Things You Should Keep in Mind as a Self Taught Developer
Tips to succeed as a self taught developer.
Learning to program on your own can be an exciting yet challenging journey. Many people feel more excited and super powerful in the beginning, they build more projects, and then they start to hit what I call the “hump” where the next step and progress is impossible to take place.
This is a common point where many give up, either on programming entirely or on specific projects. In this article, we’ll go through some strategies to help you overcome that hump and succeed as a developer.
1. Try Something Different
When you’re stuck, the usual advice you received is to practice more and unstuck, which I myself see this a dumb advice when it comes to programming.
If I’m stuck, I’d switch my focus within the same project. If I’m for example struggling with an authentication system in that project, I’d try working on another section, like an email feature or something else. This change can refresh my motivation and more importantly, it’ll save me time instead of overthinking it for a week.
The same can be applied for a whole project. If the project you’re working on feels overwhelming, start with a new one, keep it small to restart your passion. Once you’ve gained new skills and confidence, return to the original project on conquer it. You might find it way more easier than before.
2. Explore New Concepts
If specific programming concepts, like JavaScript promises, are tough to grasp, shift your focus. Learn something else within JavaScript. It’s even worth to try a pretty much different language to get a completely brand new perspective. Every programming language you learn will without any doubt help you to enhance your overall skills. After exploring new areas, return to the challenging concept. You may find it clicks more easily, or at least you’ll be more motivated to tackle it this time.
3. Balance Learning and Doing
Consuming endless tutorials can be a disaster in programming specifically. Keep in mind that, you don’t know what you don’t know, so using courses and roadmaps can guide you. However, if you’re spending more time watching than coding itself, it’s time to stop doing it right now.
Nobody learned to play piano from watching someone doing it, nobody learned cooking from cookbook, and last but not least, nobody became a pro soccer player by only watching soccer games.
Practice is key. Aim for a balance where you learn enough to progress but aren’t drowning in information. Implement what you learn by building projects — real progress happens through doing.
4. Embrace the Journey
Learning to program is a slow, time-consuming process. This is a true fact about programming, whether you have got the guts or not, you need admit that, if you want to become a programmer, it’ll take you time.
Social media nowadays, often paints a misleading picture of programming in general. I’ve seen several posts or nonsense YT videos that discuss wrapping up an entire technology or programming language in a week — complete BS. It can be doable at some cases. Everyone progresses at their own pace. Taking years to learn programming is normal.
Focus on your journey, not others’. The goal is reaching the finish line, not how fast you get there. Avoid burnout by pacing yourself, ensuring you eventually succeed as a developer.
I hope these tips help you on your coding journey! For more insights and encouragement, follow me. And share this article with others.
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