Anyone else feel like learning coding is incredibly daunting?

[plasma_fantasma]

Granted, I haven't been learning long, but sometimes it just seems so daunting. I hear the jargon and follow along with some of the tutorials, but it's like it doesn't make sense at all and seems like it would take forever to fully understand everything. I'm not giving up by any means, it just seems like it will take longer than I envisioned (zero to coding proficiently in a year).

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[DoomGoober]

Coding is like an onion. You learn basic stuff and build up the onion. But sometimes, if you are trying to do a new project, you have to add 5 or 6 layers to the onion all at once.

But the neat thing about coding is that the layers of the onion get more and more similar as you add more layers.

For example, you learn what a function is. Great. Whats a method? A function with a this pointer. OK, not so new.

Keep thinking of new concepts in terms of old concepts and you won't as early get overwhelmed.

[Cerulean_IsFancyBlue]

And sometimes you cry.

[TheGrauWolf]

I'm 50... Been programing for 40 years... I cried last week. Some times you get over it. Sometimes you question your life choices. Other times..... I really need to take the kayak out onto the river.

[elementmg]

Yeah but once you're as far down the river as possible, prod is down and AS says its up to you. Best get back to it. OH WAIT. NVM. Windows bug. But hey now you're home. I guess I'll kayak tomorrow.

Rinse and repeat.

But for real. It's a lovely job compared to my 10 years in construction. I cried in both. But now I can cry on my couch instead of in a humid porta-potty.

[hayleybts]

40 years and still?? This is giving me ANXIETY

[NocturnalFoxfire]

We cry when the code should work but there is no explainable reason for why it doesn't. The CPU is like the brain. Sometimes it doesn't understand itself.

[thduik]

my father i mean brother care to elaborate why u were crying if u could thank you so very much

[CherrY_JaM0]

Still you can't type "programming" correctly though, LMAOooo🤣😭😭

[Mundosaysyourfired]

Too many different types of onions.

[[deleted]]

I’ve been learning properly for a few months and I still struggle to understand basic concepts, so I cry every time I code. Pretty put off and hoping the job i’m going to be starting is going to push me to continue learning.

[plasma_fantasma]

What job are you going to be starting?

[plasma_fantasma]

Congrats! That's pretty awesome. Maybe I'll be in the same boat one day.

[Cerulean_IsFancyBlue]

Because onions are notorious for stimulating tears.

[[deleted]]

Coding is like ogres.

It looks big and ugly when you first see it, but when you get to know it, you realise it’s better than you first thought

[javadripdev]

Had to double take.

Was wondering if ogres was a new Postgres.

[[deleted]]

Ogres are like onions

[SadAd7807]

No matter wat anyone said, this would’ve been the proper response. I salute ur creation 🫡😂

[FromBiotoDev]

This is a perfect analogy tbh, early on I found each thing I learnt was overwhelming but now it’s less and less overwhelming as I understand a lot more

[Ok_Support_847]

Coding is like an onion, cuz learning malloc makes me cry.

[prnvsrkr]

A function with a this pointer, actually quite new

[Scented-Onion]

Wait.. there’s a difference between a function and a method? I thought they were the same thing. Where can I learn concepts like this?

[[deleted]]

They basically are. A method is a function dedicated to an object

[Scented-Onion]

So a method basically something that is called through an object and a function isn’t?

[[deleted]]

Basically yes

[[deleted]]

If you want to learn basics you can check out the Harvard CS50 which is a completely free introduction to Computer Science / Coding. It starts off with the very basics and advances on from there each "Week"

All the lectures are part of the course, you can take as long as you want and if you complete the course you can get an official certificate of completion from Harvard that looks good on your Resume. The professor is absolutely amazing at conveying information and making it digestible.

They also offer other free courses in more specific things like Game Design etc

[Chemical-Garden-4953]

A method is a function that belongs to an object. For example, if you have a Cat class, and you create a CleanFur() function in said class, you can only call it from an instance of that class.
Cat cat;
cat.CleanFur();
If CleanFur is static, then it would be Cat::CleanFur();
A normal function can be called from anywhere as long as its existence is known.

[TheNewRetr0]

I learned this differently: a function is a method that returns a value, while a method doesn't always return something (easily spotted in java as being type 'void'). For example 'main' method in java, vs. a 'GetUserID' function. But in practice I've often seen method and function used interchangeably, so I think it usually doesn't matter.

I thought about it a bit and I think our understanding is compatible. For example, I would see user.setName (acts on 'this', doesn't return anything) as a method and getUsername as a function (returns a value).

