Your First Steps Into Programming: An Honest Guide for Complete Beginners
Wondering if you should learn to code at university or teach yourself? Here's an honest breakdown of both paths, career prospects, and how to actually get started in 2025.
You're standing at the edge of something exciting. Programming feels like this mysterious skill that everyone talks about, but nobody really explains how to start. Should you watch YouTube tutorials? Buy textbooks? Jump straight into a university degree? And what about jobs—is it really as competitive as everyone says?
Let's break this down together, because you're asking exactly the right questions.
Starting Point: Where Do Beginners Actually Begin?
Here's the truth: the best way to start learning programming in 2025 is whatever method keeps you actually coding. Not thinking about coding. Not watching endless videos about coding. Actually writing code.
That said, here's what works for most complete beginners:
YouTube and free resources are fantastic for your first 2-4 weeks. They give you a feel for what programming looks like without any financial commitment. Search for "Python for absolute beginners" or "JavaScript fundamentals" and pick a recent tutorial (2024-2025). Spend 30-60 minutes daily following along, typing out the code yourself—not just watching.
Python is an excellent first language because it reads almost like English. Here's your first program:
name = input("What's your name? ")
print(f"Hello, {name}! Welcome to programming.")That's it. Five lines, and you've created something interactive. Compare that to languages where you need to understand compilers, memory management, and arcane syntax just to print "Hello World."
After your initial exploration, structured learning becomes crucial. This is where paid courses, bootcamps, or formal education shine. Why? Because programming isn't just about syntax—it's about problem-solving patterns, debugging strategies, and building complete projects. You need guidance to avoid developing bad habits that'll haunt you later.
The University vs. Self-Taught Decision (With Real 2025 Data)
This is where it gets interesting. The landscape has shifted dramatically in the past few years.
Coding bootcamps cost between $10,000-$20,000 and take 3-9 months. According to 2025 data, bootcamp graduates earn a median starting salary of $69,079, with 79% securing full-time roles shortly after completion. That's a fast track: less than a year from beginner to employed developer.
University degrees cost $40,000-$200,000 over four years. The median entry-level software developer salary in 2025 is $94,360 according to Glassdoor, ranging from $86,000-$136,000 depending on location and specialization. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the overall median at $131,450, but that includes experienced developers.
Here's the honest breakdown:
Bootcamps and self-study make sense if you need to start earning quickly or you're already career-switching with a degree under your belt. They work best for self-motivated people who can commit to coding daily and want to specialize in web development, where there's tons of demand for bootcamp-trained developers.
University shines when you want deep computer science fundamentals—the algorithms, data structures, and systems architecture that power everything. It's the path for specialized fields like AI/ML or systems programming, and you get the credentialing and network that still matters at some companies. But you need the time and money, which rules it out for a lot of people.
The breakthrough insight from 2025: employers increasingly care about what you can build, not where you learned. A developer who taught themselves by building a successful open-source project gets just as many interview requests as a CS grad—sometimes more.
In June 2025, a solo developer sold his 6-month-old startup for $80 million. He wasn't a university grad or bootcamp alumnus. He was self-taught, leveraging AI tools to build something valuable. This isn't saying you'll replicate that success, but it proves the gatekeeping has crumbled.
Career Prospects: The Reality Check You Need
"Is it competitive?" Yes. "Is it impossible?" Absolutely not.
Entry-level positions in 2025 typically want 0-2 years of experience or equivalent projects. Salaries range from $52,000-$78,500 depending on where you live and what role you're targeting. Remote work has blown the market wide open, but here's the tough part: you'll probably apply to 50-150 positions before landing your first role. That's not failure, that's normal.
What actually gets you hired isn't your degree or bootcamp certificate—it's portfolio projects that solve real problems. Not tutorial clones where you followed along, but applications you conceived and built yourself. Contributing to open-source projects shows you can work with existing codebases and collaborate with other developers. Communication skills matter more than people admit; you need to explain technical concepts without sounding like you're reading documentation. Problem-solving in interviews means practicing algorithms on LeetCode or similar platforms, which feels artificial but that's the game. And persistence—the job search takes 3-6 months on average for entry-level, sometimes longer.
The competitive part isn't the skill acquisition—it's standing out among other entry-level candidates. But here's your advantage: most beginners give up within the first three months. If you're still coding after 100 days, you're already in the top 20% of people who started when you did.
How to Actually Get Started
Your first two weeks should be messy exploration. Pick Python or JavaScript—flip a coin if you can't decide—and start with free resources to get your feet wet. Search on Skillcraft for beginner courses in your chosen language, filtering by free options if you want to test the waters before committing. Write code every single day, even just 20 minutes. Build tiny projects: a calculator, a to-do list, a simple game. Don't worry about quality. You're building the habit.
Weeks three through eight are where structured learning kicks in, and this is where investing in yourself pays off. A quality paid course ($20-50) is worth it—you get better structure, fewer gaps in knowledge, and usually a supportive community. Think of it like gym membership versus YouTube workout videos: both can work, but one gives you a clear path and keeps you accountable. Search Skillcraft for highly-rated beginner courses with recent reviews to find what actually works. Learn the fundamentals: variables, functions, loops, data structures. Build 2-3 portfolio projects you're actually proud to show people. Join a coding community on Discord or Reddit's r/learnprogramming so you're not learning in isolation.
By weeks nine through twelve, you'll know if this is for you. If you love it, explore advanced topics and consider a full-time bootcamp or university. If you're still unsure, keep at it—competence comes before passion, and you might just need more time. Start contributing to open-source projects, even if it's just fixing typos in documentation. Network with other developers online. These connections matter more than you'd think.
The Truth About Timeframes
You'll see your first "aha!" moment within two weeks. You'll build something genuinely useful within two months. You'll be job-ready in 6-12 months of consistent study.
Not years of struggle. Not a lifetime commitment before you see results. Months.
But here's the catch: "consistent" means actually showing up. Programming rewards daily 30-minute sessions far more than weekend 8-hour marathons. It's about building neural pathways, not grinding through content.
What Nobody Tells You Upfront
Programming isn't some mystical art reserved for geniuses who've been coding since they were seven. It's a skill you can learn, similar to how you learned to read or drive a car. There's an initial learning curve where everything feels foreign, then suddenly things click, and you wonder why it seemed so hard.
The job market in 2025 is competitive, but it's also massive. Software powers everything from your coffee maker to spacecraft. There are junior developer positions for web applications, mobile apps, game development, data analysis, automation, AI integration, and hundreds of other specializations.
Will you become a senior engineer in six months? No. Will you be employable with dedicated effort over 6-12 months? Absolutely yes.
So here's your move: don't overthink it. Open a free Python or JavaScript tutorial right now—not later today, right now—and write your first five lines of code. Then do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.
The best programmers aren't the ones who made perfect educational choices. They're the ones who started typing and never stopped.
Welcome to programming. Your future self will thank you for starting today.
Ready to explore coding courses and find the perfect learning path? Search on Skillcraft to discover courses tailored to beginners, complete with real reviews from developers who've walked the same journey you're starting.