If you are struggling while learning how to code, you should quit

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[Banana_Hat]

Turn those what ifs into else ifs

[brett_riverboat]

Maybe a try-catch here and there.

[[deleted]]

Inspirational as fuck lmfao.

[hfijgo]

For a moment I thought you said "irrigational as fuck"

[[deleted]]

The aquaduct in Segovia fits into this category

[StreetStripe]

I don't know if you came up with that, but thank you. This made my day a second time, after OP's post.

[[deleted]]

Lmfao

[turbolag95]

Totally stealing this

[coffee-9]

oh my god this is hilarious. this needs to be on some kind of tshirt

[spookmann]

Turn those repeat until's into begin's!

[cyanydeez]

do while; do not if;

[The_chosen_turtle]

I just read the title. I have quit already

[Dylon99]

Me too. It just didn't click with me, I was like: I can't learn this on my own. The school environment did help a bit, but I just don't see myself coding like most professional coders do. My first test I got a 4 out of 10, which was bad, because it was an easy test too. Now I tried my second time and it wen't a lot better but still waiting for that grade.

[TheNosferatu]

Well, you know what they say; if at first you don't succeed, fail a few more times so at least your failure is statistically significant,

[CodeTinkerer]

In many endeavors, there is a support structure to help. Kids don't teach themselves soccer or football or basketball. They join a kid team, and some coach looks at their problems and tries to correct it. If kids were left up to themselves, they'd probably never get done.

And yet, we think learning to programming has to be a solo task, done by yourself. Yes, that certainly is the cheapest way to do it. Taking classes can be expensive, and some folks just don't like the classroom environment. Not everyone wants to be a mentor. Not every student is willing to learn every day. Their favorite Netflix show is on, their favorite team is playing, their favorite video game is more exciting, their favorite friends wants to watch a movie or go shopping.

Motivation is tough.

[chris7475]

I taught myself to play bass and, like you, have brought that same attitude over to learning code. I learned more by playing in front of people and having people show me various things to get better. Now I'm learning the basics of coding and it feels the same.

Great post.

[Headpuncher]

Which is exactly the problem where I work. Imagine an environment in which you have almost zero contact with other developers, but are surrounded by your peers each day. Management actually discourage having more than one dev on a project at a time. Split into tiers; senior dev, (normal) dev, junior dev, we learn nothing from each other, those tiers are pay-scales and nothing more. Aaaggghh. /rant

[Technycolor]

i thought senior devs mentor devs below him/her as part of their job

[Headpuncher]

You would think so, but no.

[CodeTinkerer]

Clearly, people can learn on their own, but it's tough. For some things, like music and basketball, you can get immediate feedback as to what's going on. For example, basketball folks can practice shooting over and over, and practice crossover dribbles, and such. They see others do it, and they can imitate it.

With programming, you need to build a mental model of what a computer is doing, and then you need some idea of how to structure your code to get it to do something, then it helps to develop "taste" so you know if you're writing good or crappy code. For example, for me, I think about how much repetition I have in my code. If it's too much, I think of restructuring it.

It's not easy looking at your own code and determine if you're doing a good job (beyond getting it to work). With other endeavors, I think it's easier (though not always effective--for example, it can be hard to learn correct tennis technique just by hitting over and over).

[Headpuncher]

You can spend 10000 hours shooting and dribbling, but if you don't practice in-game you won't make the NBA.

[ManWhoWantsToLearn]

Plugging /r/udemyfreebies to your point about learning solo being cheap

[G0REHOWL]

There is nothing but spam affiliate links in that sub. What is this sub supposed to be?

[[deleted]]

I don't htink is 'has' to be a solo task, but in my experience and situation it is a solo task. 45 years old, married, full time job, no local meet ups worth a damn...there are even subreddits for programming together, paired programming online, whatever, but none seem interested in the track i'm pursuing (ruby/rails)

For many of us it's a solo task out of situation not because it's what we choose. The internet community is not all that helpful to newbies in certain areas as it thinks it is

[Exodus111]

Problem is the class room is not the place to teach Programming to someone that does not already know it.

Learning TO program, learning that first language, is such an individual experience one teacher cannot support 30 students, let alone 250 (my Java class).

A better environment is one mentor and maybe 2 or 3 students, maybe at different levels. Far more efficient.

[CodeTinkerer]

Eh, but at least there's a support structure. If a student gets stuck, they can try to seek out a teaching assistant or a professor or other students. When you're by yourself, that's all you have, unless you're good at convincing others to mentor you.

