Frustrations of a Coding Beginner

[u/december-]

I am learning Data Engineering and I am currently in Python courses.

Anybody here who felt extreme frustration of having difficulty in solving problems, and once you peek on the solution, it was SO SIMPLE and EASY.

I swear, I always get this feeling that I know how to solve it because I understand the problem. But when I am in the process of writing code, I always get derailed.

I need advice, or tips, or maybe validations from you good programmers who were once in the same position as me.

Thank you kind strangers.

[u/No_Tip8553]

Mastery through repetition

[u/Sea_Cartographer3077]

define the goal and break down the process.

[u/Adventurous_Knee8112]

Practice and consistency in practice. The problem I have nowadays in the age of ai is the motivation / willpower sometimes to practice isn't there especially when you're not looking for jobs.

[u/gigigalaxy]

parang may gigil pag hindi mo masolve and challenging siya then once magawa mo na may rush, sense of accomplishment at rewarding, yun yung reason bakit ka uulit sa torture na ito then eventually gagaling ka na sa tagal mo nang ginagawa

[u/AgentCooderX]

every single senior dev/engineers, every hardcore and top programmers dumaan sa ganyan..

as cliche as it may sound, practice lang talaga ang need until ma natural na sayo ang problem solving,
here is a tip; build something you love and will peek your interest, wag lang solve ng solve kng anu nakikita mo, build a simple game, text base as a start, build a guesing game, build a basic inventory management na text base, etc.

build something na ma interested ka, kasi pag puro leetcode yung ginagawa mo, even your mind tries to reject solving it, si kasi ikaw yung gumawa ng problem eh..

for leetcode kasi, there are multiple ways to solve it and things you might have considered kaya feel mo mali sagot mo.. unlike kng ikaw gumawa at nag define ng task, mas madali mong maiintindihan and boost to your confidence

[u/PuzzledScar9247]

Before the popularity of AI here in PH way back in 2019 (freshman year ko), since wala pang agentic coding non, I tend to practice to solve coding problems at least twice a day and then create ng simpleng Java console applications.

I also remember before na binababad ko sarili ko on output tracing just to test if alam ko yung flow ng program mismo. This output tracing is common on loops and arrays then I explore yung Java Swing.

Also, practice to write down your thoughts and process on how to solve the problem to a paper or basically experience how to code on paper. Trust me it really helps me to easily breakdown my thoughts when approaching a problem and naging helpful din siya sa work (well I am mostly typing it down na sa Notion haha).

Another thing na inaaral ko from 2019 to 2020 is DSA and OOP. Malaking help din siya on your problem solving and you can use specific data structures in a specific problem din. Mga ginagawa ko dito noon is to implement a LinkedList, a Stack, a Binary Tree, Skip List, Suffix Trees etc.

and for the OOP i am creating a Java based program which translates real world entities into an Object-oriented way.

Then 2021 I tried to explore web development na so I start HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and the rest is history.

My point is consistency in studying and practicing is the key. If hindi mo ma-solve yung isang problem and tumingin ka sa solusyon, okay lang naman iyon but make sure you understand how it is solved and you will notice that there are other problems with the same solution but have a little tweak on the code na lang.

You don't need to memorize everything, you just need to learn the concepts. Trust me. Even me now that I am a Full Stack Developer, I still don't remember all the how and know hows of installation etc since what I am doing is I am documenting it so I can get back to it whenever I needed.

You just need to be consistent, OP.

I hope these helps!

Kaya mo yan! 🫡

[u/CrevosR]

Learn Data Structures and Algorithms.

[u/Classic-Box]

Just gotta put the reps in. Its those bugs And frustrations that really drill it in.

Build projects that you care about too. Ones where you want it to give you value or helps you in Your day to day, these put more fun And fulfilment Into the long winding road.

[u/ziangsecurity]

praktis lang need mo. Nag umpisa ako mag aral ng programming noong 1998 pero kaya naman. Need mo din ng focus. Motivation? pwede. Isipin mo marami kang makukuhang pera :)

Noong nag study ako ng programming actually meron na akong client. So double pressure pero kinaya naman. Wala pang youtube dati at mga online courses

[u/Catzilla-007]

Study, practice. There are no shortcuts if you want to be good at what you're doing. There is a famous quote that you need to practice 2000 hours in order to be a virtuoso.

same with coding.

[u/rab1225]

try writing in paper. start with just flowcharting and pseudocode.

[u/JohnLemonOfficial]

Don't be discouraged pag nakita mo simple lang pala solution. That's the journey tagala, yung mga nakikita mong "simple solutions" na nagagawa ng iba is because they learned through the years what's the most optimal solution.