Tips for New Programmers – Part 2: Practice!
Tips for New Programmers – Part 2: Practice!
Learning to program is like learning to play an instrument or a sport: if you don’t practice, you don’t improve. You can watch all the tutorials in the world, read a thousand books about development, but if you don’t write code, you won’t really be advancing.
In this second part of the tips series for new programmers, we’re going to talk about something key: practice. 🚀
🤔 Why is practice more important than theory?
When you start programming, it’s easy to fall into the trap of just consuming content:
🔹 You watch tutorial after tutorial on YouTube.
🔹 You take courses on Udemy, Platzi, or Coursera, but without writing code on your own.
🔹 You read documentation, but don’t apply it in a real project.
📌 The problem: Theory without practice won’t make you a good programmer.
📌 The solution: Learn in 80% practice and 20% theory.
🔥 How to practice effectively?
It’s not enough to write random code. You have to practice with purpose. Here are some methods that really work:
1️⃣ Solve code problems every day
You don’t have to write 1,000 lines of code daily, but you should solve at least one problem daily.
📌 Where to practice:
✅ LeetCode – If you want to improve logic and algorithms.
✅ HackerRank – For programming challenges with feedback.
✅ Codewars – For fun code challenges.
✅ Exercism – Good place to improve in specific languages.
🎯 Tip:
If you’re a beginner, start with easy problems and increase difficulty gradually. Don’t get frustrated if it’s hard at first, it’s normal.
2️⃣ Build small (but useful) projects
The best way to learn is applying what you know in real projects. You don’t need to do something huge, start with simple things:
📌 Project examples:
✅ A to-do list in JavaScript.
✅ A random password generator in Python.
✅ A currency converter in Java.
✅ A personal blog using Django or Flask.
🎯 Tip:
Publish your projects on GitHub and document what you learned in each one. That will help you in the future!
3️⃣ Replicate others’ projects (and then customize them)
If you don’t know where to start, take a tutorial and recreate it without copying and pasting the code.
✅ Example: Follow a JavaScript calculator tutorial, but then try adding an operation history or a dark mode.
📌 Why does this work?
- You learn to write code from scratch.
- You practice logic and structure.
- You gain confidence in your abilities.
4️⃣ Participate in hackathons and collaborative projects
Working in a team helps you learn faster. Look for hackathons or collaborate on open source projects.
📌 Where to find projects and hackathons:
✅ Devpost – To find hackathons.
✅ GitHub – To contribute to open projects.
✅ FreeCodeCamp – Community with collaborative projects.
🎯 Tip:
You don’t need to be an expert to participate. You’ll learn a lot in the process!
5️⃣ Do debugging on your own (don’t copy Stack Overflow answers without understanding them)
It’s normal to look for solutions on Stack Overflow, but always try to understand the answer before copying it.
📌 How to improve at debugging?
- Read the error calmly and try to understand what it means.
- Use
print()orconsole.log()to see what values each variable has. - Explain the problem out loud (sometimes this alone gives you the answer).
- If you can’t solve it in 30 minutes, seek help, but try first.
🎯 Tip:
The ability to solve errors on your own is what will make you a strong programmer.
🚀 Conclusion
If you really want to improve at programming, the key is practice, practice, and practice.
✅ Solve code problems every day.
✅ Build small but useful projects.
✅ Replicate projects and then add improvements.
✅ Join hackathons or collaborative projects.
✅ Learn to debug on your own.
📌 Remember: It’s not about how much time you spend studying, but how much time you spend writing code.
Has this advice helped you? How do you practice? Leave it in the comments. 🚀