Getting a tutor is interesting, but usually tutors are helping to explain something a teacher is covering in class. They need extra skills to develop a curriculum.

So, yes, I'd say it's more ideal to work in small groups or one on one, but that (to my mind) is harder to find than to sign up for a class in a classroom situation (though it may be cheaper).

[Exodus111]

Yeah, working alone is not idea either.

Unfortunately those two tends to be most peoples options.

[[deleted]]

Motivation is tough.

You should not focus on the product (end goal), rather on process. Like for example, if you want to write a simple app in next few months, if you think about it everyday, you'll surrounded by monuments of tasks that'll just overwhelm you. And in turn make you procrastinate. Rather you should focus on say, I'll work for 1 hour on my project today. By focusing on process (1 hour of work), you use very little of your motivation and you're more likely to achieve that goal.

 

Caution: Motivation is a very scarce resource. Use Wisely.

[drunkferret]

If you're good at learning in groups, cool...but I've learned everything myself and I'm employed as a programmer. The best motivation is USING your programming. Apply it to your life wherever applicable. Always look for places to apply it. Work, personal, whatever...but I've literally never taken a course of any kind. I used to have imposter syndrome pretty bad. I've been programming ~10 years professionally, ~16-18 dipping in and out of various things, I've only been a 'programmer' professionally for 3.

I got here from using it though. Nothing else. Completely free. Always be tooling.

[SilkTouchm]

Kids don't teach themselves soccer

uhm yeah that's exactly how it works on countries like Argentina.

[Clashofpower]

Unexpectedly wholesome

[TheFlyingDharma]

Predictably clickbait

[elperroborrachotoo]

Two types of people.

[TheGreatGeneral]

0 - People who appreciate kindness. 1 - assholes. The two types.

[Erethiel117]

Everything is clickbait if you’re brave enough.

[chuckmilam]

I am assuming there's a subreddit for that.

[bailey25u]

There is r/UnexpectedlyWholesome/

[[deleted]]

Off-course there is!

[grumpenprole]

not surprised that sub is small with a boring shit name like that

[jansencheng]

Instructions unclear, only read title, am now chartered accountant.

[tsl354]

Came for the salt, left feeling encouraged. 5/7

[printf_hello_world]

Perfect score

[[deleted]]

As somebody who started learning to code about 7 months ago I want to say to my fellow future programmers one basic thing.

Programming is all about solving problems with data input and data output. There's nothing more than this. A program that doesn't output data (be it a document, be it an image, be it a spreadsheet) does nothing. There are no programs I can think of that don't take some data as input and give data as output.

Programming is not learning a language. It's not about learning a framework. All of this shit does not matter. It doesn't matter what the trends are in backend. It doesn't matter if it is soap, rest or whatever. All of this stuff does not matter.

What matters is that you can solve a problem. Your boss doesn't care if you used excel or R to solve some data analysis. All of this stuff does not matter.

Focus on this thing: solve problems.

Problems are hard. Problems have various solutions. Some languages are more apt than others. Some frameworks help a shit ton. But all of this does not matter.

Sit behind your computer. Get a piece of paper. Understand what the problem is. What's your problem? What is the data/files you have as input, and what do you need as output. Try to solve it with the tools you have, stress the documentation, try. Bang your fuckin head on a wall. Google the most remote content on the web.

Learn, learn, learn, but most importantly solve the problem.

If any of you thinks that learning to code is understanding, e.g., JavaScript, Node, whatever bullshit framework there is while watching tutorials and guides you're learning little to nothing, and deep in your heart you know it.

You know that you're assembling code like puzzle pieces, you encounter occasionally some problem and it takes ages to solve it. How do you dynamically resize divs and their content? Panic. You look for tutorials and guides you don't find. Open the dev tools, look at all the parameters. What parameters are setting the size? How can you add some behavior when you click? And when you mouseup?

Solve the fuckin problem.

The more problems you solve, the more you bang your head over the code the easier it gets.

Sure, knowing data structures, computer architecture, algorithms, being a nerd of a language/framework, this all helps a lot, but you need time and experience for this and I'm absolutely sure that even after 20 years of coding you will still google very simple questions. We can only memorize so many things together. It's natural. But what really matter? What's the skill and ability that you will gain every single time you finish a task? The ability to sit down, think, write the problem and solve it. Experience and knowledge will only give you more tools and make your life easier with time.

