Prior to deciding I wanted to be a software engineer, I was a fashion designer, real estate photographer, grocery store cash office clerk, etc etc. Name a career/study path and most likely I've considered studying it or actually and started just never finished.
For some reason (money lol) I got the itch that I wanted to study software engineering, specifically focusing on web3 development. So off to Coursera I went to take a web3 course not realizing I needed to already know a programming language (JavaScript in this case).
Once I saw I needed to create a coupon bazaar website using JavaScript I went to good ol' Youtube University and typed in "JavaScript tutorials for beginners" and let me tell you... was I completely lost trying to understand what the person was saying. Knowing myself, and knowing that if I went down the self-taught path I would never actually learn any programming languages I decided to look into bootcamps. Some of the bootcamps I found have crazy strict guidelines for accepting students, others have horrible reviews all over the web, but thankfully I found a bootcamp that I felt was welcoming enough to anybody wanting to learn programming AND had better than average reviews.
The first week I did well, went through the simple introductory module, and I was on top of the world. Then came the 2nd, 3rd, 4th.... modules and all the confidence I had was gone.
Granted I was working part-time, taking care of my son full-time, as well as doing any chores that needed to be done around the house, but I started falling behind on my coursework, and quickly! I was so stressed I developed an allergy, and to top things off my first mock interview with a bootcamp mentor went horribly... I could not even write a simple function and the feedback I got left me feeling defeated.
I started questioning whether I am even smart enough to switch careers from being a photographer/designer to software engineering. I was never good at math or problem solving, and I certainly do not think rationally or logically in the way "engineers" do.
The past 3 months have been very difficult for me in regards to coding; sometimes I do well solving the problems on my own, but quite often I don't even know what the assessments are asking of me, and if I do understand the question, I don't know how to even start solving it. The bootcamp does a well enough job of introducing us to the basics needed to get a job, but I often find myself looking to outside resources over and over again on Youtube, Google, Github forums... and I feel like I still don't understand what is going of half of the time. I know that I have only been learning how to code a very short amount of time, but I just would like to know if things will ever stick in my brain, and when they do, will I understand what I'm even doing?
I've decided I'm going to keep a digital journal of my journey in case I am a senior developer 10 years down the line, that way I can look back on how I started and what things were like for me in the beginning. I also want to find individuals like me who come from artistic backgrounds, who have a lot going on in their lives, and are making the sacrifice of having a social life, having hobbies, just so they can code 12 hours a day.
Over the next few weeks I am going to concentrate on doing projects unrelated to coursework from the bootcamp to see if one of these tutorials will be the key to me understanding coding!
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No matter how smart you are whenever you try something absolutely new you will feel dumb.
and I only read docs and tinker with code, I barely watch any yt vids or stuff like that.Keep exploring with code and if you are stuck you can always read the documentation.
Hey,
I can relate with your problems about to start with programming. The kind of thinking and Problem solving u will get If u do some little project, for example u can Build an bmi calculator for the beginning.
And for the Start u should use JavaScript, thats the best way to start. Make sure that u know about the Basics like for, while-Loop and so on.. before u start.
I teached all i know my myself with youtube like u. Keep going it will be simple If u have some practice.
By the way,
Udemy is an good platform to learn all Basics.
Hello Marilia I am kind of in the same boat as you, only you have it much harder as I believe you have to look after your son and the house also, I am enrolled in a web dev boot camp that is pretty intensive and the list of assignments they are giving is piling up, and I am not able to complete them as quick of a rate as my peers do because me being bad at math, my peers are able to develop logic faster.
Getting into the web-dev boot camp was also tough as the entry barrier is high, we have to make projects before the camp, and then we have to face a JavaScript (machine coding round ) interview based on the projects we have made. i somehow was able to crack the interview and got in.
The assignments that I am doing are quite slow as it takes me around 2-3 hrs on solving one problem, whereas peers are getting it done in half an hour. Nevertheless, I believe not giving up is the key.
Logic Building is quite slow for me, but I do believe I have certainly improved even though the improvement is not noticeable, but it is improvement alright.
some of the resources that have helped me so far are
1) scrimba.com
2) The Net Ninja (YT)
3) Florin Pop (YT)
4) javascriptinfo.com
also the FCC's JS course is easy and interactive I found it easy to follow, and it does remain in the brain for quite some time as the exercises are tiny.
Do give them a try:-
freecodecamp.org/learn/javascript-...
No matter how much time the excercises take I usually do it on my own coz that is the only way I can improve on logic.
(I start googling if it doesn't come to me after more than 5 hrs or a day though)
I hope both of us and others reading this as well manage to pull through... ❤️️
Thank you so much for sharing those resources with me!
Don't sell yourself short about "somehow" getting into the bootcamp! You were able to create a JavaScript project and be accepted into a web dev bootcamp. Try not to stress about being so behind, I've come to find out that I have a delayed response, haha! Something I learned 2-3 months ago is finally making sense to me NOW.
