Learning · 2026-11-20

A realistic roadmap for your first year of software

Illustration for A realistic roadmap for your first year of software

Every new developer we mentor gets the same advice: pick one language, one project, one habit.

Months 1-2, learn to read code. Not write it. Read it. Follow a small open-source repo for two weeks. Understand the layout, the naming, the conventions. Your brain absorbs the patterns before you notice they are there.

Months 3-4, build something tiny. A to-do list. A weather checker. A command tool that renames your screenshots. Don't aim for beautiful. Aim for finished.

Months 5-8, one framework. Not three. One. Learn it deeply enough that you can explain it to a beginner.

Months 9-12, one real project with a friend, from sketch to shipping. You'll fall into a hundred holes and climb out of most of them.

That's the whole roadmap. Complexity is what kills beginners, not difficulty. Remove the complexity and the difficulty becomes doable.