Biggest trap for me has been the "I'll just take a break for a few days and then pick back up right where I left off trap." Well a few days turns into a few weeks because there's always something coming up that gives me an excuse for why it's just not a good time to practice coding, and then next thing you know it's been almost a month and I've forgotten everything I learned and I have to open up a new tutorial from the beginning and then I'm stuck on tutorial treadmill. Do not take long breaks (meaning multiple days at a time) when you're learning. Even if you can only do like a half hour on one day, do it. Keep it fresh in your mind or else you will forget it.
Yep, this is me right now. I don’t really have a choice, I get money taken away if I don’t prove any progress, but it’s so overwhelming and with the holidays happening I completely fell off. I’ve barely started to begin with, I’m as noob as it gets, and I fear I won’t be able to force myself and then have to face the consequences. It’s really starting to get to me, especially since I chose coding out of interest, but it quickly turned into a burden and an energy thief :/
That's called catastrophizing, when use a negative event or really anything as a reason to procrastinate, or put aside something challenging until the next day. Can happen with anything (exercise, cleaning etc) I think it's always important to have no more than 1-2 days off from something tough otherwise it can be hard to get back on the horse
Take it from someone who learned how to code without the help of anyone: Coding is not too different than things you already know, it's just a language used to express your understanding of how to solve a problem, the first step is to "imagine" the steps of solving the problem in your head, you can do that using "common sense" and step by step procedures of breaking down a complex parts into smaller ones, after that what is left is learning what keys to press on your keyboard to "translate" the solution into computer language. you will NEVER be able to code something that you didn't solved in your head firsthand.
Have to be able to break it down in to logical small steps. The smaller and easier the tasks the smoother the project goes. But it’s takes experience for that lol
The reason that most people fail to learn programming and become developers is the same reason that most people fail to learn other things like, playing the piano, speaking French etc. The reality once the excitement is over is that it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and huge amounts of determination. Most people don't have that and they give up as soon as things get difficult.
Learning French is way easier though. As an English speaker, you can invest your time during the ''excitement stage'' into learning basic grammar and pronunciation rules, and later on, when your ''honeymoon phase'' is over, you still can listen to audio lessons and then to audiobooks in French during your work commute for 3-4 years and talk to yourself from time to time in French and voilà, you've invested 1000+ hours into learning French with no effort and can speak it. With programming, though, you need to actively use your PC\Laptop to actively write code for hundreds of hours. You can't just casually write code on your way to work, while you can casually learn French on your way to work.
I think many people who try it out for fun will fail at it. I am enjoying programming so far (with my fair share of hating it also) however, I'm a student whose field is CE and since I HAVE to learn how to code to get a job in the future, I have no other choice but to do so. If it's just a hobby, good luck with it. There's basically a reason why almost every person I know who learns how to code on the side without anyone's help will keep bugging me how I have to turn my hobbies to a means of gaining money. Like I get it, your hobbies can get you big bucks, but not all of them are for making money -_-
Trying to learn through complex tutorials makes things much more difficult. To learn quickly you need to have quick wins that motivate you to keep learning. I did struggle for 1 year with long tutorials and couldn`t learn anything. I was so frustrated. What was game changing for me was learning through Books that have interactive content. Those that make you write and test the codes by yourself on each chapter. This is the best way to learn because it gives you quick wins as soon as you learn a new concept. Edit: For those asking, the books that made me learn were "Javascript In Less Than 50 Pages" and "Smarter Way to Learn Python". Once you get the basics, learning anything else becomes much easier.
I added to your comment, which you make a strong point and I've forgotten my past ways of learning... Through books. Besides, through out history how else did people learn, but through books. I'll look at what you recommended, maybe a few others, and find that one book to build on... Thank You.
7:28 1.mindset: dont be discouraged.keep trying 2.tutorial treadmill : watching too much tutorial,not doung anything 3.not chosing a niche: instead of considering all languages, master one technology 4.try to do it alone
I started learning coding last year around November. Started with HTML and CSS and at first I only watched videos and then practiced coding. It didn't stick. So what I found that worked was I would first learn the simple tags, stylings, flexbox and etc. Then I would go into VS code and literally mess around with the code. It kept me interested because I would constantly wonder "what would happen if I changed this". There was a lot of "Ohhhhhh" moments but man did I learn more. Now I'm jumping into JS. Wish me luck!
"Watching tutorials, and then feeling dumb when you go on codewars and can't solve the simple challenges".. This one hit hard. I really think I have a good understanding of the fundementals of the programming language I study, but it's been so discouraging when I've been presented with a simple problem to solve, but I can't think of a good way to approach it. One thing is learning the language, but you also need to start to think like a programmer. Break down a problem to simple steps, and make it work step by step. This is where I struggle. Allright, this was the last video I will watch for today. On to the practice!
I totaly agree and I even have experiance in VBA programming - and still cant figure out how to tackle easy issues. But I can write awesome automation programs in Excel - go figure
It's absolutely unreal when you got a skill, that owns you forever ... If you do not train it costantly, probably your brain will cancel it at certain point, this occurs for all language you learn, except the native one.
Negative. Even the native one can get cancelled due to alzheimer or if you switch to another language due to moving and stopped using the old (reading it and talking and listening) (this almost never happens because most people stay in contact with people who speak it)
@@symix. I think it could happen with children who moved really early from their native country to another one, so yeah, they could forget their native tongue but with adults i don't think forgetting it to be possible. Consider that i still know my region dialect (i'm italian) which i never practiced but i used to listen when i went to my grandparents house ... many years ago. So yeah, the mother tongue i think it's impossible to forget.
@@thingsofmoscow People who go deaf forget how to speak properly, the reason we remember our language is because we're constantly hearing ourselves speaking it
I never learned anything from a tutorial. I thought of something I wanted to build and began building it. When I needed to know how to do something, I googled it. I retain knowledge much better by doing it myself.
Same here (except for the very basics perhaps). Plus if I have trouble grasping a particular concept, I need something that I can dissect to find out what is being done, then draw my own conclusions and find a way to use it for my purposes. The fun part of dissecting foreign code is that you also tend to find potential issues in it, which in turn is prompting you to find a way to fix them.
I've been programming for over 11 years and am finishing getting my HBSc in CS, and my best suggestion is a text book that teaches you the structures and ideas of programming with simple code (or even multiple languages) so you understand the structure. I recommend the "beginning programming for dummies" because it's easy to read and provides tons of examples with multiple languages in each section so it drills the importance of the idea/structure rather than the language itself.
My first language was C. I learn by reading about the components of the language such as variables, conditions, loops, structures, etc. studying code from examples, and was given problems to find a solution, like table games to play on the terminal. I had to study how a game work and it’s rules. And find my way to mount the game using the language. Programming is all about problem solving and knowing how to use the computer recourses in the best way possible, by having a good understanding of the computer and the programming language recourses. Programming language is just a tool for problem solvers(programmers) to tell the computer how it has to do.
@@noodlechan_I’m currently studying c and I’m finding it very difficult. Please can you give me any advice on how I can improve. My knowledge is very limited and I only know up to the basics of pointers and memory allocation in c. Please can you provide me any books or courses that helped you that will help me. Thank you.
@@emmanueldestin2353 if you didn't watch cs50 Harford lectures you should it starts with scratch then c it is really useful to me and i did understand alot that i didn't now about programming generally.
I think there's also a really big misconception about what coding actually IS. I've been wanting to code ever since I was 11 but I always thought it was just a language you had to learn really well and if you memorized all the keywords and syntax you'd be able to code. I'm a game programming student now and I've been coding seriously for about 3 years and god was I wrong about everything, and so are a lot of people as well. I was just reading books on how to learn Python but I never actually really wrote my own code, or else I would watch a step by step tutorial on how to code a discord bot in JavaScript but all I did was copy code that I didn't understand. I think beginners really need to understand that coding fundamentally is logic and problem solving. You want to make something work - how will you give out logic instructions to the computer that it can understand? It's also about knowing how to go look for answers, google things, do research - every programmer goes to look stuff up on google, you don't memorize everything by heart. So yeah like the video said, you really need to start writing your OWN code, it's really not that hard, you don't need to know about classes, polymorphism or pointers to make a simple sorting algorithm, all you really need is for loops, if/elses and arrays.