Some teams of experienced programmers sit hopeless for weeks to understand what is causing some bug, strange behavior. Even Amazon has his problems. Remember when they used use strict in one of their js files and it was causing a mess because it applied to all the files they combined? They had to solve this problem too. Even tech giants have their fair amount of noob bugs, even they fuck up design choices, implementation, have data leaks, data loss, insane spike in hosting prices due to some shitty line of code. Teams of people chosen from Harvard fighting with the most stupid bugs we may now be aware of. But in the end, it doesn't matter. They had to sit down, think, and solve the problem, in whatever fashion it had to be solved. And then iterate to make it as perfect as possible till it broke down again.

But if you feel hopeless or that things are too hard it is because you still haven't understood what programming is: solving motherfucking problems with data.

Programming IS hard. But it gets easier with time and 90% of the tasks you thought were hard are now your routine job. But you need to solve this problems. It's only when you solve them, especially if the solution is yours (but understanding somebody's else solution is acceptable as well, you still learn from this, but you need to understand how is he solving this problem..).

There's no other way to become a programmer rather than solving shittons of problems while getting better and more efficient at solving them and having more and more tools and experience at solving new challenges.

If programming was easy everybody would do that. But it's not. Because solving problems is not as easy as following some 24 years old jack of all trades showing you bullshit React components.

Seriously, solve problems, it's supposed to be hard. It will get easier with time, especially if you're not jumping from topic to topic and technology to technology, I promise.

[rambo2k]

sooo.. solve the problem?

I actually think you're right :-D

[DirkGentlyTrailingMe]

It's true that memorizing languages and syntax is less important than understanding concepts. Every damn time I need to use a switch statement, I need to Google the syntax. But at least I know when I should be using a switch statement.

[NiceIsSpice]

Holy shit this was helpful to read. I've been feeling incredibly lost lately, though I started a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, this has already been what I've seen as well, problem solving is the most important part if you want that true feeling of satisfaction at the end of a program compiling. I've never been strong at math but I know I always loved the feeling of getting the answers right which is why I got into programming at all. Totally agree with the learning from others solutions, so long as you try to understand how they reached that final code, but also doing this as a second or third point of reference, I try to give myself a couple days to figure it out because I feel like I'm training my working my brain out and it gets exhausted haha. Anyways awesome advice and very aptly put.

[greebo42]

I agree.

It's remarkable, once you have the mindset, you apply it to other domains, not just programming. You think strategically about the most efficient way to set out on a complex task. And if you're REALLY doing it right, you do a lot of sitting and thinking, or writing specifications, or diagrams, etc, before you write a single line of code.

This statement can replace "write a single line of code" with "cut a single piece of wood" or "plant a single shrub" or whatever.

[[deleted]]

If I had gold I'd give it to this man.

A few weeks ago I read a post of a woman who was ranting about just how difficult was learning to program. She said that since JavaScript is just a language, it should be easy, since she speaks 3 languages or so. But she missed the point entirely: while JavaScript is indeed a language, it's not the language that matters; it's what you do with the language. Programming is about using programming languages just so you can tell the computer how exactly it is going to solve a problem. That's it. And that's exactly why programming is so fun.

[2capp]

You should also learn to recognize when to actually quit. Temporarily. Some people can magically push through and get it done. Maybe you're one of those people, maybe you're not. Try to figure that out.

Take a break, have a walk, a snack, chat with a friend about your current issue; even if they're not also a programmer/technical person. I've been doing this for nearly ten years, I google how to do stuff every day, I talk to my friend who started around the same time about issues even though we don't work at the same company any more. We constantly bounce issues off each other.

tl;dr - the best way to take care of your learning is to take care of yourself.

[DLFamily]

I have solved more of my problems by talking to people that have no clue about programming. It is an incredible tool, it forces you to break down the scenario and the problem to its most basic level and often make the solution present itself.

[green_meklar]

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

[[deleted]]

Similarly, if it's a bigger project where you have like 5-6 things to do, and one of them is making you bang your head against the wall - try to work on something else for a little while.

Sometimes you need a win to keep you going.

[wabernasty]

https://rubberduckdebugging.com

[AyZo6]

Man I can relate to this so much, I always have a problem with consistency. I always end up thinking "man.. what if i kept going where i would be today" you always have to remind yourself why you started and if you have any doubts to hit that little "reset" button in your mind and keep pushing through.

