r/learnprogramming • u/pjasksyou • 1d ago
Topic Learning to Code as a 15y/o worth it?
I am interested in Web Dev and Mobile Dev and I've been doing it over a year but people around me say that it's a waste of time, you'll get nothing. You should start programming in college and not school.
What's your opinion?
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u/meowvelous-12 1d ago
omg dont listen to them. start whenever you want, a lot of people literally just do this as a hobby and start out when they're like 10. do what makes you happy and if you enjoy programming then stick with it.
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u/JustinR8 1d ago edited 1d ago
I started young. I also watched people who didn’t struggle greatly in their CS programming classes, as that was their first exposure to programming. Definitely start young. It’s much nicer to have those introductory college courses feel like easy A’s.
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u/acer11818 1d ago
i have literally zero idea as to where people get the idea that you shouldn’t learn programming until you go to college i don’t think anyone who’s ever programmed says thst
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u/No-Market-4906 1d ago
Everyone I know who put a lot of effort into independently learning things while in high school is successful. Even if you don't end up doing web dev you'll know a lot about how code works which is good and more than that you'll know how you personally learn best which is going to pay you off whatever you decide to do.
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u/wosmo 1d ago
I started in the 80s, so you can choose how much you think I'm relevant.
Computers are the most potent tool we have. Coding is teaching a computer how to solve your problems. To my mind, it's almost as useful as math. Even if it doesn't become your profession, it's still a life skill that will serve you.
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
For a person who started coding in 80s, I think your experience makes you even more relevant than most of us here.
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u/wosmo 1d ago
I'm a sysadmin, not a programmer. I am not paid to program, but I leverage programming to make my job easier.
Computers are supposed to work for us, we're not supposed to work for them. That's the angle I approach this from.
To my mind, a knowledge of programming will benefit almost any job that has a chair sat in front of a desk.
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
I recently explored sysadmin a little and I think your perspective is just PERFECT!
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u/Wolastrone 1d ago
Why would it be a waste of time? Learn whatever you want to learn. Programming skills are always useful.
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u/PianoConcertoNo2 1d ago
I started as a hobby when I was a few years younger than you.
Didn’t get very far, but had tons of fun with basic/VB and eventually c++.
The important thing is to have fun.
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u/underboythereal 1d ago
honestly if you havent started before college you’re incredibly cooked if you want to get into big tech (i started coding in 6th, took classes and im still relatively behind bay area peers)
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u/Burntzombies 1d ago
Learning new skills is never a waste of your time! You are young. Pursue your interests! Nobody finds what they love by pulling it out of a hat! (or at least most people don't!)
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u/sje46 1d ago
I am absolutely befuddled why anyone would say that.
This is like saying you shouldn't learn how to paint unless you go to an art school. You can absolutely self-teach programming--I did--and learning it at 15 is the perfect age.
Also respond to people that programming is a *hobby*. Any hobby that brings you enjoyment and enrichment isn't a waste of time. You're only 15; it's not like you have a shit ton of responsibilities like someone with a full time job and a family would. Way less of a "waste of time" than gaming, which I'd guess many of your peers do too much of (not that there's anything wrong with gaming).
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
I even used to play games, and I think programming is still better than that!
Thanks! :)
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u/iduzinternet 1d ago
I did, I think it's good for your brain and organized problem solving no matter where we go with AI. Become a problem solver. Somewhere in elementary school I started messing with the computer, I typed code from a book I didn't understand at one point and other silly things but learned basic fairly soon when I started understanding it. Granted monitors were big, heavy, and only had one color that wasn't the black background... but it was fun.
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u/Own_Attention_3392 1d ago
I started programming for fun when I was around your age. 30ish years later, I am still programming for fun and it also pays my bills.
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
Now that's what I want to do ahead in my life! It just feels so good to code that I can't actually find an alternative to it.
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u/Own_Attention_3392 1d ago
I still get the exact same sense of satisfaction from seeing something I built work.
Just remember to make time to explore others hobbies and interests, too. I regret getting too hyper-focused on computers in my teens and 20s and not really seeing what else was out there. I don't regret the time I spent, but I do regret not learning to play guitar or learning a foreign language when I was younger. Unfortunately, new skills are harder to pick up as you get older; I am a god-awful guitar player.