Programming is basically figuring out how to tell a computer how to do something, and the computer is absolutely brain dead and has absolutely no idea what youre talking about, and if you say "output a date" it will say "a date is not a string" and then you painfully have to walk it through teaching it how to output dates and every step of every tiny piece of logic. With the end goal of it one day being able to perform a simple task for you. Or at least thats been my impression of it 😅
I think you are lucky to learn this field so early. There's a y.t. where a Chinese girl, learned coding at 7, yes 7 years of age. But, you know the C are more studious and work harder than most. This young girl, older teaches coding at Harvard Un. it's like child's play to her. There you go folks.
That's true, i knew someone who was an expert at coding for websites. He still had some things he forgot even after 5 years of coding in the same language. If you know the basics is a good start, but i don't think is a shame to forget stuff.
@@luke5100they ask for 2 reasons. First some languages are the easier to learn because they aren't bogged down by lots of ridiculous syntax quirks. Second because the language you invest time into will ultimately result in a deeper understanding of how to use it vs another language and they want to pick one that is popular and opens the most career opportunities.
Thank you for this video, I needed this reset. I'm taking a course at Code Institute and I wouldn't have been able to know any of the things that I do have stored in my coding vocabulary without that help. The community is what does it, I don't feel like I'm contributing much atm, but I look forward to the day I can help someone with the problems I'm struggling with right now. So really thank you for this. And I hope learning Russian is going good for you.
I don’t care if I fail this time, because I know I will achieve my goals in the end. Once I had to implement an algorithm I thought would be impossible for me to understand and code out, but after 3 long months of researching and analyzing, I was able to implement the algorithm. During these 3 months I couldn’t put my mind off from thinking about the algorithm, even when I tried to sleep. Since that time I knew whatever obstacle comes in my way, I will make it in the end.
It's less about the goal and more about the process. Sounds cliche but it's true. Goals aren't going to drive you forever. You need to figure out how to be happy, content, and fulfilled on a daily basis. You need to truly know that, no matter what happens, you will be able to handle it without falling apart. Only then will you be able to put in the necessary work.
@@user-ok1xq5qm9t Proud programmers like you are usually bad at coding. You are so full of yourselves that you don't accept criticism and the rest of us are forced to clean up the messes you make. I'd rather a good algorithm that takes a month to create than a shit one that takes a day.
the niche thing is quite something you don't hear very often but still is pretty important. I am working as an algorithm developer in computer vision and for quite some time I was always very annoyed because I couldn't integrate the algorithms into certain application pretty good and started digging deeper into that direction, which led to worse results on my algorithm. One day a colleague told me, just hand it off to me and then you can focus on improving your stuff and it worked like a charm.
Second rule is so true, 4 days ago I had no experience in React, JS, CSS, etc, and I've been at it, and boom, now I'm implementing huge features to my software. You learn to code by programming and only googling and lookin for help when you're stuck. Watching 8 hour tutorials or reading boring books won't cut it my newbie amigos.
I think the niche part is a huge one. I am graduating my 4 year university next week, and for the most part we were taught general programming concepts ranging from algorithms to low-level programming, to data structures. Zero guidance on specific fields, we are not taught what an API is, we are not taught any front-end dev, or back-end dev. We are taught database querying with MySQL but nothing on how to use it or real applications for it. It wasn't until I landed my internship that I learned much more and actually began feeling confident in myself and my skills.
Same happened with me too!! After i joined my internship i had no idea how to do my tasks because we have learnt nothing about JavaScript, API, powershell and all so i was fucked. I am still struggling.
It boils down to the difference between "education" and "training". If you're anything like me, your career will be 40 +years, and every OS, tool, language, stack, API, etc that you use when you're a student at the start of your career will be completely obsolete by the time you reach the end. The basic concepts of algorithms, low-level and high level programming, data structures etc, are unlikely to change in 40 years, but the languages, tools, stacks, APIs etc will change. At university I was taught high and low level programming and a lot more, but I wasn't taught Pascal, Ada, C, C++, C#, Java or any of the other numerous high level languages I've used along the way, just as I wasn't taught any of the numerous assembly languages I've used for one project and subsequently forgotten. A good university course _educates_ you for life, but if you want _training_ then that's your responsibility.
Number 3 is a must. I can't tell you how many times I interview someone for a dev job and he has every technology listed on his resume. There is no way they have that much in depth experience, otherwise they would be an Architect. Go deep into one technology stack and then branch out. Focus your resume on the technology you know best.
I was in the middle of a javascript tutorial when i came across this, and i do intend to finish it but this is much closer to what i really needed! These resources will make my life so much easier. thank you very much!
I'm currently doing a bootcamp on web development and my niche is react, doing web design and mean stack in these classes and it's going to end this week. This video popped up in my feed and I'm glad to have come across it, couldn't agree more with what you said, these were really important steps to achieve the goals while studying programming. Subscribed.
In my opinion, programming is like other things people often fall out of, like going to the gym frequently, learning an instrument, learning to draw ect. Even if you think it would be a nice thing to be good at, as long as you dont enjoy the process, it will be a slow and painful experience. Why force yourself to do something you dont really enjoy? I think actually having fun and looking forward to the next time you're gonna train/learn and seeing yourself improve little by little every time, is key when you wanna do something like this. All artists, coders, sports people ect. I know, who are really amazing at what they are doing, are very passionate about what they are doing and started it as a hobby, because it interested them and they enjoyed the process behind it.
Lucy, the thing is learning an instrument, doesn't pay you $80K once you know it. Gym is for one's own health, still no one is going to pay you $80k to even teach the exercises. This is why everyone is so anxious to learn this trade, the pay is outstandingly good, from the start. The pressure is huge. Especially with economic backfall is awful. I understand people's attitude, I also was there, now I have personal issues I need to straighten out first, then I can continue. Good luck😎😎.
I think another problem is that there are people in this world who are wired to never enjoy any process. At least that’s what it seems like to me as I continuously spin my wheels getting nowhere in life.
@@Bromon655 I thought this was about not understanding programming, but yu may right. I think was that also. But, I believe that people are taught to be wired that way. Isn't that neg thinking? Right now, my life is a mess, but I have plans, it's called goals. Especially now that the economy is in such turmoil. I have been evicted at least three times in the last 3 years. But, I remain in the same old apartment. Don't forget your goals, try not to be discouraged. I'm really teaching myself to be more productive in life. Sorry such a long reply. I think almost everyone feels like you do. P.S. grocies are going up 50%, so happy summer. Buy bulk. 🤗😃.
day 1st with you Aaron and believe it not a last one!! Starting my studying with coding and later with programming too and it's just good karma to find someone like you! Thx mate! :)
Aaron you are awesome. I don't know how you have gotten so good at editing, but congrats on such an awesome channel. Thanks for the content my friend. See you soon!
I just started seriously diving in. Today I Paused the tutorial as it said it was going to make a Mad Lib, and decided to attempt completely on my own with what I knew from input values thus far. I know it wasn't much but it felt so much better that I did it without guidance and problem solved my own syntax mistakes.
Couldn't agree more. That general mindset of just focus on general programming works with huge companies who will essentially train or retrain you when you get there. Not everybody can get those jobs though. Smaller companies need more specific skills.
I disagree with him there. Even when you're learning a specific language when you start out, you should be abstracting everything out as a general programming skill. Not having this general programming mindset really limits your adaptability. Yes, businesses hire you to solve a specific need, but if you've abstracted your knowledge well enough you can pickup new stacks quickly. This makes employers happy and drastically widens your potential job prospects. These days I look at the most commonly used stack for a project type and jump in. Language, library, or platform knowledge limits are not too much of a concern overall if you're able to adapt your existing knowledge to them.