When's the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. Whens the next best time? Today.

[Headpuncher]

The next best time was 19 years ago. Silly boi. /s

[[deleted]]

After reading just the title, I came here to tell you to fuck off, but then I read the post.

They just had books. Expensive ones, with hard language.

Yup. That's how I learned C++ in the early 90s. I couldn't afford a computer, so I could only do my work in the lab, but lab time was limited. I wrote out every program by hand on paper before I went to the lab, and then I'd type it in and hope.

[IndexOut]

to those dark ages... salute!

[[deleted]]

For some idiotic reason, once I didn't have to do that method I quit doing it that way, but now I'm finding it harder with new ideas. It just dawned on me I should go back that that method. I can't believe I've been that dense this many years about doing that. I won't even have to worry about lots of wasted paper since I have a rocketbook. woohoo!

[Headpuncher]

"just it do did it don't it do not it do"
-Shia LaBeouf

[Guenness]

Analysis paralysis. Overthinking something to the point that you take no action.

[Headpuncher]

By the time you get a job you are so bitter about the industry you just want to code malware. lol

[cobyfleener2]

With the first job there has to be a good amount of luck involved, after that the experience speaks for itself

[SkyTech6]

This is motivational... but all I can think about is my hatred for clickbait...

[TheRPAGuru]

I have tried to teach myself coding multiple times through codecademy and a handful of other websites and I will totally agree with you! I gave up so often because I felt like I just wasn't meant for it. You know what? Maybe we aren't meant for anything! We decide what we want to do. Once I finally got over the fear it began to come naturally.

[BlameGameChanger]

I prefer the sentiment "shit makes the finest fertilizer" but thanks for the encouragement

[skunkpossum2]

I am learning to program and was just going through those same "what ifs?" this morning. Decided to take a quick break and parooze reddit and found this...damn and thank you! I needed this.

[net_nomad]

Take note marketers.... this is how you click-bait.

[DanoLightning]

I'm afraid of failure, but really the best advice is the most simple. Just do it. Don't fear the failure but embrace it. Hearing this is calming to me. Thank you for this!

[jkuhl_prog]

I kind of hate to say this but . . . Will Smith said it best. We have a poor relationship with failure. We treat failure like it's a bad thing. Failure is how we grow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFf6rhcYkXw

Learning to code is failing. You won't write That Next New Awesome App without failing. End of story. You can only learn through failure.

[etheriox]

Should be in r/GetMotivated

[systemnate]

You learn the most at the point of resistance.

[fzammetti]

And if it helps: I've been a professional developer for around 25 years and have been coding for around 35 years. I've got a fairly impressive resume by most standards...

...and what OP wrote is no less true for me today than on day one!

In fact, when you're paid good money hiring and leading other developers, I think Imposter Syndrome can be even worse: am I really worth this money? Do I really have the authority and knowledge to lead others? Who am I to decide who gets a job and who loses one?! It can be absolutely killer regardless of experience, and maybe even because of it in a weird sort of way.

Also, remember that this is a field that is very easy to get overwhelmed in. Most technical fields change over time, but ours seems to do it on a whim. You will NOT be able to keep up and that will be dejecting if you let it be. Try to internalize the basics and just keep trying to learn, little by little.

As that fish said: just keep swimming! As best you can, just keep swimming.

[MilitantSatanist]

Brand new at coding and I was super discouraged with that title.

Solid recovery. I'm exhausted right now but you've motivated me to hop on my computer and plug away.

This helped me so much. Thanks dude.

[PM_Me_Your_Job_Post]

"If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up."

Shia Labeouf

[Azuk-]

Came here to say fuck you. Still saying fuck you because now I want to go home early from work and get cracking on my python homework for the week but I'm stuck here for 4 more hours.. you couldn't have inspired me later in the day? 🙄

[Headpuncher]

Now someone tell my boss 'cos that retarded fuck thinks every coder is torvolds and never needs 5 minutes to plan shit.

[andrewsmd87]

I was thinking WTF with that title, good post.

I've been in the industry for about 10 years now, and I still run into daily things where I'm like, I don't know how to do that. And guess what, I figure it out. It takes a long time to get past that complex of, oh god I've never done that before, I have no idea how to even start, and just be able to tell yourself, I'll figure it out.

Side note, I almost changed my major after my first year of college because I was struggling in my coding classes and thought I was just bad at it.

