Trying to start a community to help up-and-coming developers has reminded me of how I felt at the start.
There's a reason I only know one spoken language (English). Learning languages is hard.
That extends to learning a development language, too. It's really hard at the start. You've got to learn all these new concepts, none of which come naturally.
You may even be surrounded by people that do know what they're talking about, or at least, appear to, and you're starting to feel like you're stupid and can't make it in this industry.
Let me just tell you - you're wrong. You're not stupid and you can make it.
If anybody is telling you otherwise, you MUST stop listening to them. They are wrong.
I don't care if they've been developing for 40+ years and are a "wizard". They've just forgotten what it was like at the start. We ALL struggled at the start.
Find someone that will help you, not belittle you, when you have questions and you'll flourish.
If you need some support, reach out to me. I'm not linking back to my "community" because this isn't about "advertising" my thing, this is about you knowing you can do it - no matter what anybody else thinks.
Latest comments (43)
Feels great. This is the motivation a beginner needs!! !
Keep going - you got this.
Can you provide me some good material regarding front end web development??
Not specifically front end development, but I run CodeTips which might help you?
I've always felt stupid in this industry.
Very reassuring. Thanks!
Wanted to add that people who think they're ninja rock star wizards sometimes aren't really what they say. For example, one of my leads told me I shouldn't get any onboarding instructions because "everyone has to suffer". He would belittle me in code reviews then do a force push to the master branch. 😒
That's a disgusting way to treat people. He wasn't a true lead, he just wanted to feel the power.
Trust me that those types of people should just be ignored.
Learning something new can be exciting - but it takes time, so give yourself time. Think back to something you know now that you had to learn. Now you can teach someone what you had to learn. You are so right about finding someone who can help you and answer your questions - that person was probably in your same shoes. Thanks for being positive.
This is such a great post - thanks for being so inspiring!
Thanks for being a reader, if you're learning to be a dev you're going to make it!
Wow, people need to see more of posts like this, thanks man.
It is encouraging, I am a self-taught dev, and a friend of mine believed in me that I can learn something and introduced me to coding and pushed towards coding, while my other friends laughed at when I told them.
For now, I am actively looking for a job and not giving up and they still doubt that I will make it.
It's an additional motivation to push through make a career and tell them how wrong they were :D
Thanks for your comment! I too am a self-taught dev, so it's definitely possible!
If you ever need any help, or just want to join the community I referenced in my post, just let me know. I'm here trying to help as many people as possible.
Thanks a lot for those words. When I started studying CS I felt like I entered a whole new world. Before that, I only had basic computer skills but I never had anything to do with code. And I've come a long way from that. I had a little help from a friend making my way to a nice coding job. And this very guy helped me a lot gaining the skills I needed for the job and for CS itself. Anyway I know how much it means to have someone by your side that watches over your shoulder, because in the beginning of this all, I wanted to give up a lot of times. So having someone as a mentor that believes in you and that you can call your friend is priceless. I'm glad I see people like you that keep motivating people, even if they don't do well in the beginning. Give them time to gain knowledge and there might be rising a powerful programmer from that. You sir, understood:)
Thanks very much for your comment, I'm truly glad the article is resonating with people.
It got a lot more attention than expected.
After 2 months, I'll be a student of computer and systems engineering. I was so hesitated whether to make this decision or not because alot of wow students, whom I knew before, are going to join the department. Now, I believe it's not about who started first, but it's about who reaches first.
Thanks for these great words.You encouraged me!
It's definitely not about who started first, plenty of good devs didn't start learning until they were in their 30s/40s.
Just keep going and you'll definitely get there.
Let me know if you ever need to ask a question, or a community, to help with your journey.
Yes. That would be great :)
The site I run is CodeTips and you'll find a slack invite link on our Contact Us page.
Let me know if you have any trouble joining the slack group, or any feedback on CodeTips itself 😊👍
I'm not saying people don't underperform, but you effectively said some people just can't be good at programming whatever they do.
Which is wrong.
I've gone to reply to your comment about 10 times, but couldn't quite find a diplomatic way of saying you're full of shit. So here comes the non-diplomatic response.
I truly hope you are not a mentor.
This sort of attitude is disgusting. Anybody can make it as a programmer, with the right dedication and mentorship.
Telling people they don't have it in them, or will never be more than mediocre, is probably why they lose the passion.
Maybe you should try nurturing them and helping them become a better developer.