Learn(i)

Are you looking to start debating but don’t quite know what it involves, or just starting out and looking for some pointers? Either way, it’s a great extracurricular which you can easily pick up! Here’s some information and a few tips which will hopefully give you a hand.

Researching

Tips

Follow the 2S2R rule when finding evidence. It stands for specific, strong, recent, and reliable information, and if your research ticks all those boxes, it’s an excellent piece of evidence to use when presenting your case.

Use debate directories to find basic points for your topic. While you shouldn’t base your case entirely on those points, they provide a great starting point for further thought and research.

If you’re a student, try your library for online memberships to a variety of journals and database. They’ll give you reliable information for free and you can search through years and years of information.

Resources

Debate Central

Debate directories: YouDebate, Debatabase

Research databases: EBSCOHost, JSTOR, Opposing Viewpoints, Google Scholar

Speaking

Tips

Sound confident, regardless of how you feel. Even if your arguments are a little weaker than your opponents, if you sound more put together and definitive you can often convince the judge.

Use your strongest arguments early on. If you start to run out of time, your best bet is to deliver a clear presentation which covers the major issues and leave out supporting details from the end.

Know your speech well enough that you can look up from the page. To deliver a convincing presentation, you not only need to know your material well, but also vary tone and volume as well as make eye contact to ensure clarity.

Resources

How to develop confidence when speaking

10 ways to sound confident

Overcoming a fear of public speaking

Rebutting

Tips

Actively listen to your opponent’s arguments. The better you understand their points, the better you can take them down with your logic.

Prepare arguments in advance. Use your own case and previous cases you’ve heard to create palm cards with relevant evidence, so you can refute expected arguments and use your valuable brain power to combat the unexpected.

Have extra evidence to support your case. Being able to whip out cards that go beyond your arguments can be that little extra push which will persuade the judge that you’re right!

Resources

Rebuttal strategy: how to choose which arguments to go for

Ways to rebut an argument

Elements of an effective rebuttal

Types of Debate

Lincoln-Douglas: philosophical debate which uses values with one person on the negative and one on the affirmative

Public Forum: current events based debate with two people on pro and two people on con

Congressional: mock US Congress debate where bills and resolutions are discussed

World Schools: developed to combine debating formats, has two teams of three speakers with one on the proposition and one on the opposition

Policy: evidence heavy debate that discusses policy change by the US government with two people on each side

Parliamentary: loosely based on British parliament, with teams of two on the government and opposition

I think we’ve all been there - the class is important and you know you need to study but when you sit down you end up feeling grOSS AND YOU don’t want to. So here are some tips to overcoming that:

 Take a deep breath and reevaluate why you need to study. Try to stay positive.

When I’m not motivated I keep saying things like “what if I just don’t do it?” And then - surprise! - I end up not studying and suffer/regret it later. When coming up with reasons to study, try to keep it positive. Don’t say things like “if I don’t study I’ll fail the class.” Instead, say things like “if I study, I have a better chance at doing well on the exam. Future-me will be so proud of current-me.”

If you truly cannot find a single reason to study, set your studying aside for later and do another productive activity or take a long break.

Drill it into your mind that you really don’t need motivation to do well.

Even if you find the reason to study, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are very motivated. Sometimes we feel like no motivation = unable to study. This isn’t true.

Make a deal with yourself. Try studying for ten minutes. And actually try to study. If by the end of ten minutes you feel like you can continue studying, great! Keep going! If not, then you can take a break and do something else.

Choose a study scheduling method that works for you.

Some people feel great studying for hours on end once they get in "the zone.” Others feel the need to take quick breaks every half hour. Studying and scheduling methods are different for everybody! Play around with scheduling to find out what works for you.

In high-stress times, work (studying, assignments, etc.) can feel pretty overwhelming. To organize all the stuff you have to do, write it down! This takes some of the stress of remembering tasks off from your brain, so that your brain can focus on the more crucial things.

If you’re making a to-do list, keep the general list short. This way, you won’t feel overwhelmed by too many tasks. (You can keep sub-lists on separate paper/sticky notes to break down each task.)

If you’re making a time-table, keep your schedule loose. Give yourself buffer time to complete each task, just in case you overestimated your efficiency.

It’s totally okay to overestimate efficiency! - ifyou do, you learn more about yourself and how you study best.

Small (pomodoro) breaks

Pomodoro technique in a nutshell: 25 minute blocks of working with 5 minute breaks in between. Feel free to change the length of the blocks according to your preferences! During your breaks, you can

Get more water

Get snacks

Make tea/coffee

Stretch

Do a tiny bit of yoga

Walk around the room/building

Stretch

Five-minute meditation

Head massage

Try to avoid looking at a screen. When you look at a screen, you stimulate your brain and it won’t get its rest. Also, the internet might suck you in and your break could last longer than intended. (cough tumblr)

Long breaks

Sometimes I really really really really reALLY don’t want to study. Or do anything. And I feel kind of gross and am on the verge of a mental breakdown. If you feel this way, stop.

