Introduction: When watching tutorials feels like progress but isn’t
Let’s be real: if you’ve ever fallen into the YouTube rabbit hole of “learn React in 12 minutes” and “build a full SaaS app in 1 hour” tutorials, you’re not alone. I lived there. For years.
At one point, I had over 30 tutorial folders on my desktop, each one named something like “todo-app-final-final.zip”. I felt productive. I felt like I was learning. But if you asked me to build something on my own? Total brain freeze.
No idea where to start. Zero confidence. And worst of all, nothing real to show for all that time.
This post isn’t just a rant it’s a breakdown of exactly how I got out of that loop and became someone who actually builds stuff. Not perfect apps. Not the next unicorn startup. Just actual projects I could open, run, and say, “yeah, I made that.”
And weirdly enough? That shift changed everything how I learn, how fast I grow, and how much fun coding finally became.
Let’s break down how to make that shift.
2. Set a real goal: don’t learn to code, learn to build your thing
Here’s a secret: “learning to code” is too vague to stay motivated. That’s like saying you’re learning to cook… without ever deciding what dish you want to make.
If you want your skills to stick, you need a target. A thing you’re trying to build. It doesn’t need to be revolutionary. It just needs to be real enough to care about.
For me, that thing was a small game. Not a Steam release. Not a monetized project. Just a scrappy little prototype in Unreal Engine that I decided I would ship in 2025 even if it sucked.
That decision changed everything.
Suddenly, I wasn’t jumping between random tutorials or bookmarking “best JavaScript courses.” I had a goal, so I knew what to search, what to skip, and what to build next.
Want to be a front-end dev? Build a fake product page.
Want to learn back-end APIs? Make a to-do app that syncs with a DB.
Want to make games? Pick an engine and try to make one feature work.
Learning without a goal feels like wandering. Learning with a project feels like progress.
3. Focus on fundamentals: code is a language. learn grammar, not poetry.
This is where most beginner devs (my past self included) try to skip ahead and it hurts later.
It’s tempting to dive straight into frameworks, animations, or cool libraries because they look impressive. But if you don’t understand why things work under the hood, everything becomes duct-taped together. You copy code that works… until it doesn’t. Then you’re stuck.
What helped me most wasn’t learning Go, TypeScript, or Unreal Blueprints individually. It was realizing that all code across every language shares some core fundamentals:
- Variables
- Functions
- Conditionals & loops
- Scope
- Modularity and reusability
Once I truly got those concepts, switching between languages felt less like learning from scratch and more like switching dialects.
// same structure in JavaScript, Go, and Unreal Blueprints
// JavaScript
function greet(name) {
return Hello, <span>${name}</span>;
}
// Go
func greet(name string) string {
return fmt.Sprintf("Hello, %s", name)
}
// Blueprint (conceptual)
Event BeginPlay → Print String("Hello, " + name)
Understanding the logic is more important than the syntax.
You don’t need to master every syntax rule. You just need to understand what’s happening and why.
That’s how I ended up reusing mental models from Next.js while building game logic in Unreal. Same logic, different tools.
It’s slower at first, yeah. You’ll feel like you’re crawling while others are building shiny UIs. But when they get stuck copying tutorials, you’ll be the one fixing bugs and shipping features with confidence.
If you’re overwhelmed, don’t start with React or APIs.
Watch something like “how does a computer work?” or “what happens when you make an HTTP request?”
Trust me that base layer is the cheat code for learning faster later.
4. Avoid tutorial hell: If you’re following along without thinking, you’re not learning
I call it “tutorial hell” and I was trapped there for years.
You know the feeling:
You just finished a 3-hour video, followed every line of code, and felt like a god…
…until you close the tab and realize you have no idea what you just built.
That was me. Over and over.
It felt productive I was typing code, watching progress bars, getting things to compile. But none of it stuck.
So here’s how I escaped:
I gave myself one rule:
Watch only one tutorial video on a topic. Then stop. Go build something with it.
Even if it’s terrible. Even if it breaks. Especially if it breaks.
The key is this: you need to struggle.
Struggling is where the actual learning happens.
When I started limiting handholding, I began learning how to learn which is the actual skill here.
Don’t know how to add a button?
Pause. Try. Fail.
Google it.
Check the docs.
Watch a tiny video just about buttons.
Implement it.
Break it.
Fix it.
That’s the loop. That’s how it sticks.
And you don’t have to start “from scratch” every time. Even if you’re just modifying what you built in a tutorial changing the layout, adding a feature, or rebuilding part of it from memory that counts.
5. Use AI smartly: GPT is Stack Overflow on steroids, but don’t become a prompt junkie
Let’s talk about the shiny tool everyone’s reaching for: AI.
Is it useful? Hell yes.
Should you use it as a beginner? Kind of but carefully.
Here’s the thing: if you don’t understand what you’re trying to do, AI will just spit out stuff that looks right. You’ll copy-paste, it might work… but you won’t know why.
That’s dangerous.
So when you’re just starting out, focus on learning the basics first. Watch a few solid tutorials. Build something small with them. Then and only then let AI tag in when you’re stuck.
When I use it:
- I’m mid-project and can’t remember how to write a SQL join? AI.
