6 Life Lessons From a Self Taught Programmer

As they say, learn from what you are doing, Programming journey is all about ups and downs and a roller coaster ride. But, this journey has multiple life lessons that one can experience and make their personal and professional life better. Learnings might be different for different people, but what matters is you implement them in your life and become better than what you were yesterday. Below are a few life lessons that I have learned from this amazing programming journey.

Never Give Up

It does not matter in which field you are or what you want to do, there is one mantra that you should not forget ever - “Never Give Up”. In programming, you might come across a lot of obstacles that might force you to quit what you are doing. But, sticking to it until you get it done, is the attitude you need. Even while working on various projects, if you get stuck with some error that you are not able to find a solution for, you might think to give up and stop working on that project. But, once you give up, trust me, you will never pass that barrier in your whole life. Don’t quit, take breaks, but keep going. Isn’t that what’s Life? No matter what problems you face, but you have to keep going.

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“Winners never quit, and quitters never win”

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Planning is the Key

Well, even if we go for a simple ride down in the town, we plan things, right? Thus, planning is an important part of our lives. As a programmer, it is necessary to have a plan, to have a schedule, to have a roadmap to follow. You need to list down what you want to do, you need a plan on how to do. Trust me, this will make your work pretty easy and smooth. For example, if you are developing an application, we will first need an action plan, such as which technologies to use, design the UI, have a project structure, and then start with the coding plan. Similarly, in our lives, we have to plan for every small thing, without a plan, it can turn out to be a disaster. But again, planning is not enough, execution is! Thus, it does not matter how good your plan is if you can execute it, it’s a waste. But if you have a good plan which you intend to follow, your execution will be smooth and obstacles will be quite less.

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“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

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Mistakes are Secret Key to Success

If you don’t make mistakes, then are you sure you are doing it right?🤔 There are many people who are scared of mistakes or making mistakes but trust me, you won’t learn unless you make one. For example, while coding in Java, you won’t know that every statement ends with a semicolon unless you miss one and you get an error. So, next time, you will be extra careful. Similarly, in real life, unless you don’t drink hot milk and burn yourself, you won’t know what is the exact safe temperature to drink the milk. The moral is, mistakes lead to learning, that learning leads to fewer mistakes in the future, and that eventually makes you successful.

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“The greatest mistake that a man can ever make is to be afraid of making one”

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It’s All About Problem Solving

Well, problems are the backbone of our journey to success. Problems are what give your confidence, experience, fighting spirit, and a lot of learning. Just think of it, if there would be no problems in your life, Oh, that sounds like a fairy tale. But, this tale is nothing but a meaningless void. Problems are what makes you a man, they make you what you are today. Problems are not obstacles, the problem is an opportunity to level up. Facing and solving problems help you get better, think better, do better. Then it does not matter whether it's programming or your life.

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“Problems are not stopping signs, they are guidelines”

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You Have to Learn By Yourself

You will have to learn to do things by yourself. Not every time you will have someone to take your hand and teach you things. You will have to find your own way, you will have to create a path for yourself, you will have to find resources from where you can gain knowledge. Well, you will have to learn how to become a self-taught developer. You will have to be your own teacher and do things. Similarly, in our lives we have to learn by ourselves, we have to learn to survive, No one will do that for us. You will have to find stuff to learn, to be better, since in our field learning never ends.

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“Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching ”

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Be Consistent

If you want to become a master at something, you will have to be consistent at it. If you want to become a master at coding, you will have to be consistent. Coding for a few hours a day won’t be enough. You will have to dedicate a minimum of 10 hours a day on doing something daily, and eventually, you will get better and get your hands on it. Everything takes time, nothing is constant, there is no shortcut. You should focus on your process rather than the result. And that’s life. You will have to be consistent with what you do whether it is your personal life or your professional life.

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“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. ”