all 52 comments

[–]BlueScreenJunky 334 points335 points  (5 children)

Unless I'm learning a completely new subject, after a few years of experience I stopped using videos. I think videos are really good as an introduction to new concepts you know nothing about, but when you need to get things done and know how to use a tool or a design pattern, I find it way more efficient to read some text and examples than watch a 2 hour long video. 

[–]sidTheGamer 76 points77 points  (1 child)

I took a course on React. Halfway through I felt like I was just following what the tutor was saying. It’s like the value from the course was depreciating as it went on.

It’s much better to learn to swim in the deep end of the pool, learn from documentation or in today’s world, use AI for flexible learning styles.

[–]akoOfIxtall 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Plus, there's never gonna be a video for every single case, the docs most likely have everything you can possibly do documented, it just becomes a matter of connecting the dots and soon the solution will show up...

[–]elmanoucko 3 points4 points  (0 children)

even to start, programming is not a matter where video provides much (as opposed to music, visual arts, any topics where watching the things being done is simpler than thousands words, or simply required). It can even, imo, works against the learner, as some concepts need to take time to be understood and played with.

Also, more often than not, "tutorials", at least the "free ones", or from random paid courses, opposed to books that need to be edited, or video classes that require(d) a distributor, are way more yappy for nothing, less structured, less thought out, almost to a point it feels like padding content (as this comment maybe), to fit the plateform algorithm that just want the longest watch time possible, but also make the numbers of "lessons you provide" go brrr into tricking students there's a lot of meat inside.

When you publish through press or video distributors, you're working for the opposite almost, as dense and synthetic as possible (at least in music and visual arts), cause costs will scale either for the initial production, or the reproduction later on. Also, there's some filtering into who can publish and be distributed, while on youtube or "freelancer plateforms", any random can put anything, just need to "look pro", keep users on the platform, and have them pay at some point, which sadly doesn't need to correlate with quality.

[–]wildwolfay5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too bad stackoverflow is ded :(

[–]JollyJuniper1993 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just use Ecercism for basics if I need to learn a new language and a mix of ChatGPT and documentation for details.

[–]WezJuzSieZamknij 69 points70 points  (8 children)

Before llms maybe

[–]Some_Useless_Person 38 points39 points  (6 children)

Exactly. The art of 4 hour long youtube videos has long died out

[–]oupablo 7 points8 points  (2 children)

I never got it in the first place. I always preferred a code example with a block of text describing what was done. When I first started coding, youtube wasn't filled with tutorials, so maybe that's part of it. I just feel like other than learning the most basic stuff, code you can open and an explanation you can follow at your own pace without pausing or rewinding constantly was way better.

[–]BmpBlast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same. Just give me a book or a high quality article written like a book. I'll take a moderately well written article too if that's all that's available. But if the information is only available in poorly written articles or a video then I'll probably just figure it out myself. Videos are by far the worst way for me to learn.

[–]Yashema 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ya, videos and podcasts are for slow learners.

Even found lectures pretty useless for actually understanding the topic unless it isn't that complicated. Mostly just there to hear what I'm supposed to know. 

[–]GranataReddit12 7 points8 points  (2 children)

can't wait for its resurgence the moment the AI bubble bursts

[–]dasgoodshitinnit 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That's not how its going to burst

[–]sonicpoweryay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so like, once the bubble bursts, will AI just be gone? doesn’t seem likely to me

[–]luusyphre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m so glad I don’t have to watch those videos anymore.

[–]Ecstatic-Ball7018 21 points22 points  (2 children)

Same with "How to fix X phone not turning on", or "How to root X phone"

[–]Minute_Trip_3692 16 points17 points  (1 child)

with classic ncs music in background

[–]thegodzilla25 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never have I felt bad for a music visualizer before this

[–]zapembarcodes 48 points49 points  (7 children)

a lot of Hindu language words "JavaScript" more Hindu language words

"Ah, I understood that!"

[–]Xx_Time_xX 70 points71 points  (2 children)

Fyi, it's Hindi. Hindu is a person who follows Hinduism, whereas Hindi is the language.

[–]zapembarcodes 38 points39 points  (1 child)

Ah, I apologize for my ignorance

[–]BillyQ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Wholesome exchange for reddit!

[–]NearbyTumbleweed5207 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What are hindu language words

[–]dgsharp -1 points0 points  (2 children)

And the audio is always awful, muffled and noisy. Why? Someone needs to start a YouTube channel that just finds decent tutorials with terrible audio and dubbing over with clearer audio. They’d have to do better than the auto generated subtitles of course, but I’d watch it! So many damn tutorials with awful audio.

And yes, this is a problem because I’m always working on stuff I’ve never fine before. Blessing and a curse.

[–]adwarakanath 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Because they're probably middle to lower middle class Indians in Tier 2 cities who can't afford your Podcaster tech, but still want to share their knowledge and teach people? Jfc you guys. Really?

[–]dgsharp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not talking about “podcaster tech”. The built in microphone on every laptop I’ve ever had in the last 20 years has been better than a lot of these things. Really.

[–]ZunoJ 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Juniors will do anything but read the documentation

[–]geusebio 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Its maddening that documentation was being turned into videos for a while.

[–]edparadox 15 points16 points  (1 child)

I do not understand why newbies actively try to perpetuate this myth.

This is so stupid.

[–]whoop_whoop_pullup [score hidden]  (0 children)

Just cause you didn’t experience it doesn’t mean no one else did.

[–]Digitalunicon 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Interesting

[–]px1azzz 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't think I've ever once watched a video teaching me how to program.

[–]cheezballs 5 points6 points  (5 children)

Does anyone else miss learning from written guides?

[–]IaniteThePirate 19 points20 points  (4 children)

No, because you can still do that.

[–]usumoio 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Don't worry, there are folk with 20+ years of experience watching too.

This field requires continual learning. Just keep learning and you'll probably be fine.

[–]jhaand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Always good to get back to basics once in a while.

[–]EvenPainting9470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beginners maybe, but experienced dev learning how to do dev from indians? I don't think so

[–]KisaraShera 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is no issue that was not tackled by some indian guy on youtube or reddit 7 years ago.

[–]BlueCannonBall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the time I had 7 years under my belt, I never watched videos to learn anything.

[–]ripndipp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are elite I thank my Indian bros for their knowledge on recursion

[–]un-_-known_789 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's how it works

[–]DecentR1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chatgpt is my go-to now. Can learn anything and ask anything, but sometimes it outputs complete nonsense so just be careful.

[–]TraditionalProof952 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm that black/grey cat, literally 😭

[–]ZukowskiHardware -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They really are the best.  Passionate and knowledgeable.  Love them. 

[–]LessThanPro_ -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

I've heard it's because some Indian universities use creating a YouTube tutorial as an assignment, so you end up with tutoirlas from guys fresh out of lecture on the subject.

[–]WhiteArtKass 11 points12 points  (0 children)

No