In my journey to becoming a developer, there was one piece of advice that honestly ended up being more relevant and helpful than anything else. My instructors at the coding boot camp I attended said this: “Focus on getting in the reps.”

The real work of learning to code isn’t needing to understand discrete mathematics or the inner workings of operating systems — definitely learn those if you’re interested, but you can get a whole lot done without it! Your initial work should not be in learning the most complicated parts of computer science. It’s in learning the basics of writing code that works.

The only way to learn to write code that works is to write code until it works.

When I’m learning a new coding concept, frequently the first time I try it, I might sort of see what’s happening and that it seems to work, but I don’t really get it. And maybe even the second or third time, I still don’t really get it. However — and this is the really amazing part — eventually, I see it in just the right way and suddenly that little puzzle piece clicks into place with some other knowledge I already have. It takes putting in the reps and getting those layers of experience to move forward.

So what are some ways you can get in some more reps? I’ve got some ideas!

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