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
0
920
Learning to Code by Failing Safely
Lucas Cherkewski
July 22, 2017
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Lucas Cherkewski
See All by Lucas Cherkewski
Demystifying HTML: An introduction for beginners
lchski
0
320
Tiny Little Pieces: Designing and developing with pattern libraries
lchski
1
250
Why bother with code?
lchski
1
760
(Re)Designing Creativity
lchski
0
250
Be the Perfect Client (Round 2!)
lchski
0
710
Be the Perfect Client
lchski
1
410
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
技術的負債の正体を知って向き合う / Facing Technical Debt
irof
0
120
私達はmodernize packageに夢を見るか feat. go/analysis, go/ast / Go Conference 2025
kaorumuta
2
510
止められない医療アプリ、そっと Swift 6 へ
medley
1
140
Six and a half ridiculous things to do with Quarkus
hollycummins
0
140
アメ車でサンノゼを走ってきたよ!
s_shimotori
0
210
iOS 17で追加されたSubscriptionStoreView を利用して5分でサブスク実装チャレンジ
natmark
0
650
monorepo の Go テストをはやくした〜い!~最小の依存解決への道のり~ / faster-testing-of-monorepos
convto
2
450
Railsだからできる 例外業務に禍根を残さない 設定設計パターン
ei_ei_eiichi
0
390
「ちょっと古いから」って避けてた技術書、今だからこそ読もう
mottyzzz
9
6k
AI Coding Meetup #3 - 導入セッション / ai-coding-meetup-3
izumin5210
0
650
Building, Deploying, and Monitoring Ruby Web Applications with Falcon (Kaigi on Rails 2025)
ioquatix
3
1.4k
Conquering Massive Traffic Spikes in Ruby Applications with Pitchfork
riseshia
0
160
Featured
See All Featured
The Cult of Friendly URLs
andyhume
79
6.6k
Side Projects
sachag
455
43k
Evolution of real-time – Irina Nazarova, EuRuKo, 2024
irinanazarova
9
970
Mobile First: as difficult as doing things right
swwweet
224
10k
Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences
danielanewman
30
2.9k
Facilitating Awesome Meetings
lara
56
6.6k
The Myth of the Modular Monolith - Day 2 Keynote - Rails World 2024
eileencodes
26
3.1k
Distributed Sagas: A Protocol for Coordinating Microservices
caitiem20
333
22k
Making Projects Easy
brettharned
119
6.4k
Understanding Cognitive Biases in Performance Measurement
bluesmoon
29
2.6k
Rebuilding a faster, lazier Slack
samanthasiow
84
9.2k
Code Review Best Practice
trishagee
72
19k
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