Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
Learning to Code by Failing Safely
Search
Lucas Cherkewski
July 22, 2017
Programming
990
0
Share
Learning to Code by Failing Safely
Lucas Cherkewski
July 22, 2017
More Decks by Lucas Cherkewski
See All by Lucas Cherkewski
Demystifying HTML: An introduction for beginners
lchski
0
360
Tiny Little Pieces: Designing and developing with pattern libraries
lchski
1
270
Why bother with code?
lchski
1
790
(Re)Designing Creativity
lchski
0
280
Be the Perfect Client (Round 2!)
lchski
0
780
Be the Perfect Client
lchski
1
440
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
My daily life on Ruby
a_matsuda
3
330
[RubyKaigi 2026] Require Hooks
palkan
1
320
Explore CoroutineScope
tomoeng11
0
190
Claude CodeでETLジョブ実行テストを自動化してみた
yoshikikasama
0
1.2k
Liberating Ruby's Parser from Lexer Hacks
ydah
2
2.7k
「OSSがあるなら自作するな」は AI時代も正しいか ── Build vs Adopt の新しい判断基準
kumorn5s
7
2.6k
Lightning-Fast Method Calls with Ruby 4.1 ZJIT / RubyKaigi 2026
k0kubun
3
2.9k
Skillは並べた。動かなかった。契約で繋いだ。— 65個のSkillから、自走する開発サイクルへ
junholee
0
350
When benchmarks go bad - what I learned from measuring performance wrong
hollycummins
0
380
運転動画を検索可能にする〜Cosmos-Embed1とDatabricks Vector Searchで〜/cosmos-embed1-databricks-vector-search
studio_graph
2
850
Kingdom of the Machine
yui_knk
2
1.5k
t *testing.T は どこからやってくるの?
otakakot
1
930
Featured
See All Featured
The Illustrated Guide to Node.js - THAT Conference 2024
reverentgeek
1
350
Making Projects Easy
brettharned
120
6.6k
The AI Search Optimization Roadmap by Aleyda Solis
aleyda
1
5.8k
Facilitating Awesome Meetings
lara
57
6.8k
Have SEOs Ruined the Internet? - User Awareness of SEO in 2025
akashhashmi
0
340
How to build a perfect <img>
jonoalderson
1
5.5k
Hiding What from Whom? A Critical Review of the History of Programming languages for Music
tomoyanonymous
2
800
KATA
mclloyd
PRO
35
15k
WENDY [Excerpt]
tessaabrams
10
37k
Optimizing for Happiness
mojombo
378
71k
DevOps and Value Stream Thinking: Enabling flow, efficiency and business value
helenjbeal
1
190
Building a Scalable Design System with Sketch
lauravandoore
463
34k
Transcript
Learning to code by failing safely
What’s the plan?
1. Groundwork
1. Groundwork 2. Process
1. Groundwork 2. Process 3. Resources
None
Lucas Cherkewski
What is code?
Code is…
Code is… scary?
Code is… scary? Code is… hard?
Code is… scary? Code is… hard? Code is… worthwhile?
Is code scary?
Powerful stuff
Movie portrayals of code
It’s reasonable to feel that code is scary
Is code hard?
Code is (literally) an unfamiliar language
We try hard to learn, but walk away confused
Even with practice, it can be difficult
I struggle with code, too
Is code worthwhile?
Yes!
Major industries embracing tech
Thinking technically is valuable
We can solve our own problems
We can work with better coders
Knowing code enables us to work in a technical world
What is code, really?
VS The Product The Process
Process > Product
What is code? A problem solving process
Who can code?
None
Only nerds, definitely.
Only people gifted with awesome coding power, definitely.
BAH.
Anyone can code.
Anyone can code. (If you can problem solve.)
Anyone can code. This is a good thing.
What are some practical examples of code?
Google search
None
None
None
Formatting text
None
None
None
None
None
=
= <strong>
Building spreadsheets
None
None
None
None
None
None
Why so many questions?
None
Socrates
Socrates: Not just an old dead guy.
Questions are key to learning to code.
None
Socrates died for your questions.
How do we code?
The Process
1. Identify
1. Identify 2. Research
1. Identify 2. Research 3. Try
The key is iteration.
1. Identify
1. Identify 2. Research
1. Identify 2. Research 3. Try
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate.
Where should I start?
Personal projects Fun failure
None
None
None
Client projects Always an imposter
Who can help me learn to code?
In-person
In-person • Ladies Learning Code
In-person • Ladies Learning Code • Camp Tech
In-person • Ladies Learning Code • Camp Tech • Lighthouse
Labs
Online courses
Online courses • Treehouse
Online courses • Treehouse • Codecademy
Online courses • Treehouse • Codecademy • Lynda
Online resources
Online resources • CSS-Tricks
Online resources • CSS-Tricks • MDN
Online resources • CSS-Tricks • MDN • Stack Overflow
Tools
Tools • Code editors
Tools • Code editors • Codepen
Tools • Code editors • Codepen • Glitch
WordPress specific
WordPress specific • Codex
WordPress specific • Codex • Facebook groups
WordPress specific • Codex • Facebook groups • WordCamps and
meetups
Why bother with code?
Code is scary and hard, but worthwhile
Code through research, exploration, and creation
Do it again and again
None
Thanks! Thanks!
[email protected]
@lchski