@@JimBob1937 Agreed. I wouldn't want to base my career around one framework that has no guarantee it will stay relevant. Even in the case of JS frameworks most companies I've applied to are fine if you know any one of them rather than a specific one. As for training, I don't need any formal training to pick up a new stack. On the other hand, I do see the problem of being jack of all trades, master of none, but as a full-stack developer I suppose the bigger picture is more important.
i am almost done with college and can call myself a software engineer within a few months. i totally agree on the part that you should do it together. i learned so many things from my class. work with different people to learn different styles. not even started as a professional but still i would suggest to do this for someone that has 0 experience in coding: Start with the basics. Line by line Dont expect to build a full app with connected database within a week (unless you copy all code) If you cant find an error within 15 minutes. Chill out. grab a coffee before trying to fix it again. dont start working on React, Angular, Vue etc when you dont have experience. And ask everything on the known platforms and socials. Yes some people will bitch about your question. However the really experienced programmers are happy to help with all kinds of questions
I think to most newbies, the hardest and most important step is to be able create project from scratch, normally after finish 2~3 projects from stratch, the newbies start to evolving to authentic programmers. Codewars is good for beginners, but nowdays due to these high demanding Recruitments, Leetcode practices are often an essential part of pre-job hunting preparation
The tutorial thread mil really hits me, i watched so many tutorials hoping ill get better at coding but instead im having thoughts of quiting because jt gets harder and harder that i cant process anymore. Thank you for this and i discover code wars i will start solving problem there to improve my skills.
Outstanding advice, Aaron, very specific, and as you said, unique. More than anything just sooooo practical. TY for the time you spend putting great vids like this out.
I avoided the "Tutorial Hell/Treadmill" by coding while watching a tutorial. I think it worked because I was not only learning how to write the code, I was also learning what it was doing and getting a feel for how the language's syntax worked.
I like the tutorials, I learn so much from them. More than from school.
2 ปีที่แล้ว +3
Awesome tips, I think we all have fallen in some version of one of these. I just want to add the fact that even if you fell on some of these it was not all “wasted” time. You learned something and now you can move on!
The choosing your niche thing is facts 💯. You really gotta narrow down your focus, I realized this recently. I took an intro to backend course this past semester and I loved it so I’m diving headfirst now into learning specific web-app frameworks like Spring for Java or Flask for Python, as well as ORMs etc.
Honestly I love looking up tutorials about programming in any way on TH-cam. It’s always fun following along with the videos and building the program together and understanding basic components. Been coding for about 1 year now and I feel like I’ve gotten tremendously better with simply following along worth tutorials and the combination of taking a C++ class at a community college.
Jeez this dude is awesome! Zero BS and always informative. Aaron you are awesome and I always feel super motivated after watching any of your videos man! Cheers from Australia!!
Great into, especially #3. Employers don't want a 'full stack' dev that has a basic understanding of front and back end. They want individual devs that specialize in an area.
@@emmetmccarthy2364 in the uk programming emoyment in general is getting harder to find all the time. Its being either offshored or done by cheaper onshore resourcing from Bangalore. If i was younger i'd be looking to get into something like business analysis. Age is a problem as well, almost nobody is interested in hiring 56 year old programmers in the UK. And to think i used to panic about being too old at 40!! 😃
Is this the whole job market in Europe or is it only in the UK. I’m thinking of going into this field however I’m afraid after a couple of years it will be hard to find a job as a older person.
@@seldom7288 Its especially bad in the UK because loads of people in Bangalore etc speak English. Almost none of them german, french etc. So ironically empire has shafted todays programmers through the ages. In the UK if I was to go into I.T. now i'd do one of the jobs that are slightly harder to offshore - business analyst, IOT, security etc. With the move to the cloud its getting harder to think of anything that cant be moved somewhere cheaper. But programming is always the first thing offshored, as the higher ups see it as a low level grunt task. On the last project i was on the programming was entirely offshored except for me, i was on it for interfacing and quality control and testing. But the onshore project presence was large - B.A's, testers, architects. My next project is the same. Ive just seen the cost sheets for the offshore programmers - £210 a day from the BIG suppliers. Its impossible to compete now. An onshore Euro guy from the same suppliers would be £8-900.
@@emmetmccarthy2364 This field is at the tippy top of the agism problem. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly incorrect to say it’s not a genuine concern.
Am learning python just for fun and i am not willing to take it as a future career so am not in a rush at all, i started learning python 4 days ago and i am really proud of printing some small stuff and creating some quizzes.
I think power of imagination is the key to be good programmer, like visualizing how classes link to each other in your brain and other best way you right, is about to sit down and do it and it wont be straight forward to understand you must create your own pattern to think it.
You are exactly right about finding a niche. I've been playing with python for a couple of years and not really getting much more than "fun projects" from it. I'm a data analyst and when I found out about pandas the light bulb lit above my head and I just took off! I've saved my team at least 40 hours a month by automating processes that they were doing in excel. It's not flashy or exciting, but it's *useful* and management loves me for it.
That...sounds fantastic. I'm only 2 weeks into Python lol but I've already heard various people describing the most exciting moment of their Python career being the moment when they discovered Pandas. Thank you for sharing your story, wish me luck and any advice you'd like to maybe give would be appreciated :)
@@Eterrath Good luck! Pandas is really fun and intuitive once you get past the initial learning curve. Just keep in mind, it's not a replacement for Excel, it's an automation tool. Import pandas as pd > pd.read_excel(), write up all of your changes > pd.to_excel(). You don't even need to open the file, and from that point on, just save it as a .py file and run it. The best advice I can give is to watch a few tutorials on Jupyter Notebook first. It makes working in python (especially pandas) so much easier!
I'm doing game programming, and I'm stuck at the same third trap the tutorial treadmill. I keep watching tutorials and following them step by step but at the end I either forget or can't do it alone making me un motivated.
I only start to be condifent on programming when I read codes from internet and after a few weeks I try to do that ALONE and I can. Its really good and works for me
Many of my early projects were spent trying to figure out so much other stuff and not actually programming so it was very slow and frustrating. If it wasn't my passion to learn programming, it would have been absolutely a big turn off for me so I can see why so many people can't get past the beginning as it takes a while for things to start making sense. Like he mentioned in the video, I had to choose a niche and learn one thing at a time to start progressing. I just started trying to make anything I could with the toolset I understood, learning small new things with each project. I really liked C++ so that's what I chose and the TH-cam channels The Cherno and ChiliTomatoNoodle helped me so much in understanding the language.
Great video, man. And you nailed it at the niche part: I get a bit anxious about getting told a phrase that goes like "being good at many things, but excellent at nothing". I'm not closing myself to opportunities, but it is true. It gets a bit discouraging to see so many things and not feeling capable to master, at least, the first steps on a track. To clarify, I'm aware there are job vacants that can push you to insanity with the list of requirements and skills, like if they wanted to have a generalist to cover all the needs. That's humanly too hard imho.
I might learn again in the future, but when I was doing this in college last semester I just wasn't loving it, coding was cool but I wasn't super excited about it and I was kinda struggling with answering questions with code. I've always liked Finance and how businesses worked since I was in high school so I switched over to Finance. I'm still going to code on my own though incase I ever start to like it so I can make a career out of it in the future.
FinTech can be a good option for you. Banks have bankers with no programming skills and are employing programmers with no banking experience. Be the bridge.
It's important to try to differentiate "not enjoying" something and just not understanding it or not being good at it. Often when people aren't good at something they translate that into "I just didn't like it". Thing is you didn't like it because you didn't understand. When you push through it and start understanding and building things, you begin to enjoy it. Anyway finance might pay more
@@theguy9067 I was actually able to understand it better than I thought I would and it was cool but it just wasn’t exciting me like I thought it would when I finished a project or figured something out.
