Some of us are not strong believers of what we can do. All we ever see is what we can't do and our mind provides us with a thousand and one reason why we can't. Sometimes it is partially our fault,other times it is not, it is the ecosystem where we were nurtured. Truth be told we are responsible for the lives we live and the best we can do for ourselves is own our responses.
I have a thing for meeting people so I have met with a few people online and reached out. Some replied, others did not. People that didn't reply would had love to but were busy and had things going on. I am grateful for others that could reply and here are the things I learnt. Consistency: you want to be consistent because inconsistency kills. Contribute to open source, have a good mentor, build projects- it helps you to understand concepts better, ask questions, books and articles are as good tutorials read, them too. Never be caught in tutorial rut. Don't just learn because you want to learn rather learn because you want to make a career out of it and a few I can't remember at the moment. All these were valid lessons I learnt but my productivity still wasn't impressing me so I sat down and these are the lessons I taught myself in addition. Address the problem= man know thyself. I asked questions like why was I not understanding? I discovered I was scared of failing before ever failing at all. I discovered it was hard for me to focus and try, I told myself it was okay if I failed.
Be gentle with yourself. I know that is all new to you and some concepts will be easier to grasp than others. Never be unkind to yourself. Give yourself time, you'll come around.
Healthy Lifestyle. Eat well. Eat at the right time. It is okay to code for long hours and better when you've food in your stomach. Don't make burnouts the only time you rest. Rest is not for the lazy but the wise.
Set Goals. Attend to mails and make proper use of your calendar. Don't be so caught up you forget about webinars and Meetups you registered to attend.
Ask your most embarrassing (dumb) questions early. There are really no dumb questions but there are some questions you'll not be comfortable asking weeks or months from now. You must not be proud to ask questions months in that everyone feels you should know.
Have a Life. Try as much as possible to connect with people and things that matters to you. Don't be too occupied to meet other humans.
Don't take yourself too seriously. Laugh at yourself. Make corrections where you can and move on.
Be unyielding. Severally we are at a junction where it feels like were are not making progress at a particular concept, mine was sorting out my blog. I asked for help from anybody that cared to listen, now look at me here, writing away. Haha!
Consistently plus deliberately become a better programmer and like the title if Sefi Atta book " Everything good will come"
Finally value people's time and try to ask straightforward questions. Never forget to show appreciation too.
Thank you for reading!!!