Are you a Beginner, Intermediate or Expert Programmer?

That is a good question is it not? That is something I have been struggling to figure out.

I have been wondering for a while if I am still a beginner or at least moving towards being intermediate? I am pretty sure I am not an expert as many things are still very difficult for me (if not too difficult?!) and I feel at times like I know nothing at all 😅

Are you a beginner, intermediate or expert programmer? And how do you know that?

Comments

[artur]

That's a good question and one many of us struggle with at different points in our programming journey.

Identifying your skill level can be tricky because it varies across different aspects of programming. Here are some indicators that might help you assess where you stand:

Beginner:
You are comfortable with basic programming concepts like variables, loops, and conditionals.
You rely heavily on tutorials and example code to build projects.
Debugging can be a significant challenge, and you may not be familiar with many debugging tools or techniques.
Writing clean, efficient code is still something you're learning.

Intermediate:
You can build more complex applications and have a solid understanding of data structures and algorithms.
You are comfortable with debugging and can troubleshoot issues independently.
You understand and use version control systems like Git.
You can read and understand other people's code and contribute to open-source projects.
You are familiar with some design patterns and best practices.

Expert:
You have a deep understanding of multiple programming languages and paradigms.
You can design and architect large systems and applications.
You are proficient in optimizing code for performance and scalability.
You mentor others and contribute significantly to community knowledge.
You stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in technology.
To assess your level:

Reflect on the complexity of the problems you can solve independently.
Consider your ability to learn new technologies and apply them.
Think about how often others come to you for help and how comfortable you feel providing it.
Evaluate your contribution to projects, both personal and collaborative.
Personally, I consider myself to be somewhere between intermediate and expert, im working in Whimsy Games company. I can handle complex projects and often help others with their code. However, I know there is always more to learn, and I continuously strive to improve my skills.

[Anmol Baranwal]

If a programmer knows which category they lies in, I can bet they are not real programmers 😆

Heck, I don't even know which category I'm in :)

[Paulo Henrique]

Ditto, 20 years of profession, every day I discover something new

[Anita Olsen]

Always learning! ✨

[Jayant Bhawal]

Same (not in yoe though, haha)
I feel tech changes too fast to not learn something everyday, and lately it feels like it's changing ever faster!

[Anita Olsen]

You have a point there!

Hahah xD

[Martin Baun]

While I've been practicing for a hot* minute now, I'm still learnin' :)

[Hana Manzella]

congrats

[Devarshi Shimpi]

There's always something new to learn everyday!

If you are talking in terms of job roles? Probably seniority of the role depends, some are expert at what they do while some don't know what they are even talking about...

But if seriously as a programmer regardless a person's employment? I am sure someone might be expert in let's say 2-3 different tech stack, but not like all the programming languages that exist lol. Even in the programming languages they are the best at, eg. TypeScript. There's always new updates incoming! They might be expert today, probably not after the new version rolls out with some major change...

[Anita Olsen]

😃💡✨

I was not talking in the terms of job roles no, just generally. Regardless of a person's employment, yes.

Aha. Ah, yes the updates. Well, I can only speak for myself, been learning both Python 2 and Python 3, I manage very well to program things in both versions but then, their changes were rather small 😁

Thank you SO much for you comment, I appreciate it! 🙏

[Ezpie]

Well we aren't the kind of people who know what tier we live in, but we sure know what level of toxicity we give in programming... I mean, ever said VsCode of vim devs? I know because I am a proud vim user who has no other option then to use vscode because the codebase is written in TS and TS is just another vscode extension... #RostMeReddit.

Real talk, I would say that being in categories is the same thing as comparing JavaScript to rust, it just isn't fair, rust is such a fast and safe language whereas javascript is just a buggy, slow, and for god forbidden reason used everywhere because of Microsoft just created a vscode extension. So I would say that I am a beginner, but due to my takes on verity of topics in programming, I would say I am an intermediate? So yeah can't really put developers on a tier list.

[Ben Halpern]

I would try and go out of my way to identify and act like an intermediate developer sooner than it feels comfortable.

I think some people hold the "beginner" title longer than it is useful to them.

