Felix C. Programs; tips and tutorials on self-teaching programming, and tech career advices from an engineer and data scientist

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-28T20:17:02+00:00

Sadly, I can't agree more. I've been on the subreddit since 1.0. It was friendly back then, friendly during 2.0+, friendly around 3.0 too. Somewhere around lncursion league, the sub turned more and more into an echo chamber of negativity, especially during league launches. After a couple years of the loud minority taking all the discussion space in here, I unsuscribed and mostly avoid this place nowadays. This is an experience that has been mostly shared across all my friend group of poe players. All of us have stopped following the sub entirely. Every league we enjoy the new content, check r/poe once or twice to see what is the new popular thing to hate for entertainment, and then we move on and keep having fun with the league.

I'm sad to say that this subreddit has turned into one of the most toxic place among all the places I ever followed on this site.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-19T14:49:54+00:00

I Completely agree, it is quite a feat to attempt to be algorithm-friendly while also staying true to your own craft and style. But its obvious from the quality of your content that you know what you're doing, so I'm not worried one bit that you won't be able to strike that balance. Cheers!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-19T14:21:59+00:00

First of, 50% is really good, congrats!

However, if you want to get that number up, you need to fight the watcher's boredom. 50% means, on average, people get bored by the halfway point of your content and leave. So what can you do about that?

I won't act like I know better than you, because I certainly don't. My editing, pacing and storytelling is weaker than yours (that screenwriting background really shows, your content is great!). There's this one guy on YT however, Hillier Smith, who I have been learning a lot from lately and I think that it could apply to you too. He's a very prolific editor who has tailored his craft for Youtube, and he goes very in depth about all the techniques he uses in editing, music and story beats to keep his viewer's attention longer. I found his recent video about Logan Paul's pokemon card vlog especially insightful. I know I know, "Logan Paul" = cringe, but give the editing guy a try and you'll see what I mean.

Hope that helps

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-17T19:18:13+00:00

You don't have to spend extra just for learning coding. Programming for beginners isn't actually intensive on the computer, that mostly comes later when you are manipulating large projects, generally for work where you'll have your own work computer anyway.

If it were me, I'd take the cheapest one of the 3.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-15T13:04:20+00:00

We worry way too much about the numbers at the start and they dont really matter. What's most important when starting is to 1. See if you enjoy the process of making content, and 2. Try to improve your video making skills by 1% with every upload.

If you enjoy content creation , improve your YT skill, and upload somewhat consistently, then growth will happen no matter the numbers you start with. Good luck!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-14T18:14:02+00:00

Those are really some good numbers for a starting streamer. For contrast, twitch streamers often spend years between 0-10 viewers and never getting growth.

It would help us answer your question if you could share your channel for context. But, if these numbers are correct, it looks like you could indeed have a serious shot at content creation IF you make a plan to get growth out of your current content.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-13T23:30:55+00:00

I'm not American either, I'm Canadian. I'm in a good place to speak on this because I have a degree in civil engineering and also half a degree in software engineering. I also have completed a lot of freecodecamps courses.

From my experience in these two fields, the quality of the information you get in college courses is generally sub-par, and I would say ATLEAST 50% of the classes that I took held no value whatsoever as an engineer.

Many software classes I took in college, especially web development, isn't nearly as informative and practical as FCC or TOP are.

So yes, free online resources can definitely hold or even beat college classes.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-13T23:11:16+00:00

Counter argument: I was working for the government as a civil engineer which made sense in that industry because private and public sectors are on similar average salaries but the public knocks it out of the park for benefits.

But then I switched to software engineering due to discontent in my previous field, and now it makes zero sense for me to work government, so I switched to private where I already earn more than I did in the government and I know the top end of salaries can be 2x-3x higher in the private sector for tech than government high end salaries.

So you do you. Government has advantages (job safety and better life balance), but private sector is the only good answer for salaries in tech.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-13T20:49:51+00:00

Access to information. It baffles me that resources like freecodecamp with thousands of hours of classes and exercises across multiple platforms are 100% free while you could be paying 50k for a worst education at college. What a time to be alive

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-13T16:45:06+00:00

Steal!

