Hi all. I discuss a few mindset changes that helped me learn to code and become a better programmer and Software Developer. I hope you find value in this. Music Lo Fi Type Beat - Blue Moon (copyright free)
The beauty of coding is that you can either achieve the end result or you can’t….yet. Every time I freak out and think “I have NFI what how this works” I just go and spend a morning building stuff. More often than not I hit this *ding* moment where everything comes to light. Listen to the advice in this video, FOCUS ON PRACTICE.
We are merely just GPT, aren't we? The answers that come to us are largely based on experience, and our brains getting the next most likely "link" for each basic unit of the problem, a la markov chains Like how chatgpt cant do maths, but can answer coding questions so well. Because chatgpt has "practised" enough to develop a comprehensive chain of "possible replies" when given a set of "problem" units So we too need to practise and practise, building up the repertoire of possible "problem" units and the correct "links". So that when we face a new problem, it dings And if we can't, then we need to just prompt ourselves more like how we nudge gpt in the right direction ------------- That and also fundamentals I guess. (1) find the invariants (2) find the expected cases (3) wishful thinking / Blackbox and hope you unknowingly resolve it as you use it in place of the solution
The other thing about coding is that it's something yu want to do both night and day, and it's something yu think about all day. It's nit work really, it's doing what yu love!
What does your company do ? I’m on my own self teaching journey as well but have aspirations to start something of my own, but not sure what kind of service I’d like to or could offer. Any suggestions ?
As a self-taught programmer who just got hired by a self-taught programmer who owns his own software company, I second this. Wouldn’t have gotten a job if I wasn’t actively building an app and telling people about it. Family, friends, you never know who they might know.
Hey man, what technologies would you say are the best/most used in the industry that one should learn in order to reach that level? I'm new and trying to figure out what's my best option, thanks in advance
@@bigboxSWE I was also too hard on me for last 3 years in my College, now I am starting as intern from tommorrow, I've changed alot in last week. I forgot how much I use to love to code.
Perfect. I've been a developer for 30+ years, everything in this video is spot on. One of my first tutors said "If you're not learning something new every day in a development role then there's something wrong". Great video post.
Honestly, the list at the end, it may be what's expected of junior developers, but it's actually what senior developers do as well. We've just done that loop so much and so often it "looks" like we've known everything all along. The reality is, we've just gotten really fast at applying first principles and fundamentals, learning something new, and quickly figure it out - using whatever resources we have. Google, co-workers, tutorials/books, and now GPT.
Such an amazing comment. I cannot thank you enough! That's the pure difference I've noticed with Senior Developers, is that they can get to the root of the problem so much quicker because they've seen it repeated somewhere else (albeit in a different framework/language/context). I think that is the skill that most Juniors miss out on (those that don't focus on practice anyway!)
@@bigboxSWE I think that can be applied for competitive programmers as well, they solved so many problems that just by reading they get patterns from past questions and already know which algorithms and data structures are the better to apply for that specific question
What I learned from this video : 1. Focus on practice not theory ! - 10,000 lines of code ❤ 2. Start by making small websites ! 3. Just to be comfortable with being uncomfortable - U will never know enough 4. You will never master coding rather you will understand them vaguely! 5. Know certain part of the domain and constantly learn nd build a bunch of projects.
Another point on ego: don't be attached to your code. It's *just* code. You or someone else will change it. It's ephemeral. One thing that helped me get past my ego, is knowing that everything I did was saved in the `git` repo. When I had to delete something I worked hard on, I was able to take solace in that. New devs at work often take offense when you change their code, and that's not helpful for them or for the project. It's just code; it's just code.
