It can be tough to navigate the world of coding, especially when you're a newbie. Figuring out where to start, dealing with imposter syndrome, and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. It’s...A LOT.
But you're not alone!
Let’s hear from those of you who are just starting out: what are your challenges? And for those of you who’ve made it (are making it): what tips can you share?
Top comments (68)
I'm a little nervous that AI will take my job, not gonna lie.
I see AI as Lego instructions. They help you build things that have already been designed and built, and that is really useful because some people just want a plain vanilla shop.
But, in business nobody is going to go to a plain vanilla shop when there is a new funky cool shop designed by a human being that can see the next trend. And people are always going to want to be individual and want something different. AI is just going to provide all the building blocks for that stuff much more easily than all of us Googling around for hours at a time.
❤️
Keep in mind that the current AI models are performing tasks that are predictable, for example "convert this json file to [your language class/struct]". These tasks are more tedious and easy to automate, but certain types of development that require creativity, like creating a beautiful frontend based around intricate user experience is a creative effort that an AI will not be able to complete anytime soon... if ever. So choose your focus based on an area that requires a lot of creative thought (most disciplines do) and you can have a long career before skynet goes online :)
Don't be. Ai still has a long way to go. You still need humans to maintain the software and fix bugs and innovate new things.
AI will eventually take almost all programming jobs -- might be decades from now, or less.
Artists and writers had a lock on their creative products until just this past year -- some people have not yet realized it but many have that fast-and-dirty writing and some custom art-work that would have made someone a few dollars on Fiver in 2021 will not make them a dollar in 2023.
i do not think that will be the case. for some yes, but most? not really.
being programmer is not just coding, you also have to meet the stakeholders, discuss requirements, tell them if something they request would be possible or not , fix bugs and debug problems reported by customers by first gathering information.
chatGPT or other AI function only as a tool, it can give you snippets and basics of coding a website, but it can't actually code the whole website, create the whole database, and all that.
and even if they have reached the capability to do tht, i doubt the AI companies would sell an AI with that capabilities cheaply.
AI is also not constantly evolving.
sure it can generate basic code to build website, but if let's say a customer wants to get rid of a feature, you can't guarantee the AI would get rid of it without error 100 percent.
if a customer wants to change the whole requirements and relationship, a human would be the one tht have to think and negotiate with the human customers and figure out how to do apply their new requirements, not an AI.not to mention AI is not free from giving the wrong anwers either.
much of the answers AI would give you are based on your input, they can't actually create new things or figure out something that has not been there yet.
they also can't figure out on their own 'hmm how can i also these queries perform faster'.
it just do what you tell them to, but won't actually consider those things on their own.
Only a matter of time.
Even the advanced AI of today already creates "new things". This has been true for decades, depending on how we define "new".
And of course, today's advanced AI will seem primitive just a few years from now. It is inevitable because some of the best minds this world has to offer are working on it.
'only a matter of time'
i completely disagree, the human Brain can do things AI will never Be able to do.
also developers do a lot of things more than just coding.
AI is just copying human data and processing it at a speed the human brain is not capable of.
human intelligence is limitless
AI intelligence is based on what humans feed it, it's that simple AI's can never or will never be able to replace the human brain it's impossible.
What do you mean that “artists had a lock “ ? I do not understand. But then tell me. Would you go for a man made Picasso or a computer made one ?! GMO or natural?
goid question
If you wanted some cool custom art, you really needed to be an artist or know an artist/pay an artist to create it for you. Now, you just need to provide prompt text to a stable-diffusion-style AI ( e.g. DALL-E etc )
I showed a friend DALL-E a few months ago -- he immediately began creating some art to blow up and put on his walls. No human artist is involved. He could not have done that before 2022.
And thats the point AI's are to empower humans with yhe right approach every artist can accomplish the impossible with the Jrlp of AI's tgey are just tools yo boost productivity instead of worrying about losing jobs and stuff due yo AIs I think the population needs to be educated on how to utilize AIs our everyday activities.
Even if AI "takes" your job you can still get a job related to it, you could create software to test the AI's security, you could study how AI's work so you can develop your own, you could design problem solving tests oriented at testing AI's learning capacity and great range of Et Ceteras.
dont worry, it will not.
Don’t worry it will only improve the productivity
Truth be told, I also feel same 😑
Learn AI, even as a basic programmer you will be find ahead of others.
I don't think AI will take programmers jobs, I think it will change it. ;)
I been coding for over 5 years and there hasn't gone a day where I felt like I still haven't learned enough.
The most important thing is to get started and keep learning!
Am coding since about 40 years and a next to 25 years professionally. Still can't shake the feeling to not know enough... So yes, keep on learning
What happen if lose the interest or the direction?
Honestly, can't really say much about that. Certainly I had my ups and downs. I even had a time when I actually hated coding. But it turned out it was the environment I was working in and not really the job itself.
If you really lose interest? In other jobs you'd probably have more problems than in the huge world of and around programming. There are so many interesting things to learn. Chances are there is something that will spark your interest again... it might need you venture into a new industry with a different set of challenges, people, and maybe purpose, but chances are you'll find something interesting. I do not say this will be easy, but at least the possibilities exist.
So does that feeling of not knowing enough not bother you ?!
I’m obsessive compulsive. Will I be able to have a day off a weekend off and jus switch of the brain without worry ?!
Maybe the programming isn't your fort.
I am building my very first web application where I can track my workouts. However, I broke my code somehow. I have spent the last 4 day attempting to fix it to no avail. I even hired a tutor on code mentor to assist me and they could not fix the bug.
