So, how long will it take to go through your first online programming course? Let's talk about that today.
Today, we're talking about how long will it take for you to get through and complete your first programming course? Well, the answer is that it depends, and it depends on a lot of factors.
Firstly, the obvious one is how long the course is, and if you look at the example of my Java Masterclass course, well, that's a 77-hour course, so in other words, there's 77 hours of videos. So, at the very minimum, to go through and watch all those videos, which I would suggest you do, that's 77 hours worth of time to go through and complete it.
However, the chances are extremely high that you'll need a lot more time than that. Now, the reasons are, firstly, hopefully, you're going to be following along, and I do recommend this, and be coding as I'm showing you how to code in a course, and this applies to any programming course that you take, and also any book that you actually purchase, programming book. You should be following along and actually typing the code in, because that'll help that information be retained in your memory, and you'll be able to reuse that and just basically learn how to program quicker.
So, if you think about it, if you're doing that, if you're going through a book or you're looking through a programming course through the videos, you'll find that it'll take longer because you're pausing the video or you're stopping reading, you're typing in the code, and then you're continuing. So, at the very least, you wanna allow probably two to three times the amount of the total number of hours in a programming course, for example, and two to three times the amount of time it would normally take you to complete a book. Now, again, that's the minimum. In reality, again, on top of that, you've got coding exercises, which is a common thing that you'll find in books and also in programming courses, and also, challenges.
In my course, I've also got challenges, and that's where the author of the course will actually present you with a challenge. They'll ask you to solve a particular problem, so you'll then need to pause and have a think about it and come up with a solution to a given scenario. Now, that can also double the amount of time that it takes. So realistically, if you're looking at a 77-hour course, that might be 500 or 600 hours to complete it by the time you go through it logically. Now, obviously, with that many hours and that amount of time, it's unrealistic to try and cram that into a week. Well, in this particular case, it's impossible for 168 hours.
You haven't got enough hours, but I think the false economy today would be to think that you can complete that in a few weeks. It's going to probably take you a few months to really go through the material properly, and one tip that I would certainly recommend you take heed of is to make sure that you're not rushing through the course. You wanna go through the course, go through all the videos, watch all the videos, which I've talked about before, but make sure that, if you don't understand something, pause, go back and reread that chapter. Go back and re-watch those videos until it does make sense.
So, how long will it take to go through a completed course? Well, it's gonna take as long as it takes for you to absorb that information. Some people will need to go through and watch a video once, they get the concepts, and bang! They're done. They can go onto the next thing. Other people might need to watch a video two, three, four, five times to really absorb it.
I mean, think of the analogy of watching a movie. Have you ever watched a movie more than once? You watch it for the first time and then you go back and watch it again, and the second time, you go "Oh wow! I didn't realize that happened in that particular scene". In other words, you've seen something the second time you've watched the movie that you didn't see the first time.
That applies to going through a programming course. You might watch a video, you'll get something out of that particular video, but then if you go back and watch it again, you'll basically reinforce those concepts and you'll learn something else, you'll absorb something else, and something else will come out into the forefront, and you'll go, "Oh, okay. That makes sense". So, don't be afraid to watch something more than once to get a lot out of it.
There you go. That's today's tip. I would suggest you take your time, go through the course or book, and just make sure you really understand the concepts. How long will it take? Well, it really is ultimately dependent on you and your ability to learn and absorb that information. All right, so I hope that helped. If you've got any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.