How to Become A Programmer In 2020?

The 18th and 19th centuries were a century of inventions and discoveries; the 20th century was of industries and factories. Well, industries and factories are still in the 21st century, but the 21st century is the era of digitization and technological innovations.
And to meet this need for technological innovations, we need more and more people who are skilled in this field. And people who have these skills are programmers. Programmers are the god of the digital world, every device you see; use is because of programmers. Now questions arise: what is programming, who are programmers, and what do they do? Don't worry, in this article, I'll explain everything. Let's start with the first question:

What is programming?

To understand what programming is, you must understand how computers work? As you know, computers don't understand our language and computers are not logical enough to follow our natural instructions. We need to give a proper command in the correct format to make them able to perform any task. And to provide them with command in the appropriate format, we need a language that a computer can understand. We call that language programming language . There are hundreds of programming languages available like C, C++, C#, Python, Java, Kotlin, Ruby, etc. but you don't need to learn them all. I'll come to it later, first understand two questions, who are programmers, and what do they do?

Who are programmers, and what do they do?

As I said, programmers are the god of the digital world. They created this virtual world. They are someone who understands programming languages and knows how to give commands to the computers to perform any task you do on your computer, mobile, smartwatch, etc.
Programmers develop software that is the soul of a computer. You play your favorite movie; you play games on your computer with the help of software. Without software, your computer is just a box.
How to become a programmer?
Now, you have a basic idea of what programming is and who are programmers, we can move to our main question: how to become a programmer?

Learn the basics of computers?

When I say basics, it doesn't mean to know how to switch a computer on and off. You must understand how your computer works. How to install aa software, and why do we need to go through different steps while installing software? What happens when you click once and twice with your mouse? How does your computer show your favorite movie?
You must question everything. Because when you ask things, this means you are willing to know.
But the questioning isn't the goal; your goal should be finding answers to your questions. Well, Google is the best place to get answers to all these questions.

Set your goal

Now you have enough knowledge about computers, and you're ready to start. But wait, take a moment and ask yourself what you want to do after learning to program. This question is crucial because it will help you in setting your goal.
Now, set a goal and make a learning calendar that you'll learn the concept of programming in a given period. But, be realistic in setting your intention, don't be hypothetical like I'll understand everything in one day.

Stick to one programming language.

As I already said that there are hundreds of programming languages. And this is almost impossible for anyone to learn all programming languages. So, start with one programming language, finish it, and then you can switch to another one. I'll suggest going with C or C++ because almost all pro programmers suggest this.
When you start learning to program, you start getting distracted from your goal. But your will power must be strong enough to stick to one until you finish it.

Take challenges from different sources.

Now, the game starts. You must check what you've learned and what you need to work on.
To check this, you should take coding challenges. Many websites challenge programmers to solve questions. You should have accounts on programming forum websites like stackoverflow.com. Try to answer questions posted there.
You can also join active Facebook groups to post challenges and to take coding challenges. Try to complete yourself and submit.

Start small projects

So, if you follow all the above steps, you should have enough knowledge to start a coding project. Don't try to start a big project at first; you'll end up without finishing it. Start with smaller ones. Learn about GitHub and upload your work on GitHub, show it to your friends and teachers, take feedback, and improve yourself.
Practice, Practice, and Practice.
Now, you are a programmer. But, you'll forget everything if you don't practice. So, exercise every day to improve yourself.
Try to take more significant challenges, try to start bigger projects, and, most importantly, try to solve problems that you see around you.

Conclusion:

Programming is a great skill, but it requires patience. When someone asks me what I should do before I start learning to program, then I say you need to practice to sit for hours without getting bored in front of your computer.
With this statement, I just want to say that you need to be patient if you're going to learn to program. You'll be able to do great things if you learn and practise coding regularly for at least one month.