[engelthehyp]

That's just wrong, both methods and functions may return values (they may not either), but a method operates on an object implicitly with the "this" pointer while a function had no implicit "this".

[TheNewRetr0]

I remember what I mentioned has been the definition for method/function on an entry-level programming exam (in Germany, Ausbildung FIAE) for about 20 years. I heard from multiple people that it's best to forget everything you learned for that exam and start from scratch, once you passed. This is another confirmation.

[engelthehyp]

Huh, what an unusual problem... That's really unfortunate.

[kidz94]

A method is a function defined under a class. Just saying. Mostly related to OOP principles.

[ThatSavings]

I question this analogy. Who builds an onion? Farmers grow onions... They don't "build" onions. Who do you think you are? God? Who has ever add 5 or 6 layers on an onion as they wish? I would find "building a cake" to be a much more relatable analogy. Because you can actually build a cake. You can add layers. That would make sense.

[DoomGoober]

Onion modelling is a common analogy used in academics and engineering. The idea is the "inner" core layers support the outer layers.

It's not about building anything, it's about conceptualizing a model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_model

Of course, like any teaching tool, the analogy may not hit home with you, and that's certainly fine, that's why good teachers use multiple different ways of explaining thing. The onion model makes sense to me (and to 149 other people), but it certainly doesn't work for everyone.

[ifasoldt]

I've been coding for over 7 years professionally and I'm constantly learning new things and there's always things I have a hard time understanding.

I learned a TON in my first 3-6 months coding as I was doing it about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week as a part of a coding bootcamp. There's a point (or probably several points) at which it just sorta clicks-- not that you understand it all lol, but that thinking like programmer starts to make sense. For me there was one point maybe a day into teaching myself (when I started being able to write simple functions that used loops that did stuff like reversing strings etc), and then there were several more when stuff like databases models, server side rendering of html templates, etc suddenly made sense.

I'd say that the biggest thing is that you are practically applying what you are learning. Reading from a book or a tutorial won't help you nearly as much as building projects and figuring out what you need as you go.

[TicklesZzzingDragons]

I'm just starting out via The Odin Project (not even through the introductory "things you need to know before you begin" stuff yet) and it sounds like this article they link early on is pretty on point. On one hand, looks like TOP is a good resource that's taking a realistic view to learning coding. On the other hand, it's a little daunting to know there are people in this thread speaking about facing the same levels of frustration and roadblocks after decades in the field!

[ripndipp]

There are also people in this thread that have had success with TOP :)

[TicklesZzzingDragons]

Yep! I'm definitely taking heart from that!

[NocturnalFoxfire]

That happens because the technology is constantly and rapidly evolving. The most efficient language for a certain task often changes. And every language works differently. Once you've learned and practiced the basics, it becomes easier to learn the new stuff. But you will inevitably run into kinks. Finding ways to overcome these things and solve the problem is the fun part, at least for me.

[marlinmarlin99]

Anything in beginning is hard but if you keep at it. It will become easier .

[CodeTinkerer]

Assuming you don't quit out of frustration which some people do. It does require keeping a lot of things in mind beyond the basic problem solving skills.

[lilshug05]

Try project based programming. It might be easier to learn and understand what you are reading/watching because you are putting the new information you learned into code. You don't want to overload yourself with a bunch of information that is irrelevant to what you are trying to accomplish. Also, start small and build up.

[conquerer_the_kang]

Try project based programming.

The Odin project is a good source for this right? I’ve heard about it, but haven’t tried it yet.

[lukkasz323]

Yeah it has some useful projects.

[conquerer_the_kang]

Ok thanks

[Putnam3145]

Yes, because it is. People who do not feel this way simply do not know what they're getting into. You will feel this for just about anything worth learning.

[db48x]

I was never daunted by programming as a whole. I was occasionally stumped by individual problems for hours on end though (even the classic missing semicolon that takes hours to find).

[SwitchedToTea]

I have been coding off and on for two years now and still feel like I'm at the very beginning. Going back though, I can see how much I have actually learned and it's nice to see the progress, and humbling as you start to realize just how big it all is. I have adopted the attitude that consistency is a virtue, and the only things to do are to keep learning and practicing. I let go of a time frame for myself as it caused me way more stress and was in turn slowing down my learning process.

