It is never too late to start learning how to code

This is a guest post from Jenna Quindica. Enjoy.

Dear New Developer,

I didn’t learn how to program until I was 18; in fact, I didn’t know about computer science the concept until I was 18. It is never too late to start learning how to code.

In the beginning I struggled the most with navigating acronyms, words, and phrases I’d never heard of. I vaguely knew what a server was, but I didn’t know what a command line was, let alone what you do with one. File extensions that weren’t Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint confused me. The closest I got to computer science as a kid was clearing my Chrome browser history. My Neopets password was five alpha characters, and I was devastated when my account got hacked.

I didn’t start to enjoy programming until I knew how my piece fit into the rest of the picture. Find a friend who can teach you the vocabulary so that you can better understand the ecosystem.

Warmly,
Jenna

Jenna Quindica is a software engineer at First Round, a seed-stage venture capital firm. She dropped out of her computer science major at Cornell University to work at four early-stage startups. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.