If we stick with it I know we'll succeed.
I know that feeling, I'm a musician / composer, then like you I started doing web design, that was 20 years ago (I mean, when "Flash" was a thing)... I now work full time as a web developer, but I never was good on the "engineering" mindset, I struggle with Javascript till this day, but I'm very good at css, css architecture, responsive design, etc... So there lots of paths to achieve success in this career, keep it up!
I have been programming since before 1980. I still look at outside resources. Of course, I have a good take on what I am looking at or for. But, basically, there are some things I don't desire to commit to memory. Indeed, I want my focus to be more than just programming.
So, your biggest drawback is not how smart you are. You are likely smart enough.
If you stick to it you can learn to solve problems. I may be an odd one to tell you this. It seems I could always solve problems. But, I was bad at arithmatic. My grade school teachers took me for an idiot I am stellar in geometry and algebra. But, I don't want to brag, since I don't want to be challenged. Getting high scores on GRE's took sitting down and learning arithmatic. I had to drill myslef for a month. After programming for a long time, I tried getting to the top of Hackerank. I got to position 200 in algorithms, and then decided my adult life nneded to focus on other things. So, I didn't want to be the best in the world.
What is your biggest drawback in software? Idiots who think they are smarter than anyone else who will have know trouble telling you to your face that you're just too stupid to even bother. They will then tell you that you are too stupid to do art. Then, they will insult you on your child rearing capabilities. They will then tell you that you are ugly. Following that they will have the audacity to try to seduce you.
Basically, what I am saying is that in the software world there are a lot of very messed up sad people who think they have more rights over the lives of others than anyone else. They make guys like Putin look like sweet little puppies. They are not just men. It's not just a guy thing. The delivery is different.
I was talking to Katy Perry (another name in real life). She told me that I might as well just write songs seeing as I was a failure at programming. I figured (or got a nod) that she had been told this through the rumor mill. That week I had just gotten to the 200 level on Hackerrank. So, I told her. I got a blink and a blank stare. She's actually quite smart, but she has this idea that she can't be good at math, etc. I think people talked her out of that. And, I know the rumor mill. Anyway, it's just an example of how big the lie gets.
So, I was kicked out of a placement company after an interview and test on the grounds that I couldn't do C++ programming. But, I had just spent several years writing an AI programing in C++. It is pattented. It makes movies after being given an idea.
Maybe it would have been a great business, but I wrote the code for a guy. That guy got all goofy with me. He figured that I just didn't know the AI stuff. That after I wrote the program for him and he got it working. He figured he had to do the talking everywhere. But, he couldn't give an intelligent technical talk on the program even though I had spent many free or low paid hours tutoring him. So, he went off to start companies with his ethnic buddies or with his very own idea about how to proceed on projects and in business. He went bankrupt every time. Anyway, do you know of an AI program can make a movie about some topic you want to be informed about? Not likely. Truely, AI has once again backed itself into a corner with small advances on certain problems gained by small changes in a class of algorithms and data structures related to backpropagation. So, some of the techniques I used for the movie project are not in the popular gabber, but also new machines have changed certain ways of approaching the problem. So, time changes things. But, someone might still want the end result. And, maybe some of the original way can still be used in new frameworks.
So, the world remains messy. Some things are good and will last. Others won't. Things that could save humanity will never see the light of day.
I told a guy to go develop node.js. People now don't believe I ever talked to him. But, he was the guy searhing for a project idea. I gave him the outline, details, etc. And, I gave him my blessing. I had told people about node.js for several years. They laughed at me for all those years. Now that node.js is everywhere, they won't admit any recollection of my having told them about the idea when the laughed me out of the room.
Is Web3 a fad? My dad thought the Internet was a fad. He thought browsers were a fad. But, I retorted to him that maybe he thought telephones were fads. There was a time people thought they were. People had their own phone pools and switches. Big companies took over things and organized them. And, then, people had to find new ways to be in business and get their freedom back. Internet has been one of those ways. But, now we have big companies that took that over.
Web3. Some part of it is a fad. Some basic part of it is going to last forever.
Will Web3 be immune to large conglomerates or evil countries taking it over or destorying it? We have to remain hopeful. It may be disruptive enough to give power back to the people. And, we need all kinds of minds thinking about that. Would we want China or Russia (in its current state of ugliness) be the only game in town for Web3? Do we want to be stuck having to serve American oligarchs if mean spirited companies make Web3 their enemy and they become our lesser of two evils?
When we think of Web3, we have to think about things that can go wrong, or what's not really working but we are stuck with it a the moment. Bitcoin and Etherium are the only legal money alternatives in the US since the SEC stepped in and made new ones illegal. We are stuck with them. But, everyone knows that they are energy hogs and slow. So, there would have to be some way to maneuver around ologarch loving governments to get a highly efficient Web3 solution for the people (all of us who don't want to get into a shooting match on the behalf of the rich and egotistical.) [Sadly, those who don't want to get into the shooting match includes a lot of Russian soldiers walking around in the Ukraine at the momen. They figured out already that their government has lied to them. Sadly, the realization has been the last words of some of them.]