It's definitely hard to unlearn the habits of the fixed mindset and adopt the growth mindset because of how society focuses so much on the end result than the process, but I'm getting there
Thank you for this video, it's so accurate! When I was a trainee in a company I was afraid to google or even simply ask a question from senior, but now I understand that it's literally one of the most basics things you need to do
Bro, hear me out. Your videos are so close to NoBoilerplate or Fireship level. It is insane how good you are. Take my advice with a grain of salt. But I think you would benefit from defining pacing for sections when you write. And trying to have same structure for most points you make and make them more impactful. And you would be better than any programming channel in no time because of your great writing and aesthetic. Also music too loud, but it is easier to fix)
Thank you so much, I appreciate your comment so much. These were my first ever tries at producing content and I will 100% try to incorporate pacing into my videos. I am so happy you found my videos that good, but I am very far off, I also just subbed to NoBoilerPlate thanks to you! :)
@@bigboxSWE great start then, I hope for even more better impact and subscribers/watching people in the future. But I will add that the video ended very abruptly, as if someone just cut it before outro
I needed to hear this! I am on my own journey on becoming an engineer and really feeling overwhelmed right now and pretty terrible at this craft, this has sorta cleared the air a bit, thanks man!
Thank you for this! I’m not a beginner, but I’m going through some career transitioning and it’s true that practice makes you better at programming. You will get more comfortable, confident and faster.
I started programming at 10, started with windows batch, didn't know anything else but got really good at batch, made a color Tetris clone in batch, later tried to learn c++ because i wanted to make a specific thing, that was the wrong approach and i kinda didn't make a lot for 2 years, then i started programming school i realized I already knew most things but being required to make the assignments was the push i needed to get good enough to make my own projects and a year later i started an internship which turned in to a fulltime job, now 5 years after i joined that school i have graduated and moved to working fulltime remotely for a smarthome company in a different country and it's great, so my advice is just built stuff, but don't be too ambitious, make small things, especially games or animated things because you see your code working, get an internship for real expirience and you'll probably see the path from there
This comment resonates with me. I’ve been interested in programming for years but never had the structure needed to do anything with it. I’m excited to get kicked in the right direction by attending school this fall.
Mindset of a succesful programmer: 1. Don't give a f... All the useless meetings, changing requirements, impossible deadlines. You have to give zero f's about your job, otherwise you can go insane. 2. Dont think about your job after hours. You have to understand, this is not important. Your life is. 3. Work from home. Finished task for today? Finish earlier. See pt. 2. 4. Dont work too fast. Work slowly. Unless somebody explicitly tells you that you are lagging behind, you are not working too slow. 5. Project confidence. Tell clients what they want to hear. Do otherwise anyway. 6. Copy and paste everywhere you can. Take your previous projects and copy from them. Always try to take the path with minimal amount of code to write.
I have always had a tendency to plan everything before ever getting to work. So when I approached coding, I spent weeks on end reading, setting up my code environments right etc, until I realized I was just procrastinating because I was scared of actually starting. If you have this tendency too, know that every line of code you'll write for the first few months is going to suck. So just get to it and write a lot. The time spent optimizing the contour is gonna be much better spent once the code underneath is worth such an optimization.
I used to think programming had to be 'serious BIZNESS' for a long time, it wasn't until I pursued it like any other hobby that I actually started to enjoy it
I've enrolled to a SWE program at a university next month. I used to think that programming was something that I couldn’t do. My lack of confidence in Math, combined with the fear of not being smart enough, made me believe that coding was not my thing. Consequently, I never tried to learn programming seriously. But now, in hindsight, I realize that I may have been too hasty to dismiss it as a possibility. While it may be true that it is challenging, programming is like any other worthwhile skill - it takes time and effort to master. Your video motivates me. In 2023, I am finally ready to embrace this challenge and become proficient in this valuable skill. I'm going to take your advice to heart.
Ricardo! I cannot tell you the amount of times I've quit learning to code. I actually failed my first college programming course :) It takes time and its not really a skill beyond anyone. If you enjoy programming, it's a skill you will learn to love. Thank you for your wonderful comment.
