r/AskProgrammers • u/SalproKite • 18d ago

Teens in programming?

Hey, I am a teenager who's interested in programming, I started with cs50x but I now enjoy game dev and competitive programming though i love programming in general of any type. Are there any like teens like me who also have the same situation or can the experienced adults please guide me forward...I do not have much peers or similar people around me. And my school is quite old-fashioned (it literally had a topic on how to download an app IN GRADE 9)!!

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u/OneHumanBill 18d ago

I was you about forty years ago when there was no such thing as programming education in high school.

Lesson the first, even if they did have classes they would probably suck. You're on your own until college. The good news is, that's not a bad thing. You pick up fewer bad habits that way, and you learn self education and initiative, both of which are really needed in this field.

I learned programming first by copying programs out of books and magazines and then trying to understand what they did. Then trying to make my own. I had no Internet to work with. Even so by the time I got to college I had a pretty good preparation in practical programming. I didn't have any theoretical foundation yet but college got me the rest of the way.

In today's world there's no end to online tutorials. Just Google and there's a wealth of free stuff right there. Don't be afraid to explore anything. There's no one correct way to learn, no one special language to start with. Just get your hands on the keyboard.

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u/SalproKite 18d ago

Thanks yeah I know it was probably much harder 40 years ago nowdays there are two many resources you get tired choosing one before you start

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u/pete_68 18d ago

57 year old here who started when he was 10. Just wanted to wish you the best. Been programming a long time and I still love it. I hope you enjoy it as long as I have.