I've been a programmer for almost 40 years now and I can tell you that there are two things to be aware of. Number one, most programmers are problem solvers by nature, they think in terms of problems and implications of those problems and their solutions, it comes naturally for them. Number two, you have to be a person who enjoys mental work, the ability to hash and rehash solutions, to be able to mentally juggle multiple views and ideas at the same time, to be willing to be stubborn and dogged in pursuit of a problem. The person who takes to first "apparent" answer and then moves on is not going to make a very good developer. While it doesn't mean that you must be good at math or physics, it does mean that you must be the type of person who will continue to re-evaluate the problem and not be afraid to work at getting the best solution. You have to enjoy doing puzzles and be one of those people who refuses to accept an answer from the person with the puzzle and prefers instead to work it out yourself and to understand the "why" of a solution.
I spent like 10 months just doing leetcode in python and c++, now I am focusing on making projects. Been working on a simple personal project for about 2 months now and it feels great to see all the knowledge be applied to something that can actually be comerciallly used!
Biggest trap for me is not having a goal of what framework or language to learn. It's the other technologies that need to be learned along with it, Git, Jenkins, Docker, Unit testing.
I agree with the niching down. But also don’t you run into the problem of niching down so much for such a long time that suddenly you don’t realize that your current skillset isn’t employable anymore?
The biggest thing here is practice - like he said about using Code Wars. Although some of them are really hard. Think of a problem that's /just/ above what you think you can do - and do it. E.g. write a program to output someone's star sign from birthday input. Using no IFs. Rinse and repeat for a while :) Also, if you're an an OOP kind of person get the Gang of Four's book and Fowler's "refactoring" or whatever it's called ( can't be bothered to go to my bookshelf and look ) !
I’ve been a dev for 20 years now and am self taught. There’s no secret, other than you need to love it and you need to be tenacious. For about 2 years I dedicated ALL spare time to learning and coding. Every night, every weekend. And the tenacity applies to the coding itself too. You just do whatever it takes to solve one problem, then move on to the next one until there are no more problems. But if you don’t love coding and are just doing it for the money, give up right now. You’re wasting your time. You’ve gotta have a passion for it. I still get a high off solving a complex problem or finally making something work.
It finally click into my brain a while back, but once that happens, do you really like the darn thing. Well, I do, I a very tech kind of person, every thing really needs to be exact, plus early on I get so into the computer world, that five hours have gone by and what happened. It is a form of creating on a computer and sitting or standing a lot. Some people can't take that. 😎😎
I just get scared and stress while doing programing i know html. And css and currently learning java and its hard and Everytime I fail to understand the code in front of me it makes me think like i haven’t learn a single thing all those hours of watching codes and written them was a waste😢
@@mohammadqudratullahbhuyan8262 Exactly, you did n't say if you were in school or on your own. This is a big reason why most people don't grasp the language. I'll be beginning a new program for programming to help people understand why they don't grasp this. I went through all of these problems and overcame them. NO, NO, not a waste. I think my program will be Tabathia & Friends. But, you'll know.
Not choosing a niche is what messed me up - but I managed to try things I didn’t end up liking, so that’s always a plus. So now I feel way more confident in pursuing frontend development now.
Insightful and helpful, I too am about 3 months into learning Russian and I am currently in the thought process of learning to program, code. I really appreciate the idea of looking at what you know now then what you did before, instead of the "i'm still pretty bad at this". I was getting overwhelmed learning Russian but thinking back 3 months ago I couldn't read Russian let alone understand the Cyrillic alphabet. So this small change in our thought process is really profound.
Все еще учишь русский? :D По-моему этот язык чрезвычайно сложен. Не знаю знаешь ли ты стримера Dizzy, он вроде как уже 6 лет учит русский язык и ему все еще очень сложно использовать русский язык как разговорный
im 15 now , i I've been learning for 1 year In beginnig its so difficult for me but now i love it and recently i made my first game Flappy Bird with Java
Numer 2 is actually very important, I was starting with the Unity game engine (just for fun, not for a career or anything), and I was simply overwhelmed by all the functions and stuff I was supposed to learn from a basics tutorial i found. So I decided to ditch the tutorial for the time being and create a simple project from scratch, and I did, I created a very simple pong game with animations and stuff and after that I felt more confident in learning new functionalities! I myself prefer to create things on my own, and to search for tutorials only when there is something i dont know yet
Unity and powerful game engines are insanely hard to learn. Insane frame pipelines. Pygame is quite nice for beginner programmers. Making a simple 2D tile based RPG doesn't require much engine knowledge.
@@Bvic3 unity is actually not that hard to learn tbh if you want to make simple games. Pygame is great I bet, but for some reason I cant install it lol
Biggest trap for me has been the "I'll just take a break for a few days and then pick back up right where I left off trap." Well a few days turns into a few weeks because there's always something coming up that gives me an excuse for why it's just not a good time to practice coding, and then next thing you know it's been almost a month and I've forgotten everything I learned and I have to open up a new tutorial from the beginning and then I'm stuck on tutorial treadmill. Do not take long breaks (meaning multiple days at a time) when you're learning. Even if you can only do like a half hour on one day, do it. Keep it fresh in your mind or else you will forget it.
I am in the same boat right now :/
same for me.
Best comment so far
Yep, this is me right now. I don’t really have a choice, I get money taken away if I don’t prove any progress, but it’s so overwhelming and with the holidays happening I completely fell off. I’ve barely started to begin with, I’m as noob as it gets, and I fear I won’t be able to force myself and then have to face the consequences. It’s really starting to get to me, especially since I chose coding out of interest, but it quickly turned into a burden and an energy thief :/
That's called catastrophizing, when use a negative event or really anything as a reason to procrastinate, or put aside something challenging until the next day. Can happen with anything (exercise, cleaning etc) I think it's always important to have no more than 1-2 days off from something tough otherwise it can be hard to get back on the horse
Take it from someone who learned how to code without the help of anyone:
Coding is not too different than things you already know, it's just a language used to express your understanding of how to solve a problem, the first step is to "imagine" the steps of solving the problem in your head, you can do that using "common sense" and step by step procedures of breaking down a complex parts into smaller ones, after that what is left is learning what keys to press on your keyboard to "translate" the solution into computer language.
you will NEVER be able to code something that you didn't solved in your head firsthand.
so true man, 100% agree
I learned this the hard way. That I can't just "memorize" my way to becoming good at coding.
Have to be able to break it down in to logical small steps. The smaller and easier the tasks the smoother the project goes. But it’s takes experience for that lol
Did anyone ever get help learning to code? it is a solo mission almost always..even listening to lectures isn't gonna imprint the problemsolving gene
@@ykpersson a mentor can help guide you so you waste less time learning than if learning by yourself
The reason that most people fail to learn programming and become developers is the same reason that most people fail to learn other things like, playing the piano, speaking French etc. The reality once the excitement is over is that it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and huge amounts of determination. Most people don't have that and they give up as soon as things get difficult.
Learning French is way easier though. As an English speaker, you can invest your time during the ''excitement stage'' into learning basic grammar and pronunciation rules, and later on, when your ''honeymoon phase'' is over, you still can listen to audio lessons and then to audiobooks in French during your work commute for 3-4 years and talk to yourself from time to time in French and voilà, you've invested 1000+ hours into learning French with no effort and can speak it.
With programming, though, you need to actively use your PC\Laptop to actively write code for hundreds of hours. You can't just casually write code on your way to work, while you can casually learn French on your way to work.
@@awesomebearaudiobooks personally it was easier to learn a programming language than French 😂
@@JuKoHD Hopefully, haha. I am starting to learn JavaScript.
This is me because I failed to learn the piano and learn French
I think many people who try it out for fun will fail at it. I am enjoying programming so far (with my fair share of hating it also) however, I'm a student whose field is CE and since I HAVE to learn how to code to get a job in the future, I have no other choice but to do so. If it's just a hobby, good luck with it. There's basically a reason why almost every person I know who learns how to code on the side without anyone's help will keep bugging me how I have to turn my hobbies to a means of gaining money. Like I get it, your hobbies can get you big bucks, but not all of them are for making money -_-
Trying to learn through complex tutorials makes things much more difficult.
