About

My name is Anthony, the creator of SmeeGuides. Here's the story behind it.

Over the years, I couldn’t help but notice a recurring scenario. I’d be approached by a friend, a family member, recent college grad, or someone who was just sent my way, and which would lead to a similar question:

“I need to make a change; how can I learn how to code?”

My first reaction would be a long hesitation as my mind would begin to rewind furiously. I’d recount courses I’ve tried, blogs I’ve read, videos and creators I’ve come across, all while taking extreme care to be aware of the “curse of knowledge.” Eventually, I’d respond with, “Let me write you an email and provide some information.”

The “curse of knowledge” is when someone with expertise in a topic forgets that others may not share their level of understanding, leading them to explain things in a way that's too complex or assumes too much prior knowledge. This can make it difficult for others to grasp what they're saying.

Each person would then get a hastily crafted email with a few courses I thought were good, some links to some known good resources, but in no way comprehensive. The first problem I saw with this approach is that nobody likes a long and boring email. The second was, what I really needed simply did not exist.

What did and still does exist is a plethora of really well-crafted learning courses, books, articles, content creators, and more all over the web. Each of these sources does a great job of diving deep into a particular niche or topic, but there is nothing that directs you through the material, not just on the resource you are using, but through all the content in any form and location.

What I wanted was that last statement. Like a professor (which I do not claim to be) who uses pre-written textbooks and guides students through a subject, I wanted to guide people through a topic and provide my thoughts, wisdom, and opinions along the way.

To all the learners out there who are looking for direction, I hope you find that here. And if you're an expert with wisdom to share, I encourage you to write you own guides.

More About SmeeGuides

If you're interested about the development process and the changes I make to SmeeGuides. You can follow the topic on my blog.

More About Me

I'm a software engineer and if you're interest to read more about what I have to say on that topic, programming, development, and more, you can find me at anthonyhawkins.com.