o3o
how does one get him?

Okay there are a few things to know here.

First do you have 10 animal villagers on your island?

i do have 10 villagers

Well sadly you won't be able to get Sterling. You would have to have an open plot for this to work.
So unless you wanna time travel to kick out a villager you won't be able to get Sterling.

how far into the future would i have to go?

Okay it varies. From the most recent villager you had that moved in there is a 15 or so grace period where villagers will NOT offer to move out.
After those 15 days a villager will randomly have a thought bubble and COULD be the one to want to move.
This is where things get a little annoying.
If you tell a villager to NOT move out this makes a 5 day grace period of no one wanting to move.
BUT if you talk to a villager you DON'T want to have move out you can simply not answer them and close the game. For that day they will be the ONLY villager to want to move out, so you'd need to try the next day.
It's all RNG so it's all up to you if you want to go through this process for Sterling. I personally won't time travel so you'll only have a few hours before I won't be able to offer him any longer.

do you need a dodo code? I will have to turn the switch on away from my pc. it tends to fuck up my wifi if i have it too close

You would need a Dodo code from me if you manage to get someone to move out.

okay give me a little bit

i tried, but no one wants to move. they love me too much

Yeah that happens. The thought bubbles can be annoying to spawn with or without time traveling.

Also if you are interested in him it NEEDS to be done today.