To learn quickly you need to have quick wins that motivate you to keep learning.
I did struggle for 1 year with long tutorials and couldn`t learn anything. I was so frustrated.
What was game changing for me was learning through Books that have interactive content. Those that make you write and test the codes by yourself on each chapter. This is the best way to learn because it gives you quick wins as soon as you learn a new concept.
Edit: For those asking, the books that made me learn were "Javascript In Less Than 50 Pages" and "Smarter Way to Learn Python". Once you get the basics, learning anything else becomes much easier.
what are the book names please???
@@williamvikanstromsnes8162 Just giving you a notification, original comment added book names for you at the end of the comment
I just found a copy of the python book used on Amazon for $1.90!! Don’t mind if i do ;)
Glad you added the books, to say i used books and not mention them is like saying, the best way to New Your is to follow directions.
I added to your comment, which you make a strong point and I've forgotten my past ways of learning... Through books. Besides, through out history how else did people learn, but through books. I'll look at what you recommended, maybe a few others, and find that one book to build on... Thank You.
So, i took your advise and a couple days ago i had no girlfriends but, now i have a robot gf. Thanks man you helped me a lot
Damn man, how did the Valentine’s Day go?
@@theencryptedpartition4633 they go for version day not valentine day
where Im I ?
@@theencryptedpartition4633 I proposed but the robot replied saying "no"
@@saibadam more like print(“no”)
7:28
1.mindset: dont be discouraged.keep trying
2.tutorial treadmill : watching too much tutorial,not doung anything
3.not chosing a niche: instead of considering all languages, master one technology
4.try to do it alone
Thanks a lot 🙏
thank u oh my god
@@radicalied7144 are u ok
@@seargent_salute8336 no
I was stuck at 2 until I was encouraged build programs with the modules I learned while using the Tutorial
I started learning coding last year around November. Started with HTML and CSS and at first I only watched videos and then practiced coding. It didn't stick. So what I found that worked was I would first learn the simple tags, stylings, flexbox and etc. Then I would go into VS code and literally mess around with the code. It kept me interested because I would constantly wonder "what would happen if I changed this". There was a lot of "Ohhhhhh" moments but man did I learn more. Now I'm jumping into JS. Wish me luck!
good luck bro
Same here… my 5th day learning HTML and css.
how's is it going?
How you doing 5 months on mate?
how has it been going ?
"Watching tutorials, and then feeling dumb when you go on codewars and can't solve the simple challenges".. This one hit hard. I really think I have a good understanding of the fundementals of the programming language I study, but it's been so discouraging when I've been presented with a simple problem to solve, but I can't think of a good way to approach it. One thing is learning the language, but you also need to start to think like a programmer. Break down a problem to simple steps, and make it work step by step. This is where I struggle. Allright, this was the last video I will watch for today. On to the practice!
Feel the same :/
I totaly agree and I even have experiance in VBA programming - and still cant figure out how to tackle easy issues. But I can write awesome automation programs in Excel - go figure
Same problem mate lest do this s with practice
Read "how to think like a programmer" ~ V. Anton Spraul
same man, especially if you’re in a class and everyone gets it but you and you just start to lag behind…
It's absolutely unreal when you got a skill, that owns you forever ... If you do not train it costantly, probably your brain will cancel it at certain point, this occurs for all language you learn, except the native one.
true
Negative. Even the native one can get cancelled due to alzheimer or if you switch to another language due to moving and stopped using the old (reading it and talking and listening) (this almost never happens because most people stay in contact with people who speak it)
@@symix. I think it could happen with children who moved really early from their native country to another one, so yeah, they could forget their native tongue but with adults i don't think forgetting it to be possible. Consider that i still know my region dialect (i'm italian) which i never practiced but i used to listen when i went to my grandparents house ... many years ago. So yeah, the mother tongue i think it's impossible to forget.
@@symix. Yeah, with Alzheimer clearly you can forget anything, your name too.
@@thingsofmoscow People who go deaf forget how to speak properly, the reason we remember our language is because we're constantly hearing ourselves speaking it
I never learned anything from a tutorial. I thought of something I wanted to build and began building it. When I needed to know how to do something, I googled it. I retain knowledge much better by doing it myself.
Same here (except for the very basics perhaps). Plus if I have trouble grasping a particular concept, I need something that I can dissect to find out what is being done, then draw my own conclusions and find a way to use it for my purposes.
The fun part of dissecting foreign code is that you also tend to find potential issues in it, which in turn is prompting you to find a way to fix them.
IMO, best way of learning.
That’s how I learn too, and I’ve only been coding for a few months but I feel like I’ve gotten really far with python
@@sadieallen1305 Do you have any resources that I can utilize?
But how can you start building anything with code if you have never learned the concepts etc of it?
I've been programming for over 11 years and am finishing getting my HBSc in CS, and my best suggestion is a text book that teaches you the structures and ideas of programming with simple code (or even multiple languages) so you understand the structure. I recommend the "beginning programming for dummies" because it's easy to read and provides tons of examples with multiple languages in each section so it drills the importance of the idea/structure rather than the language itself.
who is the author?
@@xhuljanokarafilaj1727 Wallace Wang
My first language was C. I learn by reading about the components of the language such as variables, conditions, loops, structures, etc. studying code from examples, and was given problems to find a solution, like table games to play on the terminal. I had to study how a game work and it’s rules. And find my way to mount the game using the language.
Programming is all about problem solving and knowing how to use the computer recourses in the best way possible, by having a good understanding of the computer and the programming language recourses.
Programming language is just a tool for problem solvers(programmers) to tell the computer how it has to do.
@@noodlechan_I’m currently studying c and I’m finding it very difficult. Please can you give me any advice on how I can improve. My knowledge is very limited and I only know up to the basics of pointers and memory allocation in c. Please can you provide me any books or courses that helped you that will help me. Thank you.
@@emmanueldestin2353 if you didn't watch cs50 Harford lectures you should it starts with scratch then c it is really useful to me and i did understand alot that i didn't now about programming generally.
I think there's also a really big misconception about what coding actually IS. I've been wanting to code ever since I was 11 but I always thought it was just a language you had to learn really well and if you memorized all the keywords and syntax you'd be able to code. I'm a game programming student now and I've been coding seriously for about 3 years and god was I wrong about everything, and so are a lot of people as well. I was just reading books on how to learn Python but I never actually really wrote my own code, or else I would watch a step by step tutorial on how to code a discord bot in JavaScript but all I did was copy code that I didn't understand. I think beginners really need to understand that coding fundamentally is logic and problem solving. You want to make something work - how will you give out logic instructions to the computer that it can understand? It's also about knowing how to go look for answers, google things, do research - every programmer goes to look stuff up on google, you don't memorize everything by heart. So yeah like the video said, you really need to start writing your OWN code, it's really not that hard, you don't need to know about classes, polymorphism or pointers to make a simple sorting algorithm, all you really need is for loops, if/elses and arrays.
Programming is basically figuring out how to tell a computer how to do something, and the computer is absolutely brain dead and has absolutely no idea what youre talking about, and if you say "output a date" it will say "a date is not a string" and then you painfully have to walk it through teaching it how to output dates and every step of every tiny piece of logic. With the end goal of it one day being able to perform a simple task for you.
Or at least thats been my impression of it 😅
If there is one thing I learned to embrace in programming the „hard way“, There is always a library providing any problem Someone already solved
I think you are lucky to learn this field so early. There's a y.t. where a Chinese girl, learned coding at 7, yes 7 years of age. But, you know the C are more studious and work harder than most. This young girl, older teaches coding at Harvard Un. it's like child's play to her. There you go folks.
That's true, i knew someone who was an expert at coding for websites. He still had some things he forgot even after 5 years of coding in the same language. If you know the basics is a good start, but i don't think is a shame to forget stuff.
