I remember after I had completed all the Game Development lessons (especially Game Development 1 and 2) on CodeCombat, my final task was to create a minigame in Python and I was left with no comments or help of any kind on how to do that (apart from the lessons I had previously completed from the course). It always left me feeling so overwhelmed that I was unable to code anything, I would feel better the next day and then start coding my game.
It should be no secret that learning to code is hard, but it is not helpful to keep thinking like that. It is much more beneficial to think of coding as a challenge as it changes your perception from coding is a struggle to coding is a challenge instead.
Coding is a challenge like in a classic adventure game where the hero is going on quests, encounters problems along the way and sometimes has to face a huge and intimidating monster. Nobody knows everything, you learn as you go and coding is a challenge, a challenge you can always improve on!
Do you ever feel stupid while learning to code?
Top comments (118)
I feel especially stupid if I step back in after being out of that headspace for a week for any reason.
Correct @ben π
Haha, yes! π Been there, done that!
if you've never felt stupid coding... you haven't been coding long enough... or lack self reflection :D
...or you have reasonable expectations towards yourself and know that programming isn't easy and even experts have blind spots that they will occasionally stumble over :)
Absolutely this!!
Well said, and I agree! π
I have been coding for 12+ years and I still feel stupid every day or every week. If you don't feel stupid anymore you're not challenging yourself enough.
When I get overwhelmed, which happens more than I like to admit, I try to look for the next little piece I can chop of the big rock. I might not see the bigger picture yet, but you probably now at least how to do some part of the task, even if it's just writing a function to calculate something small. Or I try to brainstorm a bit with my favourite LLM at that point.
Just like an adventure game, you won't finish the game if you don't set a foot out of the starter area! Good luck!
Same. Each weekend I think back the work I've done and what's up the coming week.
And this feeling of being stupid is always lurking behind; even when I google some issue I feel stupid while typing it! π
But it's all worth it! And in the times of AI, anything I'm solving through my sheer knowledge and experience makes me feel happy. So, yeah, everything's worth it! β
Every new concept left me feeling stupid the first few times I touched on them.
The language I ever learned was Python. Even after a few months of writing basic little scripts, I just couldn't wrap my head around importing libraries, modular programming, or even how hashmaps work.
A couple years later I felt pretty dumb or too "high level" or "non technical" trying to understand pointers and memory management in C++.
Then I had to take a course on assembly... hahaha.
Proud of how far I've come and every time I run into a roadblock, I just remind myself that I've been there/done that and always persevere. You're not stupid, you're just stepping out of your comfort zone!
Yes, I do sometimes feel stupid while learning to code, especially when I get stuck on something that seems simple or make mistakes I think I shouldnβt. It can be frustrating to spend hours debugging or trying to understand a concept that others grasp quickly. But Iβve come to realize that feeling this way is a normal part of the learning process. Coding is like learning a new language mixed with problem-solving, and it takes time, practice, and patience. Every mistake is actually a step toward understanding, and those moments of confusion often lead to the biggest breakthroughs.
all the time! i've been in this career for over 10 years and i manage to find myself at some sort of road block once a day, lol. but learning is a skill in and of itself so i've given myself some grace whenever i feel a little stupid -- maybe take a nap or something.
All. the. time.
Indeed. I believe we all do.
I felt particularly dumb when forgetting basic OOP concepts like ref types vs value types. Like obviously if I assigned an instance of a class to a variable then modify a property on said variable it'll modify the original class instance. π Same memory address π€¦πΌ Especially with strings lol
This just happened to me this morning. I have been doing a 100 days of Python challenge to get familiar with the language, and today's task was similar in that it simply said "create x" without any details or specifics. I went back to the previous module and looked over the code there and it gave me the information I needed to proceed. Sometimes coding is as much about knowing where to look and what to look for as it is what you have stored in your memory.
tbh iβve felt dumb so many times trying to code, but pushing through that stuff always made me better in the end - ever wonder if those tough moments are actually what make progress real, not just the easy wins
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