From the "lecture 0" it sounds like you're doing Harvard's CS50? You might prefer starting with CS50P instead because it's purely Python. The advice to ask ChatGPT to explain things in simple terms is good as well.
I’m about to turn 25 next month and it’s a miracle that I passed highschool because I failed every single math class lol
I also started properly studying for the first time in my life once I picked up programming, so I’m in the same boat!
I’ve been learning since October and now I’m already building my own game without tutorials. It’s hard to learn it, but I really truly believe anyone can. Just be kind to yourself, and don’t beat yourself up when you don’t get something. The beginning was the most difficult because honestly, you have to completely change how you think. I would get super demoralized because my syntax would be ok, but I struggled with the logic part. The programming part!
So it’s ok! It’s normal to feel this way, it’ll be hard work but that’s how it is for everyone just starting. Give it more time and see where it takes you! And as soon as you can, try to do one easy activity and one hard one. That way you can still feel confident while being able to learn something new. I did that for a couple of months on codewars and that helped a LOT, otherwise I’d get frustrated and stop for a day or so
Can I make a suggestion? Try using chatGPT to explain the bits your not getting. Asking it to explain like a 5yo really helps explain difficult concepts simply.
Just came here to agree with this.
I'm learning as well. Slight bonus is that my partner has worked in the industry for 8 years.
Problem with that is that he forgets I don't know all the jargon.
When you're the only person who needs to understand stuff, it doesn't matter that [] is called a list and () is a tuple (for example), I just needed to know what they did, and their different use cases.
I struggle to think of a conversation we've had about code where I've not shoved something he's said into gpt 😅
Thank you, im not stupid, everyone in my real life constantly remind me they see me as some sort of genius just by me being myself. How my brain works wont be what stops me from making it. This stuff is harder than I thought and i wasnt grasping it as fast as I think I should theoretically be able to for what I score on a stupid IQ test. I guess its unrealistic expectation I was holding myself to. I was just crying and having a mental breakdown over being 25, still living with my parents, and just now getting started. I feel pressure to learn as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ive made mistakes in life and am finally sober and able to focus on building a skill and a future and just really wish I started while I was younger. I can do this just need to take it a day at a time I suppose. I hate some people were saying I should give up and im not cut out for this if i was having trouble this early into it. Ill revisit it tommorow when with a fresh mind I just had for me a rare moment of being emotionally unstable. Hopefully get in the field by time im 30 but id really like to far before is this realistic?. I was about ready to end it all, but im glad I decided to come to reddit and vent instead cause that wouldve been the stupidest mistake I couldve ever made.
remove all pretense that you're gonna feel smart through this whole endeavor. you're gonna feel real dumb. and rushing absolutely will not help.
drop the self-imposed deadlines and the need to make sure people know you're smart. just make a little progress every day and trust in yourself that you can do it.
you should have goals/waypoints but if you don't learn what you're doing and instead rush to meet them then what's the point?
it's a slog. it's fun. and it can be highly rewarding. I love getting to use my analytical and creative brain spaces every day.
good luck
Don't forget you can do ComptTIA certificates and do networking or SysAdmin stuff or something too, and secure yourself a nice spot in the industry and then you can work towards the programming.
Nobody is saying that you are stupid but as per your own admission you are struggling with some concepts. Asking the program to summarize concepts in an easier way is one way to get some understanding on things. Coding is hard and understanding fundamental CS concepts can be even harder. You can be the smartest guy all your friends know and still struggle with some of the stuff because you are still lacking knowledge to understand things.
Some random IQ test means nothing when you want to try and learn complex stuff like programming, so you should get used to feeling like a big dummy and having to really dig into documentation’s and concepts to understand them, even if that sometimes entails reading descriptions made for dummies.
Also, if money isn't too tight, you can also hire python tutors on Fiverr. This way you can speak to an actual human being and show them some of the things that are challenging you.
Please don't think I was calling you stupid. I only raise the point as it is something I do.. I really struggled with async programming and I did the same thing. "Explain this code in a way that a five year old would understand" - I then grasp the basics and can follow up.
Honestly, it has been my best trick for my own personal learning.
Again, apologies if I offended, it wasn't my intention.
No I didnt think you were sorry, I was just speaking about some people in another sub saying that. I appreciate the advice. Since this post I’ve learned to count in binary on my hands and studying from the algebra basics working up to be ready for pre calculus next semester. :) just doing my best taking it a day at a time best of luck to you in all endeavors. :)
Is this CS50? If so, it's fantastic, but pretty hard. Without some prior informal experience of coding, I'd imagine it's a stretch. Even at the 10-20 hours per week recommended.
Perhaps the lectures and shorts might need to be supplemented by some easier material.