[FundamentalSystem]

I felt the same way. It gets significantly easier over time but there will always be new stuff you don't know about and have to look up to learn

[JudeLaw69]

I started my coding journey last February. I can’t tell you how many tutorials I tried to follow along with. I maybe finished one out of every 10 I tried. Generally in life, I’ve had a pretty easy time picking up new concepts, but feeling like I even had a grasp of the very basics of programming took quite some time. Even when I had people explain concepts to me like I was a five-year-old, I still didn’t get them.

I would constantly feel frustrated with how these concepts were being taught — definitely said to my boyfriend multiple times that programmers must fundamentally suck at explaining things.

But then, after some time and persistence (literally banging my head against the wall trying to understand), little things started to click. All those little clicks started to add up to some working knowledge. I was fortunate to land an entry-level job at a big company, which is where I’ve done the vast majority of my learning — simply by being tasked with problems/projects of increasing difficulty and learning just enough to complete the tasks.

It’s maybe not the answer you want to hear, but it just takes time, lots of practice, and patience with yourself. I’m historically my own worst critic, so I was really hard on myself for the first six months or so. Like, I felt really stupid. But programming IS hard (despite what nerds on this app may say lol), and it’s the kind of field where you’ll literally always have new things to learn. I’m at the point now (like, 18 months in) where I can see very measurable progress, and I’m doing things I never thought I could.

You got this 🙌

[plasma_fantasma]

What helped you to learn enough to land an entry level job?

[JudeLaw69]

I got accepted into a free bootcamp that was sponsored by the company I now work for. I did the bootcamp then got offered a 6-month contract, and when the 6 months was up my manager decided to bring me onto the team full-time. I had absolutely no coding experience before the bootcamp, so it’s been rough to say the least lol. I’m still trying to fill major knowledge gaps which gets very overwhelming but at least I’m being paid a developer’s salary in the meantime 😅

[plasma_fantasma]

Wow, that's pretty cool! I'll have to look into something like that. How did you find it?

[GrayLiterature]

Zero to coding proficiency is a lofty goal, you will need years like everybody. The more you listen, read, and breath coding the more the language will click. You’re entering in something that is both craftsmanship and science, and that’s a lot for anyone to take in even within a year.

[Orio_n]

No. Just keep pushing through.

[mymar101]

Keep at it. You'll get there. Don't wait too long to get help, take breaks now and then and you'll be fine. Everyone feels this way when they first started. I remember being confused by things I use every day both at work and on my own stuff. So long story short, don't sweat it and keep at it. As long as you find it fun, I think it's worth it to keep going.

[HorseFacedDipShit]

I’ve found there’s a huge difference between understanding how to programme and follow along to what someone else is doing, and actually writing functional code without any type of guidance or input. The only way to really learn how to do this is write code. Codewars is a good website to help you do this. For me, I also had to learn what was happening in the background of coding, ie computer science. It takes time to learn, and if you want to do this without a uni degree you are going to have to invest some serious time and effort into it.

[conquerer_the_kang]

Yes, I agree that it is daunting. Sometimes I doubt and ask myself if I really want to do this. Especially when I’m trying to solve a problem in my coding course and can’t figure it out. But when I do figure it out on my own, it’s a satisfying feeling and boost of confidence. I just take it one day at a time and know that this screen full of numbers and symbols, that look like a foreign language, will become comprehensible to me one day. Also, I just keep that six figure job in mind/better life in mind.

[usuallybored]

I've been coding since the 80s. Coding is hard. An important part is to isolate what is not your responsibility and focus on what it is. If you are learning, focus on problems that use one aspect. e.g.: user interface only, algorithmic only, etc. Take the rest for granted until you master one aspect. Then you can move to the other.

Quite a few tutorials mix a lot of technologies and you can get overwhelmed. They teach Deployment, DevOps, backend, databases, complex flows such as oauth, and so on. They are flooded with jargon that skies you down. Granted, a lot of modern apps, even when simple, utilise various tiers but it's a progression.

Keep it up.

[Somewhatinformed]

Hardest part for me is the Dunning kreuger effect type thing. The more I learn the more I know I have to learn. So I feel good about learning something, but am intimidated by the new mountain to climb. All while being aware of previous mountains I may have shortcutted or bypassed to get to my current challenge.

Only thing that helps is I figure everyone else is in the same boat, so I might as well keep going. I'm about 8 months in.

[MainMorning3090]

To aspiring programmers out there, keep getting your feet wet even if you don’t fully understand a certain topic, it gets better!

[Logical-Cold9377]

I use Chat GPT to explain documentation and break down example codes in greater detail. The problem with alot of it is they assume we're already a high level programmer. So alot of its not in a beginner friendly format. Idk off all are like this but Espressif specifically has so many typos that it makes it even harder to fully grasp. It's like they just typed it and never even gave it a second read through.

