Biggest MISCONCEPTIONS About Becoming a Self-Taught Programmer 

Did you have any misconceptions about becoming a self-taught programmer when you started?

It took me 6 years to land my first job as a professional software developer. 4 years to land my first coding related job (teaching kids to code). Hope my reply helps someone. I know it was personally discouraging for me to hear about people getting jobs after a few months of coding. Giving yourself years to land that first gig is probably more realistic.

What I think is a common misconception is that you need to be a genius or wizz mathematician. I think when it comes to programming you really only need 3 things: 1. Willingness to all ways be learning 2. Patience 3. Persistence

I had missconceptions about becoming a self-taught programmer. Primarly because i was told that this "hobby" is "reserved" for super intelligent people with amazing mathematics skills and people that started learning at very young age. Now, i am 24 and im really not so good in mathematics and i finally started learning Python with help of some books and im not going to let myself get pulled down by people who maybe (?) underestimate me AND have completelly wrong picture about world of programming. My ultimate goal is to create some games and create and build smart robots using Raspberry Pi and Python for example. My journey just started.

I did not....I knew I wanted to code until I become a old old man. To the new coders....this is a life. Your road blocks are all of the shiny new languages and side knowledge ( like low level design and libraries ). I am still learning as I build. I use the 1% rule....grind everyday 1% and add a percents when your energy is there...no less than 1% a day....even if you're just reading about code...keep grinding!

1) it will probably take longer than you expect. Immerse yourself in the process, done let it discourage you. Set realistic expectations. 2) There's no feedback from teachers/peers and it's easy to get discouraged. Define your success, and set realistic goals to keep your sanity. 3) start applying applying for jobs as soon as you're ready, don't procrastinate. Don't think you're not good enough. You can start off at a low level

I literally just finished a very crappy To-Do List and was lost soooo much during the process. But I persevered and got it done.

As a tech lead the biggest factor i see in new engineers success is willingness to dive into a problem as deep as they can reasonably go. I fucking love to answer questions that include "well I tried this, this and this and it still isn't making sense" because I can teach the solution as well as tips on how to improve their problem solving process.

Thanks Andy, great video. I really needed to hear this. I've been studying for about 11 months now and I've been unhappy with my progress compared to others. I've seen one RU-vidr say that she learned how to code and got a job in six months. She put in like 70 hours a week which is something I am not capable of doing. At best, I am putting in about 10 hours a week. Putting in that many hours of studying seems unrealistic to me and is really setting you up for burnout. I need time to ease into it, soak up what I'm learning and develop patterns and habits that will let me work toward putting in more hours. However, I show up everyday, even if it's for 30 minutes, and I am making progress, it's slow but steady. I think the biggest takeaway here is don't compare yourself to others. Take the learnings but do what works for you, stay consistent and believe in yourself. It doesn't matter if it takes longer for you to meet a goal just know you'll get there if you remain consistent, patient and persistent.

I'm starting to realize that I need to code even more and put myself out there, even though I don't feel 'ready.' Being perfect is not the goal here! I'm still in college and am trying to become a self-taught programmer. Thank you so much for your advice.

That last tip is exactly what I’m going through right now in my mind. Thanks for the push!

I have started applying and giving interviews. Every interviewer asks different questions, that i cannot answer. Then i go home, learn, reapply and get back out there

I absolutely love the interviews. There are often 2 or more people paying their fullest attention to me and only me. I find it extremely empowering.

I started learning to code in 2010 when I was in middle school when I searched RU-vid “how to make a game with notepad” (apparently I was very ambitious what notepad could do when I was young) I kept going at it from 2010 to now, going from making small games to creating libraries and now recently moving into embedded software. Been a long journey, but I still have the same enjoyment today as I did back in 2010.

Wow andy. I can definitely relate to feeling lost and uncertain at the beginning, and throughout a project. I built an app front end back end and a mobile app. Took me 1.5 years to do it by myself. After countless hurdles of stiffling error messages I succeded and published it with 2000 downloads. That was 3 years ago. Now I have my job as a full stack developer from a friend recommendation. But I am still learning which skills I am lacking. Keep doing what you are doing. Love this channel.