This is great to hear. I’m taking my first CS course this August and my reasoning is quite similar to yours. I never learned anything past algebra in high school. Nonetheless I have the perspective now to realize that anything can be practiced and learned if there’s heart and dedication behind it. I’m excited for what’s next.
Damn You are the guy I aspire to be with the mindset you have right now. I Started reading books about stoicism and articles about discipline and you just sum it up so nicely in my favourite (Programming) very thankful.
Every bit of advice you presented is, remarkably, exactly what I ended up learning the hard way throughout my CS education. If only I could have seen this video many years ago, it would have saved me so much time and unnecessary stress. :)
This is like the perfect key for self taught programer. I like how you brought up about being in a stuck concept situation. I knew right away once I was stuck and learing that specific part of syntax; I was wasting my time and delaying my goals. So I learn just by creating projects uses those concepts and understand them what they do. And I agree about being not a master in coding. Senior and Junior developer wont able to master and can't be perfect by memorizing everything. They will always part of syntax that you forget and its completley normal. But once you research it again; it'll help you remeber it quick than processing before casue you have learned it. This well put.
this video definitely spoke to me as i’m taking my first programming class as a noob and ive definitely struggled with my ego and the fear of being uncomfortable in class as normally classes are easy and i feel confident in my ability to absorb the information but in my programming class i feel like an idiot and am constantly uncomfortable and intimidated from the fact i don’t know the answers most of the time to the questions the professor asks us. i’ve skipped a lot of the classes due to this (also a lot of social anxiety) but i guess that’s where the real learning happens. pushing our boundaries
Stuff like this is really encouraging and validating for me as I start because I LOVE learning new things and once I found out that this really is a field where you will constantly be learning and experimenting and problem solving, it got me really excited because that's exactly what I want! I'm currently just going through the research and learn the basics portion, but I've already been playing around in the few programs I've downloaded and found out about. Lol So I guess that's not bad of me! It's just helpful for me to understand something when I've already messed with stuff enough to have even messed something up or hit a wall. Helps me remember and teaches me more I feel like.
i know this video has been out for a year and this probably won't get noticed, but thanks for making me realize what i've been doing wrong all this time, especially in helping me realize the difference between college programming and actual programming. I've been looking at it wrong all this time, and this cleared things up for me
Honestly, i had all the prohlems you said in that video, thank you a lot, its exactly what i wanted, quick video, fix my issues. Thank you a really lot. I thought i couldn't be a programmer because sometimes i think im not a good programmer, im not good enough to be contracted or something, so, thank you again, now i have more inspiration and can see a future on me.
I would add that consistency is key! Forming habits around learning new theory based skills (such as certification hunting) or learning a new framework through hands on practice should be approached on a near daily basis. Some of these technologies take months to learn and weeks before we even get an intuitive understanding of what the point of them truly is in the context of a larger tech stack.
I am glad that this thing was in my recommended! Top notch videos, this video gives me the vibe of Fireship or smth like this in this level! Keep up the good work man, almost 2 months into learning JS!
I'm 6 years in and still learning. Sure I get more comfy in knowing what I know but I never stress out about things anymore. I have been faced countless times with projects thinking "I have no fucking clue where to even start" only to solve it and go beyond. Always be curious, no questions are dumb, learn the fundamentals and just keep learning and you will become a senior.
Your story on Ego being the enemy hit me to the point. I am still fighting to swallow it. i guess I needed to hear this. Thank you! I'm giving this a like and subscribing.
This video is GOLD. Learning by consuming (tutorials, reading theory, etc.) is not nearly as effective as learning by crafting. You don't need to make huge projects to try and apply what you are learning; small, minimal programs made repeatedly are just as good for this purpose. More importantly, I learnt that when you don't understand something or you're stuck, it's VERY important to take a rest and come back later. We have focus periods and if you always try and push through them, you'll quickly get burnt out, you'll grow lethargic and won't be able to do any more work. Taking breaks, doing other things is just as important to mantain a good performance when learning to code, and to keep enjoying doing so long term. After all, we can only do so much on a day. I was feeling a bit stressed out lately so this video made me feel a lot better. Thanks!
let's say i downloaded python for the first time what should i do projects without knowing anything about python i dont know what to do should i watch youtube toturials can u help me?
