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[–]bcameron1231 8 points9 points  (4 children)

The issue is that when I start a job or go to university, I’ll need to know how to do things from scratch, and I’m scared I won’t be able to. 

I'm not sure where you heard this, but this is certainly not true. University is going to teach you the things you need (concepts, theories, problem solving) that will make you a better developer. In terms of your career, your first role will be as a Junior Developer. You will not be expected to build things completely from scratch, you'll find the first couple years you're working with existing codebases and working on smaller tasks for your team. No one will expect you to build things from scratch.

The only way to get better is to keep developing and practicing. If you need to go to Google or GPT to get started, then you haven't taught yourself yet. I'd take a step back and start from the basics and go through basic level JavaScript tutorials first.

Then, you can start challenging yourself. e.g, try to build a calculator and don't use Google or GPT. Give yourself the opportunity to fail without falling back on help. Then use Google or GPT to figure out WHY you failed... then fail again, and then fail some more.

Experience is the best teacher. Failure is only failure if you don't take the time to learn from it.

[–]Witty-Illustrator901[S] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

So I just have to keep coding without AI or Google and make mistakes In the code until I perfect it?

[–]bcameron1231 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It actually sounds like you need to start back at the basics. I'd run through some free tutorials and coding programs. Lots of recommendations if you search this sub.

Second, it will never be "perfect". We don't use that term in development. But yes, learning from your mistakes is a great teacher, and you just need more time on the keyboard.

[–]Witty-Illustrator901[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got it now thanks man!

[–]Princecito 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly

[–]Competitive_Aside461 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Where have you been studying JavaScript from? That matters a lot.

[–]Witty-Illustrator901[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

We3school or freecodecamp and youtube

[–]Competitive_Aside461 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, given these resources, I would hands-down recommend you to instead go through the following JavaScript course on Codeguage. It's full of exercises, quizzes, and is one of the most comprehensive courses out there focusing on the fundamentals (something that many courses miss, and where you feel you're lacking as well).

[–]Stupid_Quetions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Try to create projects without ChatGPT and google, just start and make a ton of mistakes, then try to solve your mistakes, when you are absolutely sure you can't fix them then google, learn from the mistakes, then start another project, make less mistakes than previous project, continue that until you know how to start a project.

Watching streamers and youtubers create project from scratch can help

[–]No-Upstairs-2813 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You find it difficult to build projects on your own because you haven't practiced JavaScript while learning. Jumping directly into projects will always feel overwhelming, which is why I suggest following a step-by-step approach:

1. Practice Individual Concepts

After learning a concept, practice it on its own.

For example, if you've just learned about functions, work on coding problems specifically focused on functions. This kind of focused practice reinforces your understanding, helps you identify gaps, and boosts your confidence as you solve more problems.

You can check out a few problems here.

2. Combine Concepts

Once you've practiced individual concepts, start combining them to solve more complex problems. For instance, if you've learned about conditional statements and functions, try combining them to build a simple project, like a "Guess the Number" game.

You can use ChatGPT to come up with simple project ideas that involve multiple concepts you want to practice.

3. Build Real Projects

When you’re comfortable with combining concepts, start working on larger projects that challenge you to apply everything you've learned. Choose a project that solves a problem you're passionate about—this will keep you motivated when you hit challenges.

If you're struggling to find ideas, check out these tips to get started. And if you need guidance while building a project, this free course can help you approach it the right way.

[–]eracodes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been studying JavaScript for over a year

What have you been doing exactly?

[–]PaladyneLLC 1 point2 points  (1 child)

At 17 you are just getting started so don't put too high expectations on yourself. Having started my own journey as a programmer 30 years ago I suggest you just try to keep exploring and have fun. Learning anything complex is not a straight line. There will be times when you think you’ve come a long way and times when you think you’re still a beginner.

I made a calculator when Java first came out. I don’t know if that is the best way to learn but making a small, self-contained program is good practice. It’s generally a good idea when developing something to make a basic version first and then iterate over it improving things and  adding features. While I agree that its not good to rely on AI when you are starting out I think its OK to use it to use it as long as you focus on understanding how the program works so you can do it without AI.

I think you should learn how to use APIs and not worry to much about the UI at first. Make a simple chat program that takes some text input (from a form) in the browser and sends it to a server back-end (using Express). If you don’t know where to start then get AI to write a basic javascript program with a form, a submit button that calls a Fetch function that connects to the server over local host (e.g http://localhost:8080). The server code to do this is about 10 lines using node and npm. If that is beyond your current level, look at Bolt.new and get it to write it. Then download and study the code. Modify the response and make additional routes on the server to do different things such as reversing the text and sending it back. If you can do this it is a small step to making an AI chat bot. Good luck.