I've been self taught since 2009. I'm still learning, still trying, still making tons of mistakes, still getting the next job in the web development field. To those like me, keep trying, keep working, keeping learning! You can do it!

I can relate to this so much. I've been at it for almost a year and I realized how lost I was when I had to try and build a basic project. Andy's advice is really good.

Watching this video and reading these comments was really heartwarming. I feel a lot more motivated now. I've been studying for a year and half and many times I thought about quitting, thinking I was dumb and stuff like that. Self-teaching is not easy and there are many traps that may dismotivate you in the process. When you start building your first small projects, things start changing in your mind and you see you're actually getting the hang of it (and this is the point where I am right now). No matter how many trace back massages you have to read, keep going! You'll get there!

So much respect for this dude. Always realistic and practical advice.

Andy, I'm so glad you are creating this content. I'm super duper hard on myself. I just found your channel and I'm binging your content because it counteracts me being hard with myself. Thank you!

You give the most practical advice for beginners that I've seen so far. Please keep the content coming. Wouldn't mind a video about a few more projects that we could complete. Thanks!

I'm a totally self taught programmer. The best way I've found to learn any kind of programming is to dive right in, say 'I am going to build some program/app whatever that does this' and then go figure out how to do it. Then I even amaze myself lol. My biggest misconceptions though would have to be that being any kind of 'real programmer' meant being not taken seriously as being a self-taught (female) programmer. But now, at least here in Australia, there are a lot of community organisations encouraging women to learn to code. I went to some of these workshops and then realised I have more skills and knowledge then some of the mentors! So what the heck I'm going to see if I can get some work. Or else I'll work on my own idea for an app and see what comes of that!

I’ve been teaching myself a few things for some time. Now I’m learning new things. I’ve had huge amounts of “I totally suck” along the way and still do. I realized long time ago that this is just part of my journey.

This is the message I needed to hear today. I want to thank you!! This is definitely not an easy thing to learn and I am only now coming out of tutorial hell and am soooooo lost.

Solid advice here. I'm a self-taught programmer and totally BOMBED my first interview. You just need to learn for those experiences and keep on working at it!

Another excellent, genuine and no-fluff advice, Andy for president..

53 year old Software QA engineer. Self-taught Python because I needed to learn to operate Selenium. I may be slower to learn than a younger student, but I can confirm that commitment, patience, and managing expectations is EXACTLY what it takes to be successful.

You always give genuinely great advice, Thanks Andy 🤗❤️

This is really good, I definitely tend to fall on the anxious loop of guessing how long it will take me to be employable, which subsequently distracts me from my goal and overwhelms me more-so than learning something new...oy... crazy brain. Thank you for this video!

love ittt andy thaank u so much for all the hope that u always give!!!

First video I watched, and there are so many great pieces of advice here, in any industry!

This is great advice, everything is true. It basically comes down to doing whatever it takes to make it , but first you must be sure you are committed to making this a career for the rest of your life.

Andy gives the best advice. Congrats on the 200k+ btw well deserved.

OH MY THIS IS SOO TRUE!!! i just keep learning

Keepin it real AND optimistic. I like your style boss man

I'm going to community college and I switched my major to CS this year. For the first time I'm enjoying the process of learning and developing a skill. I usually finish my week's assignments in a day then spend the remainder of the week working on my own projects. I don't know when I'll land a job but I do know I'll be enjoying the process of learning and making things either way.

Great video and informative as always...I am still in the process of learning to code myself...I just created my own channel from the inspirations I get from you...Thanks.

Hi Andy. Just found your channel. Thanks for good videos. I am a +40 consultant working closely with developers. I had a programming as hobby when I was young, but those technologies are old now (Pascal, Delphi). Now I'm thinking of getting into programming again.. Will watch more of your videos.

