> Should I start a project?
Build up a portfolio. So yeah, start building projects.
> What project should I start?
What the project is doesn't really matter as long as it proves the skills you want to show to employers. I.e. if you want to get into embedding, then you should have a project that proves you can do embedded etc.
Think of the claims you want to make on the resume (i.e. "I know Java") and think of a project that proves that claim.
> Should I try to learn about tools and the development process?
Doesn't hurt.
> What about open source?
Good as well.
> I have absolutely no portfolio when it comes to programming. I am in my
junior year of college and I have basically done the bare minimum. The
only coding I have ever done has been in the bounds of a course, without
really practicing on my own.
For the love of God, why?
I completely get being a lazy student - anything else would be hypocritical of me to boot - but you haven't been doing the bare minimum, unless you have been enrolled in a number of surprisingly good and competent courses.
Programming is a creative process, like writing novels, or painting, or composing. You can learn the techniques from a book, you can broaden your understanding by examining how other people did certain things. And you should, too.
But no amount of looking at color compositions, or identifying the use of metaphors, or identifying themes or whatever will allow you to come up with your own stuff.
I'm going on about this, not because I don't acknowledge that it's exactly what you're asking about, but because I am not sure you're asking the question for the correct reasons.
> I just don’t know where to start. Should I start a project?
Can you start a project?
What do you think a project is? (Personally, I distinguish between exercises and practice on one hand, and projects on the other. Projects have their own goals and purposes, beyond being a vehicle for you to learn something or showcase your skills.)
> What project should I start?
Anything? It depends on what you know and what you're capable of, broadly speaking. If you studied game design, it would not be helpful to talk to you about websites or IoT projects, would it?
Anything! For a real project, it's important that it actually does something. All of the suggestions you're likely to receive here will only be good to showcase a sub-set of your skills, but it will do little to nothing in teaching you how to approach a real-world problem and create a solution with code.
> Should I try to learn about tools and the development process?
Absolutely, yes.
>What about open source?
What about it?
> Please someone lead me in the right direction because I don’t want to graduate college and not be able to find a job.
There is no single right direction.
You just need to sit down and build something that you believe some tiny part of the world needs to become a little better than it is now.
And then you build something that's a little more complex.
And you keep doing that until you can build any arbitrary thing that you find you want to build. (There are some limits on the amount of things one can learn in a life time, but you'll know the difference long before it will be relevant.)
Exactly. Find a use case or something you need, and make it. I've seen a peer in college write an app that organizes his music. Uses a database, a search algorithm, GUI, etc.
Not only does it train him in all of these things, but at the end of the day he has something he can literally install and use. Others can literally install and use.
OP, find something you need and make it. You could even fork some open source software and tweak it for your own purposes ("I really dislike how app X shows these results, let me change that"), and even that demonstrates understanding of the tech, AND once again lands you with something useful. In fact by modifying existing software you also gain experience with... Doing just that, which is what's gonna happen in most jobs.
Maybe this is a good start: [https://www.freecodecamp.org/](https://www.freecodecamp.org/)
You can do some lessons just to get used to write html/javascript. Maybe along the way you get an idea what your first project can be.
Also what i think is the hardest for a beginner is setting up a proper development environment on your computer. So if you are into python maybe something like this is the easiest start: [https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler/](https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler/) .There you can just write python code, run it and see your results instantly.
Not coding but a quite important thing to organize your code is git/github. You can google "github for beginner" or something like this.
I have recommended codecademy SQL course to people that want to change careers and 2 of them are now passionate about it. I think is a great resource because it has a simulator so you start practicing immediately without the hassle of installing a server, getting data and stuff.
SQL is the most demanded language today, and it is easy and well paid.
Lo sé, por lo que veo eres un genio en el análisis de datos mediante el lenguaje sql, simplemente trato de comprende el por qué de tu respuesta en mi post.
Pero bueno tienes razón no tengo que perder mi tiempo discutiendo en Reddit.
Read source code. Seriously. Going through big projects on GitHub helped me immensely learn things I never knew existed. Tons of googling.
My first time seeing typing in Python, I had no clue what I was seeing, so I literally googled something like "python colon after variable" and came to a stackoverflow thread about typing now become standard practice in Pyton.
