Hey everyone! Just wanted to share something that I discovered recently that has been tremendously beneficial for me on my coding journey as of late. As the title suggests, it’s coding podcasts! For those of you who don’t regularly listen to podcasts or maybe you already do, you might be thinking, “huh?” I thought the same thing as well. Since coding is so visual, I never thought that I’d be able to benefit from something delivery via audio. Well I was kind of in a rut with coding and frankly somewhat discouraged after staring at the same error for what seemed like days. Then I stumbled upon this blog post which shares similar initial thoughts towards coding podcasts as I had (check it out here). The Code Newbie podcast was the one that I gravitated to since I am a “code newbie” myself. At this point I’ve listened to probably close to a dozen of them, and while I can’t say that I’ve actually learned specific coding concepts through it, I’ve benefited in a number of other ways.

1. They have helped me hear about others experiences in learning to code. Taking on something so challenging like learning to code can make you feel a little lonely or discouraged when you’re struggling. To hear that I wasn’t the only one, gave me encouragement, and reinvigorated me to hear how they persevered through it.
2. They have taught me principles from other programmers with much more experience than me. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to podcasts where the people being interviewed are software engineers with 10+ years of experience in the industry. As they share their nuggets of wisdom and things they’ve learned along the way, I’ve gobbled them up seeing ways I could start incorporating their ideas.
3. They have exposed me to challenges that software engineers face on the job. Most people learning how to code including me are aspiring to become software engineers/developers someday soon. It’s great to hear people share about challenges they’ve faced in their roles, what they find rewarding, and for some, how what they learned in bootcamp prepared or didn’t prepare them for in the working world.
4. They have shown me insights into what hiring managers and software engineers look for when hiring. Since I’ll be applying and looking for a job in the near future, it has been helpful to hear what the hiring process is like, what qualities they look for, and what qualities they don’t want. I don’t want to be in the position where I’m done with my bootcamp and then I start thinking about what to do about getting a job. The time is now!

I could probably come up with more, but you get the idea. I have a long commute to and from work, so I definitely have more than enough time to listen to podcasts. They pump me up and get me excited to code. Give them a try, I hope they will be as helpful for you as they have been for me!