I was so about to comment this. Paying for anything, college or otherwise doesn't necessarily mean it'll get you all what you wanna know. It's the hustle to gain knowledge that'll make you worthwhile.
What i have learned is that. At first i thought it was important to learn the language and i looked for the best language. But that language war is bullshit. There is no silver bullit language. Each language has their strong and weaknesses or use cases. It's NOT about the language at all. If you understand the deep concepts of programming. Languages do not matter anymore. What is more important? Datastructuren, Algorithms and Design Patterns and NOT the syntax of a certain language. It doesn't matter at all. So that's why i started with C++ because it can teach you all. Why? Other higher languages use a Garbage Collector, so you don't learn how to manage memory. You program shit the wrong way without thinking on how memory works. People make very bad performing code in GC languages because they don't understand how the GC works!!! So for learning. Start with a manual memory management language like C/C++. If you think you know programming when you know the syntax? hehe your wrong. That was just the easy part.
yeah, which is why, when I teach programming, the first thing I usually teach is to know what one can ignore and one he can't. "you'll never perfectly understand everything the code does, that's impossible, and unnecessary. but you need to know which parts you can ignore and which you can't, at any point." the second principle I teach is "ALWAYS make a prediction for yourself, about how what you did will behave (and why) BEFORE you run it. try and execute the code in your head and come up with the expected result, and THEN actually run the code and compare the results. it's much more useful than just running code blindly to see what it does."
ace g but it’s all worth it in the end. I am working on being a self taught data Scientist. Within a year of coding I am already a Senior Financial Data Analyst for United Health Group making good money. Within the next year I should be a Data Scientist WITHOUT a degree. He is right though, I’m at work studying as we speak the 100 page Machine learning book and it’s a struggle at times but the end goal feels so good.
I finished Udemy courses and currently designing my first app. You are right. DIY is not same as watching someone do, but I must admit those courses really helped me.
Idk what courses this guy took but I’ve already learned so much in two weeks of the 2020 complete web developers course by Angela Yu. It’s full stack btw.
I think a good approach is to not rebuild whatever is shown in the tutorial, but a slight variation of it that forces you to think and understand how the pieces fit together.
@@trevor_8337 reminds me of the movie "A Serious Man." A kid gets a bad grade on his test in a quantum physics class and protests that he didn't know the test would have so much math but he understands the concepts - "I understand the cat." The professor replies "No one understands the cat - I don't understand the cat. The math IS the theory." Sometimes being able to explain the concepts simply doesn't mean that you actually understand. Sticking with math, since that's the only thing I really know anything about, you can't really explain algebraic geometry to someone who doesn't already have a reasonable knowledge of math. The language and machinery involved in even getting to the starting point is pretty involved.
I got stuck in tutorial hell when I was trying to learn programming on my own, to get into a CS university. After this, unfortunately I gave up to pursue engieering. I soon realised that many good jobs and internships are about programming and developing apps, even pure engineering jobs. I have to pick up learning programming where I left off, and I feel this channel can help me. Thank's, Josh!
100% true! Reminds me how I build a website on wp, and configured gcp for sustain it, with 0 understanding what am I doing. Needless to say I couldn't update it to keep it working properly
Thanks a lot Joshua. I am a Jr. Dev myself . Recently I have been switched to a HUGE project which is already built in Django, Django REST and ReactJS. I am good in solving problems in OJ, Data Structures and Algorithms, but I have no prior knowledge of web development. For last 3 months I have been watching endless docs and videos to understand the codebase and to do the works that is assigned to me. But I find it so hard to do them and often require help from my seniors. I was so frustrated and hence your video helped me like a breathe of fresh air. Will definitely try these. Best wishes for your channel. Has been following you for a month and you deserve more sub!
Josh I just wanted to thank you for this video for it was just the kind of encouragement I needed right now. I've been a bartender and restaurant manager all of my adult life and turned 50 lady November. I have been interested in Software development for a long time and went back to school to begin last July. I started with python as my first language and it was definitely rough but continues to get easier the more experience I have in coding. My point is thank you for pointing out that we all have our stuck points and for anybody that's considering diving in, I did it at 50. You can do it too. Thank you for the encouragement Josh. I love your channel
Programming, like mathematics, is an art of practice. Tutorials won't make you a great programmer, it's about getting your hands dirty by putting together your own projects, no matter how small or big.
in my case it was a 3 year course and at the end one of the teachers actually said it this way : "This entire program has basically been to teach you how to use Google properly". Another memorable quote was : "I'm not here to teach you I'm here to grade your work". -_-
eng3d it’s not hard it’s just that mindset that we need to pass a class that’s all we think about forget about the material it’s like oh they teach us so why should we study type of mindset once u go past all the material u fall back bc u didn’t study that one day and ur screwed then u just think about passing if u know what I mean lol
"Do it again in another language" VERY good advice. When I was learning Data Structures in C++, things didn't really click until I had to create a basic array in x86 Assembler. That was the beginning of truly understanding software development at a core level where now, doesn't matter what tech or language I'm dealing with, I know what's happening at a fundamental level. Oh, and that basic Array structure in Assembler was like 500 lines of code to get it to replicate that basic built in array in STD.
I hated Assembly the first time I took it, but it had one of the greatest impacts on my programming knowledge of any college course I've taken. But to get there, I had to do more than just watch the lectures. I had to take extensive notes and start projects like a week early (which is astronomically early, by my standards). Whether you're self-taught or in college, just ~wanting~ to understand won't get you there.
@@_tubstyle3787 so true. My college forced asm projects that replicated higher language features, which really helped at the higher levels with understanding, but until I did a personal project (2d graphics engine on pocketpc) I didn't really understand asm and the basic hardware of computers. People who are serious about doing software dev really need to learn how old 8 bit machines worked or even a calculator.
This is 100% true. In my college this semester we had web development course where we were learning HTML/CSS/JS/ASP.NET framework (only super basic stuff with mvc), and then teacher was like ok you have to do this project (basically airbnb clone) and oh btw for max grade you have to use front-end framework (react/vue or angular) and for back end you have to use asp.net core web api , ef core and deploy it to azure, and we were like wtf we didn't learn any of this stuff to what he replied "well you have also 1 month..." Basically it was super stressful month, i had literally no idea what i was doing i was reading a lot of documentation and one month later i got it done, and not only that but i learned more in that month then i would for 3 months if i went to my usual route of online courses... It's literally like you said, we are all self taught and nobody knows everything we just need to make friends with documentation and eventually it will "click". :P :D
As a self taught, no university... I relate to this. I spent 3 months doing 3 tutorials because I would stop every time to change it and try to make it work differently. One good exercise once you are done is try to make a simple calculator, or a basic CRUD app. If you are copying code, try to understand it and change it your own way. It's not gonna be perfect all the time but you will learn better ways along the way. This was in 2013 and now I am a senior web developer making a living out of this. So... It Can happen... But you will pay your dues in sweat and blood... But YOU WILL GET there.
Currently at my 4th college year. I'm definitely selft taught. Otherwise I would only be able to build CLI applications for string reversing in Java...
fr fr. I had a come to Jesus meeting with one of my profs (the one with practical work experience)and just outlined what I wanted to work on. We talked about where the market was headed and now I’m doing research in NLP which I can use irl. So you could try that too and see if that works.
I'm in second year, I thought myself python flask framework and now I have made a Social media website Rest API which works very similar to Instagram Seniors said college never teaches about modern system design etc.So happy, now trying to make a front-end client
correct! I was stuck in tutorial hell for a long time and I felt I was completely lost until I got my first job position as Junior dev and I started to feel more confident about what I learned
You have the best advice Josh. You've helped my confidence in my ability to make a portfolio and realize that there is a ton of BS in the process of getting a job, which I should have known, but isn't always obvious (thanks alot imposter syndrome). Keep doing your thing!
