This is inevitably one of the most common questions asked by people who are just starting to learn programming, as well as those who have been writing code for 1-2 years.

Of course, there are also people who after 6 months of writing code are already starting to teach others, to write code examples, maybe even to think that they have already become experts. Nothing wrong with that, after all we learn best and fastest when we tell others what we know :).

However, how long before I become an expert in programming or testing?

One of the most well-founded models that explains how we accumulate knowledge and grow in skills is the Dreyfus model, a model that shows 5 phases, 5 stages that someone goes through from the moment he/she becomes acquainted with a technology until he/she becomes an expert in it.

I will try to answer the question by using this model and explaining from the beginning that, in order to become an expert in a technology, it is best to be a good novice in that technology first. For this you need to understand what it takes to be a good novice and how to know when it is time to evolve from "novice" to the next level, i.e.: Beginner-Advanced.

You are a "novice" when you do not have experience and/or expertise with a certain technology, programming language, etc. or when your experience and/or expertise is limited.

Some attributes of a Novice:

- you feel like you need rules
- you feel like you need a guide
- you feel very good when you are given a recipe, some steps to follow
- you are very preoccupied with accomplishing a task, you are not so much interested in learning as in "getting things done"
- you don't really know how to respond to mistakes
- as soon as things don't go as expected you start to get confused, maybe even get stuck

How do you grow from "novice"?

- having someone around you to help and mentor you
- having as many recipes to apply
- accepting the rules and working by the rules

When you're no longer a novice and you know you've passed to the next stage?

- when you are already starting to break the rules and still accomplish the tasks
- when you start to want the information faster than you are usually given it, and even start to look for it yourself (in books, on the internet, asking colleagues very often...)

However, how long before I can be an expert in programming or testing?

Well... as soon as you pass Novice and 3 more internships you become an Expert.
But my advice is not to rush. In coding there are so many "experts" who have skipped stages and have the name "expert" only in the title, that there are not many places left :).

But there is a great shortage of consistent people, with solid foundations, who know how to learn, what to learn and how much to learn, who are always hungry for something new and especially people who love the journey to the title of expert, not just the destination.