- I’m debugging something small but annoying? AI.
- I want to generate 10 variations of a function just to learn different approaches? AI.
But I never start with “write me an app.” That’s like asking a calculator to do your math homework before you even know what multiplication is.
Think of GPT like a teammate who’s super fast at Googling and explaining stuff. Use it to save time, not to skip thinking.
If I’m stuck on logic, I’ll write the function myself, then ask:
// here's what I wrote:
function isEven(num) {
return num % 2 === 1; // 🤦♂️ mistake here
}
// AI explained:
// should be === 0 for even numbers
function isEven(num) {
return num % 2 === 0;
}AI didn’t just fix it — it explained the logic behind the mistake.
AI didn’t just fix it it explained the logic behind the mistake.
“Here’s what I tried why isn’t it working?”
That’s where GPT really shines: helping you understand, not just produce.
6. Don’t wait for a genius idea: build dumb stuff until something sticks
Here’s a lie I told myself for years:
“I just need a good idea… then I’ll start building.”
Spoiler: I never got that “good idea.” And I didn’t build anything.
The truth is, ideas don’t magically show up while you’re binge-watching tutorials or scrolling Twitter. They show up while you’re building.
So stop trying to come up with the next killer SaaS tool or billion-dollar startup. That pressure is trash.
Instead, build something stupidly simple.
Make a button that changes color.
Make a to-do app with only one task.
Make a timer that shouts at you when you’re slacking.
// a tiny button counter – less than 15 lines
let count = 0;
const button = document.createElement('button');
button.innerText = 'Clicked 0 times';
button.onclick = () => {
count++;
button.innerText = Clicked <span>${count}</span> times;
};
document.body.appendChild(button);
This is all it takes to go from “watching” to “building.”
The idea isn’t to be clever it’s to get used to starting, breaking, and finishing.
Personally, I started keeping a Notion page where I dump one random idea every night. Most of them? Garbage. But once in a while, one sticks. That’s how I landed on my recent side project just something I scribbled down at 11pm one night and ended up shipping.
Pro tip:
80% of your ideas will suck.
That’s fine. The 20% you act on will change everything.
You’ll never think your way into becoming a builder. You have to build your way into thinking like one.
7. Time management: Wake up early, build before the world starts yelling at you
Let’s be honest: time is the hardest part of building anything.
Most of us aren’t sitting around with 8 free hours and dual monitors. We’ve got jobs, school, responsibilities, or all three. But here’s the brutal truth: if you don’t protect time, you won’t build anything.
For me, that meant one thing: waking up at 4:30am.
I’m not a morning person. I wasn’t trying to be a productivity bro. I just knew that by the time the world started sending Slack pings and emails, my brain was already fried.
So I blocked out 2–3 hours in the early morning. No distractions. Just me and the build.
And here’s the trick that actually made that time effective:
Don’t try to “work on your project.”
Instead: pick one small feature to finish in a single session.
- “Build an inventory system” = too vague
- “Add one item pickup animation” = doable
Breaking down big ideas into tiny, atomic wins gave me dopamine and momentum. Plus, if I missed a day, I didn’t feel like the whole thing collapsed.
The build becomes your gym session: you just show up, rep it out, and get a little stronger each time.
8. Learn in public: no one cares… and that’s why it’s great
This might sound weird, but one of the best ways I’ve leveled up as a developer is by posting my progress online even when no one was watching.
No followers? Doesn’t matter.
No likes? Who cares.
Cringe? Maybe.
Still worth it.
Here’s why:
When you screenshot a working feature or post a 20-second clip of something you built, you do two things:
- You create accountability for yourself you’re showing up.
- You build a trail of proof that you’re growing, even if it’s slow.
Looking back at old posts where I struggled to center a div or got excited about building a toggle switch reminds me just how far I’ve come — and it’s honestly motivating as hell.
And sometimes just sometimes people do see it. You might get feedback, encouragement, or even a collab opportunity. But even if you don’t? Still worth it.
You don’t need a YouTube channel or a blog. A messy tweet, a post on Dev.to, or just journaling in public on GitHub is enough.
Learning in public turns your lonely grind into a visible journey. And eventually, that journey might help someone else.
9. Conclusion: fall in love with the process, not the outcome
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after all the false starts, the unread docs, the 3-hour YouTube marathons, and the imposter syndrome, it’s this:
You become a builder by building.
Not by watching. Not by planning. By doing.
It won’t feel good at first. Your first projects will be ugly. Your code will break. You’ll forget semicolons and cry over CSS.
But slowly almost invisibly something shifts.
You stop Googling the same basic stuff.
You start solving your own bugs.
You get faster. Sharper.
You go from tutorial zombie to someone who can actually create things.
And it doesn’t happen because you had a great idea.
It happens because you kept showing up.
So don’t wait for the perfect time or perfect idea.
Build messy little projects. Share them. Break them. Fix them.
The process is the outcome.
Helpful resources
Some links I found super useful while getting out of tutorial hell:
- The Odin Project Full-stack curriculum that encourages building real projects
- Build Your Own X Crazy list of “build it yourself” tutorials
- CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science Free Harvard course that teaches fundamentals, not fluff
- Frontend Mentor Practice by recreating real-world UI challenges
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