My method of learning: 1. I watched a tutorial (recently I have learned spring mvc, spring security, spring rest, spring boot and maven) while I watch I also do small projects just to test my new knowledge. 2. I started to look at other tutorials how someone develop a project using these technologies or at someone else code. 3. Slowly I start to create my own let's say bigger project using these technologies. A good idea is to combine your current knowledge with the new knowledge. For example in my project I have also used html, css, bootstrap, javascript (angular) not just spring framework.
Hey there Josh, I recently started learning code and found myself at a wall. I got on youtube and started watching your OTHER videos and got incredibly depressed incredibly fast. This video really inspired me to get back up, thank you.
@@pearlsswine It really is both for the first language, since the second and third you already know what to expect it to have or how to look for it(example: when I learned what constructors were in c++ it was really frustrating beacuse of the syntax and the concept, but when i wanted to learn that in python the only challange was to google what syntax does python have for constructors and what is different from c++)
What you are saying is right but I’m at the stage that I still need to grind through my Udemy courses to get my foundation set. After I make an app I reward my self and try to make something fun. Man I feel like I’ve been a beginner forever though.
It's a year ago now, but I hope you can look back today at what you wrote back then and retrace your steps and refactor the code that you wrote a year ago and see how much you've actually improved. I've been in the business for way too long I often look back at code that's 1-10 years old and ask myself "what idiot wrote this code" and in the top of my file I often find my own name. A good programmer never stops developing, this applies to both code and coding skill, never forget that.
I have been a programmer for quite a while. I've tried lots of ways to learn. I think the number one way to learn is to just try and build something. You'll be googling stuff like crazy and you might not understand exactly how every little piece of code works at first but it will get you much further than just watching videos. I think videos are helpful for learning basic concepts and later trickier concepts but the bulk of the learning comes from doing. I do also like to read quite a bit to understand the possibilities of a language. It's like discovering new words in a novel, you'll never use words that you've never heard of, you have to have some exposure to them some how.
This right here! Programming is definitely learn by doing, yes there are useful philosophies that will help as you get better, but the magic happens by doing.
@@JoshuaFluke1 It's worthy of a roast. I appreciate you resisting the urge. Thanks! At your pace, you'll be there real soon. You have some crazy growth going on!
Watching this remembered me a teacher I had in the university. He always said us to find a solution to some codding problems using any language, any build form, there weren't rules or a list to the things to do, just a problem. He was teaching us how to solve a problem by ourselves, and I didn't notice.
"We're all self taught." True. For anyone interested in Lambda School, just know that it is basically an online course with a live component. You interact via chat with other students and you are held accountable because they track attendance. But don't think that just because you're going through a bootcamp means you're gonna be handed the knowledge... still gotta go through the process of learning it, and that's all on you. If you don't or worse, CAN'T keep pace with the rest of the class you will get left behind... And you'll still be stuck with the ISA. Follow Josh's advice. Find stuff and break it, then build it and rebuild it. You'll learn quicker.
This is one of the best videos I've seen regarding how to actually USE tutorials. I think they're useful, but only if you go back and play with what was taught. It seems a LOT of people think going through tutorials as fast as humanly possible is some sort of accomplishment to brag about. It's not.
There were multiple reasons that I dropped out of college but I'm definitely not motivated to go back and get into a ridiculous amount of debt. Some professors actually teach and explain things but some of the best universities in the world have free online courses. Buy the textbooks and just do the work! Once you're confident enough to understand the course go apply what you learned. I created a shell in python with a command history feature. I learned what it takes to implement different commands like cd and ls. I learned how to read/write to/from a file in python and how to jump to specific lines. I wrapped all of that up in a class. Next I want to embed this shell in a web page using something like Flask. Its all about breaking up a larger problem into small goals.
if you can find a small company which require you to do multiple things, you can learn more in 1 month than in 1 year of college IMHO. Great video BTW.
This video would've been life-saving 2 years ago. BSc Software Dev, what useful I learned in the 4 semesters: Assembly, Hardware studies, C, C++, Java (only very introductory), System development (Agile Scrum Kanban, GIT, all that stuff, actually a very very useful course), and some math/logic that can be used for optimizing workflow/software. Pretty much things I could've learnt in 2-3 months at home WHILE working at some poor student job like a restaurant, or warehouse. What useless things I learned in the 4 semesters: 20 metric tons of math and statistics nobody in the industry does on paper anyway. But I spent numerous all-nighters just to pass. Now I can do advanced integration and derivation when they wake me from my sleep, have PTSD just seeing the symbols. But hey, I don't necessarily need to include a well-optimized library to do it instead of me.... oh wait. While by word the former seems to be more, the real ratio is more like 20% to 80% to math. Right now spending the summer teaching myself from online sources, through friends in the industry and doing personal projects trying wanky stuff. If all goes well I can potentially enroll as a Jr dev or atleast get an internship to get a kick-off, in like a year or so. Doing it day and night, and your videos really keep me going.
We should learn in this way: 1. Programming language structure(commands, data types, methods, functions etc.) 2. Algorithms & Data structures 3. Specific projects and applications of a programming/scripting language.
@@pearlsswine A data structure is something like an array, arraylist, hashmap. Algorithms are just sets of instructions to complete a task, like a for loop and what goes on inside of a for loop.
A video game already made a fake app called Tender. LIU, it was a promo thing for a game called V:TM Bloodlines 2. Granted, it was fake, but they might have copyrighted it.
With HTML/CSS it was easy for me. But with JavaScript I’m stuck in tutorial hell. I know the syntax but when im trying to JS part of the project My mind is blank.
It’s really hard. Just find some Udemy tutorials. They cover a shit ton of stuff like developing a game etc. As far as from scratch stuff. I still don’t know how to do a great project from start to finish. Go to school to build your credentials
This was exactly my problem I didn’t realize that college was about teaching yourself not actually learning from a lesson. I went through one of the worst professors for both computer science and physics I got it though just from doing it myself which still pissed me off considering I had to pay for that shit. Shoulda done something that doesn’t require any knowledge or skills at all like business
I built just everything I wanted. When I Iearned C# I made 2 bots that play rock, paper, scissors xD I didn't care if it was kinda useless. I just had fun and it was interesting ^^
Tutorial hell happens to everyone. When I was learning Java + Selenium, at some point I jumped on JavaScript and many blocking points disappeared. You got me thinking about finishing my app and add to my resume. Thanks!
Tutorials, in my understanding, have the intention to teach you syntax and how to apply that syntax in example projects. You're not immediately a developer after taking a course, you need to learn to think like one and solve problems using the syntax you learned from the tutorials. Unfortunately, tutorials can't teach you how to think like a developer, that all comes from your style of problem-solving and syntax being a tool to solve those problems. So don't look for more tutorials after your first one, look for problems to solve.
Josh, great advice. I personally like working backwards, for example if I am working on a tutorial and the instructor uses an array, if I am not sure what an array is and when to use it, I perform research on arrays, and then continue with the tutorial.
I love the idea of making a project and just learning along the way. I'm starting to learn web development and I've decided to try and build a password manager because i feel as if it will give me a good experience of both front and back end.
This is so true. Most of the material out there will not get used. I think each individual must search for what they want to learn. I mainly focus on javascript and that helped me out.
Couldn't agree more that college is basically: paying for someone to tell you which book to read, and your degree doesn't mean you know what you're talking about.
