chance i think of getting an entry level say junior developer job where you can continue to learn and actually get paid to learn as well with that said there will always be outliers i'm talking about really impressive developers who learn to code and get a job in three or four months because it is actually so impressive they tend to write about their experience these stories tend to make the rounds on social media and that's cool we can learn from them and we can draw inspiration but but don't use them as a benchmark to compare yourself against as that's bound to be frustrating now if you came here for an answer and you're tempted to click off i just want to leave you with one very important piece of advice before you embark on this coding journey and that is to remember you don't necessarily have to go fast you just can't give up learning to code is a marathon not a sprint and those kind of success stories although they can be inspiring sort of sets a false expectation that can run into reality and sort of trip you and make you fail you have to remember we are all different people with different starting points different interests different aptitudes different proclivities everybody has slightly different end goals it's important i think to have a benchmark but try and avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others and except you're on your own path it sounds a little bit soft but many new developers make this mistake and it crushes their enthusiasm learning to code is a marathon not a sprint now if you're still here and you're wondering where i got this estimate from well i'm fortunate to host the scrimba podcast a place where i interview newly hired coders about how they found success so i asked them quite plainly how long did it take you from sort of writing your first line of code to finding a job and the sort of average i've arrived at is about six to nine months but again we're all a little bit different aren't we frederick for example he learned to code in three months which is incredibly impressive kristoff on the other hand took a little bit longer i think about a year and a half on and off because kristoff was learning alongside his full-time job sort of cramming in hours tired hours mind you after already working a tiring job and did it on the side frederick took a different approach where they sort of created an opportunity for themselves where they could focus on learning to code all day every day almost like it's a full-time job neither approach is better right they're just different and dependent on their circumstances but what they did have in common is that they use scrimba an online coding school where our vision is to offer you a stanford level education for the price of a gym membership or all three we have a lot of free modules as well if you're brand new to web development check out these free free modules if you are serious about your coding goals this is where frederick for example embarked on the front end developer career path which aims to make you a proficient developer in as short of a period of time as possible by ensuring you're learning the right things and getting hands-on and actually building projects that put your programming and coding skills to use to wrap up here i want to introduce you to a segment in which we're going to cover three of the best ways to ensure that you learn to code quickly it doesn't matter if you're learning on scrimber or nods number one set a specific coding goal you probably search something like how long does it take to code or how to code and that sort of phrasing is perfect because it got you here to this starting point but now is the time actually to ask yourself and reflect what kind of coding do you want to be doing like do you want to build websites that are interactive and more like apps do you want to build landing pages for businesses in your local area do you want to build desktop apps android apps ios apps maybe you want to be a game developer or code robots and iot type devices choosing your specific end goal will help inform you what specific coding technologies to learn next it can be helpful to consider what kind of work you're interested in be that a full-time job a freelance opportunity or maybe you want to turn your side project dreams into reality by coding them yourself if you put this together you should have a more specific goal like i want to become a full-time junior web developer and with that in mind you can find a more specific coding resource and hopefully feel more motivated to achieve your goal as very few people actually aspire to code but rather to like you know bring something to life or solve interesting problems or contributes to a meaningful company and app this unlocks a sense of purpose and freedom and a high salary and an opportunity to work from anywhere you know really digging into what motivates you will help you propel through this marathon number two take your time there probably won't be this like magical moment where you're like oh my god i know how to code now it just doesn't happen like that it sneaks up on you and this is kind of a good and a bad thing it's good because you'll probably be making more progress than you think of when you feel but it's bad because you might not be able to measure how far you've really come and that can be a softly motivating feeling remember everybody's a little bit different and you need to do things at a pace that works for you if you try and sprint a marathon you will collapse i'm telling you i've tried actually i used to like um run slower in the shade so i could be cooler for longer and then i would sprint a bit faster in like the sunny parts and you sort of plan like your nutrition and what water you bring the point i'm getting at ultimately is that you shouldn't compare yourself with others in the race and you should think only how to achieve your goal which is to cross that finish line and become a developer it might take a little bit of time but the only sure way to fail is to stop finally number three remember to try your best to learn the right things as you can imagine the more time you spend learning to code and practice encoding the faster you will find success what that doesn't account for is if you are going in the wrong direction especially when you take a sort of self-directed route so you might just find the odd youtube video or book or tutorial here it's possible that you sort of learn the theory or you learn very specific parts of the language or of a coding language or of a particular technology but you struggle to see how they all come together the best way to circumvent this is to find an industry proven curriculum so obviously if you go to university for example you will be pretty much guaranteed to learn the fundamentals of computing and how to code computers at a professional level obviously it you know takes a lot of time and money and that's why at scrimba we have also developed a curriculum that ensures you're learning the right things even if you're not using scrimba the best thing i can recommend to you is to build your projects because at the end of the day you're doing this to you know do a freelance project for someone get a full-time job contributing to an app or maybe build your own app or website to generate revenue right like a source side project if you build projects as a way to practice even simple ones you pretty much guarantee you're moving in the right direction and not bogging yourself down with theory so there you have it it typically takes somebody two to three hours a day for six to nine months to learn to code but some people will be faster like frederick because they have a certain circumstance frederick also by the way had a lot of experience in higher education so he'd really understood how to develop a study schedule and and make things stick in his own mind you know kristoff on the other hand he had other commitments and had to do it on the side that's really impressive in its own right and it took a little bit longer than the expected range what i'm sort of offering here is something down the middle to give you an idea about what sort of time commitment you would need to make if that's viable and if you're maybe a little bit down this journey you might be wondering you know how much longer do you have as i mentioned you might have made more progress than you even really think as it's not always easy to measure your own developments if you have made it this far in the video please do us at scrimba a favor and subscribe to the channel we don't just upload videos about getting started we also create content around sort of learning efficiently and how to as a self-taught developer without a computer science degree how to then position yourself for the best chance of success in your career we do lots of collaborations with industry recruiters hiring managers and so on and you can also check out the scrimba podcast which i mentioned at the beginning if you're looking for another video something to just watch next check out the video you see on screen right now i've been alex burke from scrimba thank you so much for watching [Music]