Builder's Block

I'm a beginner, and like most beginners, I'm still learning.

Naturally, when learning something, struggle is involved. I, though, love the struggle. I love getting stuck on something, and searching for an answer. More times than not, I usually try four or five different solutions before landing on one that works.

I love the feeling of finally getting that piece of code to work and finally getting the output I'm looking for.

Here's a little bit about me:

My undergraduate degree is in Petroleum Engineering, but I work full time as a contract mechanical design engineer. Growing up, I was always around a computer (as I think most folks my age). My dad ran his own computer service business and was Network A+ Certified, so I was always just around computers, but hardly ever involved.

My college degree didn't really teach anything in the way of computer science. Most of my classes were on paper, and if we did use our laptops, it was for excel.

As a contract engineer, I don't have much room for movement. Whether that be with a new technology, more responsibility, or even chance at promotion. The things I do on a daily basis aren't challenging and not even that time consuming.

I want to make a move into the tech industry. I'm totally enamored by startups and small companies. The idea of a small team working to push out a product just excites me. So, I leaned in on learning how to become a developer.

For the past 6 months (and a little time in the middle of 2018) I started to learn web development, specifically the MERN stack. I've built 2 APIs, 2 react projects (one of which I'm currently working on getting the API integrated with). I've dabbled in ElectronJS development by creating a Pomodoro Timer (I actually use this at work).

So, how do I struggle?

I'm not creative. I'm not a Zero to One type of person. I'm very much a 1 to 1.5 or 2.0. I struggle with coming up with ideas for things to put in my portfolio and show that I'm ready to be a part of a team. I work best when I have a clear goal or deliverable. I'm also not that good at design.

When I do have an idea, I can usually get the MVP built in a few days (coding after work), but design and making things look nice are always where I start to lose interest.

I want more than anything to move myself into the tech industry, and doing so is harder than I anticipated. Which I guess I kind of expected, you don't know what you don't know. I think I'd benefit a lot from a mentor or teacher, but I would feel bad not being able to compensate them for their time.

Every bit of advice I've gotten on "how to get better" is to just build things. "You've just got to dive in and build something. That's when you'll learn the most!" I couldn't agree more, I learn by doing, which I think most people do. But what am I supposed to do if I don't have any ideas?

I'm very interested to hear what you have to say. How should I overcome this "Builder's Block"?