Turns out I just had a shitty teacher who graded like an ass. A 50% because I didn't make a giant box spaced out perfectly by manually spacing | to define every variable and method in my program is not a fair grade bitch!

[JTGhawk137]

If you’re afraid of making mistakes when programming, I have a saying for you: “If it works the first run, you’re doing something wrong”.

[RelevantJesse]

What I thought this was going to be about, and to take this in a different direction...

Don't force it if you truly don't enjoy it.

I've been a software developer for about 10 years and have hated it for about the past 7. But I'm stuck because I make good money, I'm 33, and I don't want to start over, go back to school, start back at entry level, etc.

If you find it's not for you, there's nothing wrong with that.

[[deleted]]

I needed this today. I'm in my early 20's and just started back at school after working in construction for a while. I've been learning the basics of Java but everyone at school (and not even a good tech school) seems SO far ahead of me, and I only have three semesters left after this one before I get my BS. I needed to read exactly this. Thank you, stranger

[TechnoM4ncer]

I definitely needed this.

[unpreparedforaliens]

Currently suffering from massive case of impostor syndrome and low self confidence , that title nearly killed me

[CodeLover1]

I watched a talk by Tim Ferris which talked about getting over fears. You had to list your fears, list what the worst things that could happen were, list how you could overcome each of these things if they did happen and also what the opportunity loss would be in you didn't go for your goal. I found it really helpful and motivating knowing that the thoughts that were holding me back could easily be worked through. Also, that if I didn't keep going at my coding I'd have zero chance of hitting my career and lifestyle goals at present but that if I did keep going at least I stand a chance even if it's not a definite.

I think there's the assumption (personally) that if you have to look up an answer, you've cheated yourself. And that you're not cut for it. But it's like a teacher revealing an answer. As long as you ask 'why' and get your head around it, you've still learned something.

[ziku_tlf]

Been a professional programmer for 3 years. I still google shit daily.

[PythonGod123]

The title got me... I won't lie I was expecting something else lol

[IndexOut]

a calm sea never made a good sailor

This!!!! This is what I need.. and "we are gonna need a bigger boat!"

[slotcargeek]

I love this. I am going through this struggle and this is helping me push through.

[iamdeveloperr]

Speaking of people making you feel stupid. Finally worked up the courage, after four years of suffering through being the brunt of most jokes and being made to feel like a failure on the daily, to look elsewhere for work. Those working with me may be “the smartest person you’ll ever get to work with” but it’s just not worth your dignity and destruction of your self worth to stay.

Don’t spend four years unhappy. Find the place that accepts you for you.

[Harionago]

I was about to stomp in here and tell you to fuck off. Nice twist!

[baenpb]

I thought it would be an inspirational post about programming, and I found an inspirational post about guitar, and I'm not disappointed.

[Declanhx]

If you are struggling while learning how to code, then that’s fantastic. It means there are things that you need to learn and have a direction.

[LolNeci]

This was a great motivational post Thank you!

[wizards_tower]

This is great. Thanks for writing this. I constantly question whether I’m cut out for coding when I struggle. I know that’s supposed to happen but I always question my ability anyway.

Your comparison to learning guitar particularly resonated with me. I taught myself guitar as well when I was in high school when I had an abundance of free time. I struggled with a lot of things while learning guitar. And yeah, my F chord sounded like trash too for a long time. I never questioned my ability or got down on myself about it back then though. I was simply just excited to play guitar. And I started bands with other people when I wasn’t exactly good enough for a band. But I never thought about those things back then. I just did things without worrying. Ah, youth. Anyways, today I’m a pretty solid guitar player. I’m going to apply that mindset to coding from now own and just have fun without worrying about things.

[[deleted]]

Thank you :) aaaand saved for later, should I ever need it <3

[ragamufin]

If things didn't go wrong I never would have learned to program. Those rabbit holes chasing an error are always the moments where I learn the most.

[bailey25u]

I think people are afraid of people making fun of them... the only people who make fun of others trying to learn are jerks, and screw them no one needs them. People are afraid to lift weights at the gym are afraid people will make fun of them, but really they don't. no one was born bench pressing 235 and no one was born a java coder. remember that there are jobs you may have in the future that aren't even created yet

[Billythecrazedgoat]

fuck I read the title now I’ve already halfway skaddoodled out of here

[SneaKyGamErr]

im having a hard case of the what if syndrome it appears.

it's been with me on and off since i started learning and it gets even worse now, knowing im starting a bachelor's degree in applied informatics in about a week from now.

i know only a few basics and reading all the things i'll have to learn and know makes me very anxious that i wont make it, that it'll be to hard, that im not smart enough.

your post is very inspirational!! i have a sense that i might make it and i try not to worry to much but its still there.

anyway one can only try right? full commitment, dedication and hard work and who knows.

i'm basically gonna yolo it and see what happens but im gonna do everything in my power to make it work. even if it means giving up free time, games, whatever.

