Being a mobile developer without previous programming experience was my case and that of many other students.
I was an economics student full of ideas oriented towards apps. During the course, I decided to focus on learning the basics of mobile programming using Swift (IOS's native language), it was a big mistake, first because I didn't have a Mac, so I had to create a virtual machine to be able to program, something that I haven't been able to do yet. So I put it aside due to its inaccessibility, leaving behind my dream of programming.
My dream of creating my ideas autonomously still persevered, so at the end of the year of my career, I decided to take a year off to learn what really gave me value, app programming.
Where to learn web and mobile programming without experience in less than a year?
In my case, I had a month to get to know the world, where to go to optimize all the time I had, which we remember was a mere year.
The first thing I did was to focus on web development. Why did I start with web development? Simple, I had practiced this type of programming a few years ago, I knew more or less HTML, although my knowledge was basic.
To simplify everything, I had a summer from July to September to learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I would call them the essential triad for any programmer, each 'language' provides different knowledge that will be necessary to be a mobile developer and create a decent app.
Learning programming is cheap, even free, that's why I'm telling you where I learned HTML, CSS, and Javascript optimally:
Codecademy: If you're a programmer with no experience, you should start with this website, not only because it offers free content (which is already something) but also because it offers the best possible interactivity, you'll learn how any programmer should learn, by practicing. It won't be boring practice, but challenges that will give you that degree of entertainment even if you don't like to program certain languages (javascript, for example).
Youtube projects or Web pages: On the internet, there are hundreds of videos several hours long in any language that teach you how to make your first to-do list or even a responsive web page template.
Once we know the basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript through theory and practice, which should take us at least 2 months of study and practice. These 2 months will be our preparation for our ultimate goal of being a web developer and finally creating our app.
And now, what do I have to learn? Based on my experience, the final step will be React Native where you can learn the basics through the official website of React, which contains a variety of free and paid courses, undoubtedly the best place to find courses that go straight to the point and that will serve us to learn.
React Native for Mobile App Development and Why Not Swift and Java
I'll say it honestly from my point of view as an economics student who's not very familiar with programming, for me Swift and Java are boring languages, they have too much content for what it really is. React Native simplifies thousands of processes to give us the possibility of developing mobile apps by knowing an HTML and CSS adapted to React Native, along with a JavaScript called React JS that is much simpler for new programmers.
Simplicity defines React Native, but I don't want to talk about why it could be better in my opinion, but rather why I chose it with the goal of developing mobile apps:
Short learning curve: Knowing only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will be useful for our projects in React Native.
Youtube projects or web pages: There are hundreds of hours-long videos on the internet in any language that teach you how to make your first to-do list or even a responsive website template.
Simpler JavaScript: React JS uses methods like useState, useEffect that will help us automate our apps simply and without breaking our heads.
Backed by a large community: The content in React Native is almost infinite, any doubts or libraries you want are probably published.
Perfect for students: For people who don't enjoy Java, React Native offers a place to enjoy their programming, its ease makes it the best option if you're an inexperienced programmer.
Currently, I've been programming for around 10 months, the first 2 months laid the foundation for my code in React Native. Without a doubt, you'll need to know how certain peculiarities of React Native work to get started.
Every day you learn something new, but I launched my first app called GymNotes 6 months ago, if you want to see more or less what a 6-month work looks like, this is your app (I take the opportunity for a little promo).
In my case, the time required to learn how to develop for mobiles until you publish your first app can be less than 6 months or more depending on your free time. It seems like a reasonable and incredible amount of time. However, your first app will be the beginning of a constant improvement that will require time, and that's why programming is practicing, if you want to stay and create apps out of the ordinary, you'll have to study and spend much more time than expected. Now, the result will be worth it.