[moocow01]

"This year, my New Year’s Resolution is this: I am going (finally) to learn how to code. It’s been on my agenda since June 2009"

Hopefully this will be seen as constructive/motivational by the author... but why if you've wanted to learn something in 2009 have you not done it. And why wait even until new years... why don't you just start today? You can go to code academy or the other myriad of online resources for learning right now.

The reason why I say this is that "coding" is not something just learned and then moved on from. Its a lot like a language. Becoming proficient is a lifelong and typically never ending journey. Its great if you genuinely enjoy it - completely miserable if you don't. If its something you think you might truly enjoy - start now. If its not, be honest with yourself and focus on other things you like. I hope this is not seen as mean-hearted in that one of the skills its taken me a long time to get even semi-skilled at is identifying what it truly is that I want to spend time on and eliminating all the stuff I actually don't want to do even when I think I do.

[kathrynhough]

I totally see your points. Don't worry, I have a thick skin.

Anyhow, the past few years have been a "life gets in the way" scenario. I've moved across the country twice, and most of my waking hours are spent devoted to the startup that I work for. I know, tons of excuses. But no more. Trust me, I am giving myself a kick in the pants as well.

I am exploring many tools, and today I fired up my treehouse account http://teamtreehouse.com/. It's a great program for people who like to apply new skills immediately and receive consistant feedback. This process reminds me of the "learning a language" comparison that you made. When I learned French in high school, we spent the first few weeks awkwardly speaking the language by learning basic songs and cafe menu items. Once we got a feel for it, we began to learn grammar. I think that approaching learning to code this way will work for me as well. I'll need a few weeks of awkwardly following along and completing exercises within my treehouse account before I can look at the bigger picture.

Thanks for the advice. I'm starting this journey with open ears and I welcome comments like this.

[laironald]

I love this comment. Totally agree. Some people may view learning to code as a chore and a do it once and check it off sort of thing. It's such a misconception. Just like being a good financial analyst (disclosure: I was one) where you need to read the Economist, NYTimes, WSJ, listen to NPR, play with Bloomberg, etc.. If you truly want to be up to date on coding, you need to get super involved in learning about emerging technologies and be able to think quickly asn ask yourself... is this worth learning and implementing? Learning to code is just a step in this journey...