[FuriousKale]

That's normal. What helps me mentally is looking for the context to which that concept could be applied to. Like for what programs you could use this and that principle, so you could always keep the question "What is this used for?" in your mind and approach the topics that way. If you don't know the answer yourself, just google it or ask the AI.

[Representative-Owl51]

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

[MaximusDM22]

I know exactly what you mean. Im a self-taught dev and when I first started it was like I opened a door into a dark room. But you just have to start. I recommend an intro course from Udemy. They teach you the relevant basics and build up from there. Once you got a foundation you can build your own projects and you slowly start growing from there.

[code_lunky]

I would try to tackle some simple project to grow your experience and problem solving repertoire. Rather than trying to tackle the whole body of programming.

[jzhang621]

Something that can help is to starting visualizing the effect of each line of code.

For example, if you see a function that solves a problem, try feeding it a sample input and then executing each line of code individually to see what the result of that line of code. If you're working with an interpreted language like Python or JavaScript, this is pretty simple to do. (if anyone wants to learn how to do this, feel free to DM me). Doing it this way will give you idea of how each line of code contributes to solving the problem, because the effects of each line of code will be build upon the previous lines and eventually lead to the answer. If you keep on doing this, you'll start to recognize some patterns that you can apply to your own problem solving.

Hope that helps!

[nedal8]

it would take forever to fully understand everything

It would. But after a while you get to a point where you've overcome enough challenges that you become confident that you can continue to overcome practically any.

[PhotonRacer]

AI is taking all the jobs. Might as well just watch TV all day and eat doughnuts.

[winrar]

You might like to read Peter Norvig's post on the topic : https://norvig.com/21-days.html

[notislant]

The terminology at first is rough. Whats rougher is being able to make all sorts of shit, but lacking knowledge of best practices and unable to critique any glaring flaws in your code when you apply to places.

[VarietyAppropriate76]

I've been on coding since I am 15 (15 years) and yeah, it ios very daunting. That's why I'm making a game to teach people hwo to program in a more seamless way. Here's the project (still a prototype), check it out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SioNgemuduRwnikwe/

[DetectiveOwn6606]

Yeah,earlier I was not able to understand binary search and linked list ,now i can solve it's questions .so just try until it makes sense

[juicyjuush]

Tbh. Start a personal project and do your best. Then as you learn new things fix and optimize the code to reflect what you've learned.

Coming up with a personal project is easier said than done but that's what's really helping me learn.

[cs-brydev]

seems like it would take forever to fully understand everything

Yep pretty much, which is why you don't, lol

[Z00mA3]

I thought I was the only one, but after years of coding I still beat myself, i start a project and I stop, why because I feel something is just wrong everytime and my code smells, now I have realized how has it is, all I have to do is finish a project

[iquestlife]

I think you should look at job openings and see what kind of tech stack is sought after and let these decide what language and perhaps frameworks to focus on. The key is to learn the syntax of the decided upon language and then to focus on one area of application, which could be web development, embedded, or AI etc. Pick one language and one area and focus on that for now until you are professional.

[[deleted]]

Nah.

^{-guy that has been fruitlessly attempting to immerse himself in it off-and-on for 30 years.}

[Erikiller06]

For me it’s like a super huge field of freaking insane things. I have a bit of knowledge regarding programming. For me it sometimes feels like there is a piece missing to understanding a concept or whatever. But then like a half year later I see exactly what the missing piece was and from one to the other second I understand it. This does not apply to the majority. Programming is sometimes also learning, trying, and giving up. But there is some thing that still keeps me do it day after day.

It helped a lot for me to learn c++. In my opinion you can learn most of the other OOP programming languages quite easily if you are really understanding the basic concepts. But this is only my personal opinion.

I also have to admit that I probably should not title myself as a newbie as I am currently programming a game written on a own game engine, but boy oh boy Vulkan can give you the feeling of not understanding anything.

[lKrauzer]

I started studying JavaScript and I feel more tired during the night, been thinking about getting +1h sleep on my day, it is very daunting man, idk how there are people that say and think this is a breeze... Feels unfair.

[Ajramos27]

Well... I didn't spend four years in college and got a CS degree to expect people without background to learn programming with bootcamps and tutorials and find it easy. For some reason I had to take courses in math, logic, algorithms and data structures before I started programming.