Take a hella deep breath. And another one. One more. Aaaaand one more just for good measure.

Get away from your desk. I associate desk with studying, so getting away from it helps me relax. Lie down on a bed, or move to a different room if you can. If you can get near a window, try looking into the distance to relax your brain and eyes.

Breathe for a couple of minutes, then evaluate how you feel. Again, try to stay positive. Instead of “I feel shitty and I don’t want to do anything,” try “I feel tired right now and resting can help me feel better.”

Based on this evaluation, estimate the amount of time you need to rest. If you have a lot of studying to do, try to keep it under an hour. Set a timer for the amount of time you have decided on. (remember to include buffer time!) Getting back to work on time can make you feel more productive, which conduct better productivity!

During a long break, do an activity that makes you feel good and takes your mind off studying. You can

Take a long walk. If you live near a park or a trail, try strolling around in it.

Eat healthy food. Junky comfort food can make you feel groggy, especially foods that are fried. Instead, try eating some fruits or nuts.

Take a shower/bath

Talk with a friend

Make some art

Enjoy a long coffee break. (avoid caffeine if you feel anxious/panicky, though)

Play with a pet

Take a power nap

Longer meditation/yoga

Again, try to avoid looking at screens. Also, avoid thinking about studying. Let yourself have the luxury of NOT THINKING ABOUT STUDYING for a while, so you can return to it with a fresh mind.

Mental health days

Sometimes everything is just too much and you might feel the need to stop everything for a day. If so, take a mental health day!

Think of mental health days as physical health days. If your body isn’t feeling well, you are allowed to stay in bed and sleep/not do anything for a day. Similarly, if your mind isn’t feeling well, you are also allowed to stay in bed and sleep/not do anything for a day.

Let your parents and teachers know that you don’t feel well and can’t go to school. From my experience, most teachers are pretty understanding and will let you have the day off. (You might have some work to make up later, though.)

Do not study on mental health days. Don’t even think about studying on mental health days. Instead, just focus on getting better. You can

Sleep in

Clean your room

Take a super long bath, complete with bath bombs and candles

Watch a good movie

Read a good book

Sing your favorite songs really loudly

Literally anything that (IS HEALTHY and) makes you feel good about yourself.

Study groups can keep you going, even when you kind of don’t want to

Setting up a time (like a date!) can keep you on track

Study with someone you trust to keep you accountable. Don’t study with someone you know you’re going to gossip or watch cat videos with.

If you really feel the need to cancel a study date, it’s ok! Just like canceling any kind of date, it’s 100% okay to back out if you feel uncomfortable.

This post is a response post (kinda) to an anonymous ask I received asking for how to get started in coding/developing apps! Because this post will probably be really long, I’ll go ahead and put it under a “keep reading” tag. If anyone has any problems with the keep reading portion, please let me know!

Application Design / Application Development

First off, it is important to know the difference between App Design and App Development. People sometimes use these terms interchangeably although they are two different steps in the overall development process.

App Design is a step of development. This step usually involves someone with a pen and paper copy of what they invision, a digital mockup, or even a fully-navigational, non-functional app in a compiler. The designer could be anyone - you, your mom, your cat… Ok maybe not your cat, but you get the idea. Designing is an important step in the process of development because it gives the actual developer (that’s you!) the framework for what you need to do in implementing the app.

App Development is the actual programming and implementation of a designer’s idea. For instance, if I were a professional developer and someone from the designer sector of the group gave me the design from above on the right, I would have to implement that in whatever environment I choose to use. I would follow their design and design notes as closely as possible in order to achieve the best possible app that I could. 

You may be asking why design is crucial - it saves so much time. If you are wanting to do your own apps, you will need to spend some time on design at the very least to really think through what you’re doing and how you’re going to implement it.

Below the cut: Choose Your Environment, Design Your App, Implement Your Design, Code

Online lectures:

Discrete Mathematics (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Data Structures (x) (x) (x) (x) (and Object Oriented Programming (x) )

Software Engineering (x)

Database (x)

Operating Systems (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (x)

Computer Architecture (x)

Programming (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Linear Algebra (x) (x) (x)

Artificial Intelligence (x) (x)

Algorithms (x)

Calculus (x) (x) (x)

Tutorials (programming) and other online resources:

Programming languages online tutorials and Computer Science/Engineering online courses

Java tutorial

Java, C, C++ tutorials

Memory Management in C

Pointers in C/C++

Algorithms

Genetic Algorithms

Websites for learning and tools:

Stack Overflow

Khan Academy

Mathway

Recommended books:

Computer organization and design: the hardware/software interface. David A.Patterson & John L. Hennessy.

Artificial intelligence: a modern approac. Stuart J. Russel & Peter Norvig.

Database systems: the complete book. Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman, Jennifer Widom.

Algorithms: a functional programming approach. Fethi Rabbi & Guy Lapalme.

Data Structures & Algorithms in Java: Michael T. Goodrich & Roberto Tamassia.

The C programming language: Kernighan, D. & Ritchie.

