3 Demoralizing Mistakes of Coding Beginners That Waste Days of Learning

As a beginner, you are allowed to make mistakes.

At least you do it while coding. In all other terms, watch your steps carefully because I experienced it one more time just yesterday. It is human rational thinking of getting more for the same amount of money, it is common sense to memorize, and lastly, pushing aways completed tasks is the natural way to go.

Unfortunately, these common-sense practices are hindering you from learning to code successfully.

1. Buy a 50h Course on Udemy to Be Shown Everything Except How to Solve Problems

It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks. - Anatole France

What sounds more appealing to you? A 12-hour course or a 50h-course? If you picked the larger one, you should read on carefully, learning to code is not about being shown everything.

The actual skill of a developer is not to write as much code as he can. He always aims for the least amount of code that is well thought and does the exact thing it should do. In my daily life as a freelancer, I always go for the shortest resource that might solve my current problem. This always seems the creator had to put in many thoughts to cut out unnecessary details simply to bloat up the volume. A short course won't necessarily mean it is a bad one. It is about the topics and how well they are prepared for teaching.

The bigger the resource, the more the chance you won't learn for what you've come for. Ultimately you don't learn a language to be able to make everything possible, developing software is about acquiring only 1 skill of problem-solving, the language is only the instrument. So when in your life did you ever need all your knowledge concentrated into one single task?

Only one skill is genuinely needed: solving problems. Inspect the course quality by watching the introductions and how well the instructor explains the course content.

2. Memorizing the Procedure Without Understanding the Why

Listening & Comprehension.

This is the motto of every English cassette I heard during my school time, but it is not the motto of many coding beginners. Seeing a solution once and memorizing it won't bring you anywhere except running into the next problem.

Yesterday, I helped out a coding beginner via Facebook Mentoring, and I found out that he was copying code from the lecture expecting it to work on his unique problem as well. A small detail change in your task and the memorized way can't be applied anymore. The secret ingredient is to understand why a particular code line exists and why it was used this way-decoding the why of a line will bring you a universal understanding. You can use the gained knowledge years after you've learned it.

Memorizing code or snippets won't bring you anywhere. It is a common fact that copying solutions from StackOverflow is a terrible habit. The reason lies in the point I have just described.

Understanding the purpose of used code fragments is the right way to become a successful software developer.

3. Keeping Up Until the Problem Is Solved, Not Until You Think You Are Done

Commit/push/error.

In my early years of development, I thought: "The code is working? Fine, let's watch Netflix!" Only because your code works does not mean you are done.

If something in coding seems to run, this is just the happy path. Also, nobody ever comes perfectly on the first try. Even after 7 years, I make mistakes, resulting in a few overhauls, especially checking the git changeset before committing reveals issues and unnecessary lines. A feeling of being done is just a feeling, you aren't done. That's utterly important because you will then recapture all that you've coded and gain a deeper knowledge about the "why."

Just writing code and once it works isn't the definition of done. Going through it with the debugger step by step and rewatching what the code is doing brings up so much potential in learning and understanding. Especially in terms of how you traverse your thoughts into code structures, it is a win-win.

Go through your code again after feeling done and look for spots you haven't covered, for example, if someone enters a number, but you expect a string.

Learning to code is terrific, primarily if someone teaches you a universal and crucial skill to git gud. It is not about being shown everything, it is about being thrown into the water and trying to swim.

Nowadays, you have safety nets, and you can always go back, learning to code is less about actual time spent coding, it is about thinking, acting, proving, thinking again, and applying fixes until it works.

Be on the ball with endurance and will power.