8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Programming

I've been programming for over 25 years now, and today I love it just as much if not more than when I started. But looking back on me as a kid just starting out, I really had no idea what I was doing, so if I were able to build a time machine today there are eight things I would tell a younger version of myself.

I have a full transcript of this video on my site: https://www.hackingwithswift.com/arti...

If you made it this far in the description, there's a good chance it's because you want to see summaries of my eight things so you can skip the rest of the video and think you've saved 20 minutes.

Well, the chapters and timestamps are below, but first I want to say the most important thing of all: young me was extremely impatient: I always wanted to jump onto the next thing, without taking time to slow down for a minute to listen to advice. This caused huge problems in the first 10 years of my career, so if you’re already thinking “I’m bored already,” maybe you’re on that same track. Trust me, it doesn’t end well.

Still here? Okay, here are the chapters and timestamps:

1. 1:14 Technology will change – don’t get stuck on stuff

2. 3:18 You won’t remember everything, so don’t try to

3. 5:07 You don’t need a CS degree… but you will really benefit from some CS knowledge

4. 7:17 You will always be learning

5. 8:37 Learn how to learn

6. 14:03 A little bit of mathematics goes a long way

7. 15:47 You need resilience to be a good programmer

8. 17:08 Our job is about way more than code

9. 18:26 Summary and bonus tip!

If you just read that list and thought, "great, I can skip the video now," please consider this: if you're somewhere in your mid 20s right now, chances are you'll be doing this job for 20, 30, or even 40 more years – wouldn't it be a smart thing to do to maybe invest 20 minutes now, just when you're starting out, to help you avoid a whole world of problems in the future?

Note: these are the eight things I would tell myself*, and I hope they are useful for you too. If you've also been programming for a while, what tips would *you give a younger version of yourself if you could?