No Stupid Questions (Developer Edition)

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Why do I feel that no matter how much I practice programming I will never be a programmer? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Xirup@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/no_stupid_questions@programming.dev

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I've been learning Python by myself for about 3 years now and I can say that I know quite a lot but I don't really feel confident in my own programming skills and always after a while of practicing or reviewing I end up quitting because I feel exactly this.

I don't know how to explain it, but I really feel like I'm in a cycle repeating the same noob exercises over and over again.

For example, lately I have been practicing a lot PyQt but I really feel that I am wasting time when I don't learn a new concept or I don't memorize something and I need to look at my notes to remember how to do it, and also that practicing with online courses, especially with Youtube is often a challenge because the authors do things differently and I get confused by that. And when I want to learn something new the amount of information overwhelms me and I feel tired because of that.

As a Linux user I know that what I just said is stupid, because for example it is impossible to learn all the commands in the world, you just really learn the ones you use most regularly but in programming I feel that for example asking ChatGPT (or any ChatBot) counts as cheating for some reason, I don't know how to explain it.

I really consider this probably a mentality problem more than a skill problem because honestly even though I know I can I don't feel sure how to program, many times I even doubt the name of my variables or my functions.

Thanks for reading my silly post!

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[–] vilcans@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It sounds like you have the mindset that you have to learn programming before you start doing it. Which is especially hard today as there's so much information, so much to learn, so many tutorials to watch. There's always something to learn. Don't expect to reach a point when you "know" programming.

Instead try this: Stop practicing and start programming. Start with a project that you want to do, for whatever reason. Some small utility, a really tiny game, a joke program, whatever that gets you to focus on creating something rather than learning something. You will learn the things you have to learn in order to progress on the project. This is completely normal, and a good skill to have, even for professional programmers.

[–] Statick@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

This is the advice I always give people. You have to have some small goal in mind. Learn the basics of the language how to get started and then just start programming. When you run into a problem, Google it. As you work through the problems, you'll learn how to handle them going forward (for the most part).

[–] Lmaydev@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Memorizing isn't a huge deal and will happen naturally as you use things more.

For instance I've been doing c# for almost 20 years and I still have to Google how to do a switch expression every time! It just doesn't stick haha

Once you do something for the 1000th or 10,00th time you won't need to look at your notes.

As your knowledge grows you'll find you actually have to look stuff up more.

It's an endless field and it's all out there so you don't need it in your head. It's better to learn how to find the info you need.

[–] Statick@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not alone! Been a dev for almost 10 years and every time I declare and initialize a dictionary I either have to Google it or stare at it for a minute to realize what I'm doing wrong 😂 I blame JSON.

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

No one mentioned "imposter syndrome", so let me:

It somewhat sounds like imposter syndrome. The feeling that you don't really belong, because you feel you can barely keep up with your seniors.

I've had it before and it sucks, but you need to realise that most of us have felt this way - you are 100% not alone in this.

How to get rid of it? You HAVE to realize that most of us have no clue what to do and are just winging it too :p