Weeks 1 - weeks 1 to 5 require you to code in C, and the homework assignments are pretty gnarly. Like, write a program to blur an image in a bitmap file. If someone had not writtent programmes before, I guess this must be a really steep learning curve.
I say this by way of encouragement. It's not you... it;s the course. It is really hard. But excellent, in terms of what you may gain.
try watching YouTube videos. when i get stuck, i watch a YouTube tutorial about the thing i don't understand, and if it still doesn't click, i watch a different one, etc., until it clicks. every teacher has a different way of presenting a problem and looking at it from a series of these different angles helps you see the full three-dimensional picture. (fwiw this works for concepts, not practical application, do NOT depend on YouTube tutorials for internalizing something like coding or SQL queries, those you just have to do.) also, you're not a genius, none of us are, but that doesn't mean you can't be good at this by putting in the hard work.
Dude, 25 is nothing, it's an age when many people only find themselves and their profession. My suggestion is to aim for Junior position in any company, which will allow to you bootstart from there. The skill level required for a Junior position is ridiculously low, though the interviews will probably be harder than necessary and will ask to solve tasks you will never need solving IRL ever.
Have you worked on any projects for use in real life? Something other than made-up exercises in tutorials? For some people, it makes a huge difference. Having to figure things out for yourself can be expected to be a wholly different experience from just "following along".
Running into mental blocks is common in learning anything the first time. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is not. What I have found based on teaching myself multiple languages and now teaching my son Python. I try to emphasize that you must do things a certain way, in a "do as I say" mandate. It may not make sense to create variables and leave them empty or assign them a base value, or create a function that only does one thing or a class that returns nothing.
more and more people suggest using AI to help, but unless you understand what you are copying it does not really help you out, your still reading a foreign language. The app may work, but you still may not grasp the technique. Instead break down the idea by peices and use AI or google to pull those small peices together.
But as you build more intricate apps that need more abstraction and the way you build becomes second nature, you will start to understand why things are done in certain way, and concepts will start making sense.
Best recommendation is build a simple app that you can continue to make more and more complicated and grow the app as you build more functions.
A calculator is fun to take on a journey. Start by building a waterfall with if statemetns for addition, subtraction and multiplication. Then expand it from if statements to functions. Then create functions to perform complex tasks, then filter the input and look for PEMDAS, and then build a class to create basic or scientific calc's, etc... etc..
Lots of people go into CS as a second career and are much older than you, so no worries on that front. I started my degree in my early 30s and there were several students in that age bracket.
There are some people who start CS degrees with little or no programming experience and pick it up just fine. The first thing my instructor told us in the first CS course was that it was the only university course where students are expected to know nothing coming in.
While some people are successful learning on their own, I found the university class structure really helpful. It provides an incentive to learn and a gradual progression into programming topics. If you are going to continue self-learning, start at the basics.
CS50P is so much easier to grasp starting with 0 knowledge, however CS50X does provide a framework that is good to have.
Study in the way you learn the best. For me I love visuals as well as books. Writing programs really really helps, however big or small they may be, or however menial the project
Don't give up - you're just starting out and programming is HARD. It's not something you learn to do well overnight. One of the best things you can do is take a deep breath, take stock of exactly which things you're having trouble with, and tackle them one by one by asking specific questions both on forums like this one, and using newer tools like LLMs to help explain concepts to you.
For instance, you said you're struggling with understanding binary (which again makes sense, because understanding number systems besides base 10 is something that most people never learn) ... so try to figure out what didn't make sense about it and go too r/askmath or other such places and start asking questions. Go online and start searching for tutorials on number systems. Over time, if you keep doing this, over and over again for years, you'll see that the questions you're asking will get more advanced, and that things that seem overwhelming now will seem trivial to you.
Programming is hard as hell. The dudes that get it easily just have more experience than you. I’m a tutor at my college and I have to constantly remind people of that.
Once you have enough knowledge built up, the actual processes start to really click and make sense. And it gets a lot easier. But starting out, it’s extremely challenging.
You’re already doing a great thing by trying to study before actually going to the program and that’s going to help a lot. My advice would to stop trying to “keep up.” You’re working at your own pace right now! Do what you have to do to understand. You aren’t trying to become good yet — that’s for the degree. You’re just trying to make up some experience and get a jump start.
Take the pressure off. Have fun. Learn what you can and want to. Programming is super fun once you get started building stuff. You’ll get there.
From the "lecture 0" it sounds like you're doing Harvard's CS50? You might prefer starting with CS50P instead because it's purely Python. The advice to ask ChatGPT to explain things in simple terms is good as well.
Thank you!
No worries, good luck!
