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learning to code is a difficult and at
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times overwhelming Journey it feels like
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there are a billion things you need to
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learn and the minute you feel like
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you've actually mastered something it
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becomes outdated there were times when I
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even questioned if coding really was for
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me because there were Concepts that took
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so long to grasp it's as if everyone
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else had this intuition for programming
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that I didn't have but as it turns out I
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was making the process a lot harder than
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it really needed to be my name is
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Catherine and I have nearly 9 years of
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working as a software developer and in
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this video I want to share with you some
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of the mistakes that I made when I was
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learning to code so that maybe you can
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avoid these pitfalls and learn a lot
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more efficiently with web development in
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particular there's always a hot new text
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stack or framework and the options are
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endless everyone's always asking what
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they should be learning and which skills
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are going to have the highest Roi
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personally if I were to start to learn
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to code again I wouldn't be spending all
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that time stressing about what the best
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framework to learn is I was reading this
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book by by Morgan howel called same as
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ever and the basic premise is that the
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only constant in life is change and
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change is virtually impossible to
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predict despite what people on YouTube
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will say this is essentially the case
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when it comes to web development we have
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no idea which Frameworks are going to be
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popular in the future no one truly knows
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what kind of impact AI is going to have
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in the next decade there's people that
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say AI is going to take all software
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developer jobs within the next 5 years
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and people saying that there's no way
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it's going to happen in our lifetime and
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both sides sound equally confident that
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being said there are computer science
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and programming Concepts that will
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almost always be useful regardless if
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you're going for interviews or you
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you're using them for a job or both
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these fundamental transferable skills
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will give you the most bang for your
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buck if you master these Concepts it
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doesn't matter as much which framework
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is trending and which one is going out
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of style because you're going to be able
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to pick them up a lot faster not to
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mention the work becomes a lot more
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rewarding when you actually understand
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what the heck you're doing Concepts like
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data structures and algorithms systems
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design writing good tests design
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patterns they're always going to be
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useful regardless of what's trending
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because those skills are transferable
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this is a hot take but even if you learn
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a dying language or framework if you
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master the underlying Concepts it's not
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necessarily a waste of time for example
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one of the first languages that I
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learned was PHP and you can laugh all
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you want but one it was very beginner
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friendly so it helped me stay motivated
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and two it helped me learn other
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objectoriented programming languages
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down the line like Java and Ruby the
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next point I want to make is that
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everyone learns differently imagine
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you're learning JavaScript and you see
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this the promised object represents the
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eventual completion or failure of an
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asynchronous operation and its resulting
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value phew this can look intimidatingly
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complex and discouraging to someone new
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to JavaScript to this day I'm still
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intimidated when I read API
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documentation and there's so much
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technical jargon that I don't understand
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some people learn really well by
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skimming online or reading and I now
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know that I learn best through watching
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videos and going through examples so if
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you're like me and you don't understand
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things you read right away don't
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immediately jump to the conclusion that
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programming is too hard or you're not
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smart enough to understand it as soon as
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I watched a few YouTube videos on
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JavaScript promises I couldn't believe
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how simple the concept really was so
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before you start telling yourself these
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stories about how you can't understand
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programming Concepts keep in mind that
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both the medium and the quality of the
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instruction plays a massive role in
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whether or not you learn something
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there's nothing wrong with watching a
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series or two if you're just starting to
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learn a new framework or a new language
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but passively watching or reading
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information is actually one of the most
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inefficient ways to learn and retain
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information tutorials will teach you the
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information and the syntax but if you
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really want the information to solidify
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and you want to understand and think
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like an engineer you need to find ways
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to apply these Concepts to your own
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projects or real world applications I
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came to this realization when I was
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watching a series on react hooks I
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remember finishing the entire series and
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I feel like I understood everything that
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was said in the videos but as soon as I
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started trying to work on an actual
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react project I was like a deer in
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headlights
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while I understood the syntax on a
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surface level I didn't always recognize
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when were the best times to use them and
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what were the downsides of using a
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certain react hook I only knew how to
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apply them in the very narrow context of
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that particular tutorial that I watched
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It's only after I got a lot of practice
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implementing them in different scenarios
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with different types of real world data
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did I start to recognize patterns and
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see when I should be using a certain
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hook like use effect or use context
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these are obviously just examples but
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you get what I mean here's why so many
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of us fall into this tutorial hell it's
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because it's easy it's comfortable
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you're watching someone else code and
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you follow along by typing exactly what
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they're typing on screen you barely even
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need to think and there isn't really
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much of a risk of failure failure
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threatens our ego and it feels bad and
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so we do everything in our power to
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avoid it in the short term this feels
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really good we get a dopamine hit
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because we feel like we learned a bunch
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of new syntax and we are deluded into
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thinking that we learned a lot more than
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we actually did what worked for me is
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watching One tutorial series on a
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language or a framework that I'm trying
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to learn and as I'm watching it I test
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myself on what I've learned the day
