FASTEST Way to Learn Coding and ACTUALLY Get a Job in 2024

Summary

The video discusses strategies to increase retention rates for those learning to code, so they can successfully become software developers. It advises taking a long-term view, getting real-world experience through internships, focusing on building functional code rather than perfect code, being relentlessly reliable, mastering basics like data structures first, embracing rejection as part of the process, and finding motivational stories that inspire you to keep learning.

Takeaways

• 📈 The '100 Days of Code' challenge had a low retention rate, with only 5% of the 2.3 million starters completing it.
• 🔥 Avoiding early drop-off in your coding journey is crucial for becoming a successful software developer.
• 📊 Successful participants focus on long-term goals rather than immediate results, embodying the principle that slow and steady wins the race.
• 💻 Acquiring a Computer Science degree or getting an internship through connections can provide a significant advantage in the tech industry.
• 👌 Being scrappy and focusing on practical outcomes can be more beneficial early on than adhering to perfect code standards.
• 👩‍💻 Reliability, resourcefulness, and result-orientation are highly valued traits in the tech industry, often more than pure technical skills.
• 🚀 Embracing the journey and preparing for a long career in tech, including facing inevitable rejections, builds resilience and success over time.
• 📚 Meeting the bare minimum standards in the industry, like mastering data structures and algorithms, is essential before seeking unique opportunities.
• 💡 Motivation plays a key role in sustaining effort and passion in tech, with inspirations often coming from success stories and industry documentaries.
• 🙋‍♂️ Networking and getting a foot in the door through internships or underpricing yourself initially can lead to invaluable learning and future opportunities.

Q & A

What was the completion rate for the 100 Days of Code challenge by Replate in 2023?

Less than 5% of the approximately 2.3 million participants were able to finish the challenge.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of avoiding early dropout in learning to code?

The speaker believes avoiding early dropout is crucial because it leads to higher retention and success in becoming a software developer.

What is the perspective of the 5% who completed the challenge on their learning journey?

The 5% who completed the challenge focus on long-term goals, understanding that slow growth leads to sustainable progress in building a tech career.

How does getting a CS degree help in retaining technical knowledge according to the speaker?

A CS degree forces engagement with fundamental subjects like DBMS, Operating Systems, and Computer Networks, providing essential jargon and background that make practical coding easier.

What does 'grabbing the unfair advantage in Tech' mean?

It refers to taking actions that significantly increase one's chances of staying in the tech industry, such as getting a CS degree or securing a position through connections.

Why does the speaker suggest working in a scrappy manner early in one's tech career?

Working in a scrappy manner allows for learning through doing, focusing on delivering outcomes even if the methods are not polished, which is valuable for growth and avoiding dropout.

What qualities does the speaker believe are most valued by founders when hiring?

Founders value resourcefulness, reliability, and results-orientation, appreciating employees who can figure things out and deliver value reliably.

Why is it important to prepare for rejections in the tech industry?

Rejections are common, and building resilience helps one bounce back and continue pursuing opportunities without being discouraged.

What is the speaker's view on interview preparation?

The speaker believes that interview success comes from consistent practice over time rather than last-minute cramming, emphasizing the importance of real-world coding experience.

How does the speaker suggest using motivation to advance in a tech career?

The speaker recommends seeking inspiration from successful stories, documentaries, and the potential of creating impactful technology to maintain motivation throughout the learning journey.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Understanding the 5% who completed the coding challenge

Paragraph 1 discusses a coding challenge where only 5% were able to complete it and retain till the end. It emphasizes focusing on long-term goals rather than short-term outcomes to avoid dropping off. Taking a longer horizon and thinking in terms of years rather than days leads to better retention.

05:00

😃 Tips for grabbing an unfair advantage to stay in tech

Paragraph 2 provides tips like getting a CS degree, getting an internship through connections, and not worrying about writing perfect code as a beginner. The key is forcing yourself to stay invested in tech through these unfair advantages, which leads to better retention.