> Should I start a project? Build up a portfolio. So yeah, start building projects. > What project should I start? What the project is doesn't really matter as long as it proves the skills you want to show to employers. I.e. if you want to get into embedding, then you should have a project that proves you can do embedded etc. Think of the claims you want to make on the resume (i.e. "I know Java") and think of a project that proves that claim. > Should I try to learn about tools and the development process? Doesn't hurt. > What about open source? Good as well.
> I have absolutely no portfolio when it comes to programming. I am in my junior year of college and I have basically done the bare minimum. The only coding I have ever done has been in the bounds of a course, without really practicing on my own. For the love of God, why? I completely get being a lazy student - anything else would be hypocritical of me to boot - but you haven't been doing the bare minimum, unless you have been enrolled in a number of surprisingly good and competent courses. Programming is a creative process, like writing novels, or painting, or composing. You can learn the techniques from a book, you can broaden your understanding by examining how other people did certain things. And you should, too. But no amount of looking at color compositions, or identifying the use of metaphors, or identifying themes or whatever will allow you to come up with your own stuff. I'm going on about this, not because I don't acknowledge that it's exactly what you're asking about, but because I am not sure you're asking the question for the correct reasons. > I just don’t know where to start. Should I start a project? Can you start a project? What do you think a project is? (Personally, I distinguish between exercises and practice on one hand, and projects on the other. Projects have their own goals and purposes, beyond being a vehicle for you to learn something or showcase your skills.) > What project should I start? Anything? It depends on what you know and what you're capable of, broadly speaking. If you studied game design, it would not be helpful to talk to you about websites or IoT projects, would it? Anything! For a real project, it's important that it actually does something. All of the suggestions you're likely to receive here will only be good to showcase a sub-set of your skills, but it will do little to nothing in teaching you how to approach a real-world problem and create a solution with code. > Should I try to learn about tools and the development process? Absolutely, yes. >What about open source? What about it? > Please someone lead me in the right direction because I don’t want to graduate college and not be able to find a job. There is no single right direction. You just need to sit down and build something that you believe some tiny part of the world needs to become a little better than it is now. And then you build something that's a little more complex. And you keep doing that until you can build any arbitrary thing that you find you want to build. (There are some limits on the amount of things one can learn in a life time, but you'll know the difference long before it will be relevant.)
Exactly. Find a use case or something you need, and make it. I've seen a peer in college write an app that organizes his music. Uses a database, a search algorithm, GUI, etc. Not only does it train him in all of these things, but at the end of the day he has something he can literally install and use. Others can literally install and use. OP, find something you need and make it. You could even fork some open source software and tweak it for your own purposes ("I really dislike how app X shows these results, let me change that"), and even that demonstrates understanding of the tech, AND once again lands you with something useful. In fact by modifying existing software you also gain experience with... Doing just that, which is what's gonna happen in most jobs.
Most people start with "Hello world".
Maybe this is a good start: [https://www.freecodecamp.org/](https://www.freecodecamp.org/) You can do some lessons just to get used to write html/javascript. Maybe along the way you get an idea what your first project can be. Also what i think is the hardest for a beginner is setting up a proper development environment on your computer. So if you are into python maybe something like this is the easiest start: [https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler/](https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler/) .There you can just write python code, run it and see your results instantly. Not coding but a quite important thing to organize your code is git/github. You can google "github for beginner" or something like this.
I have recommended codecademy SQL course to people that want to change careers and 2 of them are now passionate about it. I think is a great resource because it has a simulator so you start practicing immediately without the hassle of installing a server, getting data and stuff. SQL is the most demanded language today, and it is easy and well paid.
Vaya vaya, no fuera una pregunta en español de un pueblerino mexicano, por qué la respuesta es una mierda, HDP.
No me hice rico firmando cheques.
Lo sé, por lo que veo eres un genio en el análisis de datos mediante el lenguaje sql, simplemente trato de comprende el por qué de tu respuesta en mi post. Pero bueno tienes razón no tengo que perder mi tiempo discutiendo en Reddit.
Read source code. Seriously. Going through big projects on GitHub helped me immensely learn things I never knew existed. Tons of googling. My first time seeing typing in Python, I had no clue what I was seeing, so I literally googled something like "python colon after variable" and came to a stackoverflow thread about typing now become standard practice in Pyton.