Hello World! I am a 30-Year-Old civil/construction engineer, learning to code for the first time. I am sharing my journey and learning here.
Table of Contents
- An Unwritten Rule
- Work Overload & Coding
- Sleep Deprivation
- Self Doubt
- Regular Experessions
- CodeNewbie & Tech Jokes
An Unwritten Rule
I have been learning to code for more than a couple of months now. I have realized that it is an unwritten rule that anyone who is learning to code for the first time would make a portfolio website. I did no different. The moment I completed my Responsive Web Design Certification, I publicly committed myself to create a website in a month. I shared my website link in my last post, but there was no CSS on the website, but now I have completed my website. It's just a single-page website but might change it in the future.
Work Overload & Coding
The organization I work for recently won two new projects. There was a lot of work at the office (I am a Construction Engineer and have a non-coding job). The work hours would extend till very late in the night, but I've managed not to break the streak, and I have learned and practiced coding every day for an hour.
Sleep Deprivation
Because of too much work at the office & coding, I couldn't sleep enough for almost two weeks. I won't say it is entirely because of additional work at the office. I could get enough sleep had I managed my time more efficiently. I am aware that I am not managing my time efficiently and looking for ways to do that.
Self Doubt
After completing my portfolio website, Jai (my developer friend & mentor) asked me to read about formatting code from Google Javascript Style guides. I skim read it a couple of times, and I couldn't understand most of it. I felt that I had completed all the basic Javascript and ES6 coding challenges on freeCodeCamp. Even then, I couldn't remember most of it.
I called Jai up and told him how I was feeling, and he asked me to calm down. He told me that it was absolutely okay not to remember all of the things since I'd always have the option to go back to it and see how a particular thing worked until I had a good grasp on the topic. That same day he shared a video link with me about the same topic. The video explained the topic very accurately, and then things started making sense. It also helped me revise my basic Javascript & ES6 and hence my faith in my coding skills restored.
Regular Expressions
I found Regular Expressions comparatively easier than basic Javascript & ES6, but I did get stuck a couple of times. Regex101 was a great help. It tells you the meaning of the operator you are using. I couldn't figure out how to apply the flags at first, but then I found that at the end of the text box where you enter your regex, there was an area that lets you apply the flags. The other issue I faced with Regex101 was that I was putting the '/' twice. In Regex101, backslashes at the beginning and the end are already included.
CodeNewbie & Tech Jokes
For someone new to the coding world, there are a lot of things to understand. And more often than not, you find yourself in a position where a group of people is talking about some tech thing, and you don't understand a word. Though the tech world has been friendly to me till now, I wouldn't deny that I do feel a fool most of the time. The thing that hurts most is not to get tech jokes.
I remember an instance when I shared a joke on RTX 3090, and I didn't get the joke. I first felt terrible, and then I took it to Twitter to ask people what the joke meant. As always, the tech world was kind enough to explain the joke. I guess feeling bad for not knowing something won't help; embracing your ignorance and seeking help would, though.
Join the discussion
I would love to get some feedback here.
- Are you also doing a full-time non-coding job? How do you manage your time more effectively?
- Have you ever had doubts about your understanding of coding as well? How did you deal with it?
- Did you get all the tech jokes? What is your advice for someone who doesn't?
Top comments (15)
"I guess feeling bad for not knowing something won't help; embracing your ignorance and seeking help would, though."
This is the mindset of good programmers. I've been a developer for approximately 3 years now and I don't think there's ever been a time where I said, "I know all about that". In the past two weeks, I've been learning graphql and I learned through a tutorial using prisma 1, I decided to integrate prisma 2 into a project and it's completely different than the tutorial so it has been a lot of reading and figuring it out on my own especially because it's relatively new and not all the planned features are available yet.
I always have doubts about my ability but I just push through them and focus more on developing my own projects. Know you will always come across people who think they're better than you because they know something you don't know. That's true in any field. Focus more on the people that help you along your journey and keep in touch with them. Hold on to the feeling that you get when you build something and it works because that's the feeling I get every time I figure something new out and implement it into a project I'm working on.
I've said this in someone else's post but I'll say it again :
"Programming is problem-solving." <-- This is the main thing about programming. It's a language that helps you build tools that solve problems. If you're the type of person to force things into place, programming probably isn't for you. Sure, you can force things into place with programming, but it'll often cause lots of headaches or cost lots of money down the line as needs grow.
