Note: this blog post was written with students of The Complete Web Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery course by Andrei Neagoie in mind. However, most of the content should be accessible to anyone starting their coding journey.

Picture this. You’re sitting in front of your computer, ready to start building your first programming project. Perhaps you’ve watched some YouTube tutorials or taken a course or two on Udemy or Coursera. So, you have a general idea of how to get started. But, as you stare at your computer, your mind slowly goes blank. The guiding voices of your online instructors fade to nothing. And all that is left is an empty code editor, a vague feeling of uncertainty, maybe, fear, and no clear idea of what to do next.

I have a feeling some of you have gone through an experience like this. What you are feeling are the symptoms of being in ‘tutorial hell’. In other words, you are great at following along with a tutorial. But it is difficult to take that first step to coding on your own. I’ve found out that it’s a common situation ‘beginners’ get in, and** I wanted to share how I got out of tutorial hell and what I learned from my experience.**

The answer seems simple: build ONE project that stretches your skills just a bit. Practice is the best way to acquire skill and to improve. The problem is that we have to mentally convince ourselves to take the first step.

Before I go on, it might help to know that it is not only beginners who struggle with uncertainty and fear. Masters — be it coders, musicians, or athletes — experience this as well. I like this quote by jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie:

Some days you get up and put the horn (the instrument) to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins.

#programming-tips #begginer-tips #better-programming #web-development #learn-to-code