Elon Musk didn’t learn to code in a conventional way. Here’s how he ventured into programming:
Elon Musk is an iconic entrepreneur of this century, now renowned for his audacious projects in a wide scope of areas, including electric vehicles, space exploration, and even going as far as artificial intelligence. He started building his legacy long before he earned recognition as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX or made a name for himself with his programming skills. His technical capabilities developed in childhood through a mix of curiosity, persistence, and self-directed learning.
This article explains the unconventional route Elon Musk took to learn to code, tracing his path from a curious child to a programming maestro.
Early interest: Elon Musk as a child
Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, and right from childhood, he was intrigued by technology and science. As a kid, Musk was introverted and spent most of his childhood buried in books. Musk says he would read from morning till night, reading books on subjects well beyond his age. That voracious reading helped him to develop an interest in computers and programming.
At ten, Musk got his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20. By today’s standards, the VIC-20 had a low-processing-capacity, 5 KB-memory computer. However, in the early 1980s, this was a revolutionary step in personal computing. This kind of access to such a powerful computer was rare in South Africa at the time. Musk was passionate about this powerful machine and he took full advantage of the access he had to it.
How did Elon Musk learn to code? The self-taught programmer
The fuel for Musk’s early experiences with programming was his passion to explore the full power of his computer. This VIC-20 came with a manual that included a tutorial on how to do some BASIC programming. BASIC is short for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code and once was considered one of the easiest programming languages, making it the perfect starting point for novices.
Although he was only 10 years old at the time, Musk dove in with an unrelenting focus. He worked through the lessons of that manual, learning basic programming. This was no easy feat since the VIC-20’s environment was nowhere near as easy to use as most modern systems. The learning curve was steep, requiring an understanding of logic, syntax, and problem-solving.
According to the manual, Musk finished this six-month BASIC course of programming in three days. Such great dedication to programming at that tender age underlined his natural affinity for technology, and his determination to rise above challenges.
Creation of Blastar: Musk’s First Game
By the time he was twelve years old, Musk’s programming skills were developed enough that he seriously started building an application. The result was a space-themed video game named Blastar. Coded in BASIC, it was not too complicated. Blastar was essentially a first-person shooter game (released as an arcade video game) in which the player controlled a spaceship to eliminate enemies carrying hydrogen bombs.
Amazingly, Musk both created the game and managed to sell it as well. He sold ‘Blastar’ to a computer magazine for about 500 dollars, which was a lot of money for a 12-year-old back in the 1980s. What is more important about this achievement is that it not only proved Musk’s technical skills but also his entrepreneurial instincts, a trait that was to hallmark his later career.
Beyond gaming: expanding technical horizons
Although Blastar had been an early milestone, Musk’s interest in programming went beyond the games. As he grew older, he continued to learn to code and explore what computers and technology could do for him. Of course, it was much harder to learn to code back then. Musk had no online resources, no coding boot camps, and certainly no modern development environments. All he had was books and a determination to improve.
He learned by doing: Musk was always fiddling with computers to find out how things worked. The combination of self-directed study and firsthand experimentation proved critical in setting his technical bone structure.
The relocation to North America: a turning point
At 17 years old, Musk left South Africa for the opportunities that North America could present. He would spend two years at Queen’s University in Canada before relocating to the University of Pennsylvania, where he would major in Physics and Economics. Computer Science was never part of his academic studies, but his interest in technology was pretty robust.
In his teens, his technical abilities improved along with him. The late 1980s and early 1990s marked the period of rapid development when the world was being introduced to the internet, and personal computers were becoming widely available. Musk did not miss the opportunity to be on the wave: he combined his programming knowledge with a rapidly growing interest in physics, engineering, and business.
Zip2: Merging programming and entrepreneurship
Musk’s programming skills did not go to waste when in 1995 he cofounded Zip2 – a software company that provided business listings along with maps to newspapers. Elon and his brother Kimbal Musk were quite involved in the software development of Zip2. He set up the framework, working day in and day out, often staying up all night to do the coding.
Musk’s success with Zip2 only attested to Musk’s ability to combine his technical skills with his business vision. In 1999, Compaq acquired the company for nearly US$300 million and, in so doing, provided him with the capital needed to fund his succeeding ventures.
The evolution of Musk’s technical role
After Zip2, Musk’s projects grew increasingly large in scope: from finance to space, from renewable energy to Tesla. As Musk’s responsibilities went from hardcore coding to leadership and strategy, the tone of all his endeavors was still set by a technical background.
At SpaceX, for example, Musk maintained immense involvement in its engineering. He worked closely with the engineers in devising the Falcons and was deeply involved in solving complex technical problems. His programming experience gave him an insight into understanding nuances in integrating software and hardware – a very essential function in designing rockets.
Similarly at Tesla, his knowledge of software has been integral in making advancements in complex driver assistance systems and battery technology. Though he doesn’t write any code anymore, it was that early understanding that allowed him to lead teams and make informed decisions.
How does Musk tackle problems, and how does this relate to his background in coding?
Here is how the problem-solving aspect of Musk ties in with his coding skills, and how it all plays out.
