Pretty good article discussing the path for getting in to coding? Some really good points. Let me just say this…if you don’t ‘need’ to learn a language, or how to program it is twice as difficult. It is like learning French in Junior High School, what’s the point?

A couple of years ago I bought a VW Transporter to restore. [I actually traded an old PowerBook for it.] The drive train was in the worse condition…which meant I couldn’t drive it, while doing the restoration work. Long story short - It sat in my garage collecting dust for two years.

The point of the story is, if your effort isn’t something you can enjoy on a daily basis - you’ll probably not see it through to the end.

How does this translate learning to code? Open Source software offers an incredible opportunity for anyway with time and energy to get involved. It might not be in the code right off the bat, but as you learn the language and engineering basics you can pick it up. Open Source projects also offer an informal/indirect mentoring program…especially the good ones. Look around for something that you can “drive” everyday and see the rewards of.

The technicalities of software engineering will come - as long as you stay interested.