How I'd Learn to Code in 30 Days (If I Had to Start Over)

Unfortunately, most people who say they want to learn to code never actually do it.

It's because their process is flawed: watching tutorial after tutorial, feeling productive, and then freezing the moment they try to build something on their own.

I'm not going to let that be you.

If I had to learn to code from scratch in 30 days, here's exactly what I'd do.

The Philosophy: Build First, Learn Second

Fun fact: you don't need to understand everything before you start building. You need to start building so you have a reason to understand anything.

Every project in this plan teaches you something specific. You'll struggle. You'll Google things. You'll ask AI to explain concepts like you're five...as you should.

Let's get into it.

Ask Claude the following:

I want to learn Python by building. Give me a simple project idea for a [beginner/someone who's never coded]. Walk me through building it step by step, but before you give me any code, explain the concept I'm about to use in plain English. After each section, quiz me to make sure I understood before moving on.

Week 1: Foundations

What you're learning: Variables, print statements, user input, if/else logic

This week is about proving to yourself that you can make a computer do what you tell it to do, giving us the confidence (and excitement) we need to move forward.

Day 1: Hype Me Up Generator

Your first project is quite simple, and that's the point.

The user enters their name. The program prints back three personalized compliments. That's it. You'll learn variables, print statements, and string concatenation. Further, you'll have something that works by the end of the day.

It sounds small, but that moment when you run your code and see your name printed back with "You're absolutely crushing it, [Name]"? Will be quite exciting.

Day 3: "Can I Afford This?" Calculator

Let's make some decisions.

You enter your bank balance and the price of something you want. The program tells you yes, no, or "you'll be eating rice for a week."

This teaches you input, basic math, and if/else statements, the building blocks of every program that's ever made a decision.

Day 5: Magic 8 Ball

Ask a yes or no question. Get a random response from a list of possible answers.

Here, you're learning how lists work and how to use randomness. You're also building something you might actually use when you can't decide what to eat for dinner.

Weekly Project: Personality Quiz

This is where Week 1 concepts come together.

You'll build a quiz with 3-5 questions that tracks answers and gives a result at the end like "You're giving main character energy" or "You're the group's planner."

It combines variables, input, conditionals, and lists into one cohesive program.

Week 2: Data Structures + Functions

What you're learning: Lists, dictionaries, loops, and writing reusable functions

Week 1 proved you can code. Week 2 is about organizing your code properly.

Day 8: To-Do List

Add tasks. View your list. Mark things as done. All in the terminal.

This teaches you how to work with lists and loops, plus how to build a simple menu system. It's the skeleton of every productivity app.

Day 10: Grocery Budget Tracker

Add items and their prices. See your running total. Know if you're over budget before you get to checkout.

This is lists, loops, and running calculations combined into something practical.

Day 12: Baby Name Rater

Enter a name, and the program checks it against a list of "overdone" names and gives a verdict.

It teaches functions, which are reusable chunks of code you can call whenever you need them.

Weekly Project: Simple Expense Log

Log expenses with a category (food, transport, fun). View your totals by category.

You're combining lists, dictionaries, loops, and functions into something you could actually keep using.

Week 3: Files + Your First API

What you're learning: Saving data that persists, and pulling data from the internet

This is where your programs start doing more. They can remember things. They can talk to the outside world.

Day 15: Wins Journal

Log your accomplishments and things you're proud of to a file. Read them back whenever you need a reminder that you're making progress.

This is file read/write—the ability to save data so it doesn't disappear when you close the program. It's the foundation of most useful applications.

Day 17: Pokemon Lookup

Enter a Pokemon name. Pull its stats from the PokeAPI.

This is your first API call. I chose Pokemon because it's free, simple, and seeing real data come back from the internet for the first time is genuinely satisfying.

You're learning the requests library, how to make API calls, and how to parse JSON.

Day 19: Job Application Log

Save companies you've applied to with the date and status. Read back your full list.

This is file handling with structured data—taking what you learned on Day 15 and making it more organized.

Weekly Project: Interview Prep Bank

Save interview questions you've encountered or want to practice. Pull questions randomly to quiz yourself. Add new ones as you go.

You're combining file handling with randomness to build a tool that will help you during your job search.

Week 4: Your Capstone

What you're building: One project that ties everything together

This is portfolio week. You're building something you can show to recruiters, put on your GitHub, and talk about in interviews.

Pick one based on what interests you:

Option 1: Morning Routine Dashboard

A script that pulls the weather (so you know what to wear), a motivational quote, and top news headlines—all in one place.

This combines APIs, file handling, and practical utility.

Option 2: CLI Job Tracker

Add applications, update statuses, save everything to a file, and view stats like "you've applied to 12 places this month."

Everything from the 30 days wrapped into one tool.

Option 3: Salary Research Tool

Compare job offers by factoring in taxes and pulling cost of living data from an API so you can compare offers across different cities.

This combines math, user input, API calls, and decision-making logic.

Option 4: Study Card App

Add your own flashcards, save them to a file, quiz yourself with randomized questions, and track your score.

Useful if you're studying for technical interviews.

The Method That Makes This Work: Build and Burn

Here's what separates people who actually learn from people who just complete tutorials.

After you build each mini project, delete your code and rebuild it from scratch without looking at the original.

That's a build and burn.

If you can rebuild it, you learned it. If you get stuck, you found your gap—go back and learn that specific piece.

What Happens After 30 Days?

You have the tools necessary to decide the path for you, feeling confident that you were able to prove that you can actually build things.

Happy coding!