Very useful. I've been procrastinating on applying for jobs. Thanks for the confidence

This video = self help for self-taught programmers. LOL 😂 honestly though, I still suck, but I refuse to give up because I enjoy it.

This is sound advice, and believe you touched on a core issue that even concerns experienced coders. That's imposter syndrome. Personally my biggest misconception was there was a set terminology to identify problems, solution, and overall structuring of programs/applications there types and usefulness in given situation. I have found that this really only applies when talking about language specific conventions, design patterns, frameworks, individual parts of a program structure. Not a foundational approach to be applied across the bored (As we were taught in school). Watching Uncle Bob for instance, talking about one language to rule all. His bias being when he was coding in the early stages of computations, all the above mentioned had a more stable terminology for learning such, and clearly could never be implemented by just a single language(why many languages exist in the first place). Having said that, it's possible that reigning in first the terminology that identifies conventions of good practices, then summing up languages into a language that is not abstract to the framework other languages rely upon. I see talk of virtual languages to do this, problem with that is being so abstract the the memory used to execute such becomes bottlenecked, and yes there are ways to reduce that effect but not without it's own issues. From my studies, the further from the machine we get the more control/flexibility we have, but sacrifice runtime overhead/memory allocations, constituting "tricks/clever practices", to implement such with least cost to memory. Some would say " memories are larger, and cost less". Which is true, but when talking about an application/program aka software I've found that having extra that serves little or no purpose is looked down upon, and not really sure why this wouldn't apply to hardware CPU/GPU/RAM. The !more you add in way of hardware the more expensive it gets, the less resources to make more, the less available the product. Which in some cases is true anyway. Our computers wouldn't measure up to CEOs of Microsoft, Google, take your pick, and not just tech industry. Or people getting excited about quantum computers, yet chances are few will get to even work with one, let alone own a personal quantum computer. Lastly it would be wonderful to find a mentor to walk with through the levels of skill, partly why I'm here. Truth of that is a lot of them are too busy (understandable being if they are in demand by ones like me, I wouldn't be the only, as well would have more important things to do), or they over sell their abilities, not in their field of profession, but to teach others what they know based in experience. Not everything translates so easily as you pointed out about learning coding, and the difference of that and learning in class. Which was addressed why above, lack of standards as a direct result of one language not being enough.

Appreciate the advice Andy

Thank you for the great advice.

Great content! This was the hardest for me in learning these new skillsets.... I'm learning SQL and learning data analytics.... I have a job where I was able to get into a role doing analytics and really had to teach myself quite a bit... Never got feedback other than "this is wrong" lol

Good vibe, good spirit, good dude.

Love, "make that Github look like a Christmas tree!"

thank you very much. another great video.

This guy is the Conor McGregor for Programming.

Just Thank you. I really needed this kick to my a**. :)

thank a lot you have me to pass interview last week! anyway again thank bro!

👌 Thank you for the positivity

thanks for the great video!!!

Thanks buddy really appreciated

Andy, your advices are priceless, the way you present your knowledge is great, you making really visible progress in that. And becasue of all of that, I regret that your videos lack of some post processing (and I don't mean some shitty effects), maybe that background is also not the best, and if the whole video would be more splitted on concrete parts. I'm not the expert and I think you make great job and this is just my subjective opinion, but I would really like for you to make your videos look more atractive. I say that becasue I think this channel has great potential and you could create something even better as a whole thing :)

The worst thing is when I visit a forum where everyone is talking about stuff and I can't even understand a word.

Thank you so much man

It would be awesome to have this video format in a podcast.

Props to you Mr. Sterkowitz for keeping it real. :-)

Mega informative, helpful and encouraging, thanks!

At 2:55 you described exactly how i feel about this. I think it helps that I'm almost 30, I'm older most people that start doing this, so i know a little bit more about patience. This isn't about the endpoint, I'm starting an endless journey of learning about this field. I truly want to be an expert coder one day, how long that takes is just not relevant.