I was ridiculously demotivated when a tutorial I followed didn't work at all. I retried it, rewrote the code, double checked, looked around on forums for people with similar problems, but couldn't find any solution that worked. I spent way too much energy to fix that stupid problem. It wore me down and I eventually gave up after a few days and I started watching another tutorial on youtube instead. After watching this, I may just follow your example and just start making whatever I want, instead of copying some other dude's project and the way they code. I think I know enough to get started at least and then just take it from there. Thank you for the awesome video! This may have been just what I needed :)
I started taking a Java certification program at my Community College this semester and its true that you're basically self taught. I was completely new to programming at the start of the semester. We're only in class for an hour and a half, one time a week. Our Java instructor will run us through what the current chapter we're reading that week is about. He'll write an example program that corresponds with what we'll learn from reading the chapter. From there we're supposed to read through the chapter and apply what we've learned in order to complete our lab assignments. Of course those lab assignments are more indepth than the couple blocks of code the instructor showed as an example in class because he'll attach additional criteria that may not have been shown in class at all. The main issue for me comes with balancing all the course work. Im taking 3 classes in total this semester in order to attain my Java certification. The Java course being my major, as well as a web programming class based primarily on PHP, and the basics of HTML and CSS for client/server applications. I find it difficult having to push out multiple lab assignments per class each week. I'm only able to allocate a certain amount of time for each class every week and if I'm struggling on a program its isn't always beneficial to reach out to our instructor(the Java instructor specifically) because most of the time im given half baked responses and of course the instructor has plenty of emails from other students in his class. Our Java instructor says he wants us to "fail forward" through trial and error which i completely understand however, again. If I have multiple assignments from other classes to complete in the same week. I'm not always allowed the proper time to simply "figure it out". Which is only worsen by the fact of possible failure of any of the courses. If I don't have a certain amount of credits by the end of the year, I won't get my certification until I attain the proper credits. Which would enviable cost more money. This isn't necessarily a problem by the instructor but more so by the education system. I'm thankful that I'm not actually failing any of my classes, but this entire journey has just been an ordeal. However in light of all the struggles, all the hardaches and head banging. I can honestly say that I do NOT regret studying software programming and I do honestly enjoy what I'm learning. I'm determined to make a career of this. Because I was tired of where I was in life, and even just in this semester alone I've grown as person more than I have over the last few years.
Fully agree, I’ve been self teaching for about 18 months and have just landed my second dev role, the part where you talk about the process of breaking and fixing and seshing stack overflow... so true, but it’s talking about that process in the interview that has gotten me both jobs... because the guy sitting across the table is like “well that’s what we do”
Im self taught... Keep it simple... Build something simple with what you know... learn something new... rebuild your initial project with what you just learned; even if it doesn't belong. The idea is you know how to use it as your building this project of yours... rinse and repeat till you can't add any more to that project. Then start a new project... Simple is better than complicated ;)
So true, first I started trying to learn JS and was super overwhelmed by all the new concepts and disconnect between actual projects. Then I switched over to python and was still struggling to actively use all the concepts. But I persisted trying to build simple apps in Python and automate some of my work tasks and things just started to click. Now I'm just trying JS again and understanding it so much more and having those aha moments of how to do something with a certain concept! So, don't fret! Those fundamental concepts that don't make sense now are going to be stewing in your subconscious and when you persist and struggle through all of a sudden you'll start connecting those ideas and concepts!
me too. somehow "wasting" my time on C# and Java made me understand JS concepts like inheritance naturally. Trying to implement functional paradigm in a predominantly object-oriented language is mind-blowing and vice versa.
Exactly. You have to actually think through your code and work on modifying the flow of your code by using logical steps. This happens to me a lot while I am learning to code. It helps me to go line by line and follow the logic. It's good to watch tuts but it's better to actually pause the videos and take notes and work on the code. You nailed it. You gotta play with the code and not copy someone else the whole time.
I had a hard time learning Python until I found it in Blender (3D modelling software) and started learning accessing models data (using python) then write all data in binary to a file then made an importer in C++, this made both 3D modelling and programming more interesting/understandable, so now I really want to turn Blender into the Game resource manager and just place start and goals in Blender then press export the whole (or multiple) scene(s) and have my Direct3D11 program take care of the rest.
Wow I really needed this. I'm at the 'did i get dropped on my head' stage. So great to hear an expert being lost/feeling stupid. Keep up the good work. Subscribed.
Maybe it would be a good idea to first start out researching what you can do with code instead of directly jumping into coding into a random language. Based on that it also makes much more sense which language to pick instead of picking a random one. I read at first that JavaScript was easy and the most used programming language, so thought that it would be fun and easy to start out with it after I learned some HTML and CSS which I considered easy. When I got stuck there I could easily find answers online. But when I started out with JavaScript it was more difficult. I quickly figured out that pure JavaScript was too difficult for me as a beginner. And at first I didn't want to "cheat", so tried to not use libraries. But failed to build something as simple as a button that could change background colors. I had eventually given up on JavaScript, and since my interests are more in the areas of scraping data of the internet, data analysis, and building GUIs. I decided to learn Python instead. I'm still learning, but I like it a lot more than JavaScript so far. And now, I do use libraries because I read on the internet that you can't do much with pure Python. Now I'm finally starting to understand a little bit of the code I copy paste. And know what to manipulate or what to search for online.
I absolutely love this video! This is an experience that literally every single programmer will deal with at a certain point in time and something that is not talked about often enough. Thank you for shedding some light on getting into programming
this is very true about udemy courses. I personally try to add layers of complexity to all the courses by: - using git everywhere - tracking package versions - environment control using docker and ngrok - add tests where possible - lecture notes as markdown - never read solutions before you do it yourself - push to github when done for future reference it takes longer than just watching, but you can feel confident your code will run anywhere.
Your comment is on point. Never just watch tutorial and say "yeah, I know this". Always try to code with tutorial because you will remember it better. If you just watch it, I bet you will forget it after 5 mins
Thank You for this video! I am trying to get into coding / Data Analytics _again_ and made it further than on my last few tries, but I have been feeling the "drinking from a fire-hose" again lately.. I'll definitely re-watch this whenever I start feeling exasperated by the good old "well I memorized this now, but wtf do I do with it" or the "wtf kind of requirements do they have for this entry-level job"
I can confirm that everyone is self taught. I'm currently a CS student as university. While I do learn a lot from my classes most of the stuff I actually use at work I either taught myself or learned in the job.
@Joshua -- i'm one of the many that lost his job to "COVID workforce cutbacks" and I'm currently trying to learn how to code and today, I really needed this in your face video. Keep it up.
I found you recently and think your style is pretty cool. We might be the same age actually? I've been down tutorial hell before but I found that after completing one, I try to apply it to my work to solidify some of my understanding.
Hey Thank you for that video, I am actually in the middle of learning JavaScript I just started learning web development (3 months ago), and I am now frustrated with those loops and methods... I thought I was dumb before watching your video but now you really gave me a good push to keep going Thank you
Excellent advice! I've been developing for 20 years and I would echo Joshua's comments. Key points in my mind are truly developing an understanding of what you're doing and why it works. As Joshua said, after you copy/paste your code or type in your tutorial, try modifying things, try breaking things on purpose, etc. that will help develop understanding. And definitely teaching or explaining things will help your coding immensely. Google "Rubber Duck Debugging" to see the classic story of how simply explaining your problems to a rubber duck can help solve them. It gets your mind working through the problems and breaking them apart.
When I started college, I would try to teach my friends some simple concepts, like arrays, to try to grasp them better. I was shutdown so fast everytime.
