Is Code REALLY Hard to Learn?

I believe it is a myth to think that code is hard to learn. The reason this myth exist, is because the Web if covered with the filth of nasty code tutorials, by people who don't know how to teach.

Ouch! :)

... There are some good ones, but when it comes to really teaching code, most code courses out there fail hard.

So don't give up! If you had trouble learning to code, learning Python, HTML5, JavaScript ... whatever language, it was probably because of the course, and not you.

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Thanks!
Stef
#codecourse #pythoncourse #programmingcourse #javaScriptcourse

[michaelharrison]

Bloomberg said that coal miners couldn’t learn to code and I have to say as a former coal miner I learned and made the transition to being a mobile dev working in xamarin/c#.

[zentrocs]

It isn't that hard to learn. But people don't have the patience to constantly code.

[OmarZing]

Learning to code is easy, problem solving in code is hard

[creativefantasybox]

Coding was hard for me to learn, because I found it difficult to understand complex things, but I developed a strategy, I broke things into the least denominator, piece by piece until there was nothing left to break, I love repeating tutorials over and over again. What took my friends less than 24hrs to figureout, sometimes took me 5--7 days to figureout, i had numerous of time when I felt that coding wasn't for me but I encouraged myself, I never gave. My slogan was, anything you do over and over again for a long period of time becomes part of you. I use those words as a coping mechanism. But you must truely have something, that draws you to programming, my was A.i and robotics. This obsession for robotics, a.i and machine learning, gave me boosting energy not to quit. and I can humbly say I made it.

[sneakillysneak]

I got a very nice advice from some dude from the Internet: a programmer must read at least one good fat book in his life. It was so much true for me. I'm a noob with like 3 certificates from some free courses. After reading a book on Python I finally got the things I learned from C++ course. A tutorial may teach you what to do, but it never gives you the understanding of things.

[tylergreulich]

If there's anything I learned from teaching myself programming and Japanese, no matter what skill you want to acquire in life, all it takes is time and perseverance.

[andrei]

Thank you for this video, I am trying to get into coding and hopefully make a living with it. I am almost 28 and about to start a family, while stuck in dead end temp agency minimum salary jobs in UK. I did finish a math-intensive/ computer programming profile high school back in Romania and accustomed with fundamentals of oop and c++, but then I left for work outside my country and just gradually forgot about it (didn't go to college). I decided to give programming a go all these years after. Thank you for your videos and the encouragement, I have been watching your videos for a while now!

[codezero]

I was not a computer science major. I majored in Piano Pedagogy got a masters in Education. It gave me an advantage when it came to demos, instruction sections, and writing documentation. People don’t realize teaching is it’s own skill set.

[spooky_zen]

its jst takes time. jst break down the problem and take it one step at a time.

[atti]

Total newbie here

I couldn't agree more.
I know python is considered an easy language, but i started about 5 Weeks ago from one of my school courses. (Biotech student)

I dont know how hard the project is considered but Ive went from never have heard about it, to making a k-means ++ clustering algorythm from scratch with base python and numpy and im so proud and exhilarated!

The teaching was definately not the best. For a total beginners course, i dont know why we need to learn;
if __name__ == "__main__" and
argparser in the third week.

I think it helped me greatly that prior to the course i had watched an online course by Simon Allardice - foundations of programming: fundamentals

For me i feel like programming is about framing the problem for the computer and simplifying it in steps. I also think the syntax sometimes make for a steep learning curve. You are learning the logic og programming and at same time a language / toolbox to perform said logic.

[ComixConsumed]

I just want to point out a rare exception to the young teacher rule. Brackeys is a great channel for learning Unity using C# and actually started me with coding and I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now with coding without his videos

[alw]

In 2016 I was looking to get into learning to code for web dev. Did a course on “Ruby” of all things and I’m not the best student ever but the course I took was bad enough to turn me away from web dev altogether. Started Stefs course last month and I gotta say. His teaching style is leaps and bounds above whats available online from most “teachers”. Im almost done with the http foundations chapter and already feel like i have a firm grasp on the basics of web dev. Cant wait to finish the rest of the foundational courses and get into the advanced stuff.