Operating System Concepts: Avi Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin, Greg Gagne.

Study Tips:

How to Study

Exam Tips for Computer Science

Top 10 Tips For Computer Science Students

Study Skills: Ace Your Computing Science Courses

How to study for Computer Science exams

How to be a successful Computer Science student

Writing in Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering:

Writing a Technical Report

Writing in the Sciences (Stanford online course)

Google CS Education

Google Computer Science Education Programs, Resources and Tools

Computer science (CS) education is a pathway to innovation, to creativity and to exciting career opportunities. We believe that all students deserve these opportunities. That is why Google is committed to developing programs, resources, tools and community partnerships which make CS engaging and accessible for all students.

After three years of studying computer science/engineering at university I think I can make a sort of post about this matter. There are some misconceptions about IT degrees. So many. In the following lines, I’ll try to put together the main ones I currently have faced. I’ve been asked to make a post like this some time ago, so here it is. I’m focusing on computer science/computer engineering since it’s what I am studying.

The summer before I started my first year of university I was freaking out. Not only did I go to study at university but also I was going to study computer science/engineering! I love computers and that, but little did I know about computers to be honest. So my first thought was what computer should I buy. And here we go with the classic macbook vs laptop battle. My dad bought me a laptop so I didn’t think about really about this (as a note, it’s not the best laptop, but it’s enough at least for now). If you are wondering what computer should you buy for computer science, but you whatever you like the most, but I suggest you to have in mind that it doesn’t matter if you choose a laptop or a macbook. If you have enough money and you want a macbook, go for it. If you don’t or you don’t like macbook, you have other options. Choose wisely.

I was told that I would be the only girl in the class. Well, so the first day of university came and I couldn’t see a single girl in the hall. It turned out that there were about 12 girls in my class and about 80 boys (depending on the class). In my last semester I’ve been in a class where I was the only girl and as a consequence of several classes being minority, I get used to be the only girl and I felt stronger someway.

One thing more I was told it was that people on this degrees were a bunch of nonsocial, unatracttive and weird genius. To be honest this was something that scared me too, because I didn’t want to be alone. But again, this was untrue; of course, there are a few weird people, but mostly of them are nice people. I haven’t still seen a genius, just hard-working people.

I realized since the very beginning of my academic journey that when I told people what I am studying, there are three reactions I can observe in people:

The “pfff, that’s a difficult degree” reaction.

The “pfff, that’s a difficult degree for a woman” reaction.

The *open the mouth for a while and say nothing* reaction.

“But is computer science or computer engineering difficult?”, that’s another thought that made me head spin. All right, it is. I am not going to lie. It is difficult. Really difficult, but once you get the hang of studying, organizing and thinking, everything will be easier. Personally I wasted a year trying to learn how to think and study for the classes. I was stuck into the high school habits and I didn’t want to change them. If I have learnt something about university (or life) is that you have to be ready for switching and don’t be afraid of changes.

“I would like to work as a computer scientist/computer engineer/software engineer/… but I’m not good at mathematics/physics/…”. Okay, computer science/engineering is difficult but not that hard (I may slightly lie in the aforementioned question, except calculus, calculus is evil). I mean, professors start with the very basics of every class, and it isn’t usually very difficult. Plus most of them are willing to clear up your questions in office hours. I have some friends who are really bad at maths and they have passed all the algebra and calculus classes. Also I have friends that didn’t want to study an IT degree, though they’d love to, because of this reason. Don’t be the person who didn’t study something because of a few hard classes. You’ll regret later.

After a couple of month, studying computer science/engineering, some people start wondering why we are studying physics, electronics and math, “when are we going to start hacking?”. Oh, well. That’s a good question. Never. WE DON’T LEARN TO HACK in university. In my first year, many classmates drop out of computer science because of this single reason. They thought they’ll learn how to hack.

“At least, I will code a lot!”. Sorry again, but you are going to be programming less than you would expect. At my university, we take only 6-7 classes focused on just programming in the four years of the degree.

When you assume that most of the things you believe are not true, you’ll know more or less if you like this degree or you don’t. At the same time, people are going to ask for help. Yes, the “can you fix my [insert here ANY electronic device]?” and “can you tell me how to [any action] in [any program or website]?”. You can’t get away of these questions. Believe me or not, but if you get involved in an IT degree you are not going to study how to delete a Facebook account. You may or not may be surprised of this, but a great amount of people has asked me this question. Plus, we don’t learn how to fix smartwatches. Surprise!

