Why Is It So Hard To Learn How To Code Now?
If you're trying to learn how to code as an absolute beginner, you might have noticed it's not very clear where you should start.
Go ahead, try Googling "learn to code absolute beginner" or something similar, and have a read of what you find. We'll wait.
Did you find what you were looking for? I bet the answer is no.
Sorry about that. This is our fault. By "our" I mean people who are already in the industry. We're the reason you're finding it so hard to get started.
You see, throughout the last couple of decades, we've managed to make coding look harder than it really is. And we don't mean look "hard" in a Hollywood movie kind of way:
No, sadly the reality is far more boring: we've changed the way coding works to make our lives easier, but this makes it harder for beginners.
We weren't trying to make life miserable for you, honest, we had no choice. Over the last couple of decades, we've used computer code to run more of the world. A technology once reserved for things like banking, airlines and space travel is now likely to be showing you tweets, memes, and encouraging online arguments.
This forced computer coding languages to become more complex because believe it or not, it takes more computer code to show you videos of cats on your phone that it does to send a rocket to the moon.
To counteract this, we've been making small changes to the way coding works over the years since. These changes made it easier for people who can already code to achieve more, but the cost is that those same changes have made learning coding nearly incomprehensible to newcomers.
Let's take a look at an example of some modern day code. Ok granted, it doesn't actually look just like this:
But Hollywood's depiction is still inspired by the reality. And the reality is that it DOES look something like this:
What you are seeing here is code that has been designed to make life easier for an already experienced programmer to work on. It's not really been designed with a beginner in mind.
Indeed, to a complete beginner, there's not THAT much difference between this and the raining Matrix code. Sure, we can see words we KIND of recognise, but they don't mean anything in the way they're being used here. It's not exactly bedtime reading, look what happens if we try:
Ugh. Well to be fair it could help you get to sleep I guess.
This is the current state of the industry. Those already in the know are having a great time. Have you seen how much some of them get paid? It would make your eyes bleed. But aspiring programmers are practically shut out of the industry to make life easier for those who are already in it.
It's really hard to teach this kind of coding to a beginner. Some folks have tried to make it more fun by gamifying the whole thing, splitting it up into tiny little challenges where you win points and virtual medals and other such in-game prizes.
We find that this does make you feel good when you win stuff, but the problem is you're feeling good for the wrong reasons. The content of the lessons themselves can sometimes be a bit too simple:
If this approach works for you, great, you are one of the lucky ones. It seems to be the current standard for teaching coding, and there are tons of websites that will teach you in this way. Go find one of them, and send them lots of presents.
For the rest of you, this is why we created Secrets of Coding. Some people want to learn without the game gimmicks, but in a way that is still fun.
That is the aim of this website: To teach absolute beginners how to code in a way that is fun, because it's way easier that way.
When we say "absolute beginner" that's exactly what we mean. You won't need any prior knowledge of computer programming. The only equipment required is a PC, which you are hopefully using right now to read this page. (If you are reading this on your phone then put the phone down and get to your computer now!). Everything else you need will be on this website.
If this all sounds good to you, click the button below to continue. On the next page we'll explain more about how this works.
See you on the next page :)