I feel coding is the language of the future. If you can't speak it, you'll be like a deaf person or a muggle among wizards. I see some suggestions have already been given here like Code Academy. Here are a few more:
- Harvard classes like cs50x
- Bento
- Pluralsight
- Code Avengers
- Udemy
If you're just wanting to get the very, very basics in terms of if tests, for loops, etc, you might want to start with Scratch. I built some games with my son and had a blast with it. The first game we made was a race car game.
Okay, and now for the tough love. Branching out on a new career is something you should do from a position of strength, IMO. You should have a solid job, savings, and life in general in a pretty stable place. Those who are successful take calculated risks, not crazy ones. If I were in your position, I'd get a stable job first, pay down debt, and get some savings together. From there, I'd start working nights and weekends to learn something new. I'd start building basic HTML web pages for friends for free. From there I might branch out to doing more complex things like a simple database driven website. Eventually, start charging for your work and look into a local program like this one we have in Nashville: http://nashvillesoftwareschool.com/ Even if you end up getting into a more backend language like python, knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will always be helpful.
Good luck, Graham. Let me know if I can help in any way. Also, you may enjoy this keynote I gave about turning your code into a company.
Thanks Luke. Yeah, I am definitely not just jumping off the cliff. As I mentioned earlier I am still working two jobs and interviewing for another teaching at a new school today. I left my previous full time because of horrible coworker work ethic and bad management. I think my posts tend to give the image that I am not doing anything regular, but that is not the case. Going to be studying when I can.
Advice much appreciated.
Excellent to hear. I guess I was just thinking about the drinking tour of the Japanese dive bar district. hahah! It's funny how our online sharing only gives very small glimpses into who we are. Glad you got out of a bad work situation, and you've got some things lined up. I hope the interview goes well.
Right! I had a YouTube viewer ask me if all I do is walk around and drink beer all day. Lol. That said, I certainly have not been the wisest person in regard to finance up until this point. People like yourself are important for me to see, because I never really had a model of stability and how important fiscal responsibility was. I often think how we handle money is a reflection of our self-image, but that is a topic for another post!! I should definitely write a review of the course.
That's a really interesting concept. My parents didn't handle money well at all so I grew up with the same bad habits. @corinnestokes had a different experience and she's taught me a lot. Together we went to a Dave Ramsey event years ago and then I ended up working there for almost 4 years. I learned a ton. His baby steps idea is definitely worth doing. We paid off $80k in two years which is crazy. We're in a really good place now and it's only getting better.
By the way, I started the Harvard class before I wrote this. It's awesome. I can't believe it's free!
Nice! Maybe you should do a review on it. I'm curious to know which parts strike you as completely foreign and which parts make sense.