At this point, people wonder what the hell computer science/engineering is about. Algebra, calculus, physics, electronics, robotics, algorithms, AI, data structures, computer security, networks, computational complexity,…

my tips

PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is literally THE most important thing you can do to get good grades!!!! w/ enough practice, you can attempt any sort of question they throw at you bc you get acquainted with formulas + how to apply them. you can practice through questions in your textbook, the net, doing your homework, or past papers (my ultimate fav) which you can get from the internet or library 

know the formulas and symbols and terminology!!! an easy way to do this is by making summary flashcards ↓

summarise each chapter onto flashcards like these or mind maps or sheets or w/e suits you. write the important formulas, diagrams, graphs, examples, etc of each chapter in them. this is helpful if you’ve forgotten a formula or an old chapter, or need to revise the day before (or the morning of) your exam + its def faster than going through your textbook which can have a LOT of unnecessary info.

understand your mistakes and find out the correct way to solve the qpay attention in class pls it will help you understand + solve problems faster which means more time to relax yay

if you can’t solve a problem, see if there are any examples in your book which can help you. otherwise, use one of the sites/apps linked under ‘tools’  ↓ to solve it and view the steps. if you still don’t understand, ask your teacher or someone who knows maths.

try to develop a mindset that you have to find the answer to a difficult q no matter what! this helps me bc i always end up finding the answer so i know how to solve such questions, which is better than giving up and having a similar q come in the exam and not knowing the answer.

on tests: pls recheck every q, esp if you’re like me and write 12-5=6 (lol rip)

don’t stress!!! maths is difficult and its totally okay if you don’t understand a q! just skip it and come back to it later.

resources

khan academy has videos to explain concepts and do examples, and tests after videos (esp useful if you have a crappy teacher)

sparknotes math

purple math

complete list of online maths resources

lots of cheat sheets

symbolab’s cheat sheets

google does maths for you bless

tools

desmos graphing calculator (website + apps)

online calculator (website)

pcalc calculator (ios app)

realcalc scientific calculator (android app)

symbolab (website + apps) this is my fav. it solves problems for you like mathway, but shows the steps too unlike mathway

malmath (android app) like symbolab. also available in other languages

cute af notes

colourful study guide

these colourful trig notes

bright + lively quadratics notes

more colourful fun notes for functions

THE CUTEST MATHS NOTES EVER.

flashcards to summarise chapters [two] [three] [four] [mine]

really really cute + simple flashcards

cute + neat blue notes

mind map

another full mind map

flippy example card thingy in notes

circle theorem notes

cool stuff to help you understand some things

explanation of radians

pythagoras’ theorem explained

trick for remembering trigonometric values

arm movements to remember the graph shape of some functions

tips + masterposts by others

masterpost by @pythgaoras

precalc masterpost by @etudiance

9 unnecessary ways to lose points on tests by @gracefullywitty

sat maths tips by @lattenotlate

last minute sat maths tips by @scholasticwhimsy

how to organise maths notes (in 2 notebooks) by @monica-studies

taking maths lecture notes by @studyign (video)

how to take maths lecture notes by @studyign (post)

I use a lot of these tools basically every day, and I feel like not many people know about them. hopefully someone finds these useful! if you have any other good links, feel free to add them.

gitignore.io - generate a .gitignore file for your git project

regexpal.com - interactive regex tester

codeshare.io - collaborate on code with multiple people editing

hastebin.com - like pastebin, but prettier and more direct. also, your posts aren’t public by default.

this wonderful stackoverflow thread describing lesser known but useful data structures

prettyrfc - the RFC is now DIAMONDS

shortcutfoo - learn shortcuts and commands for basic development tools (vim, emacs, git, etc)

so here I am with more

this is how zip archives work, visually

here’s a zip file that is 42 bytes, and expands to be 4.5 petabytes

here’s a list of useful bash tricks that Ya Boy uses literally every day

use GNU stow to store your dotfiles

holy shit check out this guy who made an open source tricorder

this is a really, REALLY good description as to how modern microprocessors work. it covers pipelining, branch prediction, and all of those other lovely CPU tidbits

a genetic algorithm that designs the best 2d cars. it’s great to help you understand genetic algorithms and what they can do

a post about the process of reverse engineering the game Yoda Stories, if you like the idea of reverse engineering things, it’s a great walk-through of the steps he took

Hyperpolyglot - programming language reference sheets, presented side-by-side for easy comparison

Paperscape - an interactive visualization and bookmarking tool for the arXiv

ImgOps - your one-stop image tool shop. Reverse image searches, file conversion, metadata, etc. It’s all there.

AlternativeTo.net - a search engine for software alternatives

GitHub Gist for the Github experience for codesnippets (yes it’s a mini git repository, so cloning and changing is available)

Who doesn’t like Kanban? Here have an awesome tool to keep track of your tasks. Trello

lorempixel - Placeholder images galore

I use yeoman to bootstrap most of my webprojects

Cmder - For people stuck with Windows that want a better terminal experience

Hey there! Actually this summer I changed majors from math (course 18) to computer science (course 6). Programming is a very important skill and it is very useful to have at least some experience in it, even if you aren’t a CS major or don’t enjoy coding.

What to expect:

Math! A prerequisite for many programming courses is experience in linear algebra, (which mostly deals with matrices). 

Building circuits (??) This one doesn’t make a lot of sense at first, but the major I am in at MIT is called Course 6 EECS (electrical engineering and computer science), and the two go hand-in-hand. It may also be useful to understand a bit of electromagnetism (ie. physics)

How to prepare:

Attend a hackathon. A hackathon is a team based competition where you create new apps, build robots, etc. MIT hosts one every year for high school students called Blueprint. Here is a list of other options.

