Let me guess.
Last week, you finally understood something.
It clicked.
You felt smart. Dangerous, even.
Then this week… you opened your editor and thought:
“Wait. Why does none of this look familiar?”
Congratulations. You’re not broken.
You’re officially learning to code.
The Lie We’re All Told
Somewhere along the way, we’re made to believe that learning to code works like this:
Learn something → remember it forever → move on.
That might work for memorizing song lyrics.
It does not work for programming.
If forgetting code was a sign you’re bad at it, there would be approximately zero developers left on Earth.
Your Brain Is Not a USB Drive
This was a hard pill for me to swallow.
I used to think:
“If I forget this, it means I didn’t really learn it.”
No. It means your brain is doing what brains do.
Code isn’t facts.
It’s patterns, logic, and decisions.
If you don’t use it, your brain quietly says:
“Wow. Not important. Deleting.”
Ruthless. Efficient. Slightly rude.
Tutorials Make This Worse (Sorry)
Tutorials are great… until they aren’t.
When you follow along:
- The decisions are already made
- The structure is given
- The problems are pre-solved
Your brain is basically on passenger mode.
So when the tutorial ends and you try to build something alone, your brain panics:
“Wait, we were just watching. Why are we driving now?”
That’s why everything disappears.
Forgetting Is Not Failure. It’s a Signal
This part changed how I see learning.
Forgetting usually means:
- You didn’t struggle enough
- You didn’t make decisions
- You didn’t break anything
The things you remember best are the ones that:
- Took you forever
- Made you angry
- Broke three times before working
Pain = memory.
Sadly.
The Moment I Stopped Panicking
I remember opening a project and realizing I couldn’t remember how I did something I literally wrote.
Past me had betrayed present me.
Instead of panicking, I tried something new:
I reread my own code.
And suddenly it came back.
Not because I memorized it, but because I understood why it existed.
That’s when I realized:
The goal isn’t to remember code.
The goal is to remember how to figure it out again.
What Good Developers Actually Remember
Here’s a secret.
Good developers don’t remember:
- Exact syntax
- Every method name
- Every edge case
They remember:
- How to think
- How to break problems down
- Where to look when they forget
They Google. Constantly. Confidently. Shamelessly.
How to Forget Less (Without Trying Harder)
Here’s what actually helps:
1. Build Something Small After Learning
Even a tiny thing.
Especially a tiny thing.
Your brain remembers decisions, not explanations.
2. Revisit Old Code (Yes, It’s Ugly)
Reading your past code feels like reading old diary entries.
Cringe.
But powerful.
3. Explain It to an Imaginary Person
If you can explain it without code, you understand it.
If you can’t, that’s okay! Now you know what to revisit.
The Reframe That Saved Me
Now, when I forget something, I don’t think:
“I’m bad at this.”
I think:
“Okay. I’ve seen this before. Let’s reconnect the dots.”
Learning to code is not about building a perfect memory.
It’s about building familiarity.
And familiarity comes back faster every time.
Final Thought
If you’re forgetting code you learned last week, you’re not behind.
You’re not stupid.
You’re not failing.
You’re just doing something hard, and doing it honestly.
And that’s exactly how real developers are made.
If this article felt a little too real, you’re my people.
What’s the last thing you forgot that made you question everything? 😄
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