I just subbed. You verified my intuition that I need to make these tutorial programs my own, both to learn the systems better and so I do not embarrass myself. You brutally critiqued some portfolio websites and that was an eye opener for me. "You got guts, man, for posting this." No I do not. I want to do it right. I'm going to make a site with my best programs, including e-commerce. Because I got the database connections and interactivity down pretty good now I want to add security and data validation, etc., and JavaScript/AJAX, which I am weak in. UI work from a prototype or mockup looks like a necessary skill to complement my back end programming skills. I need work on that too while still progressing in PHP and/or python.
Yo, your videos really have hit home for me! A lot of people skip over when or why you’ll need something. You’ve been a eye opener for me and I appreciate what you do and you! Thank you!!!
This is what (and why) I did when I started to learn new lenguages/technologyes 1) Think to something new/original 2) Find the way to achieve it 3) Learn those new knowledge 4) Start my project from scratch found around on the net 5) Try... Try... Try again and... Achieve my original and never-made-before project I did it with Lua, I did it with JavaScript, I did it with Unity/Games/App, I did it with IoT projects (Arduino, ESP8266), maybe if I will have enough time before finding a job I will do it with HTML/CSS/Wordpress sites, and maybe C#
I needed this. Thank you. I'm one of those lucky few who got a client on the first project, so I'm learning while earning already. It ain't much but it's honest work. I still feel like I know nothing, which is why my client is making a shitton of money off of me while I am interviewing for a side hustle in 2 days. But it's a good way to get started I guess and once I feel confident that I can deliver stuff in under 4 weeks time (one page, come on, that can be done faster) I'll ask for more. Anyways, no one is probably gonna read this, but I figured I#ll give back by commenting for the algorithm. Cheers
One project when you start programming is a converter from Celsius to Farhentheit and from Farhenheit to Celsius. First, you will put the inputs that the user has to make, then the loops and then if the inputs are strings instead of numbers you have to avoid the converter to crash. It's a first good project to start a language.
Doing a loop with limits to convert from one ti abother and use a regex to no accept strings and if there is show a message. That can be an easy solution I think.
I feel personally attacked because this is me with my udemy course zero to hero in python 😂😂 this has motivated me to get out my arse and just be more independent. Thanks!! Great video
Solid advice man! Learning anything, especially programming definitely requires practice. It's a great start to go through tutorials and work along the code because it helps with fundamentals like figuring out things like how to route using express or how to structure directories for example, but after that, when you sit down and start building your own project and you realize that there's a lot more involved , that's when you truly learn. The key is practice, practice, practice.
Very good video. I've been in college for a total of four years, changed path from game dev to web dev after two years where focus were a lot more on making projects, which felt a lot more relevant. Just landed my first job as a system developer probably thanks to our group project that we made!
In my opinion, one of the best ways to start learning is when you start building a particular section by yourself before watching a tutorial . For an example , If you are doing a user authentication course , once you have reached registration part of the course, perhaps you can build the registration form and logic by yourself first before proceeding to watch the tutorial. If you are stuck, google the answer, search stackoverflow, if you are still struggling after 30 minutes, then you can proceed to watch the video tutorial. There is no shame in watching the video as long as you give an honest try. At least now you know what you don't know and when you do find a solution to the problem , you will memorize it.
This is some good advice!
Do you have a machine learning algorithm that looks for your logo in the thumbnail and then alerts you to comment? I am suspicious 🤔
@@JoshuaFluke1 We're everywhere, Joshua.
@@quincylarsonmusic holy, that was scary af
@@JoshuaFluke1 That's a good idea. 😀No, your video just appeared on my home screen. The TH-cam algorithm is what has the machine learning algorithm!
Lol
School taught me that paying for something doesn't actually mean you'll learn it. So many free quality resources out there.
I was so about to comment this. Paying for anything, college or otherwise doesn't necessarily mean it'll get you all what you wanna know. It's the hustle to gain knowledge that'll make you worthwhile.
glad i dropped out of high school to take acid
@@LittleRainGames
😂😂
Yeah normally paying means you'll get a certificate. Learning is the most important part
FreeCodeCamp ❤️
“Drinking from a fire hose” is the perfect description of how it feels to be self taught. This shit gets overwhelming at times.
He had a lot of good nuggets of info there for sure
What i have learned is that. At first i thought it was important to learn the language and i looked for the best language. But that language war is bullshit. There is no silver bullit language. Each language has their strong and weaknesses or use cases. It's NOT about the language at all. If you understand the deep concepts of programming. Languages do not matter anymore. What is more important? Datastructuren, Algorithms and Design Patterns and NOT the syntax of a certain language. It doesn't matter at all. So that's why i started with C++ because it can teach you all. Why? Other higher languages use a Garbage Collector, so you don't learn how to manage memory. You program shit the wrong way without thinking on how memory works. People make very bad performing code in GC languages because they don't understand how the GC works!!! So for learning. Start with a manual memory management language like C/C++. If you think you know programming when you know the syntax? hehe your wrong. That was just the easy part.
yeah, which is why, when I teach programming, the first thing I usually teach is to know what one can ignore and one he can't.
"you'll never perfectly understand everything the code does, that's impossible, and unnecessary. but you need to know which parts you can ignore and which you can't, at any point."
the second principle I teach is "ALWAYS make a prediction for yourself, about how what you did will behave (and why) BEFORE you run it. try and execute the code in your head and come up with the expected result, and THEN actually run the code and compare the results. it's much more useful than just running code blindly to see what it does."
This made me perk up as well for sure. Super relatable!!
ace g but it’s all worth it in the end. I am working on being a self taught data Scientist. Within a year of coding I am already a Senior Financial Data Analyst for United Health Group making good money. Within the next year I should be a Data Scientist WITHOUT a degree. He is right though, I’m at work studying as we speak the 100 page Machine learning book and it’s a struggle at times but the end goal feels so good.
I finished Udemy courses and currently designing my first app. You are right. DIY is not same as watching someone do, but I must admit those courses really helped me.
Can you mention those courses.
I'd like to know too
Idk what courses this guy took but I’ve already learned so much in two weeks of the 2020 complete web developers course by Angela Yu. It’s full stack btw.
@@RosalioRedPanda and you can apply for jobs if you get good enough after finishing the course?
@@RosalioRedPanda I'm doing her python course. She is a great teacher.
Finding a problem you want to solve by writing programs in that language is one of the best ways to get out of tutorial hell.
This so much. It's also the most fun way to do it, rather than building another To-Do-List app.
@@ducksoop.x fuck, i am following a todo app lol, anyways ive learned more this way than on fcc
Pablo Tapia in the end. Everything is a glorified to do app
How do you mean?
But it’s like, where the hell do you even begin? For a noob it’s crazy to think about.
I think a good approach is to not rebuild whatever is shown in the tutorial, but a slight variation of it that forces you to think and understand how the pieces fit together.
"If you can't explain something simply, then you don't know it well enough". This is one of my favorite saying.
Agreed, I also like "just because its technical, doesn't mean it needs to be complicated."
@@hobbes2555 but this is just not true. much of STEM is complex and in order to portray the information accurately, it must be to some degree complex.
@@trevor_8337 something being simple is a degree of complexity
@@trevor_8337 reminds me of the movie "A Serious Man." A kid gets a bad grade on his test in a quantum physics class and protests that he didn't know the test would have so much math but he understands the concepts - "I understand the cat." The professor replies "No one understands the cat - I don't understand the cat. The math IS the theory."
Sometimes being able to explain the concepts simply doesn't mean that you actually understand.
Sticking with math, since that's the only thing I really know anything about, you can't really explain algebraic geometry to someone who doesn't already have a reasonable knowledge of math. The language and machinery involved in even getting to the starting point is pretty involved.
