It can be an intimidating experience for beginners when they start learning how to code. Buying lots of learning resources like books and online courses and coming across free lectures and resources can all be very exciting โ especially at the start. You want to grab any and all information you can get and you’re excited about using your skills to land that dream job.
However, after some months, you begin to notice that your strategy maybe isn’t taking you closer to actually becoming a skilled programmer. You’re taking in lots of information, but you have a nagging feeling of stagnancy. This might be because you’re making mistakes during your learning process. This article will address some of these common mistakes and will hopefully help you in your journey to become a Python coder.
Spend Time Researching Instead Of Writing Code
Beginners tend to get confused and end up conducting too much research on languages, frameworks and technologies. This is a very common mistake during the learning stage. Yes, it is advisable to conduct research on languages and frameworks, but conducting over-analysis on technologies will not help you in the long run. Always keep in mind that you cannot learn Python or any other language without actually getting your hands dirty. The learning process has to include practice. You have to write the code – not just read about it.
Failing To Check the Workings Of Written Code
A handful of beginners are guilty of making this mistake. They will write code for applications, but forget to constantly check it. When they try to run the application or file later, they may encounter errors. This can be very frustrating as they potentially won’t even know where the problem originated from.
The best thing to do is to regularly check the working of the code to ensure that the feature being implemented is behaving in the correct way. Regular checkup of the behavior of your code will make it easier to debug a problem. However, when you let it pile up, you might have to address a scenario with multiple problems that are intertwined โ which will then affect the application in its entirety.
Coding In Isolation
There are beginners that don’t interact with programming communities or other developers. This is one mistake you should try to avoid at all costs. It is always preferable that you communicate with the programming community so you can learn from experienced professionals.
Reddit, Stackoverflow and others are online platforms that not only help in offering solutions to coding problems, but also help to teach the most ideal coding approaches to anyone willing to learn. For example, if you’re on a Python for Data Science course, you will need all of the assistance you can get to remain on the right track.
Collaboration with other programmers and trading your knowledge with them is an indication of a good programmer. Try to remain active on online platforms. Don’t be apprehensive about going to organized events or commenting on the online platforms. Being a part of the coding conversation and working on projects with programmers remains one of the most effective ways of improving and building your skills.
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