"The worst thing you can do ... is to keep procrastinating on the job interview process because you're scared of failure.." Oh lord, that is exactly what I've been doing the last couple of months! I finally started applying (and being rejected) since last week. Thanks for your pep talk Andy, just what I needed ;)

Good vid bro! I’m actually trying to get my first job. Experienced IOS developer here!!

Something everyone should be aware of is if you have another job that you have to keep, or family obligations, or school responsibilities, etc., you need to be aware of all the things vying for your attention. Immersion is the best way to learn something fast, but if you spread yourself to thin you actually start seeing a negative return. Too much input from too many sources can cause everything from mental fatigue to full on burnout and anxiety. Your mind will have a "sweet spot" of what it can integrate in a day and that needs to be respected or the whole process will take longer than it needs to. Stay rested and learn to recognize when you are pushing too hard, and take the time you need to back away once in a while and let your subconscious process what you've learned. There are people out there that have started programming and been employed in just a few months. Most of them had little else they had to focus on during those few months, which makes the process faster for them. Others will have different realities and the process will take longer, simply because they must split their attention between programming and other things. With that said, don't get discouraged that it's taking to long. You will get there. Don't get frustrated if you don't understand something. Break it down in to smaller pieces, and you will come to understand it. Don't ever think you aren't smart enough. Intelligence is more about continuous curiosity, an open mind, and a thirst for learning than anything else. And always keep in mind the reasons you are doing it. If you are after a better paycheck and you don't have a love for the process and building things, you might struggle. But if you would program for free in your spare time just because you enjoy it, find the pace that is best for you and keep learning a piece at a time, and it will all come together in the end.

ahhh.... so true I have to see youtube and then read a book. Then I am able to understand the concepts to some degree. This year I will completely finishing the basics of python, matplotlib, pyplot.etc. anything related to ML. Next year I will be doing intermediate level of those and so on.

This is really insightful . Thankyou Bruh 🔥🚀

Thank You So Much Sir ... 💐

I have definitely been sitting here, hands up, lost, "what do I do now..." That feeling of "I just suck" is *so* accurate. This was really reassuring that actually I'm on the right track 😅 Do you have any recommendations for places to get that feedback as a self-taught dev? I've been told to avoid posting on Stack Overflow as a total noob.

I learnt programming by myself in high school. It took about 2 months to start using pip packages and learn new libraries from just official docs without tutorials. My first Django app from scratch in 1 more month. But I didn't do much else and flunked the other projects. It's been 1.5 years with about 45min a day spent learning and I am pretty good now and I'd say I will be able to get a job in about 2 months(if I try going all-in on backed dev) but I am learning Rust and embedded now coz that's what I'm interested in.

I think Andy should give us practical tips with regards to coding. We appreciate the advice you give 🤙 but please do practical videos based on your experience about how to get started, what to lookout for when starting out at coding, common mistakes by newbies etc

I thought 3 months but it took me 3 years. Andy is speaking it real but plenty of RU-vidrs made me overly optimistic lol. Nevertheless grateful now.

"Feeling lost" is a really good way of saying it. I feel something new programmers, including my old self, don't think about learning is how to debug, how to know wtf is going on. Learn how your IDE works, how to set break points, how to log things, be ready to program debug tools or use debug tools. When you are lost, it's because you don't understand, you don't know, you lack information, you wont always have that perfect stackoverflow answer of someone having the exact same problem as you with someone with the perfect answer. You need to know about your problems, information is power and I'm talking about information about the program you are currently writing. It doesn't work ? Well is it normal that this variable has this value ? No ? Well figure out how it got changed to that unwanted value, but if you never know that this variable has the wrong value, since you don't know how to debug, you'll be stuck in trial and error land, and that's not how you learn, that's not how you understand. There's this meme "My program doesn't work and I don't know why. My program works and I don't know why." that's funny and all, we all been in that situation, but if your program doesn't work and you figure out why, fix it and now it works, you learned something. If you "fix it" and now it works and you don't know why, yeah ok you fixed it, but you didn't learn.

