1. Introduction: The Comparison Trap
Lately, I’ve started being active again on X (formerly Twitter), and in no time, I was flooded with stunning full-stack portfolios and next-level project showcases. And to be honest? I felt incredibly overwhelmed.
It instantly reminded me of when I had just started learning web development — how even basic frontend designs made me question my skills. Then came another wave of self-doubt when I moved to full-stack development and saw what others were building. I recently tweeted about this feeling, and it made me reflect deeply.
Now, almost a year into this journey, I’ve come to realize something important:
I was trying to sprint in a marathon I hadn’t trained for.
If only someone had told me this when I started — how much frustration, imposter syndrome, and late-night self-doubt I could’ve avoided.
I can’t go back and tell my past self.
But what I can do is share this now — in the hope that it reaches someone just starting out and helps, even if just a little.
2. Everyone Has a Different Starting Line
The first thing one needs to understand — and truly accept — is that everyone begins their journey from a different point. I had heard this before, but I didn’t feel the truth of it until I came to college.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by examples. A senior who had been coding since Class 6 landed an internship just six days into college. That wasn’t a typo — six days. And then there was me — lucky in my own way. My school offered subjects like HTML, CSS, Python, and MySQL. So yes, I had a head start compared to many others here.
In my final year of school, I learned that Python was going to be taught from Class 5 or 6 in many places going forward. Imagine the kind of advantage students will have if they genuinely invest themselves early on — the compounding effect of years of head start in programming is massive. On the flip side, I’ve seen classmates who hadn’t even heard the names of programming languages before stepping into college.
And school is just one piece of the puzzle.
Some have supportive families, others don’t. Some have exposure, mentors, devices, internet — while others are figuring it out step by step. A close childhood friend of mine had been coding for years, partly because his family was full of engineer-bhaiyas, but mostly because of his self-driven interest. I still remember the day he brought a thick C++ book to school. I randomly opened a page, read about objects and classes, and immediately gave up. It felt like wizardry back then.
Today, there are platforms like WhiteHat Jr., Coding Ninjas, and countless others designed even for kids — with mentor support, structured learning, and progress tracking.
So yes, if you’re a 19–20-year-old in college or even a working professional just starting out, it’s completely natural to feel like you’re behind. But…
You’re not behind. You’re just starting from a different line.
And no matter where you start, what matters most is that you keep moving forward — one step at a time, at your pace.
3. The Hidden Side of Other People's Success
One thing most success stories across social media and news miss is the messy, unfiltered reality behind the scenes. They rarely show the sleepless nights, the endless rewrites, or the string of silent failures that built those wins.
Even in coding, every one of us has gone through those frustrating hours — scanning hundreds or even thousands of lines just to catch a tiny typo that broke everything. Trust me, unless someone is a genius (and even then), they’ve struggled through debugging nightmares more than once.
The people we see today — shipping polished apps, cracking internships, building startups — they all started somewhere. Just like us. They weren’t born writing production-level code. They stumbled, Googled errors, watched tutorials at 2 a.m., and kept going.
But the problem is, we don’t get to see that part.
What we do see is their highlight reel — the best, most impressive moments they choose to share:
- The perfectly designed portfolio
- The “got the job!” tweet
- The announcement of a new side project or startup
- The celebration post after a successful hackathon
- A thread about “how I built this in 7 days” (but not how they failed 3 other times)
This is the highlight reel concept — where we’re shown only the best parts of someone’s journey, while all the setbacks and struggles remain hidden.
And then we unknowingly compare that polished version to our raw, unfiltered reality.
Here’s the reminder you need:
The people miles ahead of you today started from the same line — with the same doubts, same bugs, and same late-night Googling.
The only thing they did differently? They kept showing up. And you can too.
Maybe it’s human nature to compare ourselves to someone’s chapter 10 while we’re still on chapter 1. Maybe that won't ever fully change. But the world moves forward on hope — and maybe, just maybe, we can start being more kind to ourselves.
4. Measure Backwards, Not Sideways
There’s a phrase I came across that stuck with me:
“Measure backwards, not sideways.”
What it means is simple — instead of constantly looking sideways at how far other developers have come, look backwards at your own journey and see how far you’ve come.