It's like a carpenter, there's a certain way to build buildings, you can build many different shapes and sizes and as they get bigger you have to consider different methods. Sure you can use cheap wood and jam things into place but the structure probably wont last very long however, it really depends on what you're using it for. If it's a quick program to last a day to get a simple task done, use cheap tools and build it fast. If it's a structure that you want to use for a very long time, do it properly and plan it out.
Thank you, Glenn, Thank you so so much for this comment.
In one comment you have kind of summarized entire programming.
Hi. I am also a newbie and I started learning a couple of months to. My case is different though because I am a medical student. I try to spend 1 hour each day to code but reduce my time during exams because I need to be the top in my course even as I am learning how to code
I guess that's fine, As long as you keep learning you'd do great
Hi Felipe!
Thank you so much, Yes we have indeed a lot in common.
I just read your post and I was blown away by both your content & writing skills.
I would definitely be needing some help once I get my basics covered. I would surely reach out to help, Thank you so much for offering help :)
Hello Naresh!
We are both new to the code and with the same background, I am also a civil engineer, a little younger than you: D.
I'm learning every day too, I've done 100 days of code, but I feel very alone and unmotivated and, somehow, I stopped doing it. Now I'm going to try to start over, just to see what I can do on the last day of the year. What I learned from my first failure was that trying to learn everything at once ended up causing me a mental breakdown.
And for doubts, every day: D, not about what I can learn by being self-taught (because I'm also trying to learn Korean, and that's okay), but the burden of not having IT experience sometimes makes me feel like I'm just losing my free time.
For your first website, it's really amazing, I hope I can do something like that on my new journey.
Hello Matheus!
I'd suggest trying to find a mentor, I couldn't have done this with my mentor, who also happens to be a very good friend, freeCodeCamp's discord server helped too, so did the freeCodeCamp forum & Facebook page. All of this helped me to feel alone or unmotivated
I give just an hour to coding, but I can totally understand the breakdown phase since I have a non-coding job & sometimes there's too much work at the office that one hour of coding means one hour of less sleep but as I mentioned in the post it was also a result of my poor time management, keep a check on your time if you are managing it well or not.
I'm glad you liked the website, there are still a couple of issues on the website which I am yet to fix, but i am happy with the initial product too. You can definitely do something like this, even better.
Just keep on it. All the best :)
Don't fret about forgetting things after using them only a few times. Think of coding like an actual language. You learn a new vocabulary, get it right once and then put it away. 1 week later that word pops up in a quiz and you go "uhhhhh.... I think I know this? ... Maybe?". It's just repetitation. Keep looking up whatever you forgot and the next time you suddenly won't need to look it up anymore 'cause you just know.
Yup. Just keep working on smaller projects until you comfortable to tackle the next hurdle. Rinse and repeat to steadily build your knowledge.
This roadmap works pretty well as a rough outline on what to look into next.
Hi Naresh!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings :)
I also work full time, so I'm waking up very early to study for at least 2 hours every day. It's tiring, but not impossible. I do try to be lighthearted about my journey (meaning I don't force myself to do things if I'm feeling too tired on any given day, and I don't feel bad about it).
Now, regarding self-doubt: unfortunately, it's a constant. I've made a decision to change my career in about a year or so, but whenever I think about how little I've learned in 3 months I feel discouraged. Honestly, I guess the only way to deal with this is to keep going! So keep going!
And your website is looking really good, congratulations!
Thank you, Julia.
Are you planning on sharing your journey here or on Twitter?
I'm sure your journey would inspire many
When i was learning ES6, I had a lot of issues. I would watch the tutor teach the concepts and when I used to go ahead and try to write the code on my own, I would totally go blank. Would stare at the screen, trying to recollect what the tutor taught.
But then I started reading docs thoroughly. And then coded along with the tutor. It really helped me.
And yes, I get most of the tech jokes 😂
I guess being from Computer Engineering background helps in getting the tech jokes :D
I love being part of dev community, people are always humble amd helpful.
I think this way for the entire tech industry, I've had a similar experience with Tech people on twitter & freeCodeCamp's discord channel & Facebook page
Agree hi-5
I mean dev community as the whole tech communities.