Common Fears And Pain Points

In the same time, I know that getting started in this field is intimidating and you must invest some time and energy into it if you want to succeed. Your effort is mandatory, so don't be fooled by anyone who claims that you can make it without putting in the effort. It doesn't work like that, and you should be careful with those who claim these things as it's most probably a scam.

 

Anyway, coming back, regardless of whether you have some technical background or none, you will encounter many challenges.

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We are talking about things which can make you doubt yourself and the chosen direction to become a programmer. Here are some of the most common thoughts I think everybody experienced at some time:

• I don't have any technical background, I can't do this.

• I don't know which programming language should I start first with.

• I heard many programming specific terms such as: OOP, classes, functions, methods, services, databases, cloud, virtualization, scalability, security, operating systems, <add here any other buzzwords you heard> which made me feel overwhelmed.

• I heard many stories that if you don't have any experience, you don't stand a chance as the technical interviews are ruthless.

• To succeed, you need at least an internship which is not available for everybody, especially for people without a technical background.

• I hear about cases where there was a wonder-course which promised to transform you in a genius programmer over night, with no efforts, which turned out to be a hoax and finalized with the participants having lost their money.

• I went through many tutorials, but yet I still feel the same as when I started.

• I used to do some programming in college, but I forgot most of it/everything.

• I can update some code here and there, but I don't really know how to create things from scratch because I don't really understand how things work.

• Object Oriented Programming (OOP) is hard.

• I know how to program as I followed a tutorial online, but in real life, the problems I encounter are different and I keep getting blocked.

• ... and so on, the list goes on.

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I'm sure that if you are considering a job in the field, you had at least some of the above mentioned pain-points. If you didn't, then most likely you are just starting out and you will at some point (soon) :).

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I have also had some of these thoughts, but I was lucky enough to have managed to overcome them without quitting. I also realized that things are not as complicated as I'd imagined, if you really, really understand them. You just need to give yourself some time to learn and grow. Little by little, I managed to advance with programming from a hobby level to professional level. It wasn't easy and it took some time to get here and I am still learning new things.

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Since 2005 (view full bio), since I wrote my first line of code, I gained both knowledge and frustrations. I've seen other people struggle with these frustrations. Some quit, some managed to overcome them while some still struggle with them. But things can be easier if you start learning the right concepts at the right time.

 

Another thing I observed during the technical interviews I hosted is that candidates aiming for entry level positions usually have issues with the basic concepts. They are capable of solving a more complex task, but they don't understand how it works or why. And it's really a pity, because you can't build solid knowledge on a shaky foundation. This tells me that all the knowledge they have gathered is superficial and in case they encounter a small change, they will have issues with resolving the task.

 

It doesn't really matter whether you are just starting up (e.g. student) or you want to reset your career, you will go through at least some of the struggles I mentioned above. But, you still made a good choice and arrived in an even greater place. Why?

Because these are exactly the pain points I address in this course (view my bio). Get started now.