[bjornarmar]

This is great. One of the best ways to learn something is to try to teach it—if you can't teach it, then how well do you really understand it?


I'm sure many people simply don't have the aptitude for programming and its concepts, but even someone who isn't born with the natural talent or mind of an engineer can almost certainly learn it if they truly have the desire, are persistent (almost to a fault), AND have a good teacher.


Someone who simply knows how to do something is VERY different from someone who knows how to teach it.


Try to find a true teacher—not just a practitioner—of whatever it is you want to learn.

[OzzyZet]

You are right Stef. I'm during Java course now and some of the materials are really good, but some are so difficult to understand that 4 minutes video takes an hour or more to break it down and understand it properly.

[davidporterrealestate]

Learning to code is easy, learning to code well is hard and takes time and experience

[I_Lemaire]

Merci for the encouraging post, Stefan. I mean, coding takes patience and concentration which I am learning. It requires people to spend an inordinate time alone and spend an ordinate amount of time in one place--in front of a machine. Your courses on StudioWeb however, are legit on helping us master this craft. Thank you much for all that you do.

[PassionRoadmap]

Stefan, you are so right, there are very few real teachers of software coding out there. It took determination for me to persevere through the many so-called lessons which left me feeling overwhelmed by detail and little context to understand what Ibwas learning. I had an inkling it was the teacher rather than the student who was hampering the learnibg. I love every word you said and I think it needed to be said. Thank you for that.

[PositiveVibesVids]

Extraordinary video Stefan.
I wish I saw this when I first started as I really didn’t start learning until I stopped watching tutorials.

A proud intern now - hands on has always made it much easier for me.

[msms]

For any job in this world there are certain minimum human physiological, temperamental attributes needed. To be a nurse, you need at least baseline level empathy, communication skills, patience, deal with 12 hours shifts standing on your feet. To be an lawyer, at a minimum one needs an analytical mind, photographic memory to remember facts, think on your feet, ability to pivot, persuasive, yet forceful communication skills. I can go on about all other jobs.

Likewise to be a good software personal qualities are problem solving aptitude, strong logic, and interest. Patience and organized, systematic way of thinking. One has to ENJOY solving puzzles, problems. Mental laziness and slowness does not cut it. Quite to the contrary there is certain amount of natural mental sharpness needed to break a problem into clear logical steps, be on constant learning path. Yeah sure, anyone without the above qualities can be taught anything, including C, Python, Java etc, but job life will be sure as heck more difficult and stressful when they required to solve real challenging issues, deliver on finite time frames. I understand there are team members that can help etc, but not possible to mask the incompetence for very long. Perhaps this is the imposter syndrome? This assuming they somehow got into a company in the first place.
To say anyone who learns and knows a computer language can be successful SWE is like saying anyone who speaks English can be a great lawyer, or anyone who STUDIED human anatomy and first aid can be a successful nurse which may not be the case.

[dalcoin]

Absolutely spot-on with your description of most coding classes found on the web. Loved the analogy to martial arts instructors, very accurate. Unfortunately, coding has been given this mystique, mainly from media, where is often presented as a sort of modern magic. With only about 20-25 million people worldwide working to strictly develop software with other estimates bringing this number to around 50 mil to include those who use coding daily but not to develop software, its not surprising that so few people understand what a coding actually entails.


I do think that good solid coding practices are hard to learn however (taking years of consistent practice and dedication), and coding is such a broad field. I wish more educators would impress upon their students that "to code", encompasses an enormous set of knowledge and skills.


For anyone wishing to "learn to code" it is best that that first direct themselves towards a career and learn the skills and technologies relevant to that field. Want to be a web developer?Start with the Big Three and then start learning a stack and complete projects. Want to jump into the AI and ML craze? Get a foundation in stats and choose a high level DS language (Python, Scala, Julia and R) and learn the libraries, find a way to actually work with data, preferably through internships or entry level positions. Want to make games? Better become quite acquainted with a solid oopl such as Java, C++ or C# and start actually making games. A college degree + internships is usually the best way to go and although non-traditional opportunities are better than in the past, there's no way that no experience plus half a year of online courses will cut it for even entry level positions.