Keywords

💡drop off

Drop off refers to people stopping or quitting the 100 days of code challenge very early on. The video says there was very high drop off rate - only 5% were able to finish the challenge. This high drop off rate among beginners is seen as the biggest mistake that prevents faster progress. The goal should be to avoid early drop offs in the coding journey by taking a long term view and not expecting quick results.

💡retention

Retention refers to the rate at which people are able to continue and complete the 100 days of code challenge. The video points out the very poor retention rate, with only 5% being able to finish the challenge. Such poor retention is seen as a major problem that needs to be improved.

💡slow growth

Slow growth refers to steady, incremental progress towards becoming a good software developer. The video advocates focusing on slow skill development rather than expecting very rapid transformations. Slow consistent growth leads to better retention and outcomes in the long run.

💡unfair advantage

This refers to choices and actions consciously taken to make it harder to quit coding. Examples given include doing a Computer Science degree or getting an internship at a friend's company. These force you to persist longer with coding.

💡scrappy

Scrappy coding refers to writing code that works to solve a problem statement without worrying about best practices or existing standards. The video argues that taking a scrappy approach early on helps beginners achieve their first working prototypes faster. This builds motivation to continue.

💡fio

FIO stands for "Figure It Out" and is mentioned as one of the top qualities employers look for. Being resourceful and finding ways to solve problems is valued higher than credentials like a CS degree early on in tech careers.

💡saturation

This refers to the idea that beginners should aim to achieve whatever base level metrics or activities that others in tech are focused on - like DSA, open source contributions etc. Reaching saturation on these fronts prepares one for applying to jobs.

💡rejection

The video talks about how rejection is common in tech and preparing mentally for it is important to persist. However, once an interview opportunity comes along, it becomes vital to make it count by showcasing all the effort put in over the years.

💡motivation

Apart from skills, having strong initial motivation to push through the coding journey is called out as an important factor. Sources of motivation can include success stories and outcomes in tech like Bitcoin millionaires.

💡interview preparation

The video argues against deferring interview preparation towards the end. Instead it advocates using the entire coding journey to prepare for interviews - by writing production grade code, understanding systems etc. This makes interviews less stressful.

Highlights

The biggest mistake as a beginner is dropping off early in your coding journey

Focus on slow consistent growth rather than quick early results

Get a computer science degree or get an internship at a tech company

Early on, scrappy code that works is more important than elegant code

Being resourceful, reliable and results-oriented is key to getting a coding job

In tech, hard work plus smart work leads to success

Initially, do the basic things everyone else is doing like data structures and algorithms