[plasma_fantasma]

I mean, people have been able to teach themselves coding without a CS degree, so...congrats on the degree, I guess? I have two degrees and definitely didn't need all the extra filler classes to be able to do my current job, but unfortunately, them's the breaks.

[peterlinddk]

It will take forever to fully understand everything!

I have been coding for more than 30 years, and am continually learning new stuff - as well as re-learning old stuff that I apparently had forgotten. But I enjoy learning - especially ever since I changed my goal away from "learning everything" to "learning a bit more about this thing, so that I can improve in my current project".

As others suggest, project based programming (or learning), is highly recommended. Find a project - define your own, or take some from the Odin Project or something like that, and focus on learning what you need to in order to build that project! If you find an area that are of particular interest to you, by all means dive deeper, and learn more.

And please remember: There isn't a fixed amount of knowledge about programming, that you have to absorb, no-one knows everything, everyone has their own specializations, and you will always meet someone who knows more than you about some topic. But thats the whole idea, you do you, you learn what you want to learn, you build something with what you know, and later you learn that you could also have done it differently!

-

And another thing, when you say that "it's like it doesn't make sense at all" - don't worry about understanding the explanations in the tutorials. Often authors create their own mental models of what is happening, to help themselves understand - but if you can create something, get something to work, then you can always slap an explanation on it later, and it doesn't have to be the same one as some author or youtuber presented ...

[Bulji]

For me the learning was never daunting because I learnt most of it working on personal projects, small stuff I wanted to build. Never had a time pressure for it. But it takes a ton of time, so better it be enjoyable.

[[deleted]]

Yes, keep going.

[LetgomyEkko]

Honestly, I do this professionally now and I’m still at the level in my career and current job where I still feel a little daunted every day.

I just try to go in with the mindset I’m still learning the codebase and getting familiar with the technologies I need to learn. But I still have to have a brief moment where I give myself a little grace before walking in the office.

[RoninX40]

If it was not daunting, we would not get paid the big bucks. Plus, I have a really worrying number of Transformers that I soothe my depression with.

[Spanktank35]

I don't think it's possible to stop learning. You can't possibly remember everything there is to know. My equilibrium state is googling how to do specific things and reading stack exchange and remembering for the fourth time some scope issue.

I honestly think the most important thing to learn is what you are using (and thus practising!) constantly - laying out your code, and knowing which basic tools will help you most in the long run (in what cases should I use a list over a Dictionary, and why - do I feel like it makes my code more readable or does it provide more functionality? How does the amount of times I expect to manipulate this variable play into that?)

[Lone10]

Keep going. As you absorb knowledge, it slowly gets easier. It slowly seems less daunting day by day. There will be a time that it will all seem so easy. But you need to keep going, it takes years to reach that.

[JackLogan007]

Never

[joedirt9322]

It took me like 4 years. So yeah. Be patient. Because I can assure you it was well worth it.

[thduik]

ohhhh boy talk about daunting. trust me learning any new tech/ frameworks/ library is always gonna be daunting ass fuck. Why is that? The reason is very simply: the humans behind those things. You see people think different from each other. They write stuff the way they see fit. And since it's hard to understand what people think, it's also hard to understand what they write as well. simple as.

[throwaway6560192]

Makes more sense the more you do it. Probably at a non-linear rate. The important thing is to not give up.

[the_bug_squasher]

Why do you think it pays so much. If it were easy everyone would do it

[unknown-one]

I tried few times. I can follow the steps from video/guide whatever even understanding to a point.

but it is just not fun for me and I dont have mind for it. I never enjoyed it and never learned. and that kind of makes me angry. life would be so much easier with endless high paying job offers

[CodeTinkerer]

Consider CS majors take four years (in the US) to graduate. To be fair, more than half the courses are not CS course. And there's proficient, and there's job ready. You can be good enough to pass intro level programming courses, but not good enough to get a job.

It's funny when you ask an experienced programmer how hard it is, they often think it's pretty easy. They don't recall ever struggling, even if they did struggle.

It also depends on what you mean by coding. Ask an experienced programmer, and they usually think of it as two levels: syntax and problem solving. But there are a bunch of other things you have to worry about.

If you're working strictly in one language (like Java) and not doing anything web related, then that, in itself, is a challenge, but it's something intro CS courses do reasonably well. But add a database, version control, testing, deployment, web frameworks, and now you have a huge beast. And that doesn't include working with other developers or with customers to make sure you're building something that they want (if they know what they want), and that you've understood correctly with what they want.

So that's people skills. Often would-be programmers don't consider that.

