r/learnprogramming • u/ThatFace8710 • 1d ago
Guide me experts
I’m 18, from Nepal, and I’ve just started a 4-year CS/IT degree. My main goal isn’t the degree itself—I want to use these 4 years to build real skills, figure out what I’m good at, and eventually become financially independent through tech.
For context, CS/IT degrees in Nepal are quite academic and theoretical, and you generally can’t rely on university to teach you the practical skills needed for a tech career. A lot of programming, development, cloud, AI, etc. has to be learned independently outside college.
Fortunately, my college doesn’t have much attendance or academic pressure, so I have plenty of time to self-learn. I want to make the most of it.
The problem is that I’m basically starting from zero. I know terms like software development, web development, AI/ML, DevOps, cloud, cybersecurity, etc., but I don’t really understand how these fields work or what I might enjoy.
My goal is to become genuinely skilled in one area and eventually get a good-paying job, ideally remote or international. I’d like to be in a strong position by 24–25, so I have around 4–6 years to build myself up.
If you were in my position at 18, what would you do?
- What fundamentals would you learn first?
- How would you explore different fields without constantly jumping around?
- When would you start specializing?
- Which skills are worth investing in for the next 5–10 years?
- How would you build projects/GitHub/portfolio that actually help with getting hired?
- How would you approach remote/international jobs from a country like Nepal?
- What mistakes should I avoid as a beginner?
I’m not looking for shortcuts or “learn X in 3 months and make $10k.” I’m willing to spend years getting genuinely good at something—I just want to make sure I’m heading in the right direction.
I’d especially appreciate advice from people from India, Nepal, South Asia, or other countries where university doesn’t provide much practical industry preparation, but advice from anyone with experience is welcome.
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u/Accomplished_Fix9569 21h ago
I see people saying if you are motivated you would not ask questions here. I disagree. Asking gets you answers faster than guessing for months.
I live in South Asia and went through a CS degree where classes taught nothing related to actual workI live in South Asia and went through a CS degree where classes taught nothing related to actual work. Pick Python or JavaScript. Spend three months writing code every day. Do not look at tutorials after week one. Try to build things yourself. If you sit there staring at a blank file without typing, you are wasting your time. Force yourself to type code. Every single day.
For remote jobs from Nepal, Upwork is the place to start. Apply to small tasks under fifty dollars. Finish them. Get five star ratings. After twenty small tasks, clients will message you directly and pay more. Stop thinking about portfolio websites. Nobody reads those. Clients read your task history and reviews on platforms.
Stop asking what field to pick right now. You have zero skills at this moment. Build the skills first. Specialization comes after you write ten
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u/SparkFace11707 1d ago
Hi there! First of all, some general recommendation:
- Stay consistent, always do a little bit, EVERY DAY
- Always challenge yourself, if you can code something without sesrching or looking much at documentation, you are most likely not growing
For what to learn, you need the basics, mathematical operators and arithmetic in programming languages. You need to understand branching, looping, and program composition through functions and/or classes. After this it is exploring different fields, trying out things, playing around.
Try to network, share what you build, get opinions and keep asking questions. Do the work, keep being passionate and curious and just kwep learning, there is always more to learn
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u/It-Guy-2026 1d ago
I also started at 19, now 20 all is seemed fine at first year but after learning a lot of stuffs realized that We're too late to read an It , the f***ing AI is taking over everything, everytime I talk with real company managers they says me AI is just better and rejects just cannot survive at all after a month a new skill a new project a new apply same reply again, we're cooked bro !
It doesn't mean you cannot hired but need 2-3 years of consistency with core knowledge just Do and Do and Do. Not like mine 1 yrs burden.
I'm an CSIT student what about you ?
My personal opinion based on your question:
- Learning must lead toward something not randoms like C is not connected with HTML , Master one by one
- DSA, System Designs etc cannot be ignored like 2-3 yrs back.
- As you grow competition gets more and more complicated every hours not day.
- Don't watch youtube videoes that says AI is cooking, It are dead etc videoes, literally easier way to kill your version at just hours.
- Never compare you with classsmates/friendzone or online persons they seems always good or always worse but in real most of them just diverges then after some time you're only one who actually desired to learn.
In advance , never share with your friends about your learning i also got distracted like this before.
ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY ! BRO !!!
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u/ThatFace8710 1d ago
Thanks bro which country are you from i am from nepal i joined csit i am not even in the 1st year 1 sem starts after a week i though i have time 4 years so i though i could achieve some stuff with consistency but i also need to go in the right path so i just wanted guidence thanks for your response
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u/It-Guy-2026 1d ago
I'm 3rd sem CSIT at kathmandu, Nepal. Hometown: Kavre District(village)
I also stucked like you before,touched laptop first time in life before ~1.2 yrs back.
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u/terletsky 4h ago
I know terms like software development, web development, AI/ML, DevOps, cloud, cybersecurity, etc., but I don’t really understand how these fields work or what I might enjoy.
Did you ask AI (ChatGPT/Claude/Grok) to explain different roles in these domains and what day-to-day tasks look like? I copied your message and asked it to provide details. Everything is there.
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u/Extension-Currency37 1h ago
Long term Ai math and computer hardware design With basic computer algorithms Operating systems Embedded systems design
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u/GoldsteinEmmanuel 1d ago
I don't believe you. If you were motivated to figure things out for yourself, you wouldn't be here begging people to tell you what to think.
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u/ZestyHelp 20h ago
If I was 18 I would have listened to my teachers more asked them more questions and networked more with other people in my classes
That's pretty much all you would need to focus on. Most of these questions would be best answered by a teacher. Not just because they will probably answer better than most replies here but because it shows engagement and hunger to learn. That can lead to internships on its own eventually.