Now, is Web3 immune to quantum tinkering? So, a quantum computer, one from the future, has the capacity to break RSA code by being able to do co-prime factorization. Who can own such machines with starting prices in the realm of $1M USD. Not the nice folks who want to stay out of shooting matches. Yes, so if some government want to wipe out all the little cryptos, they can build a huge farm of such computers. Then after we all get broke, we all get drafted.
So, why do Web3. Because, we need people, especially those with artistic empathy to build the computer infrastructure for the people.
So, why woud you quit if someone told you to?
Don't.
I bet that if you carefull document your journey through learning programming that a whole world would pay for the story. That's another reason to keep going, especially if it's your desire.
Hi there,
I am a senior by now (pretty exactly 10 years on the job) and I have great respect for everyone desciding to change careers to become a software engineer. It has a very steap learning curve but after you get the hang of the basics it gets easier. I can only partly relate since I did not go the self taught way. I studied Informatics to learn the basics. Also because there were not many alternatives back then. But this is quite different now. There are many good sources to teach yourself and even get certificates that look well on your resume. I did not hear much good stuff about all the bootcamps though.
If I would have to start over again I don't think I would study. Lot of stuff they taught us I never used again. Even more important, going the self taught way gives you actually an advantage. You already learned how to learn effectively by yourself. I needed to learn that on the job. Tech is pretty fast paced. New languages, frameworks and libraries. The learning never stops.
So out of my experience some advice:
I agree with some of the comments here. Web3 is a hype at the moment. We need to wait and see what sticks. The blockchain definitly has potential but adjustments will be necessary. I like the basic idea but it is hardly more than a concept with many flaws. Especially with the "proof of work" being regulated or even banned in the future by the EU. So better stick to the basics first. Learn how to code and the fundamentals of software architecture. Most software engineering jobs are still web 2.0. If you are then still interested in web3, go for it. You can build on the fundamentals.
I can also assure you, like other comments, that math is not so important to be a good software engineer. It depends on the software you are developing. If you don't choose a field where you continously have to analyse signals, finance and insurance, networking or 3D, the math you learned in Highschool is more than enough. Creativity is much more important than math. Lots of problems you will need to solve require creativity.
Stick to small projects solving real world problems. Whatever repetitive tasks you do with your computer try to automate them with small scripts in e.g. Node.js, Python or GO. The Alphabet app for your son is a nice idea too. Try a cross platform framework to build it like ReactNative, Ionic or Flutter. With the first 2 you can stick to JavaScript. For Flutter you would need to learn Dart, but it is growing.
Some good places to learn the basics:
I hope I could help you a bit. Stay on course ;)
I am new to coding as well!
I am a full time RV'er so this is a big balance struggle for me.
I have my other half with me but I am the kind that likes to do it all so I am setting up, tearing down camp, driving, planning whats the day going to be like.
Setting time away for coding seems selfish to me so it's hard to do it, even though I know it's the best thing for my family and myself! I have always been interested in coding and computers in general so I know I can do it but I am still exhausted with everything thrown at me it feels.
That sounds like so much work but I feel like it will be so rewarding to see everything we overcame for this career!
I also became a dev from a really not related background, and my partner is a senior dev at a large company. He said that he thinks people with diverse backgrounds bring a lot to the team that people with traditional educations don't, because we've seen different parts of the real world and can approach solving actual business problems with those kind of focuses more easily. Just keep at it, and it'll get easier! then it'll get harder again... then easier! Learning software is a cycle and there is never an end point but thats part of the fun!
Thank you so much Lexi <3. This gave me the motivation I needed
Oh geesh, this post hits a nerve for a lot of people, including myself. I've held many job titles, none of them related to anything programmer-ish.
I may have a non-programmer day job, but I've been dabbling with learning code since the days of Flash (more than 20 years), and still today I have to lookup how to do relatively basic JavaScript functions because I so often get them wrong. The reason I haven't given up is because I genuinely love being able to create something out of nothing.
I STILL barely know how to use github, and rarely use extra frameworks - mainly because I always run into issues installing stuff of my work computer. That hasn't stopped me from creating neat little web applications using only javascript, html and CSS.
I look at programming just like I look at musicians - amazing musicians are incredible to watch but can also be incredibly disheartening to someone just trying to learn. I don't think you have to be a genius to be a good programmer, you just have to be dedicated.
Flash! I created my very first website in high school using flash, and I will always brag that it was my teacher's favorite website and HE would brag to everybody about it haha!
If you need help with installing stuff in your computer let me know, because of this bootcamp I've become an expert at installing almost everything xD!
Do you have any links to the applications you've built?