Rejection is common in tech, don't let it stop you

Thoroughly prepare for interviews over a long period of time

Watch videos and learn about accomplished people in tech for motivation

Have a long term perspective, humans underestimate progress over decades

The 5% who finished the 100 days of code challenge looked at long term goals

Getting an unfair advantage like an internship forces you to persist

Write your own full stack app from end to end to start liking coding

Be incredibly reliable and hardworking, especially the first 3 months on a job

Transcripts

all right look at this tweet this is how

many people did the 100 days of code

challenge by replate in 2023 and this is

probably the worst retention graphs out

there around 2.3 million people started

and less than 5% were able to finish the

challenge the retention was so bad that

even Elon Musk was vowed by it why am I

talking about this in a video that is

titled fastest way to become a software

developer in 2024 the reason is that the

fastest way to become a software

developer is to avoid this drop off the

biggest mistake that you can do as a

beginner is drop off early in your

journey and in this video I'll talk

about all the points that I feel can

lead to higher retention when it comes

to following coding or following a

course let's get right into it all right

let's kick things off by looking at the

graph what is this 5% doing right and I

think the answer is that this 5% is not

focused on day Zero outcomes they're

looking at a very long road to create

Tech as their career there's a saying

that says humans overestimate what they

can do in a day but underestimate what

they can do in a decade what this means

is that we feel like we'll be able to

complete web development in a day but we

never feel like we'll be able to become

senior engineer in the next 10 years we

underestimate how far we can go in the

next 10 years and I think what these 5%

are doing right is that they're really

focusing on the longer goal they're

focusing on slow growth and in the end

slow growth is the thing that retains

very well you might be able to luck into

a job randomly but unless you've paid

your debt unless you've spent a lot of

time honing your skills uh your growth

will Top out really quickly in that job

so the first thing that you can do is

take a longer term Horizon in this

journey of your Tech anyways runs in

Cycles you'll see bulls and bears be

prepared for this long journey that's

ahead and don't Focus too much on the

next week's outcome maybe focus on a

year worth of outcome how far you can go

in the next one year with that let's

move to the second point which is a

little more actionable the point is

called grabbing the unfair advantage in

Tech what this means is that there are

few bets that you can take a few things

that you can do that will force you to

stay in Tech you will not necessarily

procrastinate if you take these bets a

few of these include either getting a CS

degree because you'll be forced to take

classes that you will Almost 100%

procrastinate through if you're not in

CS some of the examples include dbms

Operating Systems computer networks and

even though they don't have a direct

impact on your journey they teach you a

lot of jargon that make practical coding

much easier compared to someone who's

not done a CS degree so if you have the

choice get a CS degree number two get

grandfather into a company if you have a

brother who's the founder of a company

if you have a friend let them in your

company as an intern uh of course don't

work for free at a very humble salary

try to get into the company and

understand the code base the best thing

you can do early in your career is

understand how things are happening in

the industry and for that you can either

get grandfathered in or you can

underprice yourself really heavily to

get that first internship offer that

takes me to the third point which is

Scrappy is good in the end Tech is run

by businesses and as businesses grow and

scale they need extremely good code

practices all around but early in your

career Scrappy is good a good example

here is level IO who's built multiple

pseudo million dollar businesses and his

complete stack is PHP U he pushes his

code directly to master he pulls them on

a server I think has a single server

running he has the scrappiest stack out

there yet he has one of the most

successful running you know Indie

businesses in the world why because in

the end people want outcomes people want

K code does a certain thing and you as

the learner will most probably drop off

really bad if I ask you to write code in

Russ 20 however if I give you a problem

statement and don't necessarily a stack

on you you might be able to figure out a

scrappy way to build it and that's how

you incrementally get over the curve and

avoid drop off the first time you write

a full stack application end to end

yourself is when that flywheel begins is

when you start to like the field a

little bit more this happened for me

almost 6 months into my coding Journey

so try to look for that first win and it

does not have to be the fanciest code

base out there it can be Scrappy it

needs to have an outcome for me it was

building a multiplayer game uh

specifically a multiplayer version of

flappy bird fourth point to get a job uh

hard work plus smart work is key here is

another tweet it says the number one

thing I look out for when hiring in

people is fio figure it out um you can

get pretty damn far by being just

resourceful reliable and result oriented

in the end in a remote job no one is

tracking you at least today there's no

way for them to figure out if you're

really smart or if you know you have an

AI assistant that's really smart um so

no one cares how you arrived at the

solution as long as you're being result

oriented if you understand the business

priorities well if you write code that

is acceptable given the current code

standards of the company and if you're

being reliable I think that's the

quality that Founders are chasing the

most right now anyone can be a software

developer eventually the thing that

differentiates you is how hardworking

you are and how reliable you are if you

can be that guy who the founder looks up

to whenever a problem goes down is when

your job is sorted so if you want to

take one thing from this point it is be

incredibly reliable uh especially during

your initial 3 months of programming

because what happens when you join a

