The First Beard-o-gram: Three Tips for New Coders
The Very First Beard-o-gram!
Welcome to my first newsletter! I'm incredibly honored that you subscribed. I was legitimately surprised at the response I got when I made the announcement of my newsletter. Thank you for that. It means a lot.
A One-Time Extended Intro
One of my core principles, something I try to follow in every aspect of my life, even when it gets me in trouble or leads to bad consequences, is to be honest. I want to be honest with you about what purposes this newsletter will serve.
First, this newsletter will be a forcing function to help propel me to write even more. It is very easy to think a lot of thoughts, more difficult to do work through them and build them. Knowing that I have an audience that wants some of my work before it's available to the public will help to keep me honest and working hard.
Second, and I'll pull no punches about it, I will use this newsletter to build an audience to sell some of the things I work on. These products might be courses, apps, workshops, books, etc. I promise to not abuse this community for that purpose. My hope is that you'll never feel lambasted with a sales pitch. Rather, you'll recognize that I did some hard work, am proud of what I built, and believe that it's worth something to others.
Lastly, I want to continue to build up my network. Networks are useful and powerful tools and anyone can benefit from getting over the stigma that they only serve selfish purposes. One of my favorite things about having a bigger network is that I am able to connect people who can help each other out. It brings me joy to help people in this way. As I get to know all of you, I'll have my ears and eyes out for opportunities to help.
3 Tips For People Learning to Code
FYI, what I share in the newsletter will be the foundation for future blog posts.
While at a React Rally after party, some strangers shared a table with me, Chris Ball and Gabe Ricard. One of these strangers, Kevin, overheard us talking about JavaScript and got really excited. He politely interrupted us and asked what tips we had for changing careers and getting into programming. Gabe named dropped Second Career Devs on my behalf, and I shared the best tips I could come up with on the spot. Perhaps you'll find them useful or can share them with a friend who will.
1. Be Ready to Bang Your Head Against a Wall
Learning to code requires a lot of persistence. The only way you'll gain the skills to make the career change is to have the gumption and stubbornness to push through those times where you feel completely and utterly stuck. Sticking with it, and overcoming the challenge before you, is the only way to achieve your goals.
A guitar player is not ashamed to play the same chords over and over again in order to learn a new song or skill. Don't be afraid to write the same code over and over again until you completely get it. Don't be afraid to read that tutorial three, four, five or more times to understand it fully. That's how you make breakthroughs and start heading for your next wall.
2. Be Ready to Constantly Cycle Through Feeling Like a Genius and Feeling Like a Dumb Ass
Every programmer out there is familiar with feeling like a genius one moment, and a complete dumb ass the next. This cycle repeats continually throughout one's career. The difference is, those who have done the cycle a lot come to embrace it and no longer fear it.
Being a developer means going through waves of competency and struggle. As painful as the downswings might be, it's a clear indicator of previous growth. Being aware of this phenomenon, and mentally prepared to handle it, will keep the bad parts of the cycle from crushing you. Awareness also has the benefit of keeping you humble while on your next upswing.
3. It's Probably Going to Take Longer Than You Thought
We've all heard the story of so-and-so who was able to change their life entirely three months, went from minimum wage to six-figure salaries over night, all by learning to code.
This is the exception, not the rule.
The rule is you will in all likelihood, eventually make a pretty good salary. The rule is you will likely get benefits you enjoy and find some decent challenges to overcome. But it often doesn't happen over night.
I think you should expect to put in about a year and a half of solid coding, that is doing some amount of coding, deliberate practice, most days for that time. It's not that you're not smart enough or capable enough sooner, but that a year and a half is about the amount of time it often takes to be comfortable enough with your new skills to pass an interview, build up enough projects to prove your new skills, and probably build up a network enough to even have places to apply. Be patient with yourself. You can do this.
Beard Strokes
Thoughts that I think are worth sharing that came to me while stroking my beard, of course.
Some of you might know already, but for those of you who don't, before I was a programmer, I was a pastor. You can read more details about that story here. When I was a pastor, I used to dread having to speak to a brand new audience, but probably for a reason you wouldn't suspect.
I have no fear of public speaking, in fact, I enjoy it. I do have fear about publicly speaking irresponsibly.
As a pastor, it was my duty to prepare sermons that didn't just teach people something, but taught my specific congregation something they specifically needed to hear. This required being tuned into the people I was serving. It meant consistently talking with them and listening to their needs and desires. It meant having an awareness that you just can't have without knowing your audience well.
Today, I feel that same feeling. I want to serve you all responsibly. I want to be an effective communicator and teacher, sharing things that you need and want to read and hear.
There are a few challenges we need to overcome together to accomplish this. First, I need to know you a bit better. Feel free to send me an email or a DM on Twitter, something where I can learn your story a little bit. Second, I need you all to be aware that while I tried to teach lessons that spoke to my congregation, it often meant not targeting each person's individual, specific needs. I will try as this newsletter goes on to share valuable and worthwhile things, whether they are blog posts, teaching materials, other writings, videos, etc., but there may come a week where I fail you specifically. I ask you to keep the group in mind when that is the case.
For now, while I'm still acquiring a greater awareness of this community, I will be sharing things that I find useful and interesting and early versions of all the work that I am doing. I hope that they will speak to you and be worthy of your time.
-Kyle
If you liked this, make sure to subscribe, follow me on Twitter, buy me lunch or coffee, and share this with others.
👋 Hey there! I'm Kyle Shevlin, a front end JavaScript engineer living in wonderful Portland, Oregon with my wife and two cats. I'm an instructor for egghead.io and the creator and host of the Second Career Devs podcast. I'm really glad you read my newsletter and hope we can connect some time. Thanks!