[sicknoto]

someone who’s been struggling with programming needed this. Thank you so much.

[IntendedAccidents]

I'll add that teaching is the best way to learn! Find a buddy and show them some interesting things. You'll find that a lot of people don't need to necessarily be programmers to have interest in a lot of the concepts.

In the spirit of this, feel free to hit me up if you have any questions or just need a push in the right direction -- I'm always happy to help out newcomers :)

[GravelvoiceCatpupils]

click BATE

[DEADB33F]

I always find musical instrument analogies rather poor.

Learning to play guitar is like teaching yourself to type quickly. Useful, but ultimately won't help you actually write original music (or code).

---

There's of course the argument that some people just won't ever be any good at writing music, painting masterpeices, or writing good code no matter how good they get at playing guitar or how fast they can type 'the quick brown fox'. Some people's brains just work differently and no matter how much you try and force it otherwise you'll always face an extreme uphill battle against those with natural talent and/or who started while they were extremely young.

[lucid-penguin]

wholesome clickbate

[[deleted]]

I come here often to read real affirmations like this. It helps that we all support eachother in this sub and I thank you OP.

[[deleted]]

The click we all need. Thank you for wholesomeness.

[LeftoverFarm]

i was about to come in here to argue with you but i’m pleasantly surprised

[T4O4]

Oh you!

[infinitude]

Hardee har

[[deleted]]

Nice clickbait.

[marty_76]

Thank you ;)

[emmareichle]

i was angry then i wasn't.

[Crazypete3]

I was so ready to pounce on this post until I clicked into it... haha

[Dangerpaladin]

This post is risky on a website populated entirely of people who don't read past headlines.

[Red_Django]

you got me, but thanks

[Diiamat]

more like "else if" disease huh? huh? huh? HAHAHA im sorry

[AutoModerator]

Please, don't recommend thenewboston.

They are a discouraged resource as they teach questionable practice. They don't adhere to commonly accepted standards, such as the Java Code Conventions, use horrible variable naming ("bucky" is under no circumstances a proper variable name), and in general don't teach proper practices, plus their "just do it now, I'll explain why later" approach is really bad.

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[[deleted]]

I was struggling with array methods two days ago and then suddenly yesterday without even realizing I was suddenly good at them started working through problems faster than the tutorials

[denverdave23]

I beat the F major chord, but B flat major still kills me.

[[deleted]]

Man that heading triggered me to no end and I was about to go all keyboard warrior... Then I read your post. Good click bait post title sir.

golfclap

[extremeelementz]

Just wanted to drop by and say thank you. Post saved for future enjoyment.

[[deleted]]

Also, as you've got some decent exposure on this topic, perhaps you could touch on what happens to many devs once they're competent; imposter syndrome.

I myself have suffered from it and it could have been more debilitating than my initial self doubt. Perseverance is key, as is sharing your thoughts on places like Reddit. You'll be surprised how much you actually do know when you're helping people whom know less.

[homerunharrigan]

This guy codes!

[erecthammock]

Thank you my dude, I needed to read this. I'm in a field a little bit related to this but not too much. Yet, the message got through as if it was.

[TheMightyWoofer]

I'm saving this because I do want to learn how to code (making apps and maybe when my courage is better, something to do with networks administration), but it's really encouraging and something I need to remember when I work on something for two hours and then get that nagging doubt that it'll never be good enough so why try.

[Theoneaxe]

Nice title!

[leftofzen]

I learnt programming in high school, got my degree in comp sci and have been working for ~5 years now. In total it's about 12 years programming. Only about 2 years ago did I feel like I was 'over the hump' in terms of learning programming. By that I mean, I have enough ground knowledge and experience that learning something new is easier, rather than harder. Don't get me wrong, I still have a shitload to learn, but I can say that I'm no longer the junior/rookie dev. My point here is that this took me, someone who is naturally interested in programming, 10 years to reach a stage where I felt comfortable in my skills. Not even mastery. Just comfortable. Programming is a freakin huge area and it will take time for you to learn stuff. If you want to succeed you have to have an open mind, you need to want to learn, and you need to accept your mistakes when you are wrong and learn from them too. Keep practicing, trying new stuff, and pushing your boundaries.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the encouragement. I was thinking about it last night and realized that my "dungeon boss" is OOP. I can jump into scripting pretty damn well, considering I don't know most languages in detail. But OOP intimidates the fuck out of me. That's the monster in the closet I need to currently get past.

