How Many Hours Per Day Should I Spend Studying to Become a Self-Taught Software Developer?

If you're spending a lot of time studying to become a software developer, you have probably wondered "what is the right amount of time I should spend studying?"

I dive into what is the best approach to thinking about your study commitment and I use my experience to give a concrete number to use.

*** Coaching ***

*** Social Media ***

[AndySterkowitz]

For all the people putting in the work of becoming a software developer, how many hours per day/week are you spending doing the "work"?

[sto]

Forget the number of hours. Are you studying the right things? Do you understand it? Can you apply it? Can you teach it? Learn smart!

[rkbelmont]

My life as an engineer is divided like this on week days.
5 hours dedicated entirely to my job
2 hours dedicated to my personal project
1-2 hours to study extra stuff
The secret to accomplish it all is doing effective hours. That is, my phone stays in plane mode, no facebook or social media, etc. Focus.

[rodneytheredmage]

I'm out of tutorial purgatory!! Making my first Calculator app in Java. Squashing bugs. Thanks for making the abstract concrete!!

[MrPDTaylor]

How many hours? ALL OF THEM!

I code in my dreams.
Seriously though, I have dreams about JavaScript.

[Mrhammertime]

As someone who's spent the last 2 years getting in the best shape of my life and now my new mission is getting mentally back on track this analogy is so spot on! People who ask about my body transformation get mad because I tell them just do something and do it often! But it's the truth

[BM-ufpp]

I started in late 30’s and even though I have a job I always feel my age means I need to catch up. So I spend hours a day to make up for lost time. I have wife and 2 kids so the rest of my time is with them. Yes...I’m tired.

[yakosti]

Head First books series are so great, I read Head First HTML/CSS and Kotlin and everytime I open the book I felt like Im on a different universe the learning method of the book is so great, the storyline, and the way the book teaches you how to learn and how to trick your brain is so impressive, that it would make you sit and read for like 8 hours reading without knowing you already spent huge amount of time learning about programming. I really recommend the book specially if you really wanna deep dive to fundamentals of a certain language that you wanna learn.

[tmcowley]

It's the habit that's so important!

[JR-mkow]

20 minutes? Minimum??! I usually spend the first 10 minutes trying to understand where I left the program.
Yes, I produce a lot of spaghetti

[rafsananwar]

the first requirement of being self-taught developer is be passionate.

[miya]

I put on average 20 hours a week. 10 hours on weekend, 2 hours per day on the weekdays while im at my full time job. This gives me about 1000 hours a year (6 months in) i feel like i had to sacrifice my social life to do this but it sure feels rewarding and im half way there till i can quit my full time and put myself out there

[armandjansevanrensburg]

New here! I'm studying about 1-2 hours a day, and Friday and Saturday 2-4 hours a day. I tried 3-4 a day during the week and that distracted me from my job, so I scaled it back a bit. In 10 days I've learned (and retained) a lot more than I thought I would.

[lexigreenwarwell]

I'm working on being a data scientist and I started with an hour a day, I love the suggestion of 20 min minimum.

[anna]

I love this video!


I recently decided to take the plunge, and get into coding, specifically JavaScript.
And the idea of being committed if only for 20 minutes a day, really resonates with me.
Especially as a total novice a lot of the concepts are overwhelming and the idea that there is so much to learn can be offputting. But if you force yourself to even start off with a set amount of minutes and then work your way up, can really help.


So thanks! :D

[Velock]

During the week when I work I do a hour a day but on the weekend I do about 3-4 hours.

[diceymaan]

Andy, what I appreciate about your videos, is that you actually talk about the subject that is in the title and it's always on-point. Too many videos out there that end up with "it all depends on you", it's not a helpful advise without some figures. So, these are great! Thanks :)

[theory]

Hey Andy, thanks for doing these. You're my go-to when I'm lacking motivation or getting frustrated and you've helped my mental game a lot.

[kasramohajery]

hands down one the most REAL channels that gives honest and practical advice straight forward.
Thank you Andy

[ozin]

I like the video because many people say You have to spend all of your free time just to program but realistically your idea of learning is the right one