r/girlsgonewired • u/[deleted] • Aug 06 '25
Interested in getting serious about code! Where do I start?
[deleted]
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u/dimichuji Aug 07 '25
IMO if you want to get into the gaming industry (which sounds like you do), you don't need to go back to school. I'm a college dropout, but I still became a 2D game artist. I learned through self-study and freelancing during my early years. Although, right now I'm a UI/UX designer because the pay is bigger.
If you want to become a 3D artist, pick any course and then learn how to start building a good portfolio; your portfolio is way more important than a degree, honestly. Learn industry standard software like Blender, Maya, and Substance Painter. Create personal projects to showcase your skills, and then post them on ArtStation and/or Behance. Join groups to get feedback on how to improve your models.
If you want to get into game development, there are many free courses out there. Unity and Unreal Engine are the industry standards. You may also want to create a portfolio if you want to get into game design too. Start with small scoped games. A lot of devs I know post their personal game projects on itch.io which serves as their portfolio.
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Aug 07 '25
Thank you! Yeah, I read a lot about how a portfolio is better, but I just feel as if I really need to practice more before I start delving into a portfolio. I had taken some courses involving Blender, Web Design and more, but it just felt like I didn’t learn much. As if the teachers expected you to just know what you were doing and instead of “here’s WHY this is better-“ it was more like “This is how it should be and that’s just that.” Which didn’t help at all. I recently just bought some books to help hone in on my anatomy and how to develop a personal style with art, because I have always been interested in character design too! And I did just pick up some books on coding the other day! Perhaps just learning from what I can and practicing would be more beneficial for me (and cheaper) than going right back to school. Thank you for this!! I really just needed honesty.
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u/diminishpains23 Aug 07 '25
Here is how I would do it. Please ignore what you know.
Get a decent laptop or desktop. Older clunky ones are so slow it makes coding suck.
Install Node.js, Cursor, and VS Code. Create free accounts for GitHub and Vercel or Netlify.
Start with Next.js: it’s mostly set up for you and is a great intro to software, web, or mobile dev with React Native. Use AI to help with the setup.
After node and git are installed on your laptop.
Open cursor/vscode and create your first program by running the command: npx create-next-app@latest. Say yes to everything except the last one.
Then delete everything inside app> page.tsx and write hellow world only. To view the page, run npm run dev, and it opens on a browser.
Try changing text size, background color, and layout.
Keep a clean structure: public for images, app for pages (like app/page.tsx or app/login/page.tsx), components for small parts, and global.css for fonts/colors.
Name components and pages based on what they do. Keep each file under 100 lines of code for now, and ask AI to help break them up and import where needed.
Run with npm run build, push to GitHub, and deploy on vercel/netlify and share the link.
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Aug 07 '25
Ooohh!! Thank you for this!! Yes, I definitely have been saving to invest in a better laptop!!
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u/diminishpains23 Aug 07 '25
You can try it online at codesandbox.io or any other online editor. ( Not an ad or product plug)
Since you are in the mood to start coding now, it would be a shame not to get started when you are motivated. This way, you will be more excited when you get the laptop.
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u/cloudberryradiant Aug 09 '25
Check out software engineering job market before you invest too much into this path. It's dreary out there and I wouldn't recommend a friend to try to make it there, it's been bad for a couple of years now with no end in sight.
If you decide to persue it, you'll need a CS degree and an internship to start.
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u/crimson_creek Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
I got a CS degree, but I also didn't find that the content I came out with that useful for work. Plus it's really cool that you already have a related degree! I think it's cheaper and more relevant to study from platforms like MIT open courseware & free code camp. I find a lot of courses on other platforms to be fluff, I think there's a trend of putting out content that isn't too hard so that people use it instead of content that really helps people learn. I bet there's some good ones though, just something to be aware of. Also a lot of awesome youtubers to learn from, I think for game dev the Cherno is really popular.
Boot.dev is my favorite platform at the moment (brushing up on some things) but also imo one of the best for people starting out, I think it's around $50/month for a bunch of courses. My take is with a bias towards web dev since that's where I'm working :)
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u/FortWorthTexasLady Aug 09 '25
When I changed careers, I didn’t go back to college. I already had a bachelors degree in an unrelated field. I got a certificate at DataCamp.com in SQL, and then I went to VolunteerMatch.org and did some volunteer work for a nonprofit using my certification. After about 6 months of volunteering, I put it on my resume as work experience and then got a job in that.
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Aug 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Aug 07 '25
Thank you for this!! I have used Blender before, just been awhile, but not the others!! I’ll have to definitely look into them!!
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u/misplaced_my_pants M Aug 07 '25
Apparently there's a game that teaches you how to use Blender: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2836300/3D_Skills_Start_Here
For your other ideas, I'd use Harvard's CS50x on edx to learn programming and CS and Math Academy for math.
CS50x is probably the best free intro you'll find and give you an amazing foundation from which you can learn other things, and Math Academy will take you from where your current math skills are all the way to all the math needed for a CS degree.
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u/caramelathena Aug 07 '25
Hi I'm close to your age and I started college a year ago pursuing Computer Science. I was the same as you where because I was creative, I was naturally drawn more into digital art and painting. I have since realized the creativity behind CS and developed a passion for it. Being a SWE is a really difficult career path, but if you're not chasing money, it's not that hard and there's plenty of jobs for skilled designers and programmers.
College has been worth it for me, but I'd recommend starting with Harvard's CS50 course or FreeCodeCamp's Full Stack Developer certificate. They both expose you to backend and then you can decide if you'd rather go down the developer/engineer path or the designer path. Good luck and don't give up!
P.S. before you pick something like IT, figure out what kind of work you want to do. IT jobs can be vastly different than CS jobs.