Who started here with absolutely ZERO knowledge about programming? Can you share your exp and how far have you gone?

Hey Vince,

I signed-up on Treehouse around the time I returned to school to pursue my second degree (BS, Computer Science). This was in early 2015. My first degree (BFA, Electronic Imaging) focused on a wide-range of digital mediums, from vector illustration to 3D animation. The reason I signed up on Treehouse at the time was primarily to get a head-start on Java. I wanted to be prepared for the first few weeks at the minimum, so I started going through a lot of Craig's courses early on. I found it be truly helpful, at least until we got up to working with Java applets.

However, at the same time, I was also taking a course called Website Construction for some extra college credits. The course focused on the basics of web development, from HTML/CSS to JavaScript. However, the instructor's content was far outdated. I found that after a few weeks of going through various web-oriented courses on Treehouse, I was beyond what was covered in the course. Not only that but I was asked by the professor to demonstrate media queries for a few of his courses. I found the course to be an easy A after going through the courses on here but also a tremendous waste of money. It truly was an eye opener on how college professors can easily fall behind technology wise.

During the second semester, I obtained an internship at a creative agency called Elegant Seagulls. This was around the time that I changed my focus on Treehouse. I started going through a lot of web development courses instead of Java, etc. The internship was unpaid but for three months I worked on multiple branding projects (Design) and a few website builds. Throughout the internship, I needed to learn Git, Gulp, Sass and WordPress. Treehouse played a big part in keeping me up to speed and made the overall transition to be smooth.

Towards the end of the internship, I was asked to stay on part-time. I decided to post-pone the completion of my second degree and dedicate my time to the agency at that point. Over a year later, I'm now full-time with salary. I still use Treehouse when I can. I'll most likely be diving into React soon, as our team is switching focus from WordPress to static builds.

Hiya Vince! I joined this site like 5 months ago, but i had little bit knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I was so confused about what to learn and what courses to choose from and there were so many questions going in my head. I felt like my head would explode. So i started with Python. And i really liked the courses of Python on treehouse. I wouldnt say they explain everything related to the Python language but it made my foundation a lot stronger. And for the first time i felt really comfy with a language.

After a month , i started out with Ruby, and i found it easy to learn coz the foundations of every language is pretty much the same , its just the syntax and guidelines that are different for different languages. Took me 2 months to perfect Rails but by that time i had great knowledge of Python, Flask , Django , Ruby, Ruby-on-Rails and Sinatra. I went from total amateur to expert in those languages especially Ruby and Ruby-on-Rails.

Then i started doing freelancing a month ago and landed 3 great projects and im already finished with one of 'em. And still working with the couple of 'em. So yeah Treehouse has helped me a lot. Also i'd do code challenges with sites like Codepen , checkio, Codewars, CodeChef etc so that i could be a perfectionist.

So yeah all it takes is a start. Start as soon as you can and set targets. And invest time in whatever language you start with. Checkout Docs , post on the forums , ask questions , go to meetups. And also dont forget to live your life and do stuff that you love.

Good luck! Happy Coding! Peace!

Hi! I did not start from zero, but pretty close. And I feel like I've gotten fairly far in a fairly short amount of time. You're welcome to read more of my story here on the Treehouse blog. Hang in there! You can do it