As a beginner self taught developer this is discouraging because I feel like I hit a brick wall. If I can't fix the problem and a hired tutor cant fix it then what can I do. I don't have a teacher or a real life mentor to call up for assistance in times like this and I don't have the money to keep paying for tutors and still be stuck.
My code is being stubborn and I'm being stubborn to find a solution but sometimes it feels like all hope is lost. What advice can you provide me when faced with a situation like this and where can a self taught developer go if they need experienced help in reviewing their code?
I think it is too easy to get overwhelmed with all that you could/should be doing and end up doing nothing.
Sometimes it is hard for me personally to make a plan and follow it, mostly because I don't really know what would be best to tackle.
Hey @pedro_gca ! Is this regarding getting organized/making progress on a project, learning a new skill, or managing your day? I often have similar struggles!
I'm a JavaScript developer and struggling to understand non-JavaScript code. I feel like I'm going to be stuck in a spiral if I don't improve at that.
Hi Diner!
What do you mean by struggling to understand non-JavaScript code?
Discovered coding a while ago, I think I have made a substantial progress to get to where I am today. I find myself subconsciously comparing myself to other people, for instance when I see bad code I would be like "ha! I am better than you", but when I see really good code I start to wonder if I would ever get this good at coding.
I think I also have really low self confidence, I have been through a lot and I find it hard to see myself accomplish certain things, for instance I recently gave up on trying to enter this year's GSOC because I felt I wasn't good enough, I went through some projects code base, and I still found myself clueless to even their beginner friendly good-first-issues, maybe all I need is a win, to know that these things really are achievable.
Hi, Joseph, thanks for sharing. I also often go from "Ha, I can do so much better than this guy" to "Gawd, I suuck". For a more sustainable mindset, I recommend comparing exclusively to yourself in the past. Keeping a blog to have something to look back to helps. Focusing on studying time-proven patterns and software architecture core tenets can help stay on the right side of history overall.
As for the confidence boost and getting a win, have you tried coding challenge sites such as Codingame or codewars.com? They can be a fun way to practice.
Yeah, I am currently competing with myself, trying to be better everyday 💪
I have been solving some problems on leetcode, feels good when I solve a problem, or when I understand someone else's solution.
Replies like these also help a lot, thank you very much Augustus ❤️😊
My hardest challenge is to break someone code.
You shouldn't do it for the sake of everyone who works on the project with you. In my opinion, you can create a separated module and implement the legacy code with that new one rather than replace it with your new code.
what i mean by 'break' is understand the other people code and modified it because sometimes i only understand code that i made not others. 😂 not broke it.
If so when ever you read someone code, you can create a function comment and seek for help if you not understand the purpose of some code snippets. And especially, you must understand your task scope so that you can avoid interfering other irrelevant scopes. The top-notch way is test your code carefully before pushing but I don't think everyone prefer it, even myself :).
I am sorry I am a Indian and my native language is Bangali therefore my English is not good
I just want if anyone interest in my project then he/she will contact me with this email and I send my code
No need to be sorry. I’m into JS. Wats your code language
I think the biggest challenges for new developers starting out is what is happening in the job market right now. Seeing all the lay offs can be really discouraging for new developers and make them concerned if they will be able to find work once they are done. Navigating the job search for the first role is tough, but the current job search climate adds extra uncertainty for new developers.
I think my issue a lot of times is to learn how to debug rather quickly. I still haven't really mastered isolated an issue so that I can work on it.
Also, trying to sort at data structures in a database and thinking about how each table relates to the other.
So far my biggest challenges so far were:
-Linking Libraries to my Visual Studio
-Using CMake (WIP)
-C++ in general (Its a love/hate relationship right now, but I wont give up on it)
-Reading documents and following instructions (Having adhd, it can be a bit overwhelming. All the command lines, programming Jargon, "Must-Have" libs and frameworks. I have no idea about any of it so it can be a bit hard to find the right tutorial suited for beginners.)
I've just learned to keep trucking. Program with what you know and only stop when you get stuck. Having a well defined goal is also invaluable rather than blind coding (which was my own problem aside from using too many brackets. Im a serial bracketer). My current goal is become efficient enough in C++ to where i can help others and contribute to open sources and my long term is to start a gaming company!
Anyways, cheers and good luck to all the upcoming computer prodigies!
yea exactly all of those problems,im in BE IT(same as BTech IT) 2nd year(almost ended,third will start from july maybe) and i still havent made any significant progress in any of the fields an aspiring developer should make(ie projects,leetcode/dsa,open-source etc etc) im still stuck in helloworld cause i get easily overwhelmed and distracted when trying to learn something new or important,any advice?
Try to do a side project, if there is something you don't know search the internet, but always try to learn or do new things
I personally think AI will never gonna take our job.
If you remember there was time we used some code editors like Dreamweaver and etc but now we have some modern editors like vs code helps us write codes faster AI will be the same 🤞
I aM always wondering what levels of the syllabus I am at ? Whether I’m intermediate or still beginner. If I’m getting to the end of the tunnel if that is a light or just a torch. If I’m getting it all or I am missing out.
I always worry when I look at us code and I cannot decipher it or it is explained and it looks mathematical and complex.
I don't have any coding background. I come from healthcare and struggling with JS though I have taken every possible course. I am not sure what to do and where to begin. I want to become a Full Stack Developer focusing on React.
I was wondering.... as I am furthering my education I am noticing that the industry is pushing for cloud enterprise solutions like Azure, AWS. I just hope that I am not spending to much time on learning specific platforms instead of the actual coding and database or cloud skills I need.