I’m currently just starting out, I’ve been studying ‘Basic JavaScript’ for the past 2 weeks and I’m finally reaching towards the end of this first module. I’ve been doing it for a good 2-5 hours a day and wow is it tiring but simultaneously exciting. As I progress, will my confidence spout? Will this overwhelming feeling that ‘programming is above me’ fade? I have an exceptionally keen interest and I think hearing how the journey is from those who’ve accomplished omitting the deprecating feelings really was; I would love to hear your opinions and feelings about when you first started and how you ultimately came to be where you are now.
See, being on the basics and not being able to remember everything (as I feel I’m expected to) is pretty demoralising.
So, I ask again - how was the journey for you? I look forward to hearing the replies!
Programming is hard. It’s hard to learn. Being a developer means solving hard problems. And you never get to stop learning. For a much more eloquent (and encouraging) explanation of this, check out Quincy’s One Does Not Simply Learn To Code article.
Don’t expect to remember the exact syntax and how to use all the methods etc.
I guess try to remember what is possible so you can look it up later when you are presented with particular problems.
and
These help a lot
An issue I have found with my FCC/Codecademy learning experience is that they teach you something and you do one quick exercise and then you move on. It is easily forgotten. Make sure you complete all the projects as they really help solidify what you have learnt and how to apply it within a program.
The journey only ends if you wish to stop learning. And as long as you are programming you will never stop learning.
Thank you @camelcamper this was incredibly helpful. I am remembering what is possibly somewhat well but yeah, like you said; specific syntax can become confusing especially since this is all so fresh to me. Funnily enough, prior to FCC I attempted to learn from w3 but it wasn’t too helpful, now I feel it’s a godsend lol. Again, thank you for the advice. I doubt I’ll be stopping anytime soon!
Yeah FCC is better for learning but w3 is a great resource for beginners, it does have a bit of a bad rep among some more experienced folk though but I don’t understand why
Yeah coding is scary sometimes. But as mentioned above, it can be seen as such because coding almost always involves solving problems and challenges ranging from real world to just code structure.
Don’t expect that experienced developers find it easy all the time either. My senior supervisor at work is a brilliant engineer with over 30 years of experience and he still tells me he runs into frustrating problems. He might be faster(by light-years) at debugging than me, but running into problems is the nature of the job. And he’s never scared at tackling any of it.
If you ever feel that coding is starting to get scary, remind yourself that it’s really not and that you’ll get better at over time.