Although the majority of developers know why programming is exciting, you might wonder about ways to make it funnier.
Why coding is exciting
In my opinion, IT in general is exciting. We live in a world where computers are one of the most important things.
As we speak, programming is not a skill that everyone has. Being able to develop your own project is this world that gives you a chance. Everything is possible thanks to information technology, and we are living in a key period when there are not enough developers to meet the need.
Coding is a creative skill and it’s exciting to be part of a project. Although mobile apps and websites are everywhere, I have talked to a lot of people who don’t know how they work.
So far, my speech may seem a bit over the top and overplayed, but that’s why the coding is exciting for me.
This is one of the reasons why I take so much pleasure in creating educational content.
How to make it more fun
After thinking about it, although programming is now a passion for me, I remembered that it was not always fun for me.
Especially when I started, I was stuck for days on a problem. Sometimes I would give up hope completely and say, “It’s not for me. I’ve tried everything and it still doesn’t work. I’m not that good.”
If that’s the case with you, I can tell you – everyone is there.
This can also happen for many other reasons. For example, when you are bored with a language or a framework because you have used it too much.
Either way, don’t overdo it. Here I have listed some tips to give you a dose of fun when you need it.
Practice
Writing code is like playing golf. When you start, it’s not fun. You have to learn everything: which pilot to use to hit the ball in this way, how to position yourself, etc. The pleasure will come gradually, start to understand things and start having fun with them.
Don’t just read the code, run it
Following the lessons by simply reading the code can be a big problem when people start programming.
When you learn to code, you should try to write it and execute it yourself. Take the time to do it – you will understand it better and have fun trying to modify the code to create your programs.
Here’s another example: when looking for a code on GitHub, why not try it out? It can be fun to understand someone else’s work and be able to integrate it into your project.
Add a dose of fun to your projects or learnings
When you are bored with a technology or want to increase your knowledge, you can learn a new library, a new framework or a new language. It can be an interesting process and can help you try new things and have fun doing them.
However, I do not recommend that you learn and take only a course. If you do, after a few days, you will be bored. Each day or each new chapter, create small projects to encourage you and give free rein to your creativity.
Try to find fun projects to work on. For example, imagine that you are learning the basics of JavaScript. Even if these skills are the most important, learning them will not be enjoyable. Once you know how to get user input and print to the console, why not try creating a simple chatbot that answers users’ questions?
When I was doing my research to answer this question, I found this story from a Quora user and I liked it. This is a great example of how to have fun in your learning.
“Another thing – the worst part is learning a new thing – it’s usually very difficult, and your progress is much slower than you’d like. To make it fun, I usually cheat my brain.
For example, when I learned assembly language and we had a project to program a small hardware screen – well, it was very boring. You had to study the hardware manual, it had inputs and outputs, and all you could do was a few letters to appear on the screen.
But I challenged myself to master this thing, and to do that, I found my own “special exercise”. Instead of just writing 10101 on the screen, I had the idea of writing something more stupid, more childish. Something like – – – CALL – ME – NOW – XXXX – flashing and moving on the screen – it was MUCH more advanced than the actual task assigned to us in class. I just used this stupid thing to motivate me to learn everything I could about assembly languages, and my boy, it worked well! 🙂 “- Marcus Biel
Always take the challenge
When you’re a developer, you always have to learn new things to stay up to date. Everything is changing fast and you cannot be left behind. Boredom or lack of pleasure occurs when you no longer feel like you are growing up or learning.
To counter this feeling, you can try to reach goals that you have not yet achieved.
For example, if you have never participated in an open-source project, you can search on GitHub and contribute for the first time.
Your feeling of satisfaction will increase when you succeed in getting your work accepted within the project. Perhaps you will be helping dozens, if not hundreds, of people by solving a problem that was not resolved before.
You can also enter coding contests or use coding websites such as HackerRank, CodingGame or Project Euler to challenge yourself.
Create a personal project from scratch
It can be frustrating to be a developer when you are only working on a small part of a project for your business.
You may have always dreamed of a project, but you never took the time to work on it. Why not try to code it? You’ll see – it’s fun to start the project of your dreams. It is also a worthy goal to keep your programming habit.
If you have no ideas, try to find a theme you like, for example:
If you like video games, you can try creating a game.
If you are in education, why not create tutorials around the code?
If you like hardware and electronics, why not build an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi?
“Programming is like writing – in the main subject, much more than writing itself.” – lifeisstillgood
Set a goal
This point always comes up in all of my productivity articles. You have to set goals.
Without goals, it’s hard to feel comfortable and appreciate what you’re doing as a developer.
Find a mentor
A mentor can be motivating if you can’t find coding fun anymore.
A mentor can give you a goal to follow and teach you best practices. They can also help you improve your programming skills and boost your professional career.
You may be wondering how to ask your “hero” to become your mentor.
Well, just send a message and let them be your mentor.
Yeah yeah, it’s that simple. Perhaps, they will be happy to know that you appreciate their skills enough to mentor you. In most cases, they will be happy to support you in your development.
Sleep more
When you’re in a downward spiral, programming becomes less fun. Sometimes it can be difficult for you to move forward and prosper in your work.
Go to bed earlier for a few nights or sleep late in the morning for a few days, and everything should improve considerably.
Show your work
What’s worse than being a developer and losing all hope because you’re alone in your basement? It’s a bit of a cliché but, believe me, when you work alone for a long time on a project and you never show it to anyone, it immediately becomes less fun.
This tip is close to the previous ones. Once you have shared your work, people will make suggestions or poseront questions. This will be difficult for you and will help you set new goals.