I’m a programmer. I learned to programme the hard way (teaching myself through a process of trial and error, mainly from examples in books and magazines) in the late 80s/early 90s, back when computers were still simple enough that a kid like me could pretty well understand them without much trouble.
My journey took a lot longer than it needed to, because I didn’t have a mentor and I didn’t know what I was doing. I also had the problem that there wasn’t so much great free software in those days and programming cost money — SDKs cost hundreds, and so did compilers.
The landscape today is vastly changed. There are so many incredible free (both open source and zero-dollar) tools for programmers that you don’t need any money to get started — just an internet connection. And the internet too — you have all of the resources you could possibly ask for just a mouse click away. The difference is just incredible, but it’s not any easier. In fact, all that choice, in some ways, makes it harder. With so much noise out there, how do you know who to listen to or what to read?
I want to try and lend my experience to the matter and hopefully help a few people along the way. I want to inspire and teach people to become programmers, because it is an incredible skill to have. What other skill can give you a spring-board to building an amazing business of your own, or for creating fantasy worlds that let millions of people escape from their daily worries, or that give other people tools to do their own jobs vastly better? Programming gives you that and more. (OK, so some other skills compare favourably, but that doesn’t take away from the greatness of programming).
I don’t have any materials yet, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I’m sure I want to do this. Over the next few months (early 2012) I want to write guides and maybe try my hand at recording a video or two. I’ll see how it works out. I want to make them free, of course, but I’ll probably need to find a way of funding them (unless something else works out in a seriously good way), so I might have to do some premium content. We shall see.
For now, if you want to talk, because you’re thinking similar things or because maybe you’re just starting out, you can contact me by email or on Twitter. I’m accessible, and happy to listen to you and share my own thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
Adrian