I've been toying with programming since 1984, since 1988 professionally. I still draw a blank when I want to start something new.

Ah yeah. Have you thought aboutwhy that is? Sometimes, it helps to understand the why and you can then address that to help you get started?

Personally, I've started personal projects because I had a problem I couldn't just google a solution for.

A lot of times, I get daunted at the size of potential projects, but I found that it helps to start very small. Like, just get the project created. And add one tiny feature. And if that feature is turning into hours, I break it down into smaller chunks further.

Best thing you can do from my experience is to create a repo, then the server folder, then the CI script, then adding a bundler like Parcel.js, create an index.html (or index.js), adding the watch/serve custom script to your package.json file, and writing a quick read me like (yarn install, yarn serve) and so. Then the .gitignore to not push node_modules, IDE files (like .idea from jetbrains or another) and .cache folder.

At this point you should push the package.json and readme.md to your repo and test the pipeline.

You'll need all those steps if you want to create a project from scratch anyway and you'll have the structure ready to begin. At this point is easier to follow next steps like thinking on the shape you want for your project (backend and frontend techs, DB and so).

The easy path to follow is having a cheap hosting which usually runs PHP and MySQL so you only have to concern about frontend.

You can check this article for a full project workaround (where I explain all the steps for a static site, but you can extrapolate it to whatever you want).

If you want or need a tutorial for a full stack project tell me and i'm doing it when I can =D

At this point you'll have too much done to retreat. With experience all those steps could take you only 30min but even then, you'll always see the repo everytime you enter your gitlab, github or whatever, and same for the project directory inside your hosting so it's a nice motivation to keep on!

If you want to do something but don't know why, simply check internet for ideas and build your own version of something you like

It's good that you actually keep these in mind -- these were the last things on my mind when I was a beginner.

I still struggle with this today after 6 years of being on the field. There are various "standards" that apply, ranging in sizes from individual standards to team standards to internal enterprise standards to industry standards. But they aren't black and white and because we have a lot of smart people in the field, there can be debates on which standards are correct.

Have you looked into finding a mentor? A mentor can help at least clarify some standards or guidelines to help you understand more if you're doing the right thing. :)

Those are completely different beasts. HTML/CSS are basically presentation languages, markup stuff. C#, Python and Java are programming languages. Completely different skill sets for completely different tasks (even though some frameworks mix both).

Ah yeah - it's hard to know what to learn if you don't know what you'd ultimately like to do.

Why do you regret not learning those languages first? Do you find you're not liking HTML/CSS much?

At least you are starting somewhere and the more technologies you learn, the more you'll be able to grasp which ones you like or do not like, and that can help you find your "end goal" that'll dictate the rest of what you need to learn. 🙂

I'm so with you on the time and energy front. It's not that I don't want to learn or learn something new, I crave it. But I only have so much mental energy by the time I get to free time and only so much time to sit down and focus enough to basically be self taught. And if I wanted to go the instructor led type course route like GA, making finances work even with tuition reimbursement (reimbursement is the key... gotta pay up front!) is hard with a family and house and loans and such.

Totally get you. I have the same struggle as you outside of work and family, if I want to learn a new technology, it's so hard to peruse through theloads of resources out there. And it quickly becomes overwhelming. So like you, I end up watching mentally easy videos/shows to just let my brain rest. 😖

I think back then, like you said, we had a low amount of resources for learning. Today, in the information age, we haveway too many. How can we dial back tojust right? 🤔

Tough indeed. A lot of the other replies indicated the huge amount of choices like you said and ends up overwhelming and confusing. 😕

The best solution I can think of is to connect to mentors for personalized and quicker learning without being overwhelmed but not a lot of people want to mentor and there's also usually a time constraint involved.

Oh man. Yes! I abhor the complexity as well, given the little free time I have outside of work and family.

But youcan get a node.js React app hosted on a free service that's decent likeNetlify without the complexity you're talking about. Is that something you've looked into and just didn't like/didn't work out for you?

I struggle with this too because there are just sooo many resources out there now and it's so hard to peruse between them and find the one that fitsyou.

I personally use pluralsight (perk through my work) to learn about new things and follow through their exercises, and then create aplay with it project where I try and apply the stuff I've learned and add some small features to it (e.g. TODO app).

As for latest features, I've found it best to read from the source, but it usually is daunting because it's a bunch of text.

What kind of problems do you encounter getting into Swift and SwiftUI?

To this day (6 years experience), I still struggle finding my way in large codebases. It never goes away! It helps having somebody else walk you through it, or reading documentation on what the structure is so you know where the stuff is.

I compare this to visiting a city I've never been in and I don't know where the shops are at, or where the "suburbs" are at, and I need either a map/google maps/a person to guide me and let me know how to get around. But as long as you knowhow to learn to get around, then you'll find it easier to navigate large codebases in the future :)

Very good point! This topic may make an interesting blog post. 🤔