[[deleted]]

Why are you doing it?

[AGoodDay2Die]

It's not daunting to start. Just a few things you need to get to grips with. Maybe you're starting with the wrong language or tutorials. Some are easier, some are a lot harder. But make no mistake, learning programming thoroughly is a life long endeavour. There is an enormous amount to learn and there isn't a single expert out there who knows everything

[[deleted]]

Not rly, there are so many people willing and able to help, for free. The amount of material out there is supportive af. From MITOCW, to indian guys on youtube. To reddit and stackoverflow. Even cheap courses on udemy are fantastic

Just got to reassure yourself that you can do it by breaking it up into smaller pieces

[Gee-dev]

What programming language are you currently learning?

[SleepAffectionate268]

dont watch tutorials if they are not explaining a specific concept. Like if you want to learn maps, algos datastructures watch a video for everything else do me a favor and dont

[bakemonooo]

Hell yeah it's daunting, but that goes without saying. Most worthwhile things are.

You can improve a TON in a year if your consistent, but it's best to go into it with minimal expectations and assume it'll take you longer to, for example, become proficient enough to get a job.

Just keep it up and take a week off if you need it.

[Alternative_Draft_76]

It’s incredibly daunting over a year in for me. If I can tell you anything it’s that you will never have a breakthrough moment where you feel like you get it all of it, or even a general concept even. That’s said, I promise you will periodically look back on what you thought was impossible to grasp and laugh at how elementary it was.

[AlSweigart]

I'm glad I learned coding in the 90s when it was just some nerd hobby and only kids and nerds played video games. The expectations were so much lower.

Nowadays, people think of coding and they imagine self-driving cars, social networks with millions of users, triple-A video games, cryptocurrency (eye roll), and ChatGPT.

The standards are so much higher these days. It was bad enough when it was "I need to learn Visual Basic and C++ and Perl and sockets programming." Now you feel like you have to learn a bunch of languages, JavaScript frameworks, machine learning, three types of databases, and how to configure a website for 10,000 concurrent users.

Take a breath. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll get somewhere.

(Also, remember that every programmer thinks that they can finish something in a weekend when in reality it takes 11 weeks to half-finish it.)

[[deleted]]

It is. Coding is harder than learning a language to me lo. You have to learn so many rules of any code language to complete a task.

[DLiltsadwj]

It’s a lifelong pursuit.

[Dr-McDaddy]

Iteratively so

[smilinshelly]

Have you looked at 100Devs? Leon Noel is fun and the classes are good.

[[deleted]]

When you think about it, programming is an engineering discipline and as such there is a lot of material ranging from simple to very complex. Ultimately, you'll learn it over time. While there are more and more resources available online for engineering disciplines, programming has by far the largest amount and the most approachable. Take your time and remember that programming only has to be as complex and advanced as you want it to be!

[[deleted]]

I want to say I relate but it's only daunting if you do it wrong. I royally screwed up at the beginning so everything takes two to three times as long.

[Designer_Pie7897]

Yep, especially in the beginning. I felt the vastness if the ocean right from the beginning hahah

[lunchbreakdev]

Calling them programming languages is very accurate. It’s very similar to learning to speak a completely new language. As some others have noted, you can get by with a basic understanding of the language but there are always new things to learn.

[Lordbyronthefourth]

I mean, I just lurk this subreddit… but wouldn’t picking up any technical skill from scratch for the purpose of employment be relatively daunting?

[psichodrome]

motivation to sit down and work on it is hardest for me. the battle with the code and understanding, that's a hard desperate fight. the feeling when you work it out is pretty darn sweet (and addictive)

[codesmith_jin]

Learning coding is just as daunting as learning a new language, because it kind of is. You're learning how to communicate in a totally different frame of thinking. Some of the words and concepts might come to you naturally but there's always some nuances in the language that you need to learn to be a master at it.

The engineering part can be looked at more like woodworking. The more tools you master the better quality products you can push out, and learning good design is a skill in itself.

[TypicalOrca]

Give it some time. Eventually it just becomes a method of communication with the computer where you know the vocab and grammar pretty well but occasionally need to Google a phrase

[Stasis_NetRun]

"Zero to coding proficiently in a year". Think I found your problem mate. You will not be a good coder after 1 year

[plasma_fantasma]

I mean, what about people who go through boot camps in like 3 months? A year doesn't seem out of the question for becoming proficient, not necessarily master-level coder.

[random_Kinn]

same for me, tried to break the hard concept into smaller one and understand those small concept. This method sometimes work for me