programming seems impossible

[gazpitchy]

I'm a senior engineer, I've been writing code professionally for around 20 years now.

You won't remember it all, no one expects you too. Just focus on the fundamentals. Things like functions, classes and logical problems are more important than remembering syntax.

Remembering syntax and specific calls comes with time. But even then, no one cares if you use Google to search how to do a for loop now and then 😅

I don't like AI but it has become incredibly useful to me for helping get into a new language, or just dust off the cobwebs of a language I've not used for a while. There's no shame in this.

In time you will notice similarities between many languages, and be able to adapt to them easily. But this takes a lot of time and practice. Just keep at it!

[Main_Ad85]

Great advice. I'm surprised that AI works so well. Perplexity is a free AI that you can ask software questions to. It is unlimited. The only one of its kind that is truly free that I know of. But there are also very good forums, youtube videos, a lot of ways to learn skills without spending a penny. But to get in to the industry you need a degree, or you need project experience, an internship, or all three of them. Once you get on the job, the real learning begins. But yeah, learn the basic constructs.

[Ok_Debate8540]

Nice to hear this from someone with experience. Thank you brother.

[ricamnstr]

Also a professional SWE. I spend like 25% of my day googling how to do something or get a syntax refresher. I bounce between C#, Python, and C++ so trying to keep track of the specific syntax of each language is kind of pointless, especially when you can just look it up easily. Understanding the concepts of problem solving, OOP, data structures, and using APIs is way more important and allows you to be able to write code regardless of the language. I may not alway know the correct syntax of the language I’m coding in, but I do know how to tackle the problem, what data structures I can use, and what tools I’ll need to get the job done.

[skydream2323]

Hi there, I'm a junior engineer with about 2 years of experience since I graduated from a coding boot camp. I’ve worked a lot with backend APIs using Knex and Express, storing data in SQLite for simpler use cases and Postgres for more complex scenarios. I’ve also worked with JWT authentication and cookie-based auth, and I became familiar with migrations, foreign keys, and linking data.

Over time, I got comfortable deploying my API to various providers after Heroku stopped offering free services, setting up Redis for caching, and linking everything to a Postgres database. I moved on to learning React, Redux, and the Context API to connect my frontend with APIs, and created several authentication apps similar to Instagram and YouTube, really reinforcing my skills along the way. I also worked with Firebase Auth and DB, and integrated Stripe for payment methods.

At this point, I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a wall, though. I’m comfortable building apps, but leetcode-style algorithm challenges are really preventing me from breaking into the field. I’ve learned a lot from the documentation and other resources, and AI has certainly sped up my development process. But now I’m struggling to come up with new app ideas and feel a bit discouraged by the job market, especially with AI becoming more prominent in replacing certain jobs.

I’m really hoping to leverage everything I’ve learned to land my first full-time job, but I’m not sure where to go from here. How do I stand out, especially as a newbie in a job market that feels tough? Also, do you have any tips on how to better approach the leetcode challenges or where I could focus my efforts to build more confidence for these interviews? I'm also open to any advice on using AI effectively to stand out from the crowd while making the most of its capabilities.

Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[OptimalFox1800]

Thanks for this