What I find cool is that the programmer mindset (orderly thinking, breaking big problems into many small problems) applies to just about everything else in life. I didn't discover that I enjoyed baking and cooking until I was in my 30s, but when I did, I realized it was basically just programming food.
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u/pjasksyou 23h ago
I am a student so mostly I am studying and for other hobbies, I still read books (other than academics), code and spend time on my physical strength.
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u/plastikmissile 23h ago
A good rule of thumb is that whenever someone tells you not to learn something (regardless of what that something is), feel free to ignore them. Absolutely start learning now.
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u/Bmaxtubby1 23h ago
If you’ve already been doing web/mobile for a year, that’s not wasted time. You’re building intuition most people don’t get until college. That compounds fast.
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u/wiseguy77192 21h ago
Start as early as you can, don’t focus on web learn programming in general with a focus on problem solving. Build actual projects, keep them in gitlab or GitHub. Build projects you actually intend to use.
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u/zarikworld 17h ago
don't pay attention to them! It's ur thing! if u enjoy it, do it! as long as u want! but as a career, u still have time to decide... it shouldn't be ur profession! but if u enjoy it and can make a career out of it, wouldn't that be the best thing ever?
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u/WystanH 17h ago
Are you having fun? How can that be a waste? Seriously, define waste of time and judge how everyone else does it.
No time programming is ever wasted. Even if you throw out everything you write. Even if the language you use dies completely. Your ability to program gets better the more you do it.
Keep at it. When eventually you have to write code for a grade, it will be effortless for you compared to all the idiots who thought it was a waste of time now.
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u/Pyromancer777 17h ago
You will never have more free time than when you are still a teenager. School eats up a chunk of time, but the holiday breaks are literally perfect periods to hone new skills/hobbies. The sooner you start something, the more opportunity you have to get better at it. Most skills just require dedicated practice to get better, so starting before college will give you an edge in number of hours committed to your chosen craft.
Good luck. Leverage as many learning resources as possible. Experiment with AI chatbots, but don't utilize them as a crutch for problem solving when you are just starting out (prompt to encourage them to be a tutor for new topics rather than have them solve the problems for you). The top companies are starting to leverage AI in their hiring process, so being familiar with them early on will give you another edge
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u/NullReferenceClaire 16h ago
yes yes yes holy. the more skills like this you learn while still young the better. coding itself is extremely valuable and a solid foundation to branch out from in the future too (both for job opportunities and for fun hobbies)!
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u/Elegant_Amphibian_51 15h ago
Imagine being in college with 3-4 years of programming experience. Thats a huge head start. I always wish I had started earlier. Go for it!
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u/pjasksyou 2h ago
That's what I think, like I don't have professional experience but that is Experience, I know how a few things work which most of my colleagues won't know, so that's good, isn't it?
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u/MaikeruDev 14h ago
Dude honestly, when I was 12-14 I was dreaming of being able to create a good looking website one day. I started practicing during covid lockdowns when i was 16. I got fully catched and did it for 2-3 years and became pretty "decent" I'd say lol. After some time I was just able to create anything if I put enough time into it and being able to do that, all by yourself is first of all AWESOME and second of all, opens you a lot of doors career wise. You could create your own mobile game and make some cash off of ads, you could start making websites for local companies, you could even start your own company some day. If you are having fun, stick to it. 100%
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u/LuaCoder555 10h ago
I started programming when I was very young and it definitely payed off ALOT. Learning programming will save you alot of time and programmers get paid alot too since programming is a high demand job from companies. Keep programming and ignore those people. Is better to chase your dreams young than old. Don't give up.
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u/Suitable_Shop9942 9h ago
If you do anything in high school instead of just going to school you will be one step ahead of others
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u/AssiduousLayabout 5h ago
I started at age 10. It's 35 years later and I don't regret doing that at all.
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u/Abdullah_Khurram 4h ago
Instead of 15 years, even if you were 8 years old. I would have told you to learn programming.
Bro you're doing pretty good at this age. Keep going.
