So a lot of people have been asking me if I think they can become a programmer. Programming is one of the world's risimg professions these past few decades, with new technologies and theoretical discoveries advancing the field every day. Some even say that in the near future, programming will be considered a basic skill needed to live in the modern world, like reading and writing.
But could people with no knowledge or background whatsoever in computers or mathematics learn programming? The answer is: Yes! Today, thanks to the internet, almost all of humanity's knowledge and information is available at a few clicks of a button. It is possible to learn not only programming, but many other skills and professions as well. Websites such as Khan academy, edX, etc. have hundreds if not thousands of courses at your disposal, in quite a lot of different categories. I have taken Harvard's 'CS50: Introduction to Computer Science' free course on edX, just a month before starting my university studies, and thanks to it I got a much better grasp of basic programming in my university classes.
There are many websites I could recommend to anyone who's interested at giving it a try, but I'll try to make a concise list:
CodeAcademy
This website has coding tutorials in Java, Python, Ruby, Javascript, and much more! Their teaching method is quite good, each lesson explaining a concept or a technique, with an example, and you'll have to write your own code to try it out as well.Udemy
Another website consisting of THOUSANDS of courses, in any field or subject you can imagine. There are quite a few free programming tutorials there, which are geared towards people with NO experience whatsoever, for example: Java CourseUdacity
My current personal favorite. About two months ago I have completed an android app development course, which was made by google, on this website, and I am about 80% done with the follow-up course, both of which are free. They do require basic knowledge in Java programming, but the website has free courses covering these basics as well!
The methodology behind the courses I took were a bit similar to codeacademy's, first explaining you a concept, giving an example of it, and then asking you to try it on your own, however, google's courses also had cool videos by the course's mentors as they explained, instead of giving you a paragraph or two to read like in codeacademy, which made the learning experience that much better!
And, as I'm writing this post, they are currently showing free previews of their nano-degree programs (these programs aren't free, however). I gave the front-end web development one a try, and it's pretty cool! It covers basic HTML and explains how websites work. Front-End Preview
(It also seems that they will unlock an intro to programming preview in 4 days, you should probably check it out as well!).Coursera
I can't say much about this website, since I haven't taken any courses there myself, but it is very well-known and this list would not be completed without it.And I've mentioned Khan Academy and edX, both are amazing and offer a wide variety of courses in programming and other fields.
If you have a few hours to spare, even one or two, then I highly recommend checking out any of the websites I've listed above and trying one of their free programming courses, even if you're not that sure you'll be into programming. I should also mention that learning to program shouldn't only be considered for people who wish to eventually work as a programmer, since it gives your mind challenges that don't usually appear in the real-world, and thus it can help you develop another "way of thinking", as I like to call it.
So with that, I wish you good luck in your studies, and if you have any questions at all, about this post or anything related, I would be more than glad to answer them :)
I might also write a post about the different languages, their usage and difficulty of learning in the future, if there is enough of a request for it :)