Anyone can learn to code, but it takes real courage to begin your career in coding.

So, what does it really take to go from a beginner to a professional coder?

Step 1: Learn the core basics in programming

You can’t begin to learn advanced coding until you finish learning the basics. You must have a solid understanding and practice in basic programming. Millions of people have already done this. So can you!

The learning curve is steep for beginners. This means that it will take a tremendous amount of effort to get small things done in the beginning.

Programming basics are:

• conditional logics: if this… then that
• looping: keep doing A until B happens
• functions: grouping logics together
• data representations: text, numbers, array, objects

The core fundamentals don’t stop here. The key is to be able to put all your knowledge together and write code to solve problems from scratch.

Programming basics are the foundational knowledge in software. You cannot proceed to the next level unless you have mastered them.

Step 2: Pick an area of focus

Being able to code means that you can build software products: web applications, mobile applications or internal tools.

Example of software products are:

• Facebook.com and Facebook mobile app
• Your iPhone interface
• Google’s search engine

Software products are both things you can see and things you can’t see. For things you can see, we call them front-end. For things you can’t see, we call them back-end.

So, pick an area of focus based on your interests:

1. web applications (front-end & back-end)
2. mobile applications (iOS/Android & back-end**)
3. data analysis and data science

** Since iOS/Android are just front-end, you will also need to know the back-end stuff in web applications.

Each area of focus involves dozens of components for you to learn and master.

For example, if you are going to learn web development, the components are:

• HTML (website structure), CSS (styling), JavaScript (front-end logic)
• a back-end language (back-end logic), databases, MVC model
• Git and Github (version control), deployment (for the world to see)

Each component is important and linked to other components. It’s a complex knowledge map that you have to master, so it’s most efficient for you to learn under guidance with mentors.

Step 3: Being able to build quality things from scratch

You can only call yourself a competent coder if you can put different components together and build a complete product. A complete product means something that actually works well.

If you want to become a web developer, you should be confident enough to build any kinds of web applications and learn on the go.

When you’re building your portfolio, don’t take on a massive project because you won’t have enough time, resources or knowledge to complete it. Instead, you should take on small projects, but do them really well. Quality trumps quantity.

You want to show people that you can build beautiful things with elegant solutions. 1 really good project is much better than 10 mediocre projects.

Final Step: Getting interview-ready

Different businesses and companies in different stages require different skills. So, you need to decide on how to position yourself.

For start-up businesses, they are looking for someone who has the ability to work on many different components and ship products to market as quickly as possible. For many start-ups, the goal is to survive and grow, so you need to wear many hats to get things done. Frankly, your coding skill doesn’t have to be stellar, but you got to get things done under multiple hats.

For bigger companies, the approach is different. You will tend to work on a single component and make it as efficient and performant as possible. You usually don’t have to wear many hats. During interviews, you must demonstrate that you are fluent in different algorithms and data structures. Frankly, you need to show that you have the aptitude in coding and are a good fit in the organization.

Obviously, I am generalizing a lot here. Every company is different. The key is that you have to position yourself correctly to make the company and yourself happy. Pick the kind of work that excites you, and work on skills that companies are looking for.

How long does all this take?

Realistically, 6 to 12 months if you’re learning part-time while having a full-time job. Learning to code is not the hardest thing in the world, but it’s also not a piece of cake.

Many students, once they began learning, realize that it’s achievable as long as you are willing to put in the time (even if it means 2 hours of struggling to solve one problem).

Software is eating the world. Software is everywhere in our lives. Coding is the new literacy. The best time to start is now. If you know how to code, you will have a foreseeably significant advantage in the job market in the next 10 to 20 years.