Code the Change — 200 OK 2018

I wanted to make a mobile app

In the recording: 0:19–0:36.

I wanted to make a mobile app. Last year I started learning how to code, and in January we released our free mobile app that helps people grow food. It's called From Seed to Spoon.

Get inspired

In the recording: 1:20–1:41 · 2:19–2:28.

For me, I was inspired because I wanted to build an app, but that was only part of it. I had to have that inspiration to learn how to code. For me, coding had always been this mountain that I had tried to learn in college. It was this thing that had stuck with me that I didn't want to try and do again until I felt like I had the time to learn how to code.

A mentor’s gonna help guide you along your path. They're gonna help answer any questions that you have. They're gonna help review your code and encourage you along the way.

Learn the foundational principles

In the recording: 2:28–2:52 · 3:09–3:22.

The first step after you have your mentor is to learn the foundational principles. I've learned a lot of this in the past in some of those college courses, so I understood variables. I understood loops, things like that, but I didn't understand this whole JavaScript landscape. I came from desktop application world for the first 10 years of my career. That's what I understood. It was VB6 stuff. It was very different from what I do now.

The next step from there is you need to find a framework, and the mentor is gonna help you with this part. You don't want to obsess over this part. The framework is going to help you build whatever it is you're looking to build. For me, I wanted to build a mobile app.

Listening to podcasts

In the recording: 4:00–4:38.

I've learned that I need to get away from a computer from time to time, but my brain still wants to think about coding when I do that. One way that I can help with that is do podcasts. Syntax is one of my favorites. There's a lot of podcasts out there. That's what I do when I'm out in the garden. A lot of time I'm out there, I'm listening to podcasts while I'm out working.

Another thing I did is I found people on Twitter that I've learned from. I follow them on Twitter, and I immerse myself in this world of trying to learn everything they're learning about.

I was on a mission

In the recording: 5:06–5:41.

I had plenty of time to be able to learn how to code. I just didn't realize it. I was spending a lot of time before playing video games and doing things like that. I was on a mission. I wanted to build something, and I was able to find time to do that if I just looked around.

A lot has changed. When I tried to learn in college it was C++. It was a lot of doing things on your own. These frameworks make it very easy to get going. With Ionic there was a whole UI library of grids and buttons and tabs and all these things I could go pull the code from and just plug it in, and it got me rolling.

Walking away

In the recording: 6:24–6:55 · 7:04–7:19.

In the past when I got stuck in a problem I would continue to try and solve it, stay on it all day, and if I didn't solve it by the end of the day you did not want to be around me. I was in a miserable mood. I learned that if you just walk away from a problem, now you want to give it a shot, spend about an hour on a problem, and if I haven't figured out I'll get up and I'll walk away. I'll go out in the garden. I'll use another part of my brain that does something different, just something mindless like washing the dishes or something like that. Inevitably something pops into my head, an idea.

Along the same lines, don't get stuck. I try not to get stuck in a problem for more than an hour before I either walk away or reach out to one of my teammates or mentors for help. Don't obsess over picking a language and framework. This held me back for a long time because I was so scared to choose the wrong one and that I'd be stuck.

Code some every day

In the recording: 7:30–8:15.

Another thing is code some every day. In the beginning I only like to code if I had four or five hours that I knew I could devote to building something cool. Code a little bit every day, and that really helps immerse yourself and get you even more familiar with the syntax, especially when you're first starting out, because it's just like learning a language. The more time that you spend in it, the easier it's gonna be to remember it.

Lastly, fight through imposter syndrome because it's real. I still experience it all the time where I think I'm not good enough, I'm not talented enough, or I can't figure something out. There's people all throughout here that will be willing to help you. I'm one of them. Reach out to me if you need help with something.