company is that that for the first 3

months you're sort of looked down upon a

lot as in people are tracking to see

where you stand in the company and then

if you're performing really well for the

first 3 months that first impression

sticks it sticks the other way around as

well and whatever the first impression

is it's very hard to break it usually

which is why the suggestion is if you're

if you've had a bad quarter if your

initial impression isn't great you

should switch the company because no

matter how well you perform after that

it's very hard to break that initial

impression so at least during the first

3 months and preferably throughout your

journey in a company be extremely

resourceful be extremely reliable make

sure you're providing more value than

you're charging for next Point run

towards saturation as a beginner as a

beginner there are a thousand things

that everyone around you is doing some

examples include creating read me

contributions don't do that doing data

structures and algorithms trying to

contribute to open source trying G I get

that there are a lot of people flocking

and you know trying to do these things

but that's the bare minimum right if

you're a beginner try to pay your debts

and you know figure out the data

structure and algorithms make sure

you're doing whatever 300 400 problems

everyone is and have that bare minimum

metric that everyone in the country

currently has U the reason for this is

you know it feels very flashy to you

know directly aim for a 100K remote

offer but unfortunately everything

happens in stages um and that includes

doing data sucess algorithms once make

sure you're paying your debt and have

the standard things under your belt

because unfortunately hiring isn't very

optimal if DSA is a metric DSA is a

metric if an e-commerce project on a

resume looks good it looks good so

whatever is the alpha that's going

around if people are doing open source

contributions try to do those if people

are getting into G try aiming for G if

people are doing DSA make sure you're

doing DSA make sure you have all of

these corners covered before you start

applying for a company NeXT Point

rejection is part of tech especially

today make sure you're building the

muscle that prepares you for a lot of

rejections it happens with everyone

including me the only advice I can give

you here is unless you get kicked back

you won't be able to go back up so make

sure you're not letting any rejections

affect you the one thing I would like to

advise here is uh be be prepared for

that interview there might be a thousand

rejections that you get purely based on

your resume but once you get that

interview you should be able to nail

everything the problem with tech is that

people defer interview preparation until

the very last minute and I feel

interviews are something you shouldn't

even prepare for it's your journey over

the last few years that prepares you for

that one day you can't really hack the

system and you know buy an interview

preparation boot camp for one week and

prepare for your interview it is also

extremely anxiety inducing to do that uh

so make sure once you get an interview

offer you're able to nail it that'll

only happen if you're consistent over

the last few years there's a lot of

years of experience that's been honed in

that you just spit out in an interview

so the worst thing you can do is that

you got an interview but got rejected

make sure when that day comes and it

will if you're going to stick through

tech for a long time it could be for a

50 lak offer could be for a 10 lak offer

does not matter as long as you price

yourself somewhere on the curve you will

get an interview and then when you do

get an interview make sure you're over

impressing that will only happen if

you're practicing coding a lot if you're

spending your your time coding as you

would in a company so make sure you

don't defer interview preparation make

sure you're coding the right things from

not Day Zero but eventually before your

interview you should have spent at least

a few weeks if not months writing good

scalable back end or front end or full

stack or whatever company you're

applying for code so that when you get

that interview you're not fing with

anxiety and it's a chill process for you

to go through the interview I think the

worst thing you can do is give an

interview with a lot of anxiety around

what questions they'll ask me and last

Point motivation helps that's why I make

these videos from time to time and

that's also why there's a montage at the

end of this video watch social network

look at an accomplished seniors of yours

um I think at least initially you need a

lot of motivation to stay in Tech to

code to you know have more motivation

other than money and you know getting a

job for that I have a bunch of

documentaries I'm happy to link in the

description documentaries around how

Bitcoin Works how there was a Bitcoin

millionaire SL billionaire a few years

ago these are the things that I watched

initially that gave me a lot of

motivation to you know pursue a CS

degree over something else I could have

gone to a better College in like a

mechanical degree but I ended up

choosing CS because I really wanted to

be that hacker on a computer and today I

have like the fanciest setup over here

in the end all of this does not matter

um you are writing code that does like

the dumbest thing if you're in Amazon

you're you're writing code for a very

small button but at least initially to

be able to think you can eventually you

know be the person who's mining Bitcoin

in 2013 or be the person who creates the

next social network um it leads to a lot

of motivation which is good when you're

just starting your journey so that's all

I had for this video the takeaways are

have extremely high motivation do this

for a really long time interviews aren't

something you should be preparing for

have a senior a friend who can

grandfather you into a company or you

know underprice yourself really bad and

understand how code is being written in

the industry write that code yourself

and then eventually wait for that offer

underprice overprice yourself on the

curve so that at least you're able to

get that interview once you get the

interview as long as you've been doing

all the things that I've talked about it

should be easy to nail is what I think

with that let's end it I'll see you guys

in the next one

bye-bye

for

for