@@luke5100they ask for 2 reasons. First some languages are the easier to learn because they aren't bogged down by lots of ridiculous syntax quirks. Second because the language you invest time into will ultimately result in a deeper understanding of how to use it vs another language and they want to pick one that is popular and opens the most career opportunities.
the reason why I fail to learn programming is because I just listen to videos like this 24/7 instead of trying to learn lol.
😂
@@leah38521 still 0 progress btw
0:52 Growth Mindset (You ARE getting better)
2:10 Tutorial Hell (Tutorial Treadmill)
3:18 Not choosing a nichè
5:20 Trying to do it alone
Reality is: Lack of DISCIPLINE…
"Nuh uh I don't rack a disriprine"
Thank you for this video, I needed this reset. I'm taking a course at Code Institute and I wouldn't have been able to know any of the things that I do have stored in my coding vocabulary without that help.
The community is what does it, I don't feel like I'm contributing much atm, but I look forward to the day I can help someone with the problems I'm struggling with right now. So really thank you for this. And I hope learning Russian is going good for you.
I don’t care if I fail this time, because I know I will achieve my goals in the end. Once I had to implement an algorithm I thought would be impossible for me to understand and code out, but after 3 long months of researching and analyzing, I was able to implement the algorithm. During these 3 months I couldn’t put my mind off from thinking about the algorithm, even when I tried to sleep. Since that time I knew whatever obstacle comes in my way, I will make it in the end.
It's less about the goal and more about the process. Sounds cliche but it's true. Goals aren't going to drive you forever. You need to figure out how to be happy, content, and fulfilled on a daily basis. You need to truly know that, no matter what happens, you will be able to handle it without falling apart. Only then will you be able to put in the necessary work.
3 months for one algorithm? Maybe in the next 3 years, you will learn to do one script. keep up!
@@user-ok1xq5qm9t Proud programmers like you are usually bad at coding. You are so full of yourselves that you don't accept criticism and the rest of us are forced to clean up the messes you make.
I'd rather a good algorithm that takes a month to create than a shit one that takes a day.
@@matt2.019 You taking little poke jokes too serious.
Facts
*talks about the tutorial treadmill*
Me with 6 tutorial tabs open: "uh oh"
Edit: Please shut the fuck up… please
Only six??
Only six??
Only six?
Only six?
Only six?
the niche thing is quite something you don't hear very often but still is pretty important.
I am working as an algorithm developer in computer vision and for quite some time I was always very annoyed because I couldn't integrate the algorithms into certain application pretty good and started digging deeper into that direction, which led to worse results on my algorithm.
One day a colleague told me, just hand it off to me and then you can focus on improving your stuff and it worked like a charm.
Second rule is so true, 4 days ago I had no experience in React, JS, CSS, etc, and I've been at it, and boom, now I'm implementing huge features to my software. You learn to code by programming and only googling and lookin for help when you're stuck. Watching 8 hour tutorials or reading boring books won't cut it my newbie amigos.
It takes consistency and determination - It is not an easy feat for sure.
@@amethepuny2260 ai girlfriend
Great advice Aaron, completely agree with those points! Especially with moving away from tutorials after a while to code without any help. 👍
I think the niche part is a huge one. I am graduating my 4 year university next week, and for the most part we were taught general programming concepts ranging from algorithms to low-level programming, to data structures. Zero guidance on specific fields, we are not taught what an API is, we are not taught any front-end dev, or back-end dev. We are taught database querying with MySQL but nothing on how to use it or real applications for it. It wasn't until I landed my internship that I learned much more and actually began feeling confident in myself and my skills.
Same happened with me too!! After i joined my internship i had no idea how to do my tasks because we have learnt nothing about JavaScript, API, powershell and all so i was fucked. I am still struggling.
It boils down to the difference between "education" and "training". If you're anything like me, your career will be 40 +years, and every OS, tool, language, stack, API, etc that you use when you're a student at the start of your career will be completely obsolete by the time you reach the end. The basic concepts of algorithms, low-level and high level programming, data structures etc, are unlikely to change in 40 years, but the languages, tools, stacks, APIs etc will change. At university I was taught high and low level programming and a lot more, but I wasn't taught Pascal, Ada, C, C++, C#, Java or any of the other numerous high level languages I've used along the way, just as I wasn't taught any of the numerous assembly languages I've used for one project and subsequently forgotten. A good university course _educates_ you for life, but if you want _training_ then that's your responsibility.
Amazing. Clean, fun to watch and SO educational. Great job! Thanks you so much!!!!
Number 3 is a must. I can't tell you how many times I interview someone for a dev job and he has every technology listed on his resume. There is no way they have that much in depth experience, otherwise they would be an Architect. Go deep into one technology stack and then branch out. Focus your resume on the technology you know best.
You have gotten so much better when it comes to communication Aaron.
When you compare your first few videos with today it is night and day.
I needed to hear this, thank you.
I was in the middle of a javascript tutorial when i came across this, and i do intend to finish it but this is much closer to what i really needed! These resources will make my life so much easier. thank you very much!
I'm currently doing a bootcamp on web development and my niche is react, doing web design and mean stack in these classes and it's going to end this week. This video popped up in my feed and I'm glad to have come across it, couldn't agree more with what you said, these were really important steps to achieve the goals while studying programming. Subscribed.
You are definitely the most real one out there bro! Keep up the good work❤️
In my opinion, programming is like other things people often fall out of, like going to the gym frequently, learning an instrument, learning to draw ect.
Even if you think it would be a nice thing to be good at, as long as you dont enjoy the process, it will be a slow and painful experience.
Why force yourself to do something you dont really enjoy? I think actually having fun and looking forward to the next time you're gonna train/learn and seeing yourself improve little by little every time, is key when you wanna do something like this.
All artists, coders, sports people ect. I know, who are really amazing at what they are doing, are very passionate about what they are doing and started it as a hobby, because it interested them and they enjoyed the process behind it.
Lucy, the thing is learning an instrument, doesn't pay you $80K once you know it. Gym is for one's own health, still no one is going to pay you $80k to even teach the exercises. This is why everyone is so anxious to learn this trade, the pay is outstandingly good, from the start. The pressure is huge. Especially with economic backfall is awful. I understand people's attitude, I also was there, now I have personal issues I need to straighten out first, then I can continue. Good luck😎😎.
I think another problem is that there are people in this world who are wired to never enjoy any process. At least that’s what it seems like to me as I continuously spin my wheels getting nowhere in life.
@@Bromon655 I thought this was about not understanding programming, but yu may right. I think was that also. But, I believe that people are taught to be wired that way. Isn't that neg thinking? Right now, my life is a mess, but I have plans, it's called goals. Especially now that the economy is in such turmoil. I have been evicted at least three times in the last 3 years. But, I remain in the same old apartment. Don't forget your goals, try not to be discouraged. I'm really teaching myself to be more productive in life. Sorry such a long reply. I think almost everyone feels like you do. P.S. grocies are going up 50%, so happy summer. Buy bulk.
🤗😃.
You are human
day 1st with you Aaron and believe it not a last one!! Starting my studying with coding and later with programming too and it's just good karma to find someone like you! Thx mate! :)
Thanks for the advice. I'll focus on building up more personal projects from now on.
From one programming Aaron to another, thanks for making this video!!!
Thank you Aaron for sharing this precious advice!
Thanks for the insight!
Aaron you are awesome. I don't know how you have gotten so good at editing, but congrats on such an awesome channel. Thanks for the content my friend. See you soon!
BTW, Red Kalinka is an awesome course for Russian. One of the most well structured.
I just started seriously diving in. Today I Paused the tutorial as it said it was going to make a Mad Lib, and decided to attempt completely on my own with what I knew from input values thus far. I know it wasn't much but it felt so much better that I did it without guidance and problem solved my own syntax mistakes.
Great tips! I'll get that course of yours when I'm up and running
Good idea about community, well said!!