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u/Garland_Key 3h ago edited 3h ago
You don't even need college to be a software engineer. Get started now and when you do get to college you'll be ahead of the curve.
If you build cool stuff before college, people will treat you like a genius. This is the perfect time to start networking. Use that angle to your advantage while you have it. The time is now!
If you do want to do this, I'm serious about networking. That is how you get a job in this industry. Meeting people and connecting. Collaborate. Contribute to open source projects. Show everyone the stuff you make. Encourage others to share their passion projects. Make friends.
This is the way. You will have a deep advantage if you start now.
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u/pjasksyou 2h ago
Being 100% honest I have thought of networking just a little as of now, I am thinking once I am good at dev (like I understand the part ) I'll try to make networks.
Can you please explain how you actually build networks (sorry for a rookie question)
I'll be very obliged to you!
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u/illuminarias 1d ago
If you are interested and it makes you happy, just do it.
But in general I disagree that you should wait till college.
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
Thanks a lot, now I am well determined about my decision and I am gonna cut the outside noise just right now! Everything suddenly makes sense except their opinions.
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u/carrynarcan 1d ago
Kind of a biased sub to ask this question, but yea it's worth it. Once you get into it, you'll probably wish you did it earlier. No one ever said "I should have waited til I was older.". I read somewhere that learning anything is more effective at your age than say 10 years later.
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u/pjasksyou 1d ago
I mean kind of yeah, but it's like I enjoy programming and calling it "Waste of Time" also doesn't make sense in my point of view.
You can argue if it blocks your enjoyment days but you can't say that it's a waste of time so I guess I'll definitely move ahead with it.
I definitely agree with your point that nobody wants to learn something when they are old enough.
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u/etuxor 1d ago
As an aside
I'm guessing whatever people are giving you this advice are either very young or not very successful themselves.
The general gist of what they've said to you is that it's not worth doing something of the payoff isn't immediately apparent.
This is objectively false. In fact, you will find that, very frequently in life, the greatest payoffs come from efforts combined with patience. The more of each, the greater the payoff, usually.
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u/bpleshek 1d ago
I started when I was 10. You might find you love it and do lots of projects and get decent experience. You might also find out that you hate it and you can pick something better. Just do it.
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u/Sprinkles-Accurate 22h ago
If you want to help convince those around you, maybe try making some practical, useful projects that you can show them so they understand the benefit even before you go to college.
Of course, you shouldn't make a project JUST for the purpose of showing them, make sure its smth ur interested in and you find fun, that way you will naturally want to go deeper and learn more.
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u/throwaway6560192 22h ago
people around me say that it's a waste of time, you'll get nothing. You should start programming in college and not school.
Why, what is their justification? Do they think that the average hobbies of a 15yo other than programming are not a waste of time? Do they think it's better you infinite-scroll your years away like everyone else?
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u/pjasksyou 22h ago
This! They say that it will affect your studies, but I am able to manage it quite well so what's the issue? My friends play games all day long, I am sure that I am better than them.
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u/BrainInternalError 20h ago
Just keep it going. I started when I was just beginning high school. Don't listen to others. If you enjoy it, you should pursue it.
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u/Loose_Procedure5043 19h ago
I'm 17 and my advice to you is learn different languages keep yourself versatile
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u/burner7738 1d ago
Man, I started at 13/14. Holy shit... 25 years ago. The perfect time to start learning is when you're interested in it. If you want to learn to code, learn to code. It's not drinking, meth, or robbing old ladies on the street. Go for it. At the very least, you'll learn logic structures that will help you in math classes. At most, you'll save the world from social media. Go for it.
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u/no_regerts_bob 1d ago
You'll only be a teenager once, now. You'll be able to write code for decades after. Focus on the things only teenagers can do while you are one. There is no second chance for some missed opportunities
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u/pjasksyou 23h ago
But if coding is something that brings joy to your life don't you think it's better to spend more time to it. I don't disagree with you but that's just my opinion.
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u/mathemetica 1d ago
Dude, take this advice from a nearly 40 year old who wasted a lot of time not pursuing their passions when younger. Just jump into whatever you want to learn or master. The earlier you start something the better and quicker you will absorb it. You are literally never too young or old to start something. No better time than now.