How to pull yourself out of the tutorial hell?

In a nutshell, tutorial hell is the process of watching tutorials endlessly and getting a false sense of knowledge.

I have been there, watching tutorials after tutorials, thinking "I got this", ending up with a blank screen, and then watching more tutorials.

This is a vicious cycle. Today I will share my experience, how I got out of the tutorial hell, and how you can too.

So, let's discuss the problems with the tutorial hell and why it should be avoided at all costs.

The Problems

• It feels that tutorial hell exists mainly in the field of programming. Because you don't get false confidence to ride a bicycle, by watching (how to ride a bicycle) tutorials. You need to get on a bicycle, fall a few times, and eventually, you build your muscle memory.

• How do people get better at their skills? With practise right?

  • Runners run.
  • Writers write.
  • Public speakers speak.
  • Dancers dance.
  • Players play.
  • But, Programmers Watch Tutorials?

• Tutorial hell appears to trouble "self-taught developers" the most. Because unlike boot camps they don't have a defined curriculum and deadlines.

• Tutorials don't challenge you. They just give you solutions right away. You need to be in the Goldilock zone to be productive and actually learn something.

  

The Solutions

• The first step to get out of tutorial hell is to accept that you are in there. A lot of beginners don't want to accept this, because this way they can be in their comfort zone, and getting out of their comfort zone takes some effort. So, accept it.

• Get yourself a mentor. A mentor can keep you in the goldilocks zone and provide guidance whenever needed. It is far better than relying on tutorials. Reach out to your favorite dev online, most people are humble enough to guide you.

• Build your own projects. You don't have to build a full-stack app at once. Start small, start with what you know. Let me share a few of my projects, that I build to get out of the tutorial hell.

  • Twitter home page UI clone
  • Youtube home page UI clone
  • Knowledge Library - A simple JS crud app
  • Embeddable Twitter Profile - A JS app using twitter API
  • A basic social media app - Build with React and Node

You can see how I increased the difficulty level for each project. None of the above project is perfect, but they helped me learn a lot and build my confidence (not the false confidence that tutorials build).

• Teach others. The best way to learn is to teach others. This will solidify your learnings to the optimal level. If you don't have anyone to teach, take notes, and start writing blogs.

• Read Documentation. Get into the habit of reading documentation. Sometimes instead of watching tutorials, try reading docs, docs won't put you in the tutorial hell. As a developer, you must develop the habit of reading docs anyways.

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That's all I wanted to share. Hopefully, this will help you get out of the tutorial hell.

I am building a platform to help, beginners learn to code without the tutorial hell, by helping them build real-world projects.

If you are interested, please check out the project at https://swastikyadav.com

Thank You! 🙏

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Originally Written at - https://swastikyadav.com/how-to-pull-yourself-out-of-the-tutorial-hell

Comments

[official_dulin]

Answer questions on stackoverflow

[fizzybuzzybeezy]

Very nice ideas. Thank you Swastik!

[Swastik Yadav]

Thanks a lot, I Just shared my own experience with the tutorial hell.

[yamakoud]

So Good.

[Swastik Yadav]

Thanks, for your kind words. 😊

[Rammina]

I typically recommend a free comprehensive self-learning curriculum like The Odin Project.