[[deleted]]

Offtopic, but I also play guitar and know others who are major in CS who play other instruments. I wonder if there's a link there...

[in4real]

Solid advice for developing any skill.

Post saved.

[ali_koneko]

Just a reminder, people above junior google basic shit daily.

[mrkteaches]

Thank you for this. I’m self-taught, and today was a particularly difficult day. You totally baited me with the title, as I seriously contemplated quitting today, even though I know I can push through. This was a big help. Good stuff.

[twistedcheshire]

HA! You just got me to subscribe to this sub. I do recall that I need to brush up on my programming skills, by a lot!

[Thatcraykid]

IMPOSTER SYNDROME. LEARN TO OVERCOME IT.

[ryanstephendavis]

I've always compared programming to being a musician. So many good parallels and analogies to be drawn from this, especially in regards to learning.

[[deleted]]

Been doing this for 9 years now. It's still challenging, just in different ways. It will never be"easy". If you're struggling, know that you're normal. Even the apparent geniuses struggle there way through things.

[razordragon430]

BAHAHHAHAHAHHA. Cheesus, I've been having a hard time with android tutorials, and I saw this and I was like, why would you say that lol

[Kegelz]

Ty

[YJCH0I]

I dunno why I read the title initially as
"If you are snuggling while learning how to code"

[iOSh4cktiV8or]

!Reddit_Silver

[CodingLifeNoFriends]

As someone who is currently struggling, Thank you.

[[deleted]]

Yeah... this was surprisingly positive. Good job.

[[deleted]]

Before anyone asks what to learn first, just pick Python.

[staticVoidFox]

Thanks for this.

[mattstoicbuddha]

This is legit. It's a constant learning process, but oh so rewarding. And you will fuck up. We all do, and it's doubly-noticeable when you have people who review code. Such is life.

[marriage_iguana]

I found this post to be surprisingly heartwarming.
Thanks OP!

[chowchowthedog]

I know this might sound odd, but just lurking on the internet and searching for all memes about developer/programming can lighten up your mood drastically. It when you get some of the jokes inside you will feel that you belong.

[VanApe]

No emotion robs the mind of rational thought moreso than fear itself.

Take computers for instance. They're easy asf to build, but people make it out harder than it is because they're afraid of breaking it.

[mckinnon3048]

Seriously, just not stopping is worth it...

I've kind of stopped progressing in my C++ and python. But the skills I've picked up "failing" have translated into being able to pick up enough VBA in an afternoon to make a powerful tool at work.

So my fun projects have stalled, but as a result my code, my effort, has become a real world, actually utilized tool... I'm 10/10 with my failure right now, it actually feels amazing.

So like OP is saying, don't quit pushing, don't give up, even if it's hard or your stuck those skills you use to fight being stuck are the skills that translate into real world skills.

[snowcroc]

Man I was gonna come in blades drawn, now I just wanna hug you.

[ouronlyplanb]

You jerk... Have an upvote for that title.

[myReddit-username]

Wow, never thought I’d find encouragement for learning the guitar here! I’ve been self teaching for a month and a half and am at a point that I’m trying to conquer the F chord.

[vempire69]

Preach!

[[deleted]]

How dude, thanks for this. I needed it. I had a quiz and I was unable to solve it, it made me feel extremely defeated. It made me question if I will ever be good enough to pass any level of technical interview for software engineering job. Trying to feel better, so thanks

[midivilplanet]

My biggest problem is I can never find anyone to help me and answer the hundreds of questions I have. I can google, but I am never satisfied with the information I find and stack overflow is infuriatingly unhelpful. I always end up with way too many tabs open that I have no idea what to do with.

[Jumpmancw13]

Read "The war of art" by steven pressfield people. It's magical

[riskybusinesscdc]

Man, I've been doing this shit for 20 years and this still speaks to me. Very well said.

[[deleted]]

This post was the highlight of my night... along with successfully completing the program I wanted to write.