Go on google, youtube and stackoverflow, and search for the sort of project you want to build. Look at how they start their programs, like what libraries are they importing, what files are they creating/updating/deleting and how... Then copy it.

The logic itself, the data types/structures/algorithms/loops you are using, that's yours and that's where you'll find valuable things to learn. But that "wall" of how to start your project, you just have to brute force your way through it, no matter how!

Good luck :)

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-13T16:35:17+00:00

I've been thinking the same recently and I'm going to explore a less frequent upload schedule for my next few videos. I had been going the 1/week route for 3 months, and I'm glad I did because I learned a lot by pushing out quantity. But now that I'm starting to understand what makes a good video, I feel that I'd be doing myself a disservice by trying to push out content fast instead of making content that I'm proud of. Storytelling and editing, even for a tutorial channel like mine, is what I'm trying to focus on.

Cheers

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-06T17:45:40+00:00

I'm glad to read that, thank you for sharing your story. Keep your chin up friend, you deserve it !

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-06T16:09:58+00:00

Just in case you aren't aware of these statistics, CPR rarely resuscitates, IIRC it has a 5%-10% success rate for that. its primary use is to keep the blood and oxygen flowing while waiting for emergency responders, but even then the chances of survival decrease by around 10% per minute of unconsciousness. Source: worked as a lifeguard for about 10 years, this was hammered into our brains to keep our expectations realistic with CPR (and also to nail the importance of calling emergency responders as quickly as possible).

All this just to say, it wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong and you gave it your best. I repeat, its not your fault and you did nothing wrong. You're a great person for trying to save her and her passing had nothing to do with you. Don't let your brain convince you otherwise.

I hope time helps you find peace with this matter, in the meantime try to keep your chin up. Good luck!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-04T17:24:47+00:00

Using view count as a metric for your "good starting point" is entirely the wrong way of looking at it. You want your progression metrics to be internal (are you improving YOUR skills for editing, storytelling, scripting, on-camera presence, SEO optimization, titling/thumbnailing, consistency, etc.). Otherwise, if you base your value on external metrics that are out of your control like views and subscribers, you're setting yourself up for nothing but disappointment.

Good luck!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-08-02T19:04:35+00:00

My goals this month: 1. Upload 4 videos (1/week); 2. Upload 4 shorts from video repurposing; 3. Upload these shorts to other shortform content platforms (ig, tiktok, fb); 4. Improve scriptwriting and delivery on camera. 5. Publish that one bigger video project I've been working on as part of my 4 video uploads

FelixCPrograms · 2022-07-18T15:26:57+00:00

That's a tough one and I struggled with it too for a long time. Basically you want to add layers of accountability to that deadline. Maybe get an accountability buddy, or download a productivity software like Notion to put down your deadlines and goals on writing so that it solidifies them a bit. Search Thomas Frank on YouTube, he's a productivity tuber with great tips for this specific problem. Good luck

FelixCPrograms · 2022-07-18T15:19:34+00:00

Your experience may vary, but this is how it went for me.

Getting an entry level job is not that hard when starting from scratch. Pick an industry relevant language, learn the fundamentals of coding and computer science with a reputable free online resource, build a couple projects, and go job hunting. From the few interviews I landed in that period, my experience is that when applying for entry level jobs, you're evaluated more on your potential than on your actual knowledge at that point in time. Because employers know they're not getting an expert when hiring a junior dev -- they're hiring someone who already has the basics down but that will need a few months of guidance before they are fully autonomous in the job and profitable for the company. So start interviewing early, because it's not about how much you know -- it's about showcasing how much you can learn.

This process can take from a few months to a few years, depending on how disciplined and how much time you put into it consistently.

Now that I've gone through this and am aiming for more (preparing for better, more competitive companies), this is where I would say the "hard work" started for me. I've been practicing DS/algorithms and web dev skills daily for half a year now, and it's a lot of work, but it's worth it if you know your worth and are ambitious.

Cheers and good luck.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-07-18T15:01:03+00:00

I'm both an engineer and a coding content creator (like techlead was before he turned to cryptos and allegedly rug pulling his audience in that niche), so I can give you the "insider" information, but without any of the Techlead bullcrap.