@@ericdaniel323 people love throwing out catch-phrases to get their advice heard. such a strange culture we live in today
I got stuck in tutorial hell when I was trying to learn programming on my own, to get into a CS university. After this, unfortunately I gave up to pursue engieering. I soon realised that many good jobs and internships are about programming and developing apps, even pure engineering jobs. I have to pick up learning programming where I left off, and I feel this channel can help me. Thank's, Josh!
Nuggets of wisdom at 2:32 / 4:14 / 4:42 / 5:59 / 7:18 / (Bonus intro to a new Daft Punk song: 10:25)
Thank you!! I love his vids, but I think there's a little too much fluff sometimes.
Now go build that in an app
“Just because you’re a monkey see, monkey do doesn’t mean you’re a monkey see, monkey know.”
- Joshua Fluke
THAT WAS A GEM
100% true!
Reminds me how I build a website on wp, and configured gcp for sustain it, with 0 understanding what am I doing.
Needless to say I couldn't update it to keep it working properly
English? What The Fuck does that mean
@@Al_Gonzo I'm late as fuck, but it means learn by doing rather than just "knowing".
@@Infernapalm whats a monkey see?
I'm stealing this
Thanks a lot Joshua. I am a Jr. Dev myself . Recently I have been switched to a HUGE project which is already built in Django, Django REST and ReactJS. I am good in solving problems in OJ, Data Structures and Algorithms, but I have no prior knowledge of web development. For last 3 months I have been watching endless docs and videos to understand the codebase and to do the works that is assigned to me. But I find it so hard to do them and often require help from my seniors. I was so frustrated and hence your video helped me like a breathe of fresh air. Will definitely try these. Best wishes for your channel. Has been following you for a month and you deserve more sub!
Josh I just wanted to thank you for this video for it was just the kind of encouragement I needed right now. I've been a bartender and restaurant manager all of my adult life and turned 50 lady November. I have been interested in Software development for a long time and went back to school to begin last July. I started with python as my first language and it was definitely rough but continues to get easier the more experience I have in coding. My point is thank you for pointing out that we all have our stuck points and for anybody that's considering diving in, I did it at 50. You can do it too. Thank you for the encouragement Josh. I love your channel
Programming, like mathematics, is an art of practice. Tutorials won't make you a great programmer, it's about getting your hands dirty by putting together your own projects, no matter how small or big.
Well said
I use alot of math in programming.....
Also in producing song lol i mean in all careers
Great advice...
Well said
After four years of college to become a "Software Engineer" the only thing I learned was......I was scammed out of a ton of money.
that's my Bro..🤣
Holy shit this made me laugh, thank you.I feel the same way.
Yeah..
All that for “filtering” during interview process 😪😪😪
in my case it was a 3 year course and at the end one of the teachers actually said it this way : "This entire program has basically been to teach you how to use Google properly".
Another memorable quote was : "I'm not here to teach you I'm here to grade your work".
-_-
I am doing an C.S degree at a good college and I haven't learned shit from them
if anything they are scary and daunting and make us feel dumb lol
You are not alone. Universities teaches in the worst and hard way. The real world is easy
eng3d it’s not hard it’s just that mindset that we need to pass a class that’s all we think about forget about the material it’s like oh they teach us so why should we study type of mindset once u go past all the material u fall back bc u didn’t study that one day and ur screwed then u just think about passing if u know what I mean lol
you don't learn to code in college. you learn it back in your room after class.
@@schrodingerscat3912 this comment is the truth of most college CS graduates
I don't build from scratch, I build with Scratch.
Scratch OP programming lang.
Oh no...
spinning cats gang
Bro xD
Thanks Josh! I'm stuck in ELO hell in terms of programming lol
Gotta get off LOL, my friend
@@sightf2 If only stopping a LoL addiction was that easy
you deserve it for being a soraka player
@@kyletibbs3906 i quit lol months ago. just uninstall
@@kyletibbs3906 I quit gaming by moving to Linux for a while. Totally lost interest in them.
"Do it again in another language" VERY good advice. When I was learning Data Structures in C++, things didn't really click until I had to create a basic array in x86 Assembler. That was the beginning of truly understanding software development at a core level where now, doesn't matter what tech or language I'm dealing with, I know what's happening at a fundamental level.
Oh, and that basic Array structure in Assembler was like 500 lines of code to get it to replicate that basic built in array in STD.
Assembler is one of the fundamentals that really make me understand computation. I think everyone should learn it at least to a basic level
I hated Assembly the first time I took it, but it had one of the greatest impacts on my programming knowledge of any college course I've taken. But to get there, I had to do more than just watch the lectures. I had to take extensive notes and start projects like a week early (which is astronomically early, by my standards). Whether you're self-taught or in college, just ~wanting~ to understand won't get you there.
@@_tubstyle3787 so true. My college forced asm projects that replicated higher language features, which really helped at the higher levels with understanding, but until I did a personal project (2d graphics engine on pocketpc) I didn't really understand asm and the basic hardware of computers.
People who are serious about doing software dev really need to learn how old 8 bit machines worked or even a calculator.
This is exactly it. My degree forced us to do all of these “irrelevant” things but it made us understand how things ACTUALLY work!
You have no idea how much I needed to hear this. Great video as always Josh! Keep'em coming :)
I appreciate your cynical, realist, outlook on all things work-related.
This is 100% true.
In my college this semester we had web development course where we were learning HTML/CSS/JS/ASP.NET framework (only super basic stuff with mvc), and then teacher was like ok you have to do this project (basically airbnb clone) and oh btw for max grade you have to use front-end framework (react/vue or angular) and for back end you have to use asp.net core web api , ef core and deploy it to azure, and we were like wtf we didn't learn any of this stuff to what he replied "well you have also 1 month..." Basically it was super stressful month, i had literally no idea what i was doing i was reading a lot of documentation and one month later i got it done, and not only that but i learned more in that month then i would for 3 months if i went to my usual route of online courses...
It's literally like you said, we are all self taught and nobody knows everything we just need to make friends with documentation and eventually it will "click". :P :D
It sounds like that teacher is actually building his / her own project and using you as a free manpower.
I have the same experience in my database course. The professor came up with huge project and somehow we did it in one month.
Same here. I am taught printing hello world on MVT and now i have to make a working webapp.
What do you mean by reading a lot of documentation? I quite didn't catch that tbh
@@BackSlashJvb125 read lots of tutorial and user manual or explanation about things and stuffs like that
As a self taught, no university... I relate to this. I spent 3 months doing 3 tutorials because I would stop every time to change it and try to make it work differently. One good exercise once you are done is try to make a simple calculator, or a basic CRUD app. If you are copying code, try to understand it and change it your own way. It's not gonna be perfect all the time but you will learn better ways along the way. This was in 2013 and now I am a senior web developer making a living out of this. So... It Can happen... But you will pay your dues in sweat and blood... But YOU WILL GET there.
Currently at my 4th college year. I'm definitely selft taught. Otherwise I would only be able to build CLI applications for string reversing in Java...
//valcron1000 this x1000. What did you do to branch out?
Or write some fancy Java awt with JButtons. Lmao. I'm on the same route as you my friend.
Can confirm, graduated yesterday from college and i am definitely self taught
fr fr. I had a come to Jesus meeting with one of my profs (the one with practical work experience)and just outlined what I wanted to work on. We talked about where the market was headed and now I’m doing research in NLP which I can use irl. So you could try that too and see if that works.
I'm in second year, I thought myself python flask framework and now I have made a Social media website Rest API which works very similar to Instagram
Seniors said college never teaches about modern system design etc.So happy, now trying to make a front-end client
correct! I was stuck in tutorial hell for a long time and I felt I was completely lost until I got my first job position as Junior dev and I started to feel more confident about what I learned
You have the best advice Josh. You've helped my confidence in my ability to make a portfolio and realize that there is a ton of BS in the process of getting a job, which I should have known, but isn't always obvious (thanks alot imposter syndrome). Keep doing your thing!
hey thanks chris!
