5 steps for deciding what to learn

Hey!

A few days ago I emailed you about Newbie Coder Warehouse, my Facebook community.

Having a community, in-person or online, is always helpful. However, if you're anything like me, you may be struggling on deciding what to learn. (Truth is: this is one of the most common questions I get asked!)

Today, I want to help you figure out what to learn in five simple steps.

Step #1: Establish your long-term goals
The clearer you can be about your goals, the easier it is to know what you should learn. Be specific if you can, but having general ideas is better than nothing.

Ask yourself questions like…

1. What does my perfect day look like?
2. Do I want to work at an office? Part time or 9-5?
3. Do I want to be my own boss?
4. Where do I see myself five years from now? In three years? In one year? In one month?

(Pro tip: reverse engineer your five-year goal all the way down to shorter-term goals. Splitting your big goals into smaller chunks, or milestones, makes reaching them more attainable.)

The point is: get a clear understanding of what you want your life to look like. Write it down. Visualize it. Create a vision board (online or physical). Keep it in mind every day.

Step #2: Determine how coding will help you reach your long-term goals
So now you know the larger picture of where you want to be. Maybe you want to be able to travel whenever you desire. Maybe you want to work from home so you can spend more time with your children. Maybe you want to start your own company.

Now, you need to figure out exactly how coding will help you get there. I don't care who you are: you are not learning to code just to learn to code. Coding is a means to an end.

Here is an example of what I mean:

Sarah is in her mid-twenties. She currently has a job in marketing that is way less satisfying than she thought it would be. Sarah is dying to travel all over Europe...but, oh right, college debt. To make matters worse, Sarah's college degree in Art History is pretty much useless. Fortunately Sarah had a lightbulb moment: "Learning to code will give me valuable skills that will allow me to demand higher compensation and gain increased flexibility in my day-to-day so I can travel."

Sarah is learning to code for a few reasons:

1. She's bored at her current job
2. She wants flexibility so she can travel
3. She needs to pay off student debt

This is Sarah's "why". Once you establish your why, it's time to figure out what to learn.

Step #3: Figure out what you need to learn to reach your "why"
If you've been dabbling with code for some time already, you may have an idea of what you like and don't like. This can take trial and error, especially early on. You may start a Ruby on Rails course only to realize it's not for you, and you like WordPress much better. That's perfectly normal and fine.

But the goal is to figure out what you like, and hone in on that. The best way to do this is to make a list of the options that interest you, and narrow it down through research and talking to people in that position, then using trial and error to find what works for you.

When you do this, you want to get as specific as possible. For example:

• Front end or back end web development? (Or full stack?)
• User experience or user interface design?
• Android or iOS mobile app development?
• Angular.js or React.js development?
• WooCommerce or Magento?

Pinpoint it.

The good news is we have a plethora of tools at our fingertips where we can research these careers. Here are a few easy things you can do:

1. Use Glassdoor and the Muse to research career types and companies you'd like to work for
2. Use LinkedIn to research people who have the career you desire
3. Get out in-person and network with those in the industry

Remember your goal sheet or visualization from step one? Make sure to add this to it. (By the way: Pinterest is great for this kind of stuff.)

Don't fret: your goals and career visions can evolve! Just because you choose to pursue WordPress development now does not mean you can't change directions later.

Step #4: Identify the skills/experience needed to work in your dream roles/companies.
Now you know you want to do X. Pat yourself on the back!

Next, you need to figure out exactly what you need to learn by scouring job postings for your dream job. (Ideally dream jobs at companies you'd love to work for.)

Here are a few places where you can look:

1. Craigslist
2. Indeed
3. Authentic Jobs
4. Github Jobs
5. Stackoverflow Jobs
6. Dice

Keep a spreadsheet of the recurring skills and responsibilities you see (the ones that keep reappearing throughout job postings). Here is an example of a skill spreadsheet for a WordPress developer:

(To view image, make sure images are enabled to appear. Or view it here.)

Another thing you can do, especially if you want to freelance or start your own biz, is to connect with people in your industry who already have your "dream" job. Even better if they also have your dream life. (E.g. works as a WordPress developer while traveling the world.)

How can you find these people to connect with? Go to events, meetups, conferences, join relevant groups online, etc.

Step #5: Level up on your skill sets
You now have this list of skills and responsibilities that go with your dream career. The final step is to develop as many of those skills as you can.

First, figure out any existing skills you have that are transferable. (See this article I wrote for Skillcrush that covers finding transferable skills.)

Then, identify which of the skills and technologies on your list are easier to conquer than others. (For example, most would agree that learning how to use Google Analytics is easier than learning a whole new JavaScript library like Angular.)

In fact, some things may be easy enough to learn in a few days. For instance, if you already know Less but need to learn Sass to work at X dream company, you'll already have a good base to start from.

You can acquire these skills by taking courses online, attending in-person workshops, reading blog posts, following tutorials, reading books, and more.

As you probably know, the sheer amount of options for learning can be a little dizzying! Next, I am going to share with you some of my favorite places to learn how to code.

Till then,

Laurence

P.S. Did you know that there's now a Learn to Code With Me podcast?! See all the latest episodes here, or subscribe on iTunes.