Practice. Try making your own Tumblr theme.

AP Computer Science. or any programming course your school offers. I didn’t take this class in high school, but from what I heard, it can be very difficult, so if your school doesn’t offer it, I wouldn’t recommend tackling it on your own. Buying a study guide for it could be helpful though!

Online Resources:

MIT Open Courseware video lectures, reading material, exercises

MIT edX  real professors, 15 hours/week commitment, homework

Code Academy step-by-step guides, easy going, (often feels like you’re playing a game, rather than taking a course)

Khan Academy

An Hour of Code for younger students. Often the best way to learn is through teaching. For example, you could start a club at your local elementary or middle school that teaches students the basics of coding.

Python Resources:

Python is a good programming language for beginners. The differences between languages is mostly what commands exist, so once you get the hang of one programming language, learning the others become way easier.

download it here.

Think Python is an online guidebook

the Python Tutorial

To be real honest, I was really scared of git. True I can manage my way through the command line but git makes me feel it’s more like the computer version of a black hole than a version control system. [I’m aware of my lameness thank you very much]. Yet we promised ourselves to break out of our comfort zone and learn new things, and that’s what we’re doing now. Honestly it’s not that scary. I just think it will take a while to get accustomed to the commands. In this post, I’d like to share with you some helpful resources if you’re a beginner [like yours truly] So lets just start listing them out 

I’m a believer in you learn by doing, and codeschool has a free course on git called Try Git  It’s nice that it gets you typing the command and seeing the changes you make. It a nice start. 

Now try git isn’t enough. Because it just touches on the basics. Another nice one [I truly recommend this one!] is the git guide by  Roger Dudler  it’s enough that the guide is called “git - the simple guide” who doesn’t love simple. I also love the comical approach. 

Now I haven’t tried this one, but it was recommended git immersion this is what they have on their site “GIT IMMERSION IS A GUIDED TOUR THAT WALKS THROUGH THE FUNDAMENTALS OF GIT, INSPIRED BY THE PREMISE THAT TO KNOW A THING IS TO DO IT.”

git also has a free book git pro witch is nice from what I was able to read. You can view the html version or download it [what ever flows your boat].

Now those are helpful to have witch is the git documentation [in order to understand anything you need to always read the docs]. github also has a help section where it provides load of nice links.  And finally git hub services. 

I’ve said this to my non-techie friends countless times. It’s no secret that being able to code makes you a better job applicant, and a better entrepreneur. Hell, one techie taught a homeless man to code and now that man is making his first mobile application.

Learning to code elevates your professional life, and makes you more knowledgeable about the massive changes taking place in the technology sector that are poised to have an immense influence on human life.

(note: yes I realize that 3/5 of those links were Google projects)

But most folks are intimidated by coding. And it does seem intimidating at first. But peel away the obscurity and the difficulty, and you start to learn that coding, at least at its basic level, is a very manageable, learnable skill.

There are a lot of resources out there to teach you. I’ve found a couple to be particularly successful. Here’s my list of resources for learning to code, sorted by difficulty:

Novice

Never written a line of code before? No worries. Just visit one of these fine resources and follow their high-level tutorials. You won’t get into the nitty-gritty, but don’t worry about it for now:

Dash - by General Assembly

CodeAcademy

w3 Tutorials (start at HTML on the left sidebar and work your way down)

Intermediate

Now that you’ve gone through a handful of basic tutorials, it’s time to learn the fundamentals of actual, real-life coding problems. I’ve found these resources to be solid:

Khan Academy

CodeAcademy - Ruby, Python, PHP

Difficult

If you’re here, you’re capable of building things. You know the primitives. You know the logic control statements. You’re ready to start making real stuff take shape. Here are some different types of resources to turn you from someone who knows how to code, into a full-fledged programmer.

Programming problems

Sometimes, the challenges in programming aren’t how to make a language do a task, but just how to do the task in general. Like how to find an item in a very large, sorted list, without checking each element. Here are some resources for those types of problems

Talentbuddy

TopCoder

Web Applications

If you learned Python, Django is an amazing platform for creating quick-and-easy web applications. I’d highly suggest the tutorial - it’s one of the best I’ve ever used, and you have a web app up and running in less than an hour.

Django Tutorial

I’ve never used Rails, but it’s a very popular and powerful framework for creating web applications using Ruby. I’d suggest going through their guide to start getting down-and-dirty with Rails development.

Rails Guide

If you know PHP, there’s an ocean of good stuff out there for you to learn how to make a full-fledged web application. Frameworks do a lot of work for you, and provide quick and easy guides to get up and running. I’d suggest the following:

Cake PHP Book

Symfony 2 - Get Started

Yii PHP - The Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

If there’s one point I wanted to get across, it’s that it is easier than ever to learn to code. There are resources on every corner of the internet for potential programmers, and the benefits of learning even just the basics are monumental.