I find the most frustrating part of learning to code/program is that you don't know what you don't know.

Great info!

good advice!

I've been learning to code since i was 14 and still went to college to get my CS degree. I'm 40 now and it's truly amazing how quickly anyone can learn this stuff today. Best way to learn is by doing it.

My greatest fear ever is getting stuck and not finding the answer anywhere online, plus I don't know any coders. So far it has only happened once, but even if this went on I still wouldn't quit. After 12 months now of daily learning it would be way too expensive.

One of the primary differentiators is natural acumen -- some people just get concepts right away, other's it takes brute force education.

I have been interested in programming years ago. I've noticed that I have no patience, I abandon very soon without even starting (maybe when things get tough or boring). Now, looking at it in perspective and objectively, I've been jumping between programming languages out there: c++, js, html, css, python... I'm still somewhat dazed by so much knowledge gaps.

Excellent video

this sounds stupid but the way I learned was immediately having a hard to reach goal - making a game. but that goal has kept me learning and I can now say that I understand many of the concepts that scared me when I started. Having a direct application kept me going.

This is just my experience as I am learning (currently only at 1.5 months). Decided that I want to switch careers to become game programmer so learning C++ and Unreal Engine 4 blueprints. - I bought the most recommended book on C++ (C++ Primer, 5th Edition), and started learning from it. From what are build in types to what are variables, functions, classes, references, pointers, declarations, definitions, assignments, initialization, etc. It's a great book for complete beginners, concepts are written so an idiot could understand it, and I love it. After every chapter, I apply what I have learned to create a simple game with base C++ (text base game with variables only, then went to hangman, then to tick-tack-toe, some really simple things that already exist so I don't have to plan the rules of my game). Finally understood what references and pointers are, and I am mind blown how simple yet useful they are. - When I am bored of reading a book, and programming, I usually download already completed open source project to start debugging it and learning the ropes on building a simple piece of software/game. When I do this, I have my notebook opened and at the very least I write logic diagram while debugging. Every time I get to some part that I don't understand, I start googling stuff (like 5-20 tabs opened). Or I just go to stack overflow to look at what problems people have, and what are the solutions, really good way to learn to code and to solve problems. - In Unreal Engine 4, blueprints (node based scripting/programming), I learned the basic interface/blueprints and started creating 2 very simple games (1st is a 2D, Brick Breaker, and 2nd is a 3D, my own Static Tower Defense game) so I can add them to portfolio/LinkedIn profile. Almost finished Brick Breaker game, and started creating 3D game, and I can tell how much I have improved (little self boast). - In Unreal Engine 4, using Unreal Engine 4 C++ and Blueprints, I want to create a Tetris game, so I can add it to portfolio/LinkedIn, before I apply (this one will be hard, since Unreal C++ is quite difficult for me, as of now). * While creating any software, I use TickTick to write my tasks, log them, tick completed tasks and add new tasks. I've been stuck on one thing for 2 weeks, finally ticked that sucker, almost fell from my chair from happiness. * My biggest wish would be that a day has more than 24 hours, because it takes such a long time to learn. Time is my worst enemy. I gave myself until the end of the year to create my portfolio before I start applying. If I don't achieve everything I planned, it's fine, I will start applying anyway. Sorry for the long post, and way of the point of the current video. My advice to people who are just starting, no matter how old you are (I am 26), if you REALLY want to do programming, nothing can stop you except yourself, and also, money is a really bad motivator.

Started with python and now learning numpy. Almost a year finished and I finished 1book about basics of python and 1/4 book of python for data science. I'm doing like 10 pages per day, typing in Jupiter notebook or vscode.etc. Reading others python script understanding. Etc. Also Im using a Windows manager called qtile it's a desktop environment in Linux where you use Python to customize desktop. It's fun till now, feel crappy sometimes but still interesting. I took few months of break also because of college entrance exam and admissions. But I made sure to continue

In my experience, project based and course based combined approaches are best. I'm not strictly speaking software engineer, rather electronics engineer who 's using programming in making embedded systems work.

