QUESTION
“I am in my late 50s and would like to learn how to code. I love to learn. I am very Internet-savvy and also very social media-savvy. What I am not, though, is tech-savvy.
Growing up, my generation missed out on computer basics, so I find myself constantly trying to learn things that are really obvious to millennials because they grew up with all of this. For them, a lot comes naturally. For over-50s, it’s “Oh, how did you know that?!”
How difficult is it for someone who is not tech-savvy to learn how to code, and what would be my starting point so I’m not totally lost? Thank you.”
Answer
Hey,
I am really glad you asked this question because I get asked this question all the time over email.
I am not going to disagree when you say it’s easier for millennials to pick up digital skills.
You’re right: many of “us” (I say “us” because I am considered a millennial) spent most of our lives, if not all, with a computer in our home. We had cellphones, and later smartphones. So for many of us using a computer for basic tasks is second-nature.
But being able to use Microsoft Word and Excel versus building a website are very different things.
I say this because when I first began teaching myself HTML and CSS, I didn’t know the difference between a .png and .jpg file type.
Heck, I didn’t even know different file types existed for images. I remember this still because of how shocked I was to learn that images could be saved in many different ways.
Funny enough—this wasn’t even that long ago. Not even four years ago at the time of writing.
But, like you, I always loved to learn.
To answer the question you posed at the end:
“How difficult is it for someone who is not tech-savvy to learn how to code, and what would be my starting point so I’m not totally lost?”
First: if you are internet-savvy, and social media-savvy, you are tech-savvy!!!
If you can browse on the internet and use programs like Microsoft Word, you *can* learn basic HTML and CSS in the least.
Fun fact: during my freshman year of college I had to take a special non-credit computer literacy course because I did so poorly the computer test they gave us a freshman orientation.
As in, my basic understanding of using a computer was so bad, I was required to take a remedial computer course.
Let that soak in for a minute…
…Okay – moving along.
1. Start with an intro to the web course
Before jumping into building websites, important to have an understanding of how the web works.
Here are some places where you can learn internet fundamentals:
2. Next move onto HTML, then CSS
After understanding more about the internet and what is going on behind the scenes, you can jump into HTML and CSS.
Here are three suggestions:
Good luck teaching yourself =)
Hope this helps!
Laurence