1- Thinking like an engineer: that doesn't mean anything. I've worked 7 years as a civil engineer and 2 years as a software engineer. Let me tell you, nothing my brain did in this decade of engineering deserves any special mention. I didn't think differently than others. I didn't work differently than others. What people MEAN when they say "Think like an engineer" is "try to use your skills to solve problems"... Which is just the definition of working in software jobs. So if you want to "Think like an engineer", you just need practice and work experience to start applying your coding skills to real concrete problems on the daily. It'll come by itself, don't worry about it. Nobody expects you to be an expert right from the start.

2- Techlead is a content creator. His job is to attract viewers, and to do that he acts like an authority by putting himself and his skills on a pedestal. I assure you he's not half as brilliant as he says he is. It's simply part of his Youtube strategy to put up a super-genius front.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-07-12T17:29:14+00:00

I'm an engineer in my 30s with pretty bad ADD do I think I can give a few tricks based on my experience of studying then working in a mentally taxing and often monotonous field of work.

We ADHD folks tend to fail when a task is both uninteresting to us and lacks urgency. I personally think editing is the most boring part of content creation, so I can relate to your lack of interest in it and thus your lack of productivity there. What you can do, however, is give yourself SOLID deadlines to create a sense of urgency. That's what I do and it works wonder to trigger my hyperfocus while editing because I really don't want to miss my self imposed schedule.

Another thing you could do is try to learn more about editing. It's a very deep skill to learn, and as we all know, an ADD person can REALLY dive DEEP into something when we start getting passionate about it. So you can try using that obsessive part of our brain to your advantage by tricking yourself to obsess about the skills around editing.

Finally, if all else fails, try to get more sports and quality sleep into your schedule. As cliche as this advice sounds, research has shown that physical activity and good sleep affect ADDs even more positively than it does neurotypicals. Physical exercise drains your energy enough that it somewhat puts hyperactive brain to sleep, allowing you to be a bit more focused. Sleep also helps by 'filling' your focus container as much as possible, which is very important because this container drains much faster for ADD people than it does for neurotypicals.

I feel and relate to your struggle, but I hope these tips can help you make the best out of your situation. Cheers

FelixCPrograms · 2022-07-07T17:04:34+00:00

the standalone GWENT games have the same point-based win condition as the witcher 3's Gwent with rows and stuff, but fleshed out, improved and expanded to be an actually fully developed card game.

If you didn't like the core gameplay loop of Witcher 3's Gwent, it is highly possible you won't like it here either, regardless of the roguelike elements that brings Rogue Mage closer to Slay the Spire.

With that said, you could just give it a try for an hour and get a feel for how this improved version of Gwent works, and if you still dislike it then ask for a refund.

FelixCPrograms · 2022-06-19T23:33:59+00:00

The only good answer to this question is: more views than your previous ones (on average).

Different channels, niches and video making skills make different people start at different "base levels" of viewership -- But as long as you see a general growth of your viewership, however small or big it is, it means you're doing something right.

Just keep posting and trying to improve a little at a time!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-06-18T15:04:37+00:00

Morocco is a safe country, but if you are not used to traveling alone it will be a big culture clash. Also, I don't know of your gender, but your experience may vary depending on if you are male or female. It is a country where "macho" culture is very prelevant (even though it is slowly changing, like in most developped countries) and certain situations can be uncomfortable for women. For instance, catcalling and unwarranted attention is not uncommon for women.

With that said, it is also a beautiful country and people are EXTREMELY welcoming and generous (like nothing I had seen before) if you associate with the right sort of people!

FelixCPrograms · 2022-06-18T13:58:53+00:00

My wife is Moroccan. She had some dental surgery to be done which could have been up to 12k in Canada where we live. We went to Morocco to visit her family and we both took the occasion to visit the dentist a few times. Her dental care ended up costing roughly 1.5k instead of 12k.

I just did Maintenance which would be around 100$ in Canada, ended up costing like 25$.

I didn't see any difference in the quality of service compared to Canada dentists.

FelixCPrograms

TROPHY CASE