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before and I actively try to apply it to
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a project that I'm working on so stop
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preparing to code and just start instead
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of just watching tutorials try something
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that's a little bit more Hands-On and
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that's why today's sponsor brilliant is
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code in action just recently I finished
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their updated course on how large
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feelings in the world is when you're
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sitting in class and the instructor asks
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a really challenging question that you
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have no clue as to what the answer is to
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make matters worse there's a bunch of
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students that appear to grasp the
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concept right away and seem to possess
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this intuition that you lack it's even
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worse when this happens at work there's
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been countless times where I'd be
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banging my head against a wall for hours
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and i' finally have the courage to ask
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another engineer to take a look at it
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and they figure it out within minutes
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you start thinking to yourself and
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questioning yourself am I not cut out
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for this why are they so much smarter
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than me I am too dumb for this career
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let me just assure you right away that
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everyone feels this way at one point or
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another I feel like this on a weekly
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basis
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and there's a reason why impostor
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syndrome is so rampant among software
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Engineers I've actually been on the
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other side of this scenario as well when
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I was helping a junior engineer after I
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helped them solve their problem they
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asked me how I fixed an issue fairly
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quickly that they've been dealing with
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for nearly an hour and the reason is
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simple I've seen that bug happen before
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several times it was simply the case
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that I've experienced this before not
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that I was more talented or in
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intelligent people mistake lack of
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experience with a lack of intelligence
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all the time but the two could not be
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more different if you really struggle
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with impostor syndrome like I do I
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highly recommend you check out the book
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growth mindset by Carol dck it's only
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after I internalized the belief that
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programming is simply a group of skills
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that I and anybody can get better at
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with enough time and effort and there's
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nothing magical about it that I became
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much more empowered to tackle the
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challenges and try new things I noticed
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a common denominator among the best
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software developers I've worked with and
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that is their High frustration tolerance
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from the outset they accept that things
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might go wrong it won't work right away
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and that is okay in fact it might even
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be good because it means that they're
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learning something new the best
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Engineers that I worked with have all
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had so much grit and they're willing to
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tolerate uncertainty and dive into an
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area that they are not familiar with and
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they're willing to struggle with
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problems without getting too frustrated
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or giving up everyone goes through this
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and the ability to regulate your
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emotions when these frustrations come up
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is a critical skill rather than seeing
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unexpected problems as obstacles the
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best Engineers understand that it's
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simply a part of the job they factor in
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time for dealing with unexpected issues
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when estimating scope for a particular
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feature when I started coding I remember
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I would get so frustrated when I was
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working on a project and all of a sudden
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git doesn't work as expected the API
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suddenly change the server won't start
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or some other nonsense one of the best
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mindset hacks that I've adopted that's
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made learning programming a little less
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stressful is accepting that it is going
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to be difficult the fact that learning
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to code is difficult and not a lot of
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people are willing to tolerate this kind
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of difficulty is one of the reasons why
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Tech salaries are so high it's what
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makes learning to code so valuable in
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fact these days if I'm working on a
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project or doing a job where there is
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absolutely no discomfort or failure I
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might actually see that as a sign that
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I'm not challenging myself enough a lot
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of you are going to sleep on this one
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but in my opinion this is one of the
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most underrated hacks Ali abdal has said
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that an hour in the morning is worth two
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after 3: p.m. I would even go as far as
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saying that an hour of uninterrupted
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deep work after a full night AR rest and
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some extracise is worth 2 3 four times
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an hour after 3:00 p.m. just think about
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how productive you are the first hour of
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coding versus the fourth fifth 6th after
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all programming is very much a cognitive
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ly demanding task and it's not like
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folding laundry where your level of
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output remains pretty steady over time
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rather than trying to brute force your
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way to productivity by coding for 12
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hours a day a more effective strategy
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could just simply to focus uninterrupted
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for 4 to 6 hours and spend the rest of
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the time recharging getting some sleep
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and exercise so that you can increase
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the quality and leverage of those hours
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Cal Newport who's written some of my
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favorite books has said that people can
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only deep work for up to 4 hours a day
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now I don't know where he got that exact
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figure from but personally I find that 4
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to 5 hours of deep focus on a really
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mentally intensive task seems to be the
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upper limit for me as well by using the
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rest of the time to recharge and sleep
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or even just do less mentally
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challenging work like answering emails
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or going to meetings you can
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dramatically improve how productive you
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are during those critical 4 to 6 hours
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not to mention being in the flow for 4
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to 6 hours and having time to actually
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live your life outside of work is so
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much more sustainable and enjoyable than
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trying to grind for 12 hours a day
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there's a ton of evidence out there that
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says even a little bit of exercise
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increases your ability to learn speaking
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from personal experience if I'm stressed
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out over a bug just going outside
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briefly for a walk or a run immediately
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makes me more relaxed and ready to
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tackle the problem once I get back to it
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if you can't do that sometimes just even
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leaving the problem alone for a period
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of time and coming back to it will give
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you a fresh perspective and new ideas on
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how to solve it if you found this video
00:13:44
helpful I recently did another video
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that's pretty similar on my biggest
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regrets in my career so go check that
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one out and I will see you over there
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bye
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[Music]
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oh
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[Music]