Couldn't agree more. That general mindset of just focus on general programming works with huge companies who will essentially train or retrain you when you get there. Not everybody can get those jobs though. Smaller companies need more specific skills.
can confirm, my first job was at small comapny, it was chaos, they don't have fucking 10 minutes a day for you :S
I disagree with him there. Even when you're learning a specific language when you start out, you should be abstracting everything out as a general programming skill. Not having this general programming mindset really limits your adaptability. Yes, businesses hire you to solve a specific need, but if you've abstracted your knowledge well enough you can pickup new stacks quickly. This makes employers happy and drastically widens your potential job prospects. These days I look at the most commonly used stack for a project type and jump in. Language, library, or platform knowledge limits are not too much of a concern overall if you're able to adapt your existing knowledge to them.
@@JimBob1937 Agreed. I wouldn't want to base my career around one framework that has no guarantee it will stay relevant. Even in the case of JS frameworks most companies I've applied to are fine if you know any one of them rather than a specific one. As for training, I don't need any formal training to pick up a new stack. On the other hand, I do see the problem of being jack of all trades, master of none, but as a full-stack developer I suppose the bigger picture is more important.
@@artojussilainen I mean just because you learn a niche to get a job doesn't mean you have to stick with it forever
Kp
Totally agree with everything ! Love your straight forward videos brings back the Code Drip days lovit man
Love your tutorials.
@@sogggy Wow thanks man 🤓✌
thanks for the recommendation on code wars, I've done some coding, but never stuck to it, so I appreciate this tip!
Thank you! I learned so much valuable stuff
i am almost done with college and can call myself a software engineer within a few months. i totally agree on the part that you should do it together. i learned so many things from my class. work with different people to learn different styles.
not even started as a professional but still i would suggest to do this for someone that has 0 experience in coding:
Start with the basics. Line by line
Dont expect to build a full app with connected database within a week (unless you copy all code)
If you cant find an error within 15 minutes. Chill out. grab a coffee before trying to fix it again.
dont start working on React, Angular, Vue etc when you dont have experience.
And ask everything on the known platforms and socials. Yes some people will bitch about your question. However the really experienced programmers are happy to help with all kinds of questions
I think to most newbies, the hardest and most important step is to be able create project from scratch, normally after finish 2~3 projects from stratch, the newbies start to evolving to authentic programmers.
Codewars is good for beginners, but nowdays due to these high demanding Recruitments, Leetcode practices are often an essential part of pre-job hunting preparation
The tutorial thread mil really hits me, i watched so many tutorials hoping ill get better at coding but instead im having thoughts of quiting because jt gets harder and harder that i cant process anymore. Thank you for this and i discover code wars i will start solving problem there to improve my skills.
Outstanding advice, Aaron, very specific, and as you said, unique. More than anything just sooooo practical. TY for the time you spend putting great vids like this out.
Familiarizing with your chosen proglang's syntax is really helpful. Especially for entry level devs.
Especially the vanilla syntax. I started with React and then went to Vue and i think i missed a LOT of core JavaScript fundamentals and syntax
Build a solid understandig of the language, & software engineering in general. And BUILD THINGS!
subscribed off of the information on this video alone CHEERS!! thank you for contributing to the community and contributing true value
Thank you, that niche point was really important.
I avoided the "Tutorial Hell/Treadmill" by coding while watching a tutorial. I think it worked because I was not only learning how to write the code, I was also learning what it was doing and getting a feel for how the language's syntax worked.
I like the tutorials, I learn so much from them. More than from school.
Awesome tips, I think we all have fallen in some version of one of these. I just want to add the fact that even if you fell on some of these it was not all “wasted” time. You learned something and now you can move on!
True!
The choosing your niche thing is facts 💯. You really gotta narrow down your focus, I realized this recently. I took an intro to backend course this past semester and I loved it so I’m diving headfirst now into learning specific web-app frameworks like Spring for Java or Flask for Python, as well as ORMs etc.
Honestly I love looking up tutorials about programming in any way on TH-cam. It’s always fun following along with the videos and building the program together and understanding basic components. Been coding for about 1 year now and I feel like I’ve gotten tremendously better with simply following along worth tutorials and the combination of taking a C++ class at a community college.
Jeez this dude is awesome! Zero BS and always informative. Aaron you are awesome and I always feel super motivated after watching any of your videos man! Cheers from Australia!!
Great into, especially #3.
Employers don't want a 'full stack' dev that has a basic understanding of front and back end. They want individual devs that specialize in an area.
This makes a lot of sense thanks.
"Programmer for 4 years"
Bless. Im up to 35 years now.
Jobs are getting scarce now at 56 years old...
@@emmetmccarthy2364 in the uk programming emoyment in general is getting harder to find all the time. Its being either offshored or done by cheaper onshore resourcing from Bangalore.
If i was younger i'd be looking to get into something like business analysis.
Age is a problem as well, almost nobody is interested in hiring 56 year old programmers in the UK.
And to think i used to panic about being too old at 40!! 😃
Is this the whole job market in Europe or is it only in the UK.
I’m thinking of going into this field however I’m afraid after a couple of years it will be hard to find a job as a older person.
@@seldom7288 Its especially bad in the UK because loads of people in Bangalore etc speak English. Almost none of them german, french etc.
So ironically empire has shafted todays programmers through the ages.
In the UK if I was to go into I.T. now i'd do one of the jobs that are slightly harder to offshore - business analyst, IOT, security etc. With the move to the cloud its getting harder to think of anything that cant be moved somewhere cheaper.
But programming is always the first thing offshored, as the higher ups see it as a low level grunt task.
On the last project i was on the programming was entirely offshored except for me, i was on it for interfacing and quality control and testing. But the onshore project presence was large - B.A's, testers, architects.
My next project is the same. Ive just seen the cost sheets for the offshore programmers - £210 a day from the BIG suppliers. Its impossible to compete now. An onshore Euro guy from the same suppliers would be £8-900.
@@emmetmccarthy2364 This field is at the tippy top of the agism problem. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly incorrect to say it’s not a genuine concern.
@@emmetmccarthy2364 age doesn’t matter as long as you have the skills
Am learning python just for fun and i am not willing to take it as a future career so am not in a rush at all, i started learning python 4 days ago and i am really proud of printing some small stuff and creating some quizzes.
Overly helpful thank you so much!!! I see it’s truly a journey Vs a ladder which is the latter. Truly inspired
Very inspiring and helpful, thanks!
The video title literally describes the entire video, without even watching it. We fail so we can learn, it's really that simple.
I think power of imagination is the key to be good programmer, like visualizing how classes link to each other in your brain and other best way you right, is about to sit down and do it and it wont be straight forward to understand you must create your own pattern to think it.
thank's bro your video really got me motivated
everything i needed to hear!
You are exactly right about finding a niche. I've been playing with python for a couple of years and not really getting much more than "fun projects" from it. I'm a data analyst and when I found out about pandas the light bulb lit above my head and I just took off! I've saved my team at least 40 hours a month by automating processes that they were doing in excel. It's not flashy or exciting, but it's *useful* and management loves me for it.
That...sounds fantastic. I'm only 2 weeks into Python lol but I've already heard various people describing the most exciting moment of their Python career being the moment when they discovered Pandas. Thank you for sharing your story, wish me luck and any advice you'd like to maybe give would be appreciated :)
@@Eterrath Good luck! Pandas is really fun and intuitive once you get past the initial learning curve. Just keep in mind, it's not a replacement for Excel, it's an automation tool. Import pandas as pd > pd.read_excel(), write up all of your changes > pd.to_excel(). You don't even need to open the file, and from that point on, just save it as a .py file and run it.
The best advice I can give is to watch a few tutorials on Jupyter Notebook first. It makes working in python (especially pandas) so much easier!
I'm doing game programming, and I'm stuck at the same third trap the tutorial treadmill. I keep watching tutorials and following them step by step but at the end I either forget or can't do it alone making me un motivated.
Excellent summary, it saved me a lot of time and I benefited greatly. Thank you for sharing.
Helpful! Persistence!