[Mike Talbot ⭐]

I'm an expert, in that I've implemented and architected dozens of systems which have built successful businesses. Could you teach me something I don't know? Undoubtedly. Are there a billion things I don't know? Yes!

[Julian Gaston]

I have been working a couple years doing full stack web development in a production setting working on features/bugs, coordinating meetings between different teams etc... I would say I am intermediate at best. Probably not qualified to write this post haha!!!!

I will try to answer this in a fair way.

In 2020 I was definitely a beginner. I did not have a job yet and was going through tutorial "he11" on youtube. I did not understand programming fully, and had no idea what an API was.

I think one of the biggest differences between beginner and intermediate is the amount of quality experience you have coding and understanding your tech stack END TO END. Within intermediate you should be able to understand business/ client/ design requirements and be able to translate or articulate these details into actionable items.

In my opinion, being an expert as a programmer is having a full understanding of your code, how your code works, your frameworks that you are using and in addition, being able to deploy, debug, and design your architecture/infrastructure with keeping scalability and security in mind. I truly believe once your able to do this at a degree that is "production" quality, you could call yourself an expert in the specific tech stack you are working with.

Their is a caveat. Being an expert in one tech stack I think automatically puts you at intermediate on any other tech stack even if you really havnt learned it yet. Understanding how to take a project and balance product requirements with time management and, generally, the entire business side to developing, can easily be transferable to any other tech stack for the most part.

Just my take. Once your an expert in one tech stack and one business setting, I think this automatically puts you at intermediate for everything else. This is of course considering the business side to programming.

If we are only talking about raw programming skills I think @devarshishimpi sums it up pretty good!!

[GuyShifty]

I've been trying to break into the industry for approaching 3yrs now. From what I gather:

• Beginner: still learning language syntax, still developing grasp of basic concepts in programming, doesn't really know which direction to focus their efforts. Tries to learn everything easy, dodges the not-so-fun lessons.
• Intermediate: Now that they know syntax and how to manipulate data. No longer afraid of learning new things. They know the comfort zone is death. Always has side projects. Has experience with more than one of anything....ie. frameworks, databases, etc.
• Senior: They dont let coding define them. They have a tenuous grasp on advanced concepts and how to implement them. Knows when its appropriate to use custom or prefab solutions. Truly understands how a system is integrated.

But what do I know? I haven't been able to land an entry level job yet. These are just what I've observed

[Anita Olsen]

Thank you so much. This is most helpful!

[saiyam katiyar]

Many programmers may not be fully aware of which category they fall into, and those who do often possess a high level of skill in various languages. I believe that all programmers are on the same level overall, with the main difference being their proficiency in different programming languages.

[Ricardo Moraes]

I'm a beginner, without solid experiences yet, but I have been studying everyday to improve my skills to get an opportunity as a professional developer!!!

[Anita Olsen]

Alright! Keep it up, you can do it! ✨

Welcome to the DEV community by the way!

[Brandon - Michigan]

I have no idea. But for some reason I feel like I'm always a beginner. I never feel like I know enough. And half of what someone tells me flies straight over my head most of the time lol. Then I have to go and look it up or research it. By the time I get it and learn it, they've moved on to something else, which again will fly over my head, and back at square one. So I'm going with a constant beginner.

[Ben Link]

I try not to get caught in the comparison trap… mostly because I go from beginner to expert and back frequently… sometimes even on the same day!

[Hana Manzella]

just touching waters :D

[András Tóth]

Sorry for the shameless self-promo, but I wrote in 2020 (before ChatGPT) about what do engineers really know.

Now this article is really long, but the paragraphs about what does a programmor know are not that long and it can give you a roadmap (or at least add to the different types of knowledge consciously which will help your self-assessment).

In extreme brevity: you have non-reusable knowledge, like how this quirk in javascript: {} + [] works, which is not in any other language, you have reusable knowledge, like for loops work generally or what is a "pure function" and what are its benefits, and then you have platform specific knowledge, like how you access folders (e.g. C:\projects\my-project) in Windows or how can you obtain permissions on Android.

You can be both an expert and a total beginner depending on what language and what platform you work at, but in my opinion, what counts is how deep is your reusable knowledge and how strategic you are when you start solving a problem.