Hey Chris your BS job finding experiences can make a great vid would love to know
My method of learning:
1. I watched a tutorial (recently I have learned spring mvc, spring security, spring rest, spring boot and maven) while I watch I also do small projects just to test my new knowledge.
2. I started to look at other tutorials how someone develop a project using these technologies or at someone else code.
3. Slowly I start to create my own let's say bigger project using these technologies.
A good idea is to combine your current knowledge with the new knowledge. For example in my project I have also used html, css, bootstrap, javascript (angular) not just spring framework.
Hey there Josh, I recently started learning code and found myself at a wall. I got on youtube and started watching your OTHER videos and got incredibly depressed incredibly fast.
This video really inspired me to get back up, thank you.
Mist of us start same but in a couple of years you build a high knowledge. Can take you 2/3 years programming to understand most of the concepts
We must learn problem solving before learning anything, because every other thing is just syntax
Exactly. Problem solving is the heart of programming.
Umm kinda? You can't solve a problem if you don't know and understand the syntax. It's both equally.
@@pearlsswine You can just google the syntax.
@@pearlsswine It really is both for the first language, since the second and third you already know what to expect it to have or how to look for it(example: when I learned what constructors were in c++ it was really frustrating beacuse of the syntax and the concept, but when i wanted to learn that in python the only challange was to google what syntax does python have for constructors and what is different from c++)
True ... Problem solving and data structures are the fundamentals of everything
What you are saying is right but I’m at the stage that I still need to grind through my Udemy courses to get my foundation set. After I make an app I reward my self and try to make something fun. Man I feel like I’ve been a beginner forever though.
It's a year ago now, but I hope you can look back today at what you wrote back then and retrace your steps and refactor the code that you wrote a year ago and see how much you've actually improved. I've been in the business for way too long I often look back at code that's 1-10 years old and ask myself "what idiot wrote this code" and in the top of my file I often find my own name.
A good programmer never stops developing, this applies to both code and coding skill, never forget that.
I have been a programmer for quite a while. I've tried lots of ways to learn. I think the number one way to learn is to just try and build something. You'll be googling stuff like crazy and you might not understand exactly how every little piece of code works at first but it will get you much further than just watching videos. I think videos are helpful for learning basic concepts and later trickier concepts but the bulk of the learning comes from doing. I do also like to read quite a bit to understand the possibilities of a language. It's like discovering new words in a novel, you'll never use words that you've never heard of, you have to have some exposure to them some how.
This right here! Programming is definitely learn by doing, yes there are useful philosophies that will help as you get better, but the magic happens by doing.
😁 10:12
You know, I thought for sure I’d be brought up in one of the “Day in the Life” videos before this one haha
It is hard to resist. I sort of want to roast your skillshare parking lot spot. But you're a chill dude. 🤣. Also you got 100k quick super. I'm jelly.
@@JoshuaFluke1 It's worthy of a roast. I appreciate you resisting the urge.
Thanks! At your pace, you'll be there real soon. You have some crazy growth going on!
you guys are awesome! keep up the work :)
Hey Forrest!
Welp that didn't age well
Watching this remembered me a teacher I had in the university. He always said us to find a solution to some codding problems using any language, any build form, there weren't rules or a list to the things to do, just a problem. He was teaching us how to solve a problem by ourselves, and I didn't notice.
"We're all self taught." True. For anyone interested in Lambda School, just know that it is basically an online course with a live component. You interact via chat with other students and you are held accountable because they track attendance.
But don't think that just because you're going through a bootcamp means you're gonna be handed the knowledge... still gotta go through the process of learning it, and that's all on you. If you don't or worse, CAN'T keep pace with the rest of the class you will get left behind... And you'll still be stuck with the ISA.
Follow Josh's advice. Find stuff and break it, then build it and rebuild it. You'll learn quicker.
This is one of the best videos I've seen regarding how to actually USE tutorials. I think they're useful, but only if you go back and play with what was taught. It seems a LOT of people think going through tutorials as fast as humanly possible is some sort of accomplishment to brag about. It's not.
Agreed
This guy is REAL af !!! I mean those are my exact thoughts when studying programming. Damn i wish i knew that 7 years ago !!!!!!
There were multiple reasons that I dropped out of college but I'm definitely not motivated to go back and get into a ridiculous amount of debt. Some professors actually teach and explain things but some of the best universities in the world have free online courses. Buy the textbooks and just do the work! Once you're confident enough to understand the course go apply what you learned.
I created a shell in python with a command history feature. I learned what it takes to implement different commands like cd and ls. I learned how to read/write to/from a file in python and how to jump to specific lines. I wrapped all of that up in a class. Next I want to embed this shell in a web page using something like Flask. Its all about breaking up a larger problem into small goals.
How's your progress so far??
The first language every programmer learns is stackoverflow
if you can find a small company which require you to do multiple things, you can learn more in 1 month than in 1 year of college IMHO.
Great video BTW.
This video would've been life-saving 2 years ago.
BSc Software Dev, what useful I learned in the 4 semesters:
Assembly, Hardware studies, C, C++, Java (only very introductory), System development (Agile Scrum Kanban, GIT, all that stuff, actually a very very useful course), and some math/logic that can be used for optimizing workflow/software. Pretty much things I could've learnt in 2-3 months at home WHILE working at some poor student job like a restaurant, or warehouse.
What useless things I learned in the 4 semesters:
20 metric tons of math and statistics nobody in the industry does on paper anyway. But I spent numerous all-nighters just to pass. Now I can do advanced integration and derivation when they wake me from my sleep, have PTSD just seeing the symbols. But hey, I don't necessarily need to include a well-optimized library to do it instead of me.... oh wait.
While by word the former seems to be more, the real ratio is more like 20% to 80% to math.
Right now spending the summer teaching myself from online sources, through friends in the industry and doing personal projects trying wanky stuff. If all goes well I can potentially enroll as a Jr dev or atleast get an internship to get a kick-off, in like a year or so. Doing it day and night, and your videos really keep me going.
We should learn in this way:
1. Programming language structure(commands, data types, methods, functions etc.)
2. Algorithms & Data structures
3. Specific projects and applications of a programming/scripting language.
Sometimes just having a project is better. You focus on the project and learn what you need on the fly
What do you mean by algorithms and data structure?
@@pearlsswine A data structure is something like an array, arraylist, hashmap. Algorithms are just sets of instructions to complete a task, like a for loop and what goes on inside of a for loop.
@@pearlsswine you need algorithm and data structures for a good flow of your code, james kevlin is right of what's algo and data structure.
What exactly do you mean by algorithms? I rarely go beyond a for loop, I'm mostly stuck doing Azure stuff nowadays..
Tinder for food GOT IT! I Will call it Tender! C:
Chicken Tinders
Does it have breasts?
A video game already made a fake app called Tender. LIU, it was a promo thing for a game called V:TM Bloodlines 2. Granted, it was fake, but they might have copyrighted it.
But is it as good as Shazam for food? Not a hot dog.
@@ubersneak trademark* not copywrite
The Japanese have a very good term for this ChuHaRi which roughly translates to
Chu: Learn the rule
Ha: Follow the rule
Ri: Become the rule.
Wow, that's too damn long meaning for every syllable
So it translate to second nature
Omi wa mou shinderu
@@Ri-Action お前はもうばかやろ
Comment for the algorithm, don't demonetize my boy!
With HTML/CSS it was easy for me. But with JavaScript I’m stuck in tutorial hell. I know the syntax but when im trying to JS part of the project My mind is blank.