@@rronzeyy you can do any method you like. If you're starting Python from scratch it's ok to look for some tutorials or an article about its syntax or stuff, but there's nothing wrong with trying to figure it out as you experiment and do things with it either. I was just saying that between those 2 options, the latter often is more effective for learning, since you get actively involved with it. While watching a tutorial, a course or an article might be good to overview the topic or understand some key things/details, I'd leave it as a last resort. Ultimately, learning a programming language is actually pretty easy, since all of the ones used nowadays are awfully similar. My best advice would be to look for the important theory, the pillars of programming. Learn programming principles, paradigms, good (and bad) coding practices, and the main structures all languages follow. Then you could jump to more specific things such as data structures, data bases and the relational paradigm, etc.
@@FrancoNSosa Thank you so much so im gonna watch some toturials to learn basic things like variables strings functions lists input etc then i should code copy other people (not their code) the way that they do the pratice and just pratice. thanks for the advice appreciated!
Man, I absolutely love the presentation of ideas here. I am a Mechanical Engineer who wants to learn how to code and this was really helpful. Thank you and I am subbed!
Thank you so much Shayan! I'm really curious how you want to use mech eng in your coding career! I know a lot of my mechanical engineer friends use a lot of MatLab and Python. Btw, keen to see more of your CoD content :)
The point about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is relatable to me since I started doing reverse engineering recently. Especially learning assembly (MIPS in my case). I'm primarily focusing on the PSP since I still actively use my PSP to this day and enjoy making simple programs with the pspsdk. I really need to get comfortable knowing that I'll have to learn most of this stuff on my own. Thanks for making this video.
It really gives me hope after stumbling onto your video. For me, I see all my friends around me in university picking up concepts and programming really quickly. Yet for me, It can take me almost an entire day to work on chunks of code and at the end, I may not understand it at all. I always thought that I will simply never be a master at this and contemplated whether this field was for me at all. But watching the video and reading through the comments really help shed light on that: I may never be a full master at programming, but I sure as hell have the grits to look through code and learn as a student.
Watched both of your videos, I really enjoyed them. I’m trying to set realistic goals and expectations for myself, I have time so I won’t try and get ahead of myself.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I think it's important to adopt a 'Growth' mindset, where you attempt to get better 1% everyday, rather than trying to cram a lot of progress in a short-time. The truth is, programming is like an instrument, for some people it clicks naturally (which is a gift from above). On the other hand, there is nothing that time and properly directed hard work cannot achieve. I believe in you! Go out there and get it :)
I'm a CS student who's just a fresher and my intention is to major in software engineering next year so I just want to say your video clarifies a lot of things and really helpful for students like me who are not so experienced. Instant love and subscribe! Hope you make more videos in the future :)
Thanks for changing my mindset. I am very bad at academics but I always love computer and wanted to study. But when I really went for it , all just crumble in front of me, i couldn't keep up with all those technical terms and failed in college . But deep down I know that I can do , I still love computer. The point you've mentioned in video is all true . The thing I was doing wrong that I wanted master all the things i was learning. But now I see that it is impossible to master everything.
There are bunch of people who actually force them to learn to code but actually programming has been an addictive thing for me though it's developing me but in the beginning you have to force yourself and when u understand it then step by step you get 😊. Stay motivated and code more.
What I think is most important for the developer to learn is to master the art of problem solving as it will be the one and only tool which I think will guarantee success in this field(or any field for that matter)...
Very nice video :) Another principal that applies to my personal project work is: Don't let a small issue ruin your day. If you're stuck, take a step back, sleep on it, or simply move on and deal with it later. The problem doesn't define you. Momentum is far more motivating and will build your confidence.
