I think I'm dumb

I’m currently struggling through “Intermediate Algorithm Scripting” ,
even though I am applying read-search-ask I still have to give up and get a hint or look at the solutions because I can’t think any more.
It’s super frustrating and it makes me feel incredibly dumb, is there any way I can build my problem sovling approach or any other suggestions ?

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How fast as you going through these algorithm challenges? :smiley:

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I started the javascript course 2 weeks ago and I’m nearing completion now, each intermediate algorithm takes me about 40mins to an hour with some of them being instant eureka moments and taking less than 10mins, I procrastinate a lot though (today at least)

I think coding makes us all feel a little stupid at times. It is frustrating at first, then humbling, then just part of life.

Learning to code is hard, don’t let anyone tell you differently.

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Okay, you started JS 2 weeks ago and expect to instantly get it is not entirely realistic.

To grasp the fundamental of programming head to toe takes about 3 months of constant drilling, for me I did over 100 tiny projects before I can say that I am a competent coder.

So don’t feel bad about it for being stupid, just unrealistic expectation. Once that is correct you’ll realized that you’re pretty smart.

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You’re expecting way too much too fast. Sure these things take sustained effort, but spreading that out over time is an essential factor (see “spaced repetition”):

The Forgetting Curve

Since you asked for a problem-solving approach & suggestions, I’ll point you to my previous reply that optimizes for confidence:

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only few people are lucky enough to be born genius. the rest of us are more or less idiots. accept that you really are dumb af, because learning new things is hard and reminds you that youre not as smart as you thought you were. natural talent can only get you so far. time and effort is where the money is made

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Most of these problems aren’t really difficult. I’m sure you can solve each of them yourself, intuitively. Take the cash register problem - you would hardly find it difficult to return the correct amount of change if you worked as a cashier, right? What you’re having trouble with is translating your thoughts into code. This just takes practice. You need to think about how your mind (you) would solve it when you encounter it, and you have to self-reflect on each step you would take and find out how to write it down as code.

Of course, this is assuming you have the basics of the programming language down so you don’t stumble over the basic syntax and can focus on applying it to an issue. If you’re new to programming, you can’t expect to be able to solve algorithmic problems without continuously getting stuck. It’s a matter of learning to walk before you can run.

As with anything else, you’ll become much better at it the more problems you solve, so instead of giving up just practice more and harder. :slight_smile:

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