I have school and I have language studies and guitar as hobby, and since they take up a big portion of my time, I’m wondering what you guys think would be the bare minimum of time spend learning how to code. Is there a minimum amount of time people should take in a day to learn coding? If so, how long should it be?
Any responses are welcome
I don’t think there is anyone that can really answer that question. People are different, we learn things at a different pace. This is why classroom teaching often fails at providing enough support or challenge for individual students.
I will say a little work every day goes a long way. It might not seem like it at first but if you do something often enough, even if just for a short time, it adds up.
Do you think 30 minutes to an hour a day is enough? With school and hobbies it’s hard to find more time
Personally, I do believe doing something every day for short amounts of time is a good way to learn. It might seem easy at first, but doing it every day takes a lot of discipline. Also, taking a day off every now and then is a good idea, otherwise, you will just burn out.
As you start creating personal projects (if they hook you) you will often find yourself having to forcefully take breaks, not the other way around.
Thanks mate, I appreciate the help. Hopefully I can form good habits
Fully agree with @lasjorg that a little work every day is good. If you go at the “learning new stuff” for hours and hours, for most people that isn’t going to work. You won’t remember anything. It might feel like you’re learning if you steam through the curriculum. But if what you are going through is all brand-new, when you wake the next day, it’s likely that you’re just going to have forgotten all but the last couple of the things you did.
However, doing projects (ie applying what you’ve learned) – that you can do as much as you want. If you use the concepts you’ve learned, that will cement that knowledge in your brain (and make clear the things you need to learn more about). Like your learning guitar – you can practise a song over and over again, and it’s going to make chords and finger positioning and techniques you’ve learned stick. The learning bit – take it steady in little chunks. The practise bit – do as much as you can.
There is a system called spaced repetition which seems to work really well: there are many detailed explanations of it online, here’s one
Not all people are equivalent. Not all time is equal. Different parts of the learning process will be different.
When you “spend time” on something, how much of that time is truly focused? How long does it take you to switch gears and be “in the zone”? How easily distracted are you? How frequently can you dedicate time?
Different parts of your learning process will place different demands on you. In the early phases, you’ll probably do well with frequent and smallish sessions. When you’re mostly learning new vocabulary and concepts, you don’t want to overwhelm yourself. When you’re working on solving tough problems or building a project, you will probably need both more time and more focus.
Basically, it’s very much the same as your language studies or guitar. Consistency is key, but if you only ever dabble for half an hour at a time it will be hard to acheive significant skill increases.
I think I catch what you’re saying. I’m planning a typical 30 minutes session a day. with an extended 1-2 hour session for serious projects or hard projects. I’ll try this out. It’s a bit challenging, but I need to discipline myself. Thanks a lot
Sounds like a plan. Happy coding!