Wow man. It was really helpful to stumble upon your video. I've been programming for almost 4 years and when I look back I see how much of an issue all of the "mastery" concept was. Still need to work on it, but definitely I've improved over time on being less hard on myself from not knowing everything. This video was a great reminder of it. Ty very much, short and interesting video :)
as someone who is currently in a boot camp learning to code i found this video inspiring in a way. my issue i think is that i feel that i need to know every little detail and trying to cram it into my brain just to forget half of it the very next day because i did not actually retain all of the information rather just read over it with no practice. but after watching this i will have a better understanding of how to learn to code this was insanely helpful thank you.
You've just described me. I've been making those mistakes for almost 20 years, and only now I figured out how wrong I was. That costed me A LOT OF TROUBLE. I should be a super-senior already, but I'm still at a junior level.
This is something I had to learn myself. You'll see the RU-vid videos of people building these amazing websites, building these graphically beautiful To-Do applications, Building massive backend frameworks for their projects, etc etc etc. Don't follow what they do. Make your own stuff that you enjoy and put it to code. Imagine how many recruiters have seen the same To-Do application, backend framework, and amazing websites. Be the breath of fresh air when you put down code on your resume that you made and an application that you thought of. It may not be the most prettiest thing but who cares? They're not grading you for accuracy. They're grading you for thought and creativity.
Programming videos give you all the wrong impressions about programming. You have no idea how much time, code, and preparation the other person had. Coding is so hacky and rigid in the beginning, and new programmers are put off when they compare themselves to the tutorial (natural to do so). Done is so much better than perfect. Love that mindset James!
I think that an important thing to mention is that the way to avoid these things and get to the right mindset is to have a project in mind before you start to learn a new subject (in programming). When I started to learn programming, I did so because I needed to make an app for an electronics project and because of that I tried to rush the learning process through tutorials as fast as possible. When you learn a subject for the sake of learning it's really hard to know when to start learning and when to actually practicing. Every time before I want to learn a new thing in this field, I find a project that I want to make with that knowledge.
Great video with solid principles here. It seems obvious what you say, but it's the obvious we sometimes miss (I know I do anyway.) Thanks for making this. Also, congrats on your success so far. Your channel has done incredibly well and it's only just beginning.
Such a good video, especially for people like me who are starting out software engineering. Please keep making more! Both the videos, very good, and it's just refreshing from the extremely overcomplicated software lingo I frankly do not understand. Keep on going!
Thank you so much! Yes it's something I experienced as well. Software Engineering is unintentionally gate kept by a lot of subtle things (such as lingo). I will try my best to continue to be clear. Thank you! :)
Thank you for this. I really needed to hear that. Still starting out as a jr. developer after a major career shift. Heck, I didn't even major in CS or IT. Again, thank you.
Thank you ever so much! This is an eerily timely advice for me which gave me comfort and encouragement. I am transitioning between professions and one of the challenges is to shift my mindset to a saner and more constructive one 😄 I used to work in a field where a small mistake could have dire consequences, so I hope that I can have a new type of job where the unavoidable reality of me making mistakes will be seen as normal and where I will be supported to learn more and more and more without fear of reprisals. Thanks again 😊
The thing that helped me the most with programming was Dark Souls, no joke. Great video, I agree with it and I wish there was more of these. The hard part of programming isn't even programming related, it's a broader problem of humand mind, that's simply exposed the most via software development. My tip is: "Don't learn to program, learn to develop software." Same thing, but a very different mindset, that will make make this easier and make you more proud of yourself.
Underrated comment. The souls games are my favorite games of all time, including sekiro and elden ring. I never thought about how similar that experience is to programming. You go at a boss again and again and every time you learn a little bit more. You learn how to dodge or parry that next move, similar to how you learn how to implement that next algorithm in a program. For each, you learn to love the challenge and each little win along the way to the finished product (finishing the program or beating the boss).
