The title is pretty self explanatory what 100 days of code is, it is where you dedicate 100 days of your time working on programming projects, or educating yourself with different programming languages. The aim is to come out stronger than where you were when you started - Deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
Why 100 days?
Well that is just the trend, you can do more or less if you desire, the main intention is to completely surround yourself with learning and develop strong habits from that. As long as each day is spent with focus on learning and gaining value. 100 days is actually meant to be an easy path to improving, as it is fully expected that some days may not be very productive, especially at the beginning, where you do not know what to do. You will find that as you are approaching nearer to 100 days, you will have found yourself to have a strong workflow, and be far more productive.
Community
Being part of the #100daysofcode community really supports you, it is there to provide encouragement, at the start of your journey you can tell the community “I will start my #100daysofcode journey today!”, And if you so wish you can update the community on your progression through your journey.
So join in with the community! This is a great opportunity to get out of your comfort zone, maybe you will find other people on the same journey as you are on.
Reflect
It is important to be reflective of each of your days. I.e Day 81: Today I learnt about React Sagas, and used them in an example project. You do not have to share this with the world, it is just important that you are able to make the most out of your time, and really see the progression you are making.
At the end of the 100 days of code, you may very much be so infatuated by it, that you want to continue. I say, definitely, keep up the fire! When it starts being a chore, or you have other priorities, then it’s time to end the journey… for now. When I looked back on my programming maturity at the start from the end, I can definitely see that I had improved.
How I improved
At the beginning I was so scared to just start a project, or even continue on a project. I wasn’t comfortable coding, I had to always look up documentation, I had so many blockers. On my journey I wanted to learn to be a more independent programmer, I wanted the ability to just pick up an empty file and make it a program, and understand the libraries that I am using. I learnt just that, and more, coding each day completely changed my thought processes, I felt my mind had unlocked. My problem solving skills had improved so great, that I was able to apply it to other life situations.
Recommendations
With 100daysofcode, I recommend using GitHub to track your daily commits. By the end, you will see a thick GitHub commit streak that looks so great on your profile. Employers can see this and can see your true passion for coding, you are no longer an imposter saying they can code, you are someone that does code and can show for it.
With each day, you feel accountable to keep up with your streak, it is also rewarding when you see how much progress you have made. Also, doing daily commits forces you to learn git better, you can use 100days, to learn how to write better, meaningful commit messages and pull requests.
Also, whilst we are on the github topic still, whilst on your 100daysofcode journey, I recommend you look into open source projects, they are a great resource of inspiration if you do not know what to do, and you become even closer to the community that way!
How to get started?
Well, just code. But I understand that is a bit daunting. I strongly recommend Wes Bos’ 30daysofcode JavaScript project - here. I am sure you will be able to find similar projects online for other languages. The benefits of this course is that, they are laid out well for daily programming sessions, you will learn lots by just watching, and then after each video you can have a go at implementing what you have learnt.
Summary
You will find that, if you take this seriously, you will end up with a strong portfolio of your efforts. Especially if you use GitHub to store your projects. It is time that is not wasted, even if its just 15 minutes each day, do something, be proactive, explore, create, learn.