Same here 😩
same here same here
I’m finding CSS very hard and confusing at times. Especially layouts and positioning.
It’s really hard. Just find some Udemy tutorials. They cover a shit ton of stuff like developing a game etc. As far as from scratch stuff. I still don’t know how to do a great project from start to finish. Go to school to build your credentials
Probably because JS is actually code while html/css is just design. I would recommend trying to learn the fundamentals of coding before hand.
This was exactly my problem I didn’t realize that college was about teaching yourself not actually learning from a lesson. I went through one of the worst professors for both computer science and physics I got it though just from doing it myself which still pissed me off considering I had to pay for that shit. Shoulda done something that doesn’t require any knowledge or skills at all like business
5:30 "...some one dropped me on my head as a kid" 🤣🤣🤣 , thats also how i feel when i deal with JS
I built just everything I wanted. When I Iearned C# I made 2 bots that play rock, paper, scissors xD
I didn't care if it was kinda useless. I just had fun and it was interesting ^^
Gotta try dat
imma try that
Imma try that
imma try that
Imma try that
Not gonna lie, your videos have a rewatch quality, months later I'm able to appreciate your ideas in a different way, definitely needed this, thanks.
Tutorial hell happens to everyone.
When I was learning Java + Selenium, at some point I jumped on JavaScript and many blocking points disappeared.
You got me thinking about finishing my app and add to my resume. Thanks!
Facts. There’s a difference between just seeing things and knowing enough to synthesize new working products or features.
Tutorials, in my understanding, have the intention to teach you syntax and how to apply that syntax in example projects. You're not immediately a developer after taking a course, you need to learn to think like one and solve problems using the syntax you learned from the tutorials. Unfortunately, tutorials can't teach you how to think like a developer, that all comes from your style of problem-solving and syntax being a tool to solve those problems. So don't look for more tutorials after your first one, look for problems to solve.
Josh, great advice. I personally like working backwards, for example if I am working on a tutorial and the instructor uses an array, if I am not sure what an array is and when to use it, I perform research on arrays, and then continue with the tutorial.
I love the idea of making a project and just learning along the way. I'm starting to learn web development and I've decided to try and build a password manager because i feel as if it will give me a good experience of both front and back end.
This is so true. Most of the material out there will not get used. I think each individual must search for what they want to learn. I mainly focus on javascript and that helped me out.
Couldn't agree more that college is basically: paying for someone to tell you which book to read, and your degree doesn't mean you know what you're talking about.
I was ridiculously demotivated when a tutorial I followed didn't work at all. I retried it, rewrote the code, double checked, looked around on forums for people with similar problems, but couldn't find any solution that worked. I spent way too much energy to fix that stupid problem. It wore me down and I eventually gave up after a few days and I started watching another tutorial on youtube instead.
After watching this, I may just follow your example and just start making whatever I want, instead of copying some other dude's project and the way they code. I think I know enough to get started at least and then just take it from there.
Thank you for the awesome video! This may have been just what I needed :)
I started taking a Java certification program at my Community College this semester and its true that you're basically self taught. I was completely new to programming at the start of the semester. We're only in class for an hour and a half, one time a week. Our Java instructor will run us through what the current chapter we're reading that week is about. He'll write an example program that corresponds with what we'll learn from reading the chapter.
From there we're supposed to read through the chapter and apply what we've learned in order to complete our lab assignments. Of course those lab assignments are more indepth than the couple blocks of code the instructor showed as an example in class because he'll attach additional criteria that may not have been shown in class at all. The main issue for me comes with balancing all the course work.
Im taking 3 classes in total this semester in order to attain my Java certification. The Java course being my major, as well as a web programming class based primarily on PHP, and the basics of HTML and CSS for client/server applications. I find it difficult having to push out multiple lab assignments per class each week. I'm only able to allocate a certain amount of time for each class every week and if I'm struggling on a program its isn't always beneficial to reach out to our instructor(the Java instructor specifically) because most of the time im given half baked responses and of course the instructor has plenty of emails from other students in his class.
Our Java instructor says he wants us to "fail forward" through trial and error which i completely understand however, again. If I have multiple assignments from other classes to complete in the same week. I'm not always allowed the proper time to simply "figure it out". Which is only worsen by the fact of possible failure of any of the courses. If I don't have a certain amount of credits by the end of the year, I won't get my certification until I attain the proper credits. Which would enviable cost more money. This isn't necessarily a problem by the instructor but more so by the education system.
I'm thankful that I'm not actually failing any of my classes, but this entire journey has just been an ordeal. However in light of all the struggles, all the hardaches and head banging. I can honestly say that I do NOT regret studying software programming and I do honestly enjoy what I'm learning. I'm determined to make a career of this. Because I was tired of where I was in life, and even just in this semester alone I've grown as person more than I have over the last few years.
Lmao "Java Certification". This aint Cisco Networking. What a scam.
Fully agree, I’ve been self teaching for about 18 months and have just landed my second dev role, the part where you talk about the process of breaking and fixing and seshing stack overflow... so true, but it’s talking about that process in the interview that has gotten me both jobs... because the guy sitting across the table is like “well that’s what we do”
Im self taught... Keep it simple... Build something simple with what you know... learn something new... rebuild your initial project with what you just learned; even if it doesn't belong. The idea is you know how to use it as your building this project of yours... rinse and repeat till you can't add any more to that project. Then start a new project... Simple is better than complicated ;)
So true, first I started trying to learn JS and was super overwhelmed by all the new concepts and disconnect between actual projects. Then I switched over to python and was still struggling to actively use all the concepts. But I persisted trying to build simple apps in Python and automate some of my work tasks and things just started to click. Now I'm just trying JS again and understanding it so much more and having those aha moments of how to do something with a certain concept! So, don't fret! Those fundamental concepts that don't make sense now are going to be stewing in your subconscious and when you persist and struggle through all of a sudden you'll start connecting those ideas and concepts!
me too. somehow "wasting" my time on C# and Java made me understand JS concepts like inheritance naturally. Trying to implement functional paradigm in a predominantly object-oriented language is mind-blowing and vice versa.
love the vid Josh. TH-cam played techleads and jomas ad before the vid.
hope it'll pay you better than other ads.
Exactly. You have to actually think through your code and work on modifying the flow of your code by using logical steps.
This happens to me a lot while I am learning to code. It helps me to go line by line and follow the logic.
It's good to watch tuts but it's better to actually pause the videos and take notes and work on the code. You nailed it. You gotta play with the code and not copy someone else the whole time.
I had a hard time learning Python until I found it in Blender (3D modelling software) and started learning accessing models data (using python) then write all data in binary to a file then made an importer in C++, this made both 3D modelling and programming more interesting/understandable, so now I really want to turn Blender into the Game resource manager and just place start and goals in Blender then press export the whole (or multiple) scene(s) and have my Direct3D11 program take care of the rest.
Wow I really needed this. I'm at the 'did i get dropped on my head' stage. So great to hear an expert being lost/feeling stupid. Keep up the good work. Subscribed.
So glad you made this video. Didn't even know I was stuck in something like this. Great content, Josh!
I think people get so mad at themselves for not being able to code from scratch, and it's a super common thing.
Incredible, Great advice! and this was exactly the reason why I gave up on programming for five years.
Maybe it would be a good idea to first start out researching what you can do with code instead of directly jumping into coding into a random language. Based on that it also makes much more sense which language to pick instead of picking a random one.
I read at first that JavaScript was easy and the most used programming language, so thought that it would be fun and easy to start out with it after I learned some HTML and CSS which I considered easy. When I got stuck there I could easily find answers online.
But when I started out with JavaScript it was more difficult. I quickly figured out that pure JavaScript was too difficult for me as a beginner. And at first I didn't want to "cheat", so tried to not use libraries. But failed to build something as simple as a button that could change background colors.