Same. Hollow Knight and FromSoftware games made me better as a person. Somehow it also relates to Stoicism and the words “the obstacle is the way“. It’s fascinating that different areas of life has similar approaches of getting better.
I'm going from teaching to software development. I just started my Master's program for software development a couple of weeks ago. This was very motivational and comforting. Thank you.
well , both of your videos sum up my life as a jr developer. And I know these are going to help the new developers to set some realistic standards and benchmarks for themselves. I hope to see more of your videos. Thanks a lot man.
Being a self taught Jr Developer is one of the hardest positions in the world. Everyone talks about 'getting the job' but not the hardship that comes after! Thank you so much for taking the time to watch my content. I hope it brought value
I'm looking to start a game dev company. Everything I have to learn is so in depth but your video really inspired me. Thank you! PS. You have a new sub here! Keep up the good work!
I started my programming journey about a year ago and havent got very far due to the above mentioned mistakes 😂 so glad to find lots of confirmation in this vid and comments. Ill be sure to write these points out and stick them on my wall till im sure my mind got the message! Thank you
Frankly, I hardly ever leave comments since I rather prefer to remain silent, however, this video is a special case. As a freshman who's about to be a sophomore, I've gone through my python class with nothing but ChatGPT and other AI stuff. I wish I've watched this video earlier but nothing's never late. Everything comes on time. I was supposed to watch it right now at this very moment and learn from it. Every single time I was asking myself a question throughout the video, you kept saying:"you're missing the point". And I definitely was. The whole concept of programming got upside down in my mind and that makes me kind of calm, peaceful I guess. The point is, it's never too late to get back on track and I appreciate your directions on that!
This is one of the videos I liked the most about how to create a successful mindset. =) Thank you for the light and calm when explaining, success for you!
I just got your channel recommended and man the information quality and the audio quality forced me to sub. Good job and best luck with your RU-vid journey.
Thank you so much! I actually use Adobe Audio AI Enhance so I don't do any of the mixing myself, please do check it out if you're interested in recording yourself, it's an awesome tool.
thanks for this as a cs student about to enter the work force this kind of video along w other expectations of jr developers can definitely help ease the nerves.
I'm a self taught programmer and this is pretty accurate. I pretty much done this from the beginning without watching many tutorials. As this made programming classes in my university pretty easy. But I remember thinking I can master a language. Almost 2 years ago after almost 4 years of python programming, I started to learn C++ (which is one of the few programming languages I tried to learn a few years back). Then I saw python got new language features, and it made me realize that I can't master a programming language.
Thank you so much for this video! Really! I've been working myself way too much to learn about coding and stuff by reading non-stop and doing tutorials. I'll take your advice as much as I can. I really needed this, it somewhat calmed the nerves I had. Due to a job interview I'll have tomorrow. Thank you! ❤
I really enjoyed both your videos and look forward for the next one! I'd love to see how you approach solving coding problems or how you plan your code for a project before writing it out. I'm going through a data & algorithms course so I can eventually solve easy-medium problems on leetcode but most of the time I'm just staring at a blank editor -_-
Thank you for your lovely comment! I posted another video on tutorial hell where I briefly touch on decomposition as a developer. I would highly recommend you check that out!
Just the right content to watch at 4:00am! You've earned a subscription, my friend. Your content has been very helpful to me as a newbie developer, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for your updates.
As a Videoographer and Photographer, I can say that this is definitely good advice in general. Especially the section with getting comfortable at 3:12. One does not simply open a program like After Effects and practically master it after using it, even after using it for many times. With that program, since there's an infinite amount of ways you can convey something and its all dependent on your own creativity and imagination, there will always be something new to learn. So instead of taking the approach of "I want to Learn everything and master After Effects, you break it down into portions that inspire ideas, and you commit the process of making it. Great video
I am starting a career shift as a Cloud Developer and realize this it. Build a life as a coder. Code a little every day. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
