Honestly, I’m really messed up right now. I don’t know what to do with my life. I started learning coding, but it’s not going well. I’m struggling to understand the logic behind the code. At first, I told myself it’s okay, I’ll get it eventually — but now it’s starting to feel too time-consuming and frustrating.
I’m currently a third-year BCA student, and most of my classmates have already done several projects, internships, and are doing really well in their lives. I, on the other hand, haven’t done a single internship yet. My first interview also went very badly — they rejected my resume right away.
Now I’m under a lot of pressure. I keep wondering what I should focus on — should I prepare for my semester exams (which are coming soon), or should I work on improving my resume by adding some projects? I feel like I’m running very late compared to everyone else.
I’m trying to learn Java programming and also trying to understand JavaScript, but everything feels too overwhelming right now. I don’t know whether I should concentrate on my studies, prepare my resume, or start focusing on getting a job. I just feel very lost and irritated these days.
Top comments (1)
That overwhelming feeling is completely normal—it sucks, yes... but I've had my fair share. So, how can I help? My college story is so far from the normal path that you can't compare, really. But if you're curious, I wrote about some of it in this hackathon follow up post. I would say those were the highlights those years, but that would be a lie. Might take your mind off things for a min anyway.
Now, take a breath and stop comparing your current situation to the perception of everybody else around you (and I say perception, cause I'm sure if you ask them you'd get a different version). Honestly? Does not matter. Terrible interview? I've had several of my own! Did you learn something from it? Even if it's the fact that you didn't mesh? That's fine—besides, if all the interviews went great then there wouldn't be much of a point anyway.
Second piece of advice? Picture you a year from now, in front of a computer not all the time, but pretty close. Coding projects, learning languages and systems (successfully, I might add), but that's it—all computers, code, and logic, all day for as long as you can stand it. Seriously, put yourself in the middle of that—see it, smell it, feel it...
And then ask yourself one question: are you happy? There's your answer—that first reaction is usually the right one. And a "maybe" or "could be"—it's not good enough, either. The rest of it does not matter. You can work anywhere, you can learn anything, but being able to enjoy it? That's the part where people will settle for the pay, or convenience, or in my case simply because it was what I had always done. It was familiar.
And maybe development is exactly where you want to be, which is great too. You're the only one that has to live with that, though. So, before you tackle any of that other stuff on your list, just take a breather. Figure out whether or not you should be thinking about it in the first place or perhaps there's something else entirely. Perhaps you just need a break. All very real, perfectly acceptable options.
So, give yourself a bit to just think about things. Figure out what you need to be happiest—and if that has changed in the last six months? Or changes again six weeks from now? That's called learning and growth. Find me on Discord if you ever need somebody to talk to—same username everywhere. 🫶