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First principles thinking
First principles thinking is something Musk refers to time and again in taking a problem and solving it. Essentially, the method involves breaking down a problem into the most fundamental axioms and then building up from those building blocks, logically, without relying on analogy or assumption. This is rather like how a programmer would go about attacking a thorny problem – stripping away all irrelevant complexity and taking a hard look at the simplicity of the logic at the core of the issue.
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Deconstructing the problem into smaller, more manageable parts
The limitations that existed in those early days of programming, in fact, throughout the formative years of his programming experience required Musk to make his code structure and problem-solving much more efficient. He has since transferred that efficiency-oriented approach to entrepreneurship. It is the way Musk has been in a position to provide solutions for huge and complex problems by breaking them down into much smaller and reasonable pieces.
Working with SpaceX, for example, Musk did not view the problem in the design of rockets as an integrated problem; instead, he broke it down into subsegments like engine design, materials to be used, fuel efficiency, and so on. This process allowed him to perfect each subsegment separately, and he found this often led to breakthroughs in one area that could be used to find solutions in others.
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Iterative testing and debugging
Having taught himself to code, Musk innately understood the conceptual framework of debugging, a process for locating and rectifying errors within the code. This understanding is crucial if you want to learn to code. Musk applies the principles of debugging, which permits programmers to trace through and fix the faults in a program step by step, to his various ventures.
For example, most of the early rocket launches of SpaceX were failures, but the failures were mere data for Musk. Just as someone would debug a piece of code, SpaceX engineers debugged the mistakes in their designs, tested new hypotheses, and refined their approach iteratively. Musk’s dogged determination to keep testing and improving reflects that of a programmer who debugs and refines a software product by testing continuously.
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Efficiency and optimization
The desire to optimize everything is one of those basic features that programmers are known for: to improve the processes, making them more efficient, resource-non-consuming, and fast. Musk has adopted this vision in his companies.
For instance, in developing Tesla electric cars, Musk made sure that software would play an integral part in making sure that the car functions optimally right down to battery efficiency and driving distance. Tesla’s over-the-air software updates enable the company to constantly refine its cars in the same way a programmer releases a patch or updates features.
Musk’s coding background brings inefficiencies and optimization into his approach to systems engineering, too. At SpaceX, this has meant reimagining how rockets are put together and reused, in an extended process culminating in the reusable Falcons that cut costs drastically.
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Highlighted reasoning ability
Musk’s method of solving problems is based on logical thinking, and logical thinking is actually the basis for programming. To learn to code effectively, one needs to understand the logic in how the code is written: one needs to think through steps, what input it will need, and what output will be necessary as the code executes.
Musk uses the same logical reasoning in approaching almost any problem. Whether it involves designing a spaceship to reach Mars or ironing out Tesla’s autopilot system, Musk approaches it by first having a proper comprehension of the problem’s logical blueprint. He then tries several hypotheses to come up with the best conclusions. That structured and logical process ensures Musk is never intimidated by complexity, and he breaks it down into less complex components of the big problem.
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Automation and software-driven solutions
Many of the companies Musk has founded, especially Tesla and SpaceX, have relied heavily on automation, much of which is driven by sophisticated software. Musk’s experience as a coder made him appreciative of how automation can simplify even the most complex processes and improve efficiencies. For instance, at Tesla, software is what makes everything work together, from self-driving cars to manufacturing.
Basically, programming looks toward automation to handle repetition so that Musk’s companies may apply this automation. One thing he has repeated lately is increasing automation in Tesla factories, showing that this would be cheaper, improving the quality and hastening the production process.
This kind of thinking was essential for sorting out Tesla’s highly automated production lines and, also, for developing the goal of SpaceX – sending rockets that would be reusable. The fact that Musk could even visualize how one might automate processes speaks directly to his ability with coding.
Tips to help you learn to code from Musk’s approach
Elon Musk’s path into programming offers good lessons that help others develop their technical skills:
- Self-teaching is a powerful force: Musk’s initial experiences with BASIC programming exemplify the significance of teaching oneself. Through his efforts to teach himself coding, he demonstrated that curiosity and perseverance can surmount even the most formidable learning challenges.
- Start with the basics: Musk built his way up from a very, very basic language. An effective way to learn to code is by starting with something very basic, like Python or JavaScript.
- Work on projects for practical experience: By creating Blastar, Musk proved how important it is to work on projects. Real-world application to everyday problems or some personal interests helps your understanding to improve, and this helps you build a portfolio of your work.
- The integration of technical and entrepreneurial skills is essential: Musk’s capability to utilize his programming knowledge for business success highlights the significance of merging technical proficiency with an entrepreneurial perspective.
- Lifelong learning: Through his different evolving career stages, Musk continued to learn about physics, engineering, and artificial intelligence. Such lifelong learning is a clear indication that technical skills build up throughout a lifetime.
From a coder to a visionary
Elon Musk’s foray into programming stands out as one of those testaments to the greatness of curiosity, determination, and self-education. With a Commodore VIC-20 and a manual for BASIC programming, Musk had laid the cornerstones for a career that would eventually change many industries. Today, Musk hardly codes, but the attitude he developed toward problem-solving and technical knowledge as a young, ambitious programmer has remained a powerful force driving his vision regarding innovation.
Musk is an inspiration to programmers and entrepreneurs who want to learn to code at his level. Beyond that, his story is proof that childhood passions can be converted into world-changing achievements through passion, persistence, and embracing challenges.
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