"Become job ready in 6 months". "Learn to code in 90 days". If you've heard statements like this from various tech influencers, you're not alone. That seems to be the selling point lately - how to go from 0 to job ready as fast as possible. I actually did it - I went from my first <h1> element to my first job in 7 months. And I'm here to say: you can't too.
I suppose I should clarify that. Moving through your learning journey as quickly as I did, or as quickly as all of these YouTube stars promise, takes a large mix of "the right circumstances" and "a metric shit-ton of luck". Hmm... maybe it would be better if I just told my story.
It was April 2020. I was working my grocery retail management job. SARS-CoV-2 was just becoming a pandemic. And my employer wanted to change my job location to one halfway across town. Now, I didn't own a car at that time (still don't, tbh). And with a pandemic, I certainly wasn't going to take public transit and further risk exposure to myself and my family. So I said "screw it, I quit".
I sat around and played video games for about two weeks before I was bored out of my mind. I needed a hobby desperately, so I decided to look up free resources on learning to code. I found freeCodeCamp, and threw myself hard into the curriculum.
Now, I had cashed out my accrued PTO when I quit. I had withdrawn my pension (through an economic hardship withdrawal). And I had won an unemployment claim. So I was in a position where I could afford to be jobless for a while. I also had no other responsibilities; no children, no partner, it was just me myself and my computer.
At that pace, I completed (what was, at the time) the entire core freeCodeCamp curriculum in 5 months. I was also working on my own personal projects, such as a portfolio site and a moderation bot for Discord. None of that was making me money. I was doing okay - my reserves hadn't dried up. But I also knew taking on more expenses was a bad idea. So I couldn't donate financially to freeCodeCamp.
I still wanted to give back, so I donated the one thing I had an abundance of now: time. freeCodeCamp's entire learning platform is open source, and I started making contributions in tandem with working on my own projects. I did this consistently, at the same 10-12 hour a day pace, for another 2 months, until...
And that was it. In 7 months, I had gone from knowing nothing about code to my first developer role. I share this story not to brag, but to caution. Because what I want you to take away from this is. While I did work hard and seriously apply myself...
I had the capacity to devote my entire schedule to my studies
I had the funds to be able to study instead of working
I was in the right place at the right time to receive a job offer
And this is not a common situation. Many people cannot afford to stop working. Most of the learners I run in to are doing so around an already busy schedule. They have maybe 4 hours a week to study, not 12 hours a day. If you're one of those people, of course it's going to take you longer. And that's okay!
Learning to code is hard. It takes time. Very few people pull it off in six months. Some take a year. Some take 4 years. Some take longer. It doesn't matter how long you take - if you keep at it and stay committed, you will succeed. And that's what really matters... reaching your goals, regardless of when!