How to Handle Coding Burnout

#codenewbie #beginners #programming #mentalhealth

I'm on my Day40 of the #100DaysofCode challenge, and for the past month I've been cramming myself every single day in the world of programming. I've learned html, CSS, JavaScript, and am in the process of learning React. I've built 3 personal projects to test my skill, and never skipped a single coding challenge through the courses. But this week, I'm feeling less motivated to catch up with the speed I was going. So here are the steps I've taken to maintain the momentum while giving myself some time to breathe.

1. Find more success stories, find your community

One of the biggest reasons why I'm feeling burnout is just that there are so much to learn from scratch, and the bar for an entry-level developer job seems hard to reach, especially in this current economic conditions. One way to reboot your confidence is to hear more success stories. I particularly love freeCodeCamp's career change blog and the Scrimba Podcast. I've heard stories where a butcher or a store manager or a musician navigated through career change and successfully landed their first job. I admire their persistence and discipline, that's the two qualities that distinguish those who succeed versus those who gave up too early. Another way is to find a community. As a self-studying programmer, I cannot emphasize enough how important a community is to stay sane. I highly recommend Women Who Code, they have local chapters based on where you are, and tons of scholarships or resources you can get. You can also create your own online community. I started a frontend learning group on Discord this month and just asked on a forum randomly who wants to join. Now the 7 of us are giving each other pat on the shoulder daily.

2. Build new projects

Yes you heard it right, the answer to deal with coding burnout is... more coding:D. But hear me out before you throw away your keyboard. The reason we have coding burnout is because we feel stuck in a little corner without knowing how to get out. Maybe the course materials are too challenging, maybe you didn't full grasp what to do with all those new functions. Why am I even learning all of those? Well, the solution is you need to test your existing knowledge, and prove to yourself how good you have been learning. Plus personal projects are fun, that's where you can let your creativity comes in. Then you will realize, code is just a tool to bring ideas to life. Maybe the tool is a little hard to use at the beginning, but you get to be the mother of your ideas, so it's worth the bump.

3. Solve Coding Challenges

I used to despise coding challenges, why would I grind all those questions with perfect syntax while I could always ask ChatGPT? Plus my goal wasn't trying to get into FAANG anyway. But here is the thing, it's not about whether you know the syntax or not, it's the daily practice of logical thinking and optimal problem solving that makes it valuable. There are many new platforms that makes the user experience more smooth than LeetCode. My personal favorite is CodeWar. I have a competitive personality so it's almost addictive to me now to solve a few of these every day in order to rank up, plus it's free.

So here are my tricks of dealing with coding burnout. What about you? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comment. Happy Coding!