When this class wraps up each year, I often hear similar sentiments from students --
I've just now started to get the hang of coding, but I'm not sure how to keep it up when class is over.
I want to keep getting better at coding, but I don't have time to code during my normal weekly schedule, and I'm not sure what to make when I do have time.
These are perfectly valid questions!!
You may be interested in pursuing a career in programming, but don't yet have the skills to get a job programming. So, how can you improve?
The saying usually goes "Fake it till you make it," but I prefer "Hobby till you make it" -- that is, make coding one of your main interests and be as passionate about it as any of your other hobbies (music, fashion, game of thrones, whatever your other passions are!).
Make coding something that you read about, join communities around, and do for fun. Seek out digital art exhibits in your community. Seek out JavaScript meetups. Read some of John Maeda's books about creative code. (Don't read too many JavaScript textbooks, they will put you to sleep!). Build websites for your friends for free, while googling everything that you don't know how to do yet. As much as you can, keep code and code projects in your weekly life.
My favorite way to keep code in my daily life is by making sure that my digital news sources are full of news from the creative code community.
I started to use Twitter for this reason, actually. For me, it has been the best way to learn about what is happening right now in digital media programming classes around the country, and in the studios of creative coders.
Some great twitter accounts to follow:
Daniel Shiffman <-------
. . . . He tweets out educational videos from his studio almost every day!!!
Follow Daniel Shiffman's ongoing Coding Rainbow series.
Hacker News is one of the coding community's main news sources. It's usually pretty high level and there is plenty of news about obscure languages that you may not care about! But this is the first stop for anyone looking to get started in the startup economy, startup employment, or who is looking to learn about the latest developments from the tech world.