If you know of any additional, great resources that aren’t listed here, please feel free to tweet them to me @boomeyer.

Video games:

Easy game engines (virtually no coding): 

Game Maker Studio (2D; free and paid versions)

GameSalad (2D)

RPG Maker (2D; numerous versions ranging from free to $69.99)

Stencyl (2D; free and paid subscription versions)

Scratch (good for kids and is more general; 2D; free)

More difficult game engines: 

Unity (lots and lots of platforms; C# and JavaScript script; 2D, 3D, VR; free and paid versions)

Unreal (specializes in graphics; C++ and visual script; 2D, 3D, VR; free with a royalty on successful products)

CryEngine (Lua script; 3D; paid subscription and full license versions)

Mobile game development: 

Corona (free and paid subscription versions)

SpriteKit (2D) and SceneKit (3D) which are built into the official compiler to create iOS apps (see iOS apps for more resources)

also all of the above game engines (cross-platform)

Game console development: 

Game Maker Studio (with a paid subscription)

Unity

Unreal

CryEngine

Note that games can also be created on more general platforms like iOS and Android apps, but the resources listed above are specialized for game development.

iOS apps:

In order to develop iOS apps, you’ll need to purchase an iOS developer program membership for $99 a year, which requires an Apple account. Here are some general resources:

Xcode (the official IDE for iOS apps; can be installed on OS X)

Start Developing iOS Apps Today (Objective-C)

Ray Wenderlich iOS tutorials (Objective-C and Swift)

Code School: Try iOS (Objective-C)

Developing iOS 8 Apps (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Swift)

TutorialsPoint: iOS Tutorial (Objective-C)

How to Make iPhone Apps With No Programming Experience (Swift)

Swift Tutorial: Building an iOS Application (2, 3)

iOS apps are developed in the 2 official languages of Apple: Objective-C and Swift, the latter of which is newer and generally much easier to learn.

Objective-C resources:

the official documentation

TutorialsPoint: Objective-C Tutorial

Ry’s Objective-C Tutorial

Swift resources:

the official documentation

The Swift Programming Language (free official e-book)

Swift: A Quick Reference Guide

Xcode also has SpriteKit, SceneKit, and Metal built in, all of which are incredibly useful for creating apps that require elaborate graphics, particularly games.

SpriteKit resources:

How to Make a Game Like Candy Crush With Swift (2)

Sprite Kit Swift Tutorial

Create Space Invaders with Swift and Sprite Kit

iOS SpriteKit Physics Tutorial in Swift

Build the Game of Life (Swift)

SceneKit resources:

Scene Kit Tutorial: Getting Started (Swift)

An Introduction to SceneKit (2; Swift)

Metal resources:

the official documentation + other resources (Obj-C)

iOS 8 Metal Tutorial with Swift (2, 3)

Getting Started With Metal (Obj-C)

An introduction to 3D graphics with Metal in Swift

Also, in order to publish iOS apps, you’ll have to juggle certificates, app ids, and provisioning profiles. This process can be convoluted at times so here are some resources:

How to Submit Your App to Apple: From No Account to App Store (2)

Beginner Tutorial: iOS Certificates & Provisioning Profiles

Android apps:

In order to develop Android apps, you’ll need to register as a developer for a one-time fee of $25. Here are some general resources:

Android Studio (the official IDE for Android app development; free; can be installed on Windows, OS X, and Linux)

the official documentation

Getting Started

Android Tutorial For Beginners (2, 3)

Learn Android SDK From Scratch

Introduction to Android Development With Android Studio

Android apps are developed in Java and the layout is coded with XML.

Java resources:

W3schools: Java Tutorial series

TutorialsPoint: Java Tutorial

Core Java Tutorial

XML resources:

W3schools: XML Tutorial series

TutorialsPoint: XML Tutorial

For publishing (which is somewhat easier than publishing iOS apps):

How to Publish to the Android Market

3D modeling/animation:

Blender (can also be used to create games; Python script; free and open-source; can be installed on Windows, OS X, and Linux)

Maya (specialized script; free trial, free 3-year student subscription, and paid subscription versions; can be installed on Windows, OS X, and Linux to an extent)

3ds Max (Python script; free trial, free 3-year student subscription, and paid subscription versions; can be installed on Windows and OS X)

RenderMan (specialized script; free for non-commercial/educational use and pay-per-license for commercial use; can be installed on Windows, OS X, and Linux)

Misc. resources:

Stack Overflow is an ask-and-answer community for programmers. It’s amazing and will save your life. Sign up and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Github offers a student pack (here) if you create an account and prove you’re a student. This gives you free access to a bunch of great programming resources for free for a certain period of time, such as Unreal Engine. Also, Github in general is a site that you can host your code on. Other users can see it, and “fork” it to make a copy of your code and modify it.