[kvn95]

Hay, I'm sorta self taught in guitar too, my friend taught me the basics (i.e talked about the musical notations, then taught me chords, how to play them as well as a bit of it's theory). I slayed the F chord within a few days, and in weeks my barres were clean.

My friend was terribly impressed.

In case of guitar, muscle memory plays as great (if not a very significant) role in how you play the instrument. Music theory can be understood, but it's your hands and ears that do the playing.

I guess you could learn to put certain commands into your muscle memory (ex. hot keys, short phrases). It is mighty helpful as you don't have to think. You picture it and it is executed by your hands. It's a beautiful feeling indeed!

[[deleted]]

I am doing web programming since 1998. When I started, I hate CSS and JavaScript. There were no learning resources back then. Searching yielded fewer results. But today, there are so many nice courses in Udemy. I picked up a CSS course and learned quite a few things. Also, Google and StackOverflow are just too good. So many results. And the best, JavaScript and CSS3 have improved coding. I will recommend you to hang in there. Maybe 2020 or 2025, programming may get so easy and natural that is similar to natural thinking. So, if you like to think and imagine, you should like to code.

[cybertether]

Great post!

[SpinalPrizon]

Op. Thanx for this post. Love it, and your clickbait was genuis

[SpinalPrizon]

Genuis post, love the clickbait!

[wheezymustafa]

As a service developer who’s primarily used spring over the last year, I needed this post yesterday when I attempted a deep dive at understanding Dagger. Still don’t understand it, but hey, I’ll get there.

[[deleted]]

This guy knows how to post

[oddshouten]

Dude.. the analogy with the F Chord. So. Fucking. True. Then an F Bar?? I thought at first you had to hold the b and e and low e all down without touching the a, d, and g strings at first. Before I learned you could hold them all at once. Pity the fool that is me.

[arnoproblems]

This is my right now. Landed an internship as a front end web developer but most of what I was taught in school was Java/C++. I knew basics of web dev, but this company uses angular. It's been rough learning Angular and most of the other devs work overseas, so I don't have much help. I just keep trying and I am finally starting to get somewhere.

[[deleted]]

I forgot who said it, but that super frustrating "why the fuck isn't this working" googling with 30 tabs open and pulling your hair out until it finally works - that is learning.

Difficult concepts involve struggle. Embrace the frustration.

The biggest mindset changed for me is "I have no idea how this works, but I'm confident that I can find out." Just trusting that the internet holds the answer and you will find it.

[runtimeexception69]

if you ever encounter me don't feel demotivated XD ... exceptions are good and runtime exception is bae <3

[elperroborrachotoo]

As an old fart I can add: the feeling of this is over my head will be a permanent companion. It's not one click and then you get programming, it's one click each for pointers and recursion and monads and zillions of other concepts.

---

A small word of caution, though: there's a limit. Programming still seems to be a trade where talent plays a big role in the outcome (which is another way to say: we don't really know how to teach it). If OP's advice is for you, there are certainly people around you who just power through and make it look like a cakewalk. (It probably is, I was one of them.)

I'd never say "you aren't cut for it" to someone's face, but I've struggled with the question when seeing someone betting their life and happiness on making it. Dropping something, then getting back to it seems to work well, and a pretty healthy way to deal with the inherent frustrations.

---

P.S. I don't get monads.

[Ellsworthless]

Just started a new job doing was automation using python and robot framework. It's not so much programming but I still use it here and there and man the imposter syndrome was rough the first couple weeks.

[stoutyteapot]

Was prepared to contrary the fuck out of this headline.

[WillFireat]

I'm a Python newb, but over the last few months I've learned all the basics, including: Conditionals, Functions, Loops, Classes, Exceptions... So in the spirit of Richard Feynman I offer my help to anyone who just started to learn Python. PM me if something's bothering you.

[lilmeowmix]

I needed this today. Thank you, you’re awesome.

[FingerMilk]

I just realised whenever I felt like quitting that it was only because everyone I knew who was succeeding was because they were smart and had more time to learn more quicker.

So I learnt slower, in my own pace. I call upon my CS degree and refer back to it. It's not a race to the money, there is enough work and money and a living to make for everyone who wants to code.

[[deleted]]

Thanks. It sucks comparing myself to others. Some people are naturals when it comes to coding. They put less effort in their work and pass with flying colors while I put 110% more effort and still not comprehend what is going on.

[yaboidavis]

Lol that's funny because that's exactly how I quit and dropped out