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Discussion on: I am a middle aged junior developer, Ask Me Anything!

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jonlumb profile image
Jon Lumb

That's encouraging to hear! I've got a small project I'm working on side by side with going through tutorials. I think it works well because it really forces an understanding of what you are trying to work on when you have to apply the ideas to a new situation. I find when just working through a tutorial that it can often go in one ear and out the other without ever really lodging in the brain.

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tomasforsman profile image
Tomas Forsman

They call it 'tutorial purgatory' when you get stuck in an endless search for tutorials. You go through them and create exactly what the tutorial tells you to and what you learn is to copy text. The solution is to do exactly what you are doing, constantly put what you learn to use in situations that differ from the tutorial.

Any and all coding you do is useful but always more so when you don't copy someone else's solution. When you are to create something it doesn't matter if it's your code or not, the result is what matters. When you learn, on the other hand, it matters a lot. You don't want to learn syntax or algorithms, at least not only that. What you want to learn is how to solve problems with code and to learn that you need to solve problems with code.

I hope you stick with it and get to work with things that are challenging and feels worthwhile. =)