I had eventually given up on JavaScript, and since my interests are more in the areas of scraping data of the internet, data analysis, and building GUIs. I decided to learn Python instead. I'm still learning, but I like it a lot more than JavaScript so far. And now, I do use libraries because I read on the internet that you can't do much with pure Python. Now I'm finally starting to understand a little bit of the code I copy paste. And know what to manipulate or what to search for online.
Thank you! I needed this! You’re awesome!👏🏾
"Monkey see monkey know"
Legit laughed out loud IRL
MarineFocus we need to make a shirt that says this
You cant laugh out loud in the virtual world...
@@flyrefly A cool idea for a start up
yeah it was random and funny
I absolutely love this video! This is an experience that literally every single programmer will deal with at a certain point in time and something that is not talked about often enough. Thank you for shedding some light on getting into programming
this is very true about udemy courses. I personally try to add layers of complexity to all the courses by:
- using git everywhere
- tracking package versions
- environment control using docker and ngrok
- add tests where possible
- lecture notes as markdown
- never read solutions before you do it yourself
- push to github when done for future reference
it takes longer than just watching, but you can feel confident your code will run anywhere.
Ugh that sounds like work. Tests...
Your comment is on point. Never just watch tutorial and say "yeah, I know this". Always try to code with tutorial because you will remember it better. If you just watch it, I bet you will forget it after 5 mins
This video needed to come out like 4 years ago when I badly needed to hear this! Still thank you!
Thank you so much! I needed this video so much and was looking forward to it. I love you Josh, keep up the hard work 😄❤
no no, thank you.
Thank You for this video!
I am trying to get into coding / Data Analytics _again_ and made it further than on my last few tries, but I have been feeling the "drinking from a fire-hose" again lately..
I'll definitely re-watch this whenever I start feeling exasperated by the good old "well I memorized this now, but wtf do I do with it" or the "wtf kind of requirements do they have for this entry-level job"
I can confirm that everyone is self taught. I'm currently a CS student as university. While I do learn a lot from my classes most of the stuff I actually use at work I either taught myself or learned in the job.
@Joshua -- i'm one of the many that lost his job to "COVID workforce cutbacks" and I'm currently trying to learn how to code and today, I really needed this in your face video. Keep it up.
I found you recently and think your style is pretty cool. We might be the same age actually? I've been down tutorial hell before but I found that after completing one, I try to apply it to my work to solidify some of my understanding.
Not a developer but all of this advice transfers over in terms of creativity and learning. great vid :)
I had a programming interview how I would go about building a website like Facebook.
Tell the interviewer to fuck himself.
Hey
Thank you for that video, I am actually in the middle of learning JavaScript
I just started learning web development (3 months ago), and I am now frustrated with those loops and methods...
I thought I was dumb before watching your video but now you really gave me a good push to keep going
Thank you
3:20 to 3:25 was like the best moist cr1tikal impersonation ever.
fuck, that DOES sound like Charlie
Yes :p
but does he realize?
Excellent advice! I've been developing for 20 years and I would echo Joshua's comments. Key points in my mind are truly developing an understanding of what you're doing and why it works. As Joshua said, after you copy/paste your code or type in your tutorial, try modifying things, try breaking things on purpose, etc. that will help develop understanding. And definitely teaching or explaining things will help your coding immensely. Google "Rubber Duck Debugging" to see the classic story of how simply explaining your problems to a rubber duck can help solve them. It gets your mind working through the problems and breaking them apart.
When I started college, I would try to teach my friends some simple concepts, like arrays, to try to grasp them better. I was shutdown so fast everytime.
I just subbed. You verified my intuition that I need to make these tutorial programs my own, both to learn the systems better and so I do not embarrass myself. You brutally critiqued some portfolio websites and that was an eye opener for me. "You got guts, man, for posting this." No I do not. I want to do it right.
I'm going to make a site with my best programs, including e-commerce. Because I got the database connections and interactivity down pretty good now I want to add security and data validation, etc., and JavaScript/AJAX, which I am weak in. UI work from a prototype or mockup looks like a necessary skill to complement my back end programming skills. I need work on that too while still progressing in PHP and/or python.
I'm currently stuck in a udemy loop 😅
Yo, your videos really have hit home for me! A lot of people skip over when or why you’ll need something. You’ve been a eye opener for me and I appreciate what you do and you! Thank you!!!
This is what (and why) I did when I started to learn new lenguages/technologyes
1) Think to something new/original
2) Find the way to achieve it
3) Learn those new knowledge
4) Start my project from scratch found around on the net
5) Try... Try... Try again and... Achieve my original and never-made-before project
I did it with Lua, I did it with JavaScript, I did it with Unity/Games/App, I did it with IoT projects (Arduino, ESP8266), maybe if I will have enough time before finding a job I will do it with HTML/CSS/Wordpress sites, and maybe C#
I needed this. Thank you.
I'm one of those lucky few who got a client on the first project, so I'm learning while earning already. It ain't much but it's honest work. I still feel like I know nothing, which is why my client is making a shitton of money off of me while I am interviewing for a side hustle in 2 days. But it's a good way to get started I guess and once I feel confident that I can deliver stuff in under 4 weeks time (one page, come on, that can be done faster) I'll ask for more. Anyways, no one is probably gonna read this, but I figured I#ll give back by commenting for the algorithm.
Cheers
Exactly how i learn. Spent two weeks on tutorials, then right into building a thing.
I've been stuck since 1995 in books, tutorials etc. "Time to move on finally"
Also don’t worry about you don’t know when learning, if you wait until you think you are ready to do a big project you will never get to it.
One project when you start programming is a converter from Celsius to Farhentheit and from Farhenheit to Celsius.
First, you will put the inputs that the user has to make, then the loops and then if the inputs are strings instead of numbers you have to avoid the converter to crash. It's a first good project to start a language.
Doing a loop with limits to convert from one ti abother and use a regex to no accept strings and if there is show a message. That can be an easy solution I think.
In JavaScript if a string input is solely numbers it will convert to numbers anyway so that won’t be an issue
@@lilpickle5764 Yes but in Java, C++, C#, C etc... you need to convert the type of the variable if you don't want "5" instead of 5.
I feel personally attacked because this is me with my udemy course zero to hero in python 😂😂 this has motivated me to get out my arse and just be more independent.
Thanks!! Great video
Solid advice man! Learning anything, especially programming definitely requires practice. It's a great start to go through tutorials and work along the code because it helps with fundamentals like figuring out things like how to route using express or how to structure directories for example, but after that, when you sit down and start building your own project and you realize that there's a lot more involved , that's when you truly learn. The key is practice, practice, practice.
Everyone here is a self-taught developer!!
Very good video. I've been in college for a total of four years, changed path from game dev to web dev after two years where focus were a lot more on making projects, which felt a lot more relevant. Just landed my first job as a system developer probably thanks to our group project that we made!
"If you understand the logic then every thing is just a variable" A famous saying of Brad
This video is sooooo true. Nobody talks about it, and it is a real problem for people who wants to get in! Thanks Josh
In my opinion, one of the best ways to start learning is when you start building a particular section by yourself before watching a tutorial . For an example , If you are doing a user authentication course , once you have reached registration part of the course, perhaps you can build the registration form and logic by yourself first before proceeding to watch the tutorial. If you are stuck, google the answer, search stackoverflow, if you are still struggling after 30 minutes, then you can proceed to watch the video tutorial. There is no shame in watching the video as long as you give an honest try. At least now you know what you don't know and when you do find a solution to the problem , you will memorize it.
Yep, first practice then theory.
I love how authentic you are josh.