There are two possibilities here:
- You realize you’ve come a long way — and that deserves to be celebrated.
- You feel you haven’t made much progress and are still struggling. If that’s the case, don’t worry — you’re not alone. Every one of us has been there at some point.
✅ How can you track your progress?
Here are a few ways that have worked for me and many others:
- Keeping a coding journal or log
- GitHub contribution streaks
- LeetCode or coding platform streaks
- Maintaining a personal project list
- Sharing your journey by “learning in public” on platforms like X (Twitter)
Among these, GitHub and LeetCode streaks are great — but my personal favorite has always been the project list.
I still remember making my very first Amazon homepage clone using just HTML and CSS, following along with Shraddha Didi’s tutorial on Apna College’s YouTube channel. Fast forward to now — I’m building a full-stack e-commerce website with payment integration. It feels surreal sometimes.
Another thing I love doing is iterating on older projects. For example, I recreated that same Amazon clone — but this time using React and Tailwind CSS. Seeing that growth visually is one of the most satisfying things you can experience as a developer.
🌱 Celebrate your small wins
Maybe your first HTML page looks like nothing compared to the stunning 3D full-stack websites out there — but to your past self, who didn’t even know what “HTML” stood for, that’s a milestone.
Maybe you just solved the classic Two Sum problem on LeetCode with a brute-force approach. That might not impress someone who’s solved 400+ questions, but for you — it’s a step forward.
Progress is personal. Celebrate it.
5. Learn from Others, Don’t Mimic Them
At this point, I want to make one thing very clear:
I’m not saying you should cut yourself off from the outside world or avoid social media just because it might make you feel behind. Please don’t.
- You should absolutely follow people who inspire you.
- You should study their projects.
- You should ask them questions, collaborate, and grow with them.
But one thing you shouldn’t do is copy their timeline.
Everyone learns at a different pace. Some may master web development in a month, others may take a year — and both are okay. Trying to force your journey into someone else’s timeline is the fastest way to burnout and frustration.
Get inspired. Don’t imitate.
👥 Choose your circle wisely
Your surroundings matter more than you think. Surround yourself with people who are skilled and supportive — people who’ll uplift you, not intimidate or belittle you. Find those who encourage you to ask questions, who share resources, who celebrate your small wins just like their own.
A good peer group can transform your learning journey from isolating to empowering.
6. Focus on Skills, Not Speed
Now that we've talked so much about not comparing yourself to others, here's the next big mindset shift:
Focus on building skills, not chasing speed.
I say this because I’ve been there. I’ve speedran through tutorials, finished multi-hour crash courses in one sitting, and then… barely remembered anything the next day. I was obsessed with completing, not understanding.
Now, I’ve slowed down. I take time to truly understand each code snippet, implement it in my own projects, and when I hit roadblocks, I deep-dive into docs, discussions — and yes, even hit Claude’s daily limit asking for detailed breakdowns (💀).
And guess what? The difference is night and day. The clarity and confidence I have now while coding didn’t come from going fast — it came from going deep.
But here’s something I’ll admit:
Even the speedrunning phase taught me something valuable — my mistakes.
And more importantly, how to embrace them.
Every rushed attempt, every broken UI, every undefined variable reminded me that learning to code is not about getting everything right the first time.
So if you're just starting out — or even stuck in tutorial hell — my advice is this:
Slow down, love the process, and focus on learning deeply.
Speed gives you momentum. But depth gives you mastery.
And remember:
If you judge your progress only by results — by finished projects or job offers — you’ll constantly feel behind.
But if you judge it by the skills you’re building, you’ll start to see just how far you’ve come.
7. Slow Progress Is Still Progress
At the end of it all, every section above circles back to this one simple truth:
Slow progress is still progress.
You don’t need to build a SaaS in 30 days.
You don’t need to finish DSA in a month.
You don’t need to be on Day 100 of a coding challenge to call yourself a developer.
All you need is to keep learning.
One line of code today. One concept understood better. One mistake you're not going to repeat next time — it all counts.
And someday, when you look back, you'll see that what felt like slow baby steps were actually the bricks that built your foundation.
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