I started coding in 2019 March 15, after a few days I was coding a signup, logging system in PHP after which I was able to make great advances in php, then came up with a project of developing a system that can let people talk in real time. For the start my discussion page was reloading each second and then I was like, this is not good, then resulted to learn something new to help me have a real time chat app... the my first job was a school project to help some student develop a touring project.

I have been in software development for 22 years. On the good days I get paid well to solve puzzles and people think I’m brilliant. On the bad days I’m an idiot, people are asking for the impossible, and I appear to have the attention span of a small child. Overall though it’s been a great journey. But I can say from experience there was no getting rich quick, at times my people skills are used more then my tech skills, and generally I must put in the hours/work to get the rewards.

Thanks.

I have come across some people who have the misconception that developing/coding is a waste of time, when you are in a tight schedule for say applying for interviews and stuff. According to them when you don't have enough time, you gotta get as much info in your head as possible, and coding does not help with the acquiring info part. I have always told them that if they don't code, doesn't matter what ever info they devour, they are going to forget it in the future, and without anything to show off your skills, you would never get the confidence to apply for an interview. You are trying to sale your skills at an interview, you gotta have something to sale, and just knowing stuff is a weak one at that.

Hi Andy, in your opinion/experience how much math do you need to become a good programmer and can you recommend any courses to help programmatic thinking and solving problems. Great content by the way, i have been learning python and have found your advice really beneficial.

Bro I just got done with your 5 javascript projects.it took a week and a half.i felt like a dumbass.it was one little thing that tripped me up in the third project.getting the "td" elements to be spaced through pure javascript upon the creation of the note with a click..smh..this video helps me through the discouragement.

Job will come eventually when you have your own results of hardwork.

I started at 9. Now 37 and worked since 20 in professional field. 😀 some things do show I’m self taught but mainly lingo if not had to deal with it yet, how ever logic, creativity and others I am told strong dev and think totally out of the box. Currently do full stack.

Honestly this video couldn’t come across at a better time. I’ve felt such a failure for a long time because I didn’t make some impossible goal of being a developer in 3 months. Those clickbait videos of “3 months and you’ll be a programmer too” made it feel like that was the norm or standard and if I couldn’t do it. I’d feel like I got kicked in the balls. I wish there were more videos like yours explaining the REAL truth about how much time it takes to become a programmer. Realistically a couple years, lucky in under 1.

Needles to say it is hard to see when you‘re ready

Hello there, I liked two of your videos I watched.So, what happens if you go to an interview, then you fail to get the job, but you want to get this job so you apply for this job again after let's say a year? I mean do they recognize you and then they tell you sorry we already didn't accept you before one year or they give you a chance for an interview?

Hey Andy, I'm currently on Codecademy about 2-4 hours a day, religiously, aiming to one day have the base skills to become a full-stack developer. I figure that'll take me till late January, early February but I may be way off... also, the jobs that I'm hoping to start off are those small 20, 50, 150 dollar jobs like on places like Upwork... are my aspirations realistic or am I setting myself up for frustration?

Question: What's the best route to take if all I want is to be able to work remotely from anywhere in the world. Is there a specific area of programming that's best for that? Thanks

So, would you say there likely IS a big advantage to going the Coding Bootcamp route -- if possible?

Im a network computing graduate but i thought ive never been good at programming. During my study years people told me that i shouldve taken a software engineering major instead of network since thats where all the jobs hiring. I kind of feel lost for a while as i thought im left behind and ive been trying to find motivation through "self taught" videos thinking that maybe i could train myself becoming a software engineering. But was it a better choice? To go for software instead of network. I never really regret my choices but i no longer where to go from in network

Sometimes when I look at a bunch of JS syntax, like a long program, I get 😱

Just a tip, there may be people watching interested in your mentorship, so drop a comment with a link for it.