Computer science graduates come here

I am thinking of teaching myself how to code and what is the best way to learn? Going back to school ama Youtube and practice? What is the easiest program to start with? What is the learning curve? Is there any way I can use those skills to earn some money on the side?

You cannot code a vitz…

what are you currently doing? if working, what industry/what work do you do?

@Deorro ,kuja siadia hii kijana. Mimi maneno ya shule nilishindwa, since the day my son started skooling…masomo miingi utakua wazimu.

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I work in public health research. I have always used SPSS to analyse my data but recently someone introduced me to Stata and R and I regret why I didn’t start using them earlier. It is so exciting and it has interested me so much that if I could I would go back to school but due to time and travel constraints siezi rudi University. The above person is a BSc CS graduate and does data analysis consultancies on the side and yeye ndio ali suggest I do a CS course.

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Youtube

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Data analysis R na Python ziko sawa

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good. instead of trying to “learn to code”, try to become a data scientist, and see what new thing you need to learn to get you there.
check this article for more What is Data Science? 8 Skills That Will Get You Hired in Data | Udacity

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Siwes saidiana hapa. Mimi am learning languages mbili to for a specific option.
Watu wako better placed to advise ni @grandpa @TerribleWaste @jimmy_m @Vinde @vnv

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Learning curve ya R is very steep but nitang’ang’ana tu mpaka nijue.

Checkout https://www.freecodecamp.com/

You work through the free exercises they have, and join their community, for feedback help. They have communities in many parts of the world, including Kenya.

After you’ve worked on the lessons, you volunteer on some projects that help non-profits, build your portfolio, and can start getting some offers (based on the reviews by former students).

When I surveyed their curriculum, it seemed like if you’re consistent enough, you can complete it in 3 or 4 months.

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Mimi chenye naona grab a language, learn it to give you gripes on programming. When done with it anza zingine. Then while you progress you will learn others depending on how things change. Saying this juu watu kama @Nattydread walijifundisha na akina Fotran, COBOL etc but those languages are now kinda getting extinct and used in very few industries. Frameworks change. Once you know the basics learning a new language aint hard

In my day, from what I experienced, what school did was not teach you how to code (in-fact many instructors were not that proficient in the hands on stuff), but to give you a community of people who had similar goals that you could work with.

So if you just want to code, find people who already do it, for guidance, help etc…

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I’d upgrade this to, find a project you can build, then learn the languages you need. Or a resource that teaches learning by building a project.

It helps a lot with the motivation, as some books on languages just fill you with details about the language but you have no idea how to use them in the real world, and you can easily get bored/frustrated/demotivated.

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Thank you, this is very helpful.

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Yeah, wish I had it when I was just starting out. Would have saved me a lot of frustration and wasted effort.

On the language bit, najua a bit of mandarin, french, spanish, kikuyu, swahili na english,so languages I’m sorted. … Next

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Chart your path, low level programming, desktop, web or mobile. Look at the money to be made and don’t juggle. From my list you go to khan Academy and YT, choose your poison. C, java, python, php, rails depending on the first choices. Good luck. A craft is learnt by practice.

@Deorro kindly delete the double Posts. Niko waba mbaya.

Done