Skipping Ahead Can Cost You

Learn a programming language.

That is what they tell you when you first have that itch that you want to break into tech, considering its not the only option to get your foot in the door. While this advice is sound, it will lead you astray.

Programming languages are hard to learn. They are difficult to grasp and more often than not, people who dive head first into trying to learn them, quit. That is why to me, you should not skip ahead.

When I first started to break into tech, I was recommended to just start with Javascript. Forget about HTML and CSS because they were easy to learn, and I was told, “You could just learn them after.”

I ignored this advice because I don’t like skipping things that are important. So I started at the beginning. Once I was satisfied with my knowledge of HTML and CSS, I begin to learn Javascript.

And like I mentioned, it’s hard. It was tough for me to grasps the concepts and ultimately I quit trying to learn.

I was frustrated.

I was humiliated.

But the only thing that saved my journey was that I had come this far. I had learned HTML and CSS, so I knew I could do it.

And that is why I eventually succeeded, because I had followed this steps. Knowing the easier foundations gave me the confidence to pick Javascript back up again. If I just skipped straight to Javascript, I would have failed and never looked back.

So, start small.

If you want to learn UX/UI design, don’t just straight into architect or design. Try to educate yourself about Figma. If you want to be a Network Engineer, learn about the actually network, instead of trying to take a deep dive into Linux.

Build yourself up before you let the hard stuff completely tear you down!