Parse is a backend service that allows you to store data in databases it hosts on its own servers. It lets you use push notifications, create users, store and retrieve data, etc. It’s compatible with iOS apps, Android apps, Windows apps, Xamarin, React, Unity, OS X, Windows, JavaScript, PHP, .net, Arduino, and Embedded C. It’s free up to a certain limit that depends on the services you use.

Cloud9, Codebox, and Squad are online IDEs that allow for real-time collaboration and support a variety of languages, so they’re useful for team projects.

And some general advice:

Your program will not work right away, 99% of the time. That’s okay. Do your best to figure out where the error is. Here is some advice on debugging (written for PHP but the methods can be generalized).

If you’re stuck, Google. Google like there’s no tomorrow.

Ask questions on a community like Stack Overflow.

For that matter, browse relevant Stack Overflow questions. You can probably find some solutions there.

Don’t be afraid to copy and paste.

Take breaks sometimes if you’re getting burned out. But don’t stay away from your projects for too long or you’ll lose track of its status.

Backup your code. On the cloud, on a USB drive, wherever. If your IDE has a backing up feature like snapshots, use it whenever you hit a milestone.

If your project is big, split it up into milestones and set goals. Don’t tackle everything at once.

Like the OP said, coding isn’t just for professionals and “geeks” anymore. Anyone can learn it if you really try, and with the rapidly expanding tech industry, learning coding can really broaden your opportunities.

If any of the links are broken, or you have a question or some information/resources to add, you can contact me through the askbox or the OP through his Twitter (as mentioned in his post).

Before I started my final year of uni I was stressing out about finding a job. I did quite a bit of research and planning, and managed to receive a job offer before I even finished my degree!

Here are a few tips I would give to those of you in the same situation:

1. Know what your end goal is

Before you start aimlessly applying for jobs, take some time to think about where you actually want to go with your career. Where would you actually like to end up?

Do some searching and see what type of jobs exist in the area you want to work in. Search though graduate job sites, your universities careers website, or just Google. Make a list of all the jobs that appeal to you, and if you find any, make sure you note when applications open & close so you don’t miss out.

2. Google your name & clean up your social media act 

Employers are using Google to find out about potential employees, so if you search your name and something embarrassing turns up in the top results (i.e. drunk facebook photos/inappropriate comments etc), either delete the posts or make your account private. When I did this I discovered that there was someone with the same name as me who posted really embarrassing stuff, so I created a bunch of social media accounts with my real name on all of them to move those out of the top results. 

I’m not saying you can’t be the real you on social media, but try to keep things that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see on your private accounts.

I would recommend taking at least one professional photo to use as your photo on social media sites.

Also make a LinkedIn! It’s really boring but employers use it and you can follow companies you are interested in. Add in all your skills and experience and write up a summary letting everyone know what kind of work you are looking for.

  3. Sign up to all of the graduate job sites 

In Australia GradConnection is really good, but other countries will have different sites. It probably won’t be hard to find them! 

Graduate job sites generally list a huge number of jobs from mainly large companies, as well as when applications open and close. Some of the good ones have a blog with tips to help you improve your applications. You can usually make your own profile which employers can look through.

If it is an option, opt in to email alerts, especially if you can get them tailored to the field you want to work in. It serves as a good reminder for submitting applications, and you may find a new job to apply for through the alerts.

Remember this isn’t the only way to find jobs! Smaller companies sometimes advertise through your university careers website, or general websites like Indeed, SEEK, etc, so make sure you look in a few places before ending your search.

4. Jazz up your resume and cover letter

I don’t mean making them bright pink or anything, but make them stand out in a professional way.

Resume tips:

Tailor your skills/experiences to the job you are applying for. Look through the job description and skills required and make sure you cover each skill on your resume.

When describing your skills, don’t just use examples from university. Try to use examples from part-time work, clubs you have joined and extracurricular activities as well.

Also don’t be too wordy, it probably won’t be read. Simple one or two sentence dot points should be okay.

Use a professional email! Plz don’t use [email protected] etc

Include a link to your LinkedIn/professional twitter etc in your contact details

Don’t submit a 20 page resume! It will most likely be deleted/thrown in the trash. Stick to 1-3 pages depending on your experience and make sure everything is actually relevant.

Inspiration

Resources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Cover letter tips:

Mention why you want the job

Try to mention something about the company that you like - e.g. that they work with a specific charity or they provide excellent training. Do your research!

Don’t drone on like a robot - keep it interesting and use your voice

Keep it to 1 page - don’t make the HR person’s job harder for them

Find out who to address it to - you can usually google who the hiring manager is

Resources [1] [2] [3] [4]

Also:

If you can, get your school’s career adviser to look over your resume and cover letter

Always submit your resume & cover letter as a PDF - it looks way more professional if you read it on the computer

Format it nicely, keep it consistent between everything you submit in your application

ok this is probably obvious but CHECK YOUR SPELLING!!~~~

Try using Canva to make your resume pretty

5. Make a personal website 

If you want to stand out more than other applicants, make your own personal website and include a link in your application. Make sure it looks professional and highlights the best you.

