5 Programming Tips while abroad

Here's a little secret: there is none...

I'm currently only studying business, and that being said, programming is something you constantly must do to improve your skills. One person can not get far by only programming one program and the same goes for one person can not do everything and expect it to be perfect. This study abroad taught me to take a different approach to programming, now that I have only one person pushing me to program: which is my self.

Here are my 5 Tips for improving your programming skills while abroad.

1. Start a Project Let's be honest, programming can be tough if you don't practice, so a great way is to start a project. Don't be afraid of going into projects that you have no idea how to start. This is where research will come in handy. Use Google, Youtube, and your other programming teaching tools to learn how to start your programming project. Then create a rough draft, a skeleton version of it. The hardest part about programming is after you finished the easy stuff, so don't give up and keep brainstorming!

2. Meet other programmers There are many programmers around the world, and if you're abroad you might think that you are not able to find some. However, the best part of programming is the remotability of it. For example, there are many companies that offer remote internships, so apply to as many as you can. I recently started a remote internship with GreatMoods, and from the expierence so far I found other programmers that can give me some tips and vice versa. You can also go on forms and find projects you would be interested in working on.

3. Freelancing Yes I said Freelancing. This is one of my favorite parts about being abroad. One of the best ways to get hands on expierence is to freelance local companies in the country you currently are at. Go walk around and look at every company near by and if website development is one of your passions search them up on google and check out their website. In France I would look at a companies website and try to redo it first, this helped my programming and forced me to be creative. Then I would contact the company and ask if they would be interested in a new website. They may say yes, but they may say no. But either way you are programming and improving your skills so it is a win-win situation! It also is a great way to improve your foreign language.

4. Programming Challenge Now this one is more technical. There are many websites online where you can do challenges and improve your programming that way. I would recommend this, however, it is not really hands on. It is a great way to not lose all of the ideas you learned in college while you are abroad. Some sites that I would recommend for programming challenges are HackerRank and LeetCode .

5. Find a Project at School This one is a little harder to do. Some professors have projects at school and if you are interesting in learning how to program with a professor it never hurts to ask. It is similar to research at a University, just go up to a professor and ask if there are any projects you can help on, or just watch over so you could learn how programming works in a project enviornment.

Overall, if you feel doomed while studying abroad know that there are many things you can do to keep your programming skills top-notch and continue to improve those skills. Take these tips as you interpert them. If you have any tips and you would like me to include them in this blog please email them to me at personal@rjamkatel.com and I would surely include them!

Thank you so much for reading :)

Please share this post to your friends, family, and collegues if it was a great read and I will definitely appreciate it!

Post Tags StudyAbroad Programming France