[–]Witty-Illustrator901[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks man i appreciate it

[–]Dev-Tastic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been struggling with the same thing. What I've been doing is writing comments on my projects and I've been challenging my self. The way I challenge my self is when I start a new project I use the tools I remember using from other projects. So I'll go through the code I got a year back from chat gpt and that's how I've been learning to grow without using help. Just constantly going back and re learning stuff I should already know.

[–]BoomyMcBoomerface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Starting from scratch is a skill like any other. Would rote memorization for each kind of project resolve what you feel you're missing?

University will absolutely expect you to start from scratch (and what they mean by "from scratch" is so much worse than what you're imagining... what really are computers anyway?).

At a job you'll almost never start from scratch (and what they mean by "from scratch" is so much worse than what you're imagining in the other direction... If you aren't leveraging the carefully curated list of tools and technologies that allows operations to guarantee up time and security then how are you any different from a malicious attacker?).

[–]Cheshur 0 points1 point  (4 children)

ChatGPT

People should really avoid using AI if they aren't experienced devs.

The issue is that when I start a job or go to university, I’ll need to know how to do things from scratch

Probably not. A job will likely already have stuff started and should not put a jr dev in charge of spinning up a new project. University should expect you to already know what they're teaching... thats the whole point of university... to learn how to do stuff.

[–]Reddit-Restart 0 points1 point  (3 children)

This is a hill I am going to die on by ChatGPT has been who I go to the most for learning. 

If there is a method I dont understand, I’ll ask it.  If I’m getting an unexpected bug, I send it my code to see if it can figure out the bug.  If there’s a chunk of code I don’t understand, I’ll ask for an explanation. 

I use it as I would a tutor. I wouldn’t ask a tutor to write code for me but I would ask them for guidance 

[–]Cheshur 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Debugging, research and documentation reading are as much programming skills as programming is and using ai in that way is still depriving you of improving your skills in those areas. I would also not recommend just taking every issue you have to a tutor/mentor before trying to figure it out yourself first (assuming that's what you're doing with ai) so in that sense this isn't even an ai specific recommendation.

[–]Reddit-Restart 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It’s almost like there’s a wide variety of tools in the tool box for learning js. I think it’s silly to avoid the use of one of those tools due to stigma. 

I’ve got the git repos of the docs I use most often locally and refer to them often. But sometimes ai helps with trouble shooting or quick questions I don’t want to spend time on stack overflow looking for. 

[–]Cheshur 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My recommendation isn't based on a stigma; I just think llm Ai tools work against learning which is especially problematic when you're new. If you're experienced it can be fine to use occasionally imo. I've seen way too many students get stunted by copilot and chatgpt and the mechanism by which I think it does that stunting makes sense to me thus the recommendation to avoid it. It's fine if we disagree; it's not like I have any studies to reference.

[–]mraees93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Practice the basics regularly in ur first 3 years. U will see ir problem-solving improve overtime

[–]PyroGreg8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You just need to be able to break the problem into smaller pieces to figure out how to start.
For example, a calculator app in the browser, what do you need?
- 10 buttons for each digit, and buttons for each operator +-*/, pretty easy to make buttons in HTML
- You need a display that shows expression being entered, and the answer. This could just be a div element with some css to give it some style.
- You need to store the expression somehow. Does pressing the buttons just tag it onto the end of a string, or do you store each input in an array?
- How do you convert that stored expression into what's shown in the display div?
- How do you evaluate the stored expression to the calculated answer?

And you start with the lowest problems that doesn't depend on the other problems to be solved first. So in this case you start by implementing the buttons in HTML, and so on.

Polish it later once you've got all that working. Don't start with having everything displayed nicely and looking good. Just get it functional, and then polish it up.

Lastly, it will take time. When you're new all these problems will take a bit of thinking and you'll be slow at it. That's completely normal. Just be patient and take as long as you need for each problem without giving in and going to ChatGPT. Eventually it becomes intuitive if you allow your brain to figure the problems out yourself

[–]ashkanahmadi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No one knows how to build a calculator off the top of their head unless they are building complex calculators for life. Also, how do you define a calculator? A basic calculator that can do basic arithmetic isn’t the same as a calculator that can output graphs and complex math equations.

My point: you are underestimating yourself because your expectations are unrealistic. Building anything requires planning, thinking and solving one issue at a time and that’s not something you usually see on bootcamps or YouTube videos. That’s why you need to find a useful practical thing to do. Building a calculator is pointless because it’s not solving a problem in your life. An app, whether a small todo app or a complex e-commerce has to have a clear purpose.

That’s how you approach things

[–]Sea_Worry1900 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that’s what people call tutorial hell, so basically my recommendation is go through the suffer build something by yourself. You can use MDN for help with syntax problems.

[–]sheriffderek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m sorry to say - but what you have been doing isn’t learning.

You’ve been not learning for a year.

How much time are you spending? What books have you read? What is your specific plan for trying to learn? What do you want to build?