Things to include:

Samples of your work

Links to your (professional) social media pages

A short description of yourself, your professional interests and where you would like to head in your career

A blog if you are really looking to stand out

Skills, experience etc

Resources [1] [2] [3]

6. Network 

Contact someone from your dream company and ask them if they would like to go for coffee/ask to chat. If you know someone or even know someone with a contact - reach out to them! Try to get them to put in a good word for you - people usually like to help others out.

Attend careers festivals and meet people from the places you want to apply

Ask around - your lecturers/fellow students/friends’ parents might know some important people

Ask what the company is really looking for in its candidates

Resources [1] [2] [3]

7. Online tests

If you are invited to do an online test as part of the recruitment process, find out what type it is and see if you can get your hands on a practice piece. If it is a personality test there is usually no way to prepare - just be honest.

I found online forums really good for this. If you’re applying for a large company, chances are there are tons of people who have done the same test and there could be existing forums about this. See what people said about them and if there is anyway to prepare.

Some of these honestly aren’t bad. For one application the test I had to do was actually a game, and for others it was standard logic questions - it all depends on the job!

Resources: [1] [2] [3]

8. Interviews

Interviews are probably the worst part of looking for work - but it’s something you need to get good at. With larger companies, online interviews are becoming the new big thing because they are cheaper to run and it is quicker to weed out candidates. Usually a question will pop up on the screen for a minute or two and then you will have a couple minutes to record your response via a webcam - you won’t be speaking to an actual person so it can be a bit awkward, so i’d suggest practicing first.

Interview tips:

Practice answering common interview questions - try to memorize a few responses such as the most common one “tell me about yourself”

Research the company again before going in to refresh your memory. Find out when they started, if they have grown recently or changed their direction.

Bring in questions - trust me, they WILL ask if you have questions

Dress appropriately

blue makes you look trustworthy, black looks professional, plz don’t wear orange

in online interviews you have the advantage of not wearing pants ;)

Bring a copy of your resume & make sure you have it memorized

Make sure you know where the interview is being held

Don’t cross your arms/yawn

Smile and be friendly!

Pretend you are a confident person, even if you are secretly about to wet yourself ;)

Thank the interviewer afterwards

Resources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

9. Get some experience

It really sucks when you are looking for a job when everywhere wants someone with experience. 

Do an internship - you could get a job offer at the end

Volunteer somewhere in your field

Get a part-time/casual job while you study

If all else fails, try an online course - MOOCs are short courses you can usually do online for free. Do one that relates to the type of work you are looking for, it shows initiative and that you are actually interested in the field and dedicated. 

10. Apply everywhere 

I don’t mean somewhere that requires 10 years of experience, but don’t discredit a job just because it’s not exactly what you want to do. Try applying to places that are slightly outside of your field, as long as you have enough skills and experience to do it well - it could end up being something you love!

The more places you apply - the higher your chances of hearing back. But make sure your applications are of a high quality! Don’t just send out identical resumes/cover letters.

11. Don’t give up!

I applied for soooo many jobs in my final year. It was super stressful and I got rejected outright tons of times. I did a few online interviews and face-to-face interviews and some of them I never heard back from. This is not the end of the world! Find out what you did wrong, ask for feedback and do better in your next application/interview. You can do this!

More links & resources

97 actions you should take to become THE person companies want to hire - College Info Geek

Preparing for the future by @studysthesia

Job hunting advice by @harryjamcs

How to get a job fast as hell by @thechronicleofshe

lol

I’ll try my best!

Start with hiragana. There’s a pretty good guide here and you can also use Real Kana to practice. (for free!) I mean if making flashcards or something is easier for you, go with it, I’m just giving suggestions. o3o But you want to be able to look at a hiragana and instantly know how to read it because most of the best learning resources will use kana rather than romaji/romanized Japanese.

Learn katakana next! The Real Kana link above has katakana, too. And one of Textfugu’s free chapters covers learning katakana.

Learn your radicals! No need to learn all of them, maybe just the important ones. You can kind of do this and kanji at the same time, it’s just that memorizing kanji (and looking them up) becomes easier the more radicals you can remember. Two radical resources here and here.

Kanji and vocabulary comes next. There’s a bajillion websites and methods for learning kanji (just google “learning japanese kanji”), so really it’s kind of up to what works best for you. I’m a big fan of Wanikani, but it does cost money after level two.

This should probably be done alongside all of the above, but you do need to study grammar. Nihonshock has some great grammar cheat sheets, though I think Tae Kim’s guide is superbly useful since it’s so in-depth (and free).

The optional step of learning how to write and speak Japanese. I can’t really help much with these because I can’t write worth crap. I don’t know anything about stroke order (here have a cheat sheet). Maybe using Lang-8 would help, too. I’ve heard good things about it, though I’ve never used it. As you learn kanji/vocabulary/grammar, you kind of naturally learn the readings of the words, so technically speaking you should be able to speak, but of course it’s probably best if you practice. XD Watch movies and anime and other Japanese TV to see how people say things. Or try this, maybe. o3o