I only start to be condifent on programming when I read codes from internet and after a few weeks I try to do that ALONE and I can. Its really good and works for me
Many of my early projects were spent trying to figure out so much other stuff and not actually programming so it was very slow and frustrating. If it wasn't my passion to learn programming, it would have been absolutely a big turn off for me so I can see why so many people can't get past the beginning as it takes a while for things to start making sense. Like he mentioned in the video, I had to choose a niche and learn one thing at a time to start progressing. I just started trying to make anything I could with the toolset I understood, learning small new things with each project. I really liked C++ so that's what I chose and the TH-cam channels The Cherno and ChiliTomatoNoodle helped me so much in understanding the language.
Very brilliant way of approaching something
Great video, man.
And you nailed it at the niche part: I get a bit anxious about getting told a phrase that goes like "being good at many things, but excellent at nothing". I'm not closing myself to opportunities, but it is true. It gets a bit discouraging to see so many things and not feeling capable to master, at least, the first steps on a track.
To clarify, I'm aware there are job vacants that can push you to insanity with the list of requirements and skills, like if they wanted to have a generalist to cover all the needs. That's humanly too hard imho.
Literally every single sentence he said is the struggle I had.
I might learn again in the future, but when I was doing this in college last semester I just wasn't loving it, coding was cool but I wasn't super excited about it and I was kinda struggling with answering questions with code. I've always liked Finance and how businesses worked since I was in high school so I switched over to Finance. I'm still going to code on my own though incase I ever start to like it so I can make a career out of it in the future.
FinTech can be a good option for you. Banks have bankers with no programming skills and are employing programmers with no banking experience. Be the bridge.
It's important to try to differentiate "not enjoying" something and just not understanding it or not being good at it. Often when people aren't good at something they translate that into "I just didn't like it". Thing is you didn't like it because you didn't understand. When you push through it and start understanding and building things, you begin to enjoy it. Anyway finance might pay more
@@theguy9067 I was actually able to understand it better than I thought I would and it was cool but it just wasn’t exciting me like I thought it would when I finished a project or figured something out.
Thanks a million Mr.Aaron Jack .
Thanks for the information! Liked and subscribed.
I've been a programmer for almost 40 years now and I can tell you that there are two things to be aware of. Number one, most programmers are problem solvers by nature, they think in terms of problems and implications of those problems and their solutions, it comes naturally for them. Number two, you have to be a person who enjoys mental work, the ability to hash and rehash solutions, to be able to mentally juggle multiple views and ideas at the same time, to be willing to be stubborn and dogged in pursuit of a problem. The person who takes to first "apparent" answer and then moves on is not going to make a very good developer. While it doesn't mean that you must be good at math or physics, it does mean that you must be the type of person who will continue to re-evaluate the problem and not be afraid to work at getting the best solution. You have to enjoy doing puzzles and be one of those people who refuses to accept an answer from the person with the puzzle and prefers instead to work it out yourself and to understand the "why" of a solution.
I spent like 10 months just doing leetcode in python and c++, now I am focusing on making projects. Been working on a simple personal project for about 2 months now and it feels great to see all the knowledge be applied to something that can actually be comerciallly used!
Saw your post here.
do i really need to know algorithm inorder to be good in c++ and python?
@@chukwukaosisochukwu5146 yes
Thanks, Aaron. Greate advises 👍
Thanks!
Thanks for your advice.
Biggest trap for me is not having a goal of what framework or language to learn. It's the other technologies that need to be learned along with it, Git, Jenkins, Docker, Unit testing.
Lol i’ve never thought I‘d see RSD Tyler in a programming video
Thank you my brother, really good information.
🙏
thx man! have good one 🙂
I agree with the niching down. But also don’t you run into the problem of niching down so much for such a long time that suddenly you don’t realize that your current skillset isn’t employable anymore?
The biggest thing here is practice - like he said about using Code Wars. Although some of them are really hard.
Think of a problem that's /just/ above what you think you can do - and do it. E.g. write a program to output someone's star sign from birthday input. Using no IFs.
Rinse and repeat for a while :)
Also, if you're an an OOP kind of person get the Gang of Four's book and Fowler's "refactoring" or whatever it's called ( can't be bothered to go to my bookshelf and look ) !
Loved it ❤
man idk y i found ur channel now ur the best ytb tech channel i ever subscribed for
I’ve been a dev for 20 years now and am self taught. There’s no secret, other than you need to love it and you need to be tenacious. For about 2 years I dedicated ALL spare time to learning and coding. Every night, every weekend. And the tenacity applies to the coding itself too. You just do whatever it takes to solve one problem, then move on to the next one until there are no more problems.
But if you don’t love coding and are just doing it for the money, give up right now. You’re wasting your time. You’ve gotta have a passion for it. I still get a high off solving a complex problem or finally making something work.
It finally click into my brain a while back, but once that happens, do you really like the darn thing. Well, I do, I a very tech kind of person, every thing really needs to be exact, plus early on I get so into the computer world, that five hours have gone by and what happened. It is a form of creating on a computer and sitting or standing a lot. Some people can't take that. 😎😎
But the money sounds sick and better than McDonald's
@@urgeboat9348 You betta!
I just get scared and stress while doing programing i know html. And css and currently learning java and its hard and Everytime I fail to understand the code in front of me it makes me think like i haven’t learn a single thing all those hours of watching codes and written them was a waste😢
@@mohammadqudratullahbhuyan8262 Exactly, you did n't say if you were in school or on your own. This is a big reason why most people don't grasp the language. I'll be beginning a new program for programming to help people understand why they don't grasp this. I went through all of these problems and overcame them. NO, NO, not a waste. I think my program will be Tabathia & Friends. But, you'll know.
"Ohhhh!"...... This is what you say, when you realize that Sam Aaron(creator of Sonic-PI) and Aaron Jack are different!
Not choosing a niche is what messed me up - but I managed to try things I didn’t end up liking, so that’s always a plus. So now I feel way more confident in pursuing frontend development now.
Insightful and helpful, I too am about 3 months into learning Russian and I am currently in the thought process of learning to program, code. I really appreciate the idea of looking at what you know now then what you did before, instead of the "i'm still pretty bad at this". I was getting overwhelmed learning Russian but thinking back 3 months ago I couldn't read Russian let alone understand the Cyrillic alphabet. So this small change in our thought process is really profound.
Все еще учишь русский? :D
По-моему этот язык чрезвычайно сложен. Не знаю знаешь ли ты стримера Dizzy, он вроде как уже 6 лет учит русский язык и ему все еще очень сложно использовать русский язык как разговорный
im 15 now , i
I've been learning for 1 year
In beginnig its so difficult for me but now i love it and recently i made my first game Flappy Bird with Java
I am 15 but I can only make text game in console :(
@@karolingston dont give up bro
And if u want improve ur skills u are able to follow this channel "Bro Code"
Dude. That's amazing. Be consistent. Code everyday. And you'll be good
@@mxhxsh Thank you bro now im working on spring :)
@@karolingston where u from..... cab i get in contact with u maybe ig
Thanks! I didn’t know about codewars! This is what I needed all the time!!
😎 Most welcome!
you blow my mind thanks you alot!
Numer 2 is actually very important, I was starting with the Unity game engine (just for fun, not for a career or anything), and I was simply overwhelmed by all the functions and stuff I was supposed to learn from a basics tutorial i found. So I decided to ditch the tutorial for the time being and create a simple project from scratch, and I did, I created a very simple pong game with animations and stuff and after that I felt more confident in learning new functionalities! I myself prefer to create things on my own, and to search for tutorials only when there is something i dont know yet
Unity and powerful game engines are insanely hard to learn. Insane frame pipelines.
Pygame is quite nice for beginner programmers. Making a simple 2D tile based RPG doesn't require much engine knowledge.
@@Bvic3 unity is actually not that hard to learn tbh if you want to make simple games. Pygame is great I bet, but for some reason I cant install it lol
Anyone who leaves the screen after an hour or so, cannot learn to program! It's an addiction !!
Great video BTW!!