I often get asked about which resources I found helpful when I was first learning to code so here is a post on that.
If your aim is to quickly find out what 'coding' is, spend an hour with Dash. This is a super easy (& fun) way to test the waters. Then try and make your own site. This was my first attempt.
After that pick a language. I plumped for Ruby because it is touted as beginner friendly and used Codecademy to get used to the syntax (how to write).
A Note on Practice and Persistence (from Zed A. Shaw)
While you are studying programming, I'm studying how to play guitar. I practice it every day for at least two hours a day. I play scales, chords, and arpeggios for an hour and then learn music theory, ear training, songs, and anything else I can. Some days I study guitar and music for eight hours because I feel like it and it's fun. To me repetitive practice is natural and just how to learn something. I know that to get good at anything you have to practice every day.
With this in mind, I spent a few weeks last spring reading Chris Pine's 'Learn to program' and coding on the bus to and from work. You can get the book for free here. It's really worth doing the exercises that he outlines. After that I worked my way through Learn Ruby the Hard Way. Don't be put off by the name - it's not that hard.
What is hard?
Learning to code alone. That's hard.
Coding is a perishible skill and learning in a piecemeal, unsystematic way after work / at weekends can at times be slow, painful & lonely. As a beginner tiny errors easily mess up your programs and your progression. Missing semicolons pose a genuine threat to your development. I believe that the best way to get around this is to do an in-person course to at least get your head around the basics. Then move on to developing projects collaboratively with people of a similar level.
Code First Girls introduced me to HTML, CSS, Sinatra & Ruby. This is an amazing (free) part time course for women at or just out of university. If you can get a spot jump at the chance - I can't recommend it enough.
To prepare for Makers Academy I did :
& this Intro to Git.
Whilst I was at Makers I found 'The Well Grounded Rubyist' particularly helpful for getting to grips with the ins and outs of Ruby.
So there you go. That's how I got going. Now go forth & make things, then tweet me what you build!
*The title of this post is a misnomer. With developing the learning never really stops.