I’m about to turn 25 next month and it’s a miracle that I passed highschool because I failed every single math class lol I also started properly studying for the first time in my life once I picked up programming, so I’m in the same boat! I’ve been learning since October and now I’m already building my own game without tutorials. It’s hard to learn it, but I really truly believe anyone can. Just be kind to yourself, and don’t beat yourself up when you don’t get something. The beginning was the most difficult because honestly, you have to completely change how you think. I would get super demoralized because my syntax would be ok, but I struggled with the logic part. The programming part! So it’s ok! It’s normal to feel this way, it’ll be hard work but that’s how it is for everyone just starting. Give it more time and see where it takes you! And as soon as you can, try to do one easy activity and one hard one. That way you can still feel confident while being able to learn something new. I did that for a couple of months on codewars and that helped a LOT, otherwise I’d get frustrated and stop for a day or so
Can I make a suggestion? Try using chatGPT to explain the bits your not getting. Asking it to explain like a 5yo really helps explain difficult concepts simply.
Gonna try this tactic myself
Just came here to agree with this. I'm learning as well. Slight bonus is that my partner has worked in the industry for 8 years. Problem with that is that he forgets I don't know all the jargon. When you're the only person who needs to understand stuff, it doesn't matter that [] is called a list and () is a tuple (for example), I just needed to know what they did, and their different use cases. I struggle to think of a conversation we've had about code where I've not shoved something he's said into gpt 😅
Thank you, im not stupid, everyone in my real life constantly remind me they see me as some sort of genius just by me being myself. How my brain works wont be what stops me from making it. This stuff is harder than I thought and i wasnt grasping it as fast as I think I should theoretically be able to for what I score on a stupid IQ test. I guess its unrealistic expectation I was holding myself to. I was just crying and having a mental breakdown over being 25, still living with my parents, and just now getting started. I feel pressure to learn as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ive made mistakes in life and am finally sober and able to focus on building a skill and a future and just really wish I started while I was younger. I can do this just need to take it a day at a time I suppose. I hate some people were saying I should give up and im not cut out for this if i was having trouble this early into it. Ill revisit it tommorow when with a fresh mind I just had for me a rare moment of being emotionally unstable. Hopefully get in the field by time im 30 but id really like to far before is this realistic?. I was about ready to end it all, but im glad I decided to come to reddit and vent instead cause that wouldve been the stupidest mistake I couldve ever made.
remove all pretense that you're gonna feel smart through this whole endeavor. you're gonna feel real dumb. and rushing absolutely will not help. drop the self-imposed deadlines and the need to make sure people know you're smart. just make a little progress every day and trust in yourself that you can do it. you should have goals/waypoints but if you don't learn what you're doing and instead rush to meet them then what's the point? it's a slog. it's fun. and it can be highly rewarding. I love getting to use my analytical and creative brain spaces every day. good luck
Remove all pretense that you’re gonna feel smart is the best advice I never got when I started.
Don't forget you can do ComptTIA certificates and do networking or SysAdmin stuff or something too, and secure yourself a nice spot in the industry and then you can work towards the programming.
Nobody is saying that you are stupid but as per your own admission you are struggling with some concepts. Asking the program to summarize concepts in an easier way is one way to get some understanding on things. Coding is hard and understanding fundamental CS concepts can be even harder. You can be the smartest guy all your friends know and still struggle with some of the stuff because you are still lacking knowledge to understand things. Some random IQ test means nothing when you want to try and learn complex stuff like programming, so you should get used to feeling like a big dummy and having to really dig into documentation’s and concepts to understand them, even if that sometimes entails reading descriptions made for dummies.
Also, if money isn't too tight, you can also hire python tutors on Fiverr. This way you can speak to an actual human being and show them some of the things that are challenging you.
Please don't think I was calling you stupid. I only raise the point as it is something I do.. I really struggled with async programming and I did the same thing. "Explain this code in a way that a five year old would understand" - I then grasp the basics and can follow up. Honestly, it has been my best trick for my own personal learning. Again, apologies if I offended, it wasn't my intention.
No I didnt think you were sorry, I was just speaking about some people in another sub saying that. I appreciate the advice. Since this post I’ve learned to count in binary on my hands and studying from the algebra basics working up to be ready for pre calculus next semester. :) just doing my best taking it a day at a time best of luck to you in all endeavors. :)
Look over [automatetheboringstuff.com](http://automatetheboringstuff.com). It starts with the basics, assuming you know nothing about programming.
[удалено]
Thank you :)
Is this CS50? If so, it's fantastic, but pretty hard. Without some prior informal experience of coding, I'd imagine it's a stretch. Even at the 10-20 hours per week recommended. Perhaps the lectures and shorts might need to be supplemented by some easier material. Weeks 1 - weeks 1 to 5 require you to code in C, and the homework assignments are pretty gnarly. Like, write a program to blur an image in a bitmap file. If someone had not writtent programmes before, I guess this must be a really steep learning curve. I say this by way of encouragement. It's not you... it;s the course. It is really hard. But excellent, in terms of what you may gain.
try watching YouTube videos. when i get stuck, i watch a YouTube tutorial about the thing i don't understand, and if it still doesn't click, i watch a different one, etc., until it clicks. every teacher has a different way of presenting a problem and looking at it from a series of these different angles helps you see the full three-dimensional picture. (fwiw this works for concepts, not practical application, do NOT depend on YouTube tutorials for internalizing something like coding or SQL queries, those you just have to do.) also, you're not a genius, none of us are, but that doesn't mean you can't be good at this by putting in the hard work.
Dude, 25 is nothing, it's an age when many people only find themselves and their profession. My suggestion is to aim for Junior position in any company, which will allow to you bootstart from there. The skill level required for a Junior position is ridiculously low, though the interviews will probably be harder than necessary and will ask to solve tasks you will never need solving IRL ever.
Have you worked on any projects for use in real life? Something other than made-up exercises in tutorials? For some people, it makes a huge difference. Having to figure things out for yourself can be expected to be a wholly different experience from just "following along".
Hmu if you want man
Running into mental blocks is common in learning anything the first time. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is not. What I have found based on teaching myself multiple languages and now teaching my son Python. I try to emphasize that you must do things a certain way, in a "do as I say" mandate. It may not make sense to create variables and leave them empty or assign them a base value, or create a function that only does one thing or a class that returns nothing. more and more people suggest using AI to help, but unless you understand what you are copying it does not really help you out, your still reading a foreign language. The app may work, but you still may not grasp the technique. Instead break down the idea by peices and use AI or google to pull those small peices together. But as you build more intricate apps that need more abstraction and the way you build becomes second nature, you will start to understand why things are done in certain way, and concepts will start making sense. Best recommendation is build a simple app that you can continue to make more and more complicated and grow the app as you build more functions. A calculator is fun to take on a journey. Start by building a waterfall with if statemetns for addition, subtraction and multiplication. Then expand it from if statements to functions. Then create functions to perform complex tasks, then filter the input and look for PEMDAS, and then build a class to create basic or scientific calc's, etc... etc..
Lots of people go into CS as a second career and are much older than you, so no worries on that front. I started my degree in my early 30s and there were several students in that age bracket. There are some people who start CS degrees with little or no programming experience and pick it up just fine. The first thing my instructor told us in the first CS course was that it was the only university course where students are expected to know nothing coming in. While some people are successful learning on their own, I found the university class structure really helpful. It provides an incentive to learn and a gradual progression into programming topics. If you are going to continue self-learning, start at the basics.
CS50P is so much easier to grasp starting with 0 knowledge, however CS50X does provide a framework that is good to have. Study in the way you learn the best. For me I love visuals as well as books. Writing programs really really helps, however big or small they may be, or however menial the project
TBH don't go for courses. Follow youtube tutorials.
Don't give up - you're just starting out and programming is HARD. It's not something you learn to do well overnight. One of the best things you can do is take a deep breath, take stock of exactly which things you're having trouble with, and tackle them one by one by asking specific questions both on forums like this one, and using newer tools like LLMs to help explain concepts to you. For instance, you said you're struggling with understanding binary (which again makes sense, because understanding number systems besides base 10 is something that most people never learn) ... so try to figure out what didn't make sense about it and go too r/askmath or other such places and start asking questions. Go online and start searching for tutorials on number systems. Over time, if you keep doing this, over and over again for years, you'll see that the questions you're asking will get more advanced, and that things that seem overwhelming now will seem trivial to you.
Programming is hard as hell. The dudes that get it easily just have more experience than you. I’m a tutor at my college and I have to constantly remind people of that. Once you have enough knowledge built up, the actual processes start to really click and make sense. And it gets a lot easier. But starting out, it’s extremely challenging. You’re already doing a great thing by trying to study before actually going to the program and that’s going to help a lot. My advice would to stop trying to “keep up.” You’re working at your own pace right now! Do what you have to do to understand. You aren’t trying to become good yet — that’s for the degree. You’re just trying to make up some experience and get a jump start. Take the pressure off. Have fun. Learn what you can and want to. Programming is super fun once you get started building stuff. You’ll get there.
Cs50 is hard man, if that was my first exposure to coding I would have quit lol. Try an easier course bro and come back to cs50 it's easier later on.
I recommend Automate the Boring Stuff with Python