7 ms·

Is there any place where I can find a programming coach ?

zo1 12y ago
The internet, my fellow programmer. Don't just go around copy-pasting SO answers, that won't improve your skill, but rather learn from those questions... An entire field of knowledge is available at your fingertips, use it. There are online tutorials, books, guides, discussions, and even programming coaches if you're so inclined. As I've come to learn, it's more about your attitude. It has to be one of wanting to constantly improve yourself, and to hold yourself up to higher standards than the ones around you, or close to the ones you admire / aspire to be.
vinceguidry 12y ago
Get a programming book. Read it, apply it to your programming, go back to the book after you try to apply it to find out what you missed, rinse, repeat until you feel like you understand the author/s. Then get another book and start the process all over. Deliberate practice is the very best approach to getting better at programming. A coach can only point you in the right direction, he can't actually make you practice any better. It has to be deliberate, you have to be trying to get better every time you sit down, you have to know specifically how you're trying to get better, and how to know whether you succeeded in getting better after you're done. It has to be practice, you have to be using the time to actually work on it, rather than getting distracted on other work stuff. I get a few hours of deliberate practice in at my job every day, because I'm good enough at the office politics to be able to stay on top of obligations without feeling stressed. I get a little bit better, and my ability to stay on top of changing demands only grows, giving me more time to practice and more leeway to incorporate the demands into practice rather than having relegate the practice to inferior side projects.
Arcanum-XIII 12y ago
That's a question I'm interested in too, something I feel I missed the most... Not because I'm not working on improving, but because I often loose sights of my goal - or don't know how to reach them.
diego_moita 12y ago
> Is there any place where I can find a programming coach ? I think this is a very good one: https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer
akurilin 12y ago
I'd spend time on IRC where very smart developer hang out and exchange ideas. I learned a lot on there by asking the right questions to people who are much better than me at those skills.
ebiester 12y ago
There are a few ways. First, join a project with a technical coach. I've been lucky enough to be on two and grown tenfold. I credit my time pair programming with some great programmers on industry code as vital to my current skill level. If that isn't in the cards, I'd suggest airpair and code katas. http://www.airpair.com/agile-software/coach-and-trainer-ron-lichty/ http://www.airpair.com/agile-software/coach-and-trainer-ron-... is a giant name that's probably a bit expensive, but there might be other experts on there. Unfortunately, it's not likely to be cheap. I'm hoping to start an organized curriculum at some point, but I don't know that I'm at the level to proclaim myself an expert at this point. :)
jgamman 12y ago
why isn't this a start-up already? if this crowd can't point you toward 25 variations on the theme, maybe you've asked a good question...
mattip 12y ago
Choose any open source project from bit bucket or github and contribute a patch.
mentat 12y ago
It's really unfortunate that the majority of answers here are "read something". Books are not coaches. They are not structured to be nor are they able to be. Coaches give feedback on performance. We could develop AI to do this but for now it's other humans. Please, respect the question, and, respect the people in your life who have done it for you.

zo1 12y ago

The internet, my fellow programmer. Don't just go around copy-pasting SO answers, that won't improve your skill, but rather learn from those questions... An entire field of knowledge is available at your fingertips, use it. There are online tutorials, books, guides, discussions, and even programming coaches if you're so inclined. As I've come to learn, it's more about your attitude. It has to be one of wanting to constantly improve yourself, and to hold yourself up to higher standards than the ones around you, or close to the ones you admire / aspire to be.

vinceguidry 12y ago

Get a programming book. Read it, apply it to your programming, go back to the book after you try to apply it to find out what you missed, rinse, repeat until you feel like you understand the author/s. Then get another book and start the process all over. Deliberate practice is the very best approach to getting better at programming. A coach can only point you in the right direction, he can't actually make you practice any better. It has to be deliberate, you have to be trying to get better every time you sit down, you have to know specifically how you're trying to get better, and how to know whether you succeeded in getting better after you're done. It has to be practice, you have to be using the time to actually work on it, rather than getting distracted on other work stuff. I get a few hours of deliberate practice in at my job every day, because I'm good enough at the office politics to be able to stay on top of obligations without feeling stressed. I get a little bit better, and my ability to stay on top of changing demands only grows, giving me more time to practice and more leeway to incorporate the demands into practice rather than having relegate the practice to inferior side projects.

Arcanum-XIII 12y ago

That's a question I'm interested in too, something I feel I missed the most... Not because I'm not working on improving, but because I often loose sights of my goal - or don't know how to reach them.

diego_moita 12y ago

> Is there any place where I can find a programming coach ? I think this is a very good one: https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer

akurilin 12y ago

I'd spend time on IRC where very smart developer hang out and exchange ideas. I learned a lot on there by asking the right questions to people who are much better than me at those skills.

ebiester 12y ago

There are a few ways. First, join a project with a technical coach. I've been lucky enough to be on two and grown tenfold. I credit my time pair programming with some great programmers on industry code as vital to my current skill level. If that isn't in the cards, I'd suggest airpair and code katas. http://www.airpair.com/agile-software/coach-and-trainer-ron-lichty/ http://www.airpair.com/agile-software/coach-and-trainer-ron-... is a giant name that's probably a bit expensive, but there might be other experts on there. Unfortunately, it's not likely to be cheap. I'm hoping to start an organized curriculum at some point, but I don't know that I'm at the level to proclaim myself an expert at this point. :)

jgamman 12y ago

why isn't this a start-up already? if this crowd can't point you toward 25 variations on the theme, maybe you've asked a good question...

mattip 12y ago

Choose any open source project from bit bucket or github and contribute a patch.

mentat 12y ago

It's really unfortunate that the majority of answers here are "read something". Books are not coaches. They are not structured to be nor are they able to be. Coaches give feedback on performance. We